Carolina Rush

Predictable, Formulaic "Thriller" with Volume

Revisado: 01-30-23

The story teases the reader with a possible alternate twist on a "Gone Girl" relationship scenario. The honeymoon soon ends when it becomes when Alex's new bride, Nina, veers off on a trauma-induced sabbatical to finally face the demons she's never conquered.

Unfortunately, Alex is absolutely befuddled by Nina's sudden departure from their newlywed love nest. Thus begins the ubiquitous quest to find out why, when and how Nina disappeared.

For an 11-hour book, the characters lack development and dimension. Most psych mystery/thriller readers will have this plot figured out within the first hour or two.

Wouldn't have minded slogging thru the story and giving it more of a chance if the narrator didn't scream the dialogue for the last hour of the book. The drama should spring from the words -- not the narrator volume.

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Heart-Wrenching, Empathetic and Genuine

Revisado: 08-31-22

Gut-wrenching look into Ruthie's life growing up in a polygamist family. Instead of focusing on the daily fundamentalist LDS religious rituals and practices, you experience the polygamist life through the feelings, conflicts and inherent challenges built into hierarchies of sister wives and husbands who are encouraged to build their kingdom with as many sister wives as possible.

Ruthie's step-Dad isn't the most shining example of his community. Despite his position in the church, he has difficulties keeping food on the table and a sturdy roof over the heads of his families. His daughters are often pulled from school in order to learn more important objectives like: "how to run a household," "raise children" and "make perfect pancakes."

Book has great in-depth study of Mother-Daughter relationship. There are genuine moments of joy that bloom unexpectedly towards the latter portion.

Finished book in one sitting.

Trigger warning: child sexual abuse scenes

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Distracting Narration -- Story Had Potential

Revisado: 02-28-21

Attempted to listen several times as the story drew me in from the start. Unfortunately, the narration was distracting and lacked natural conversation flow. It sounded like narrator was reading in a much lower register than her usual voice, which came across as gritty, forced and, perhaps, a suggestion of "use your sexy voice when reading this."

Will happily purchase book as Kindle.

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Blew Off Entire Day to Revel in this Book

Revisado: 06-16-20

What started as a casual listen morphed to a full-fledged commitment of "The House Guest." Author, Mark Edwards, has crafted a near-perfect psychological thriller in this latest release. Rest assured, this isn't your typical "stranger at the door," "amnesia incident," and/or "missing person" story so prevalent in this genre.

The audiobook is fast-paced, wild ride with many twists and turns. Also, has a wide range of characters whose actions keep you guessing as much as the story itself.

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Possible Misprint of Book Description?

Revisado: 06-14-19

The narrator of this book was superb - crisp, natural and confident. In fact, the narration was so good, it was why I attempted to stick with it.

As other reviewers mentioned, the book description and story are totally off. The summary. was nothing like what I heard. After giving this three fair tries, it seems the description provided was meant for a different book.

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Knitting For The Mind

Revisado: 08-07-18

"Good Neighbor" is the perfect choice for mind knitting. Once you've learned the basics, the rest is repetition.

Nicole and her gaggle of intrusive neighbors fret far too much over what the other thinks of them.
The dialogue is akin to what you'd hear in junior high. This is not a verbatim quote. However, it's not too far from what's written: "She said she told her what she wasn't supposed to tell what she knew."

Despite the pedestrian chatter, I returned to this book many times ~ my curiosity piqued. It was nearly impossible to comprehend how Nicole and "friends" had so much time to chit-chat and speculate how each other lived.

The life-changing events like Paige's adoption of a Russian girl wasn't given more importance than the "group birthday gifts."

Eventually, the adoption became the real substance and grit. The dark ending showcases the author's talents to emotionally hook her readers. However, this compelling turn may be too little, too late for the real story.

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Compelling Tale of Life, Land and Lucid Dreams

Revisado: 04-23-18

Fascinating book that lures you in with the author's vast knowledge of Egypt's history. Really enjoyed the Maria's narration. Her spirited recount of experiences while in Egypt brought the vivid descriptions to life.

While listening, you feel as if you're right there by Maria's side. You see the tombs, artifacts, sunrises and feel the stifling desert day. In addition, many interesting facts are revealed along the way; like why the Egyptians are drawn in a two-dimensional manner.

Because Maria is a confident narrator, she blurs the line between consciousness and sleep. At first, I found the lucid dreams to have more of a faery-tale quality ~ as if they were a montage of future hopes and wishes.

After hearing further dreams, their significance is evident. Think of them as a map ~ historical, physical and spiritual.

If you ever wanted to visit Egypt, you may wish to start with "The Spirit of Imhotep: Lucid Dreams & Spritual Warfare, Book 1"

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Cringeworthy, Chilling Tale of Plausible Future

Revisado: 12-21-17

Like many extreme belief systems, the more deviant tenets are shared after indoctrination.

"The Circle" paints a plausible future where data is the new currency.

The story begins with May's exciting, new career opportunity at the up-and-coming corporate conglomerate called "The Circle." May is extremely grateful to her longtime friend, Amy, who helps her land an entry-level position at "The Circle," which is a tech's dream facility. in addition, this place is repleat with on-site restaurants, game rooms, cooking classes, parties, sports facilities and an on-site health clinic, to name a few.

So, what's the catch? Ummm, nothing material - just gradual erosion of any semblance of privacy. 'Cause why wouldn't you mind loading your personal devices, emails, texts, photos, videos, etc. to "The Circle's" cloud? Don't you trust "The Circle?" You have nothing to hide.

As new and enthusiatic team member, May, continues her career, you see how all employees are manipulated into the beliefs like "Sharing is caring" and "Secrets are lies."

"The Circle" soon outgrows its headquarters and "goes global" without any consideration of consequences.

I finished listening this book in two days. The story so unnerving, I couldn't stop. Do we really need to know a plethora about people on FaceBook, or other social media?

Or does it just "sound good" to "hear we're connecting globally"? We may be connecting.
Yet, "The Circle" is an excellent precursor to what happens when we entwine ourselves with "friends."

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Plausible and Chilling Readt

Revisado: 11-14-17

When you have kids, people warn "everything's gonna change" and "say goodbye to sleeping." These phrases and other clichés tempt one to think "because 'we're pregnant, we're both in this together. It'll be different for us."

Rachel opens the story as an exhausted, sleep-deprived mother of two. She yearns for the spirited, child-free days of youth. She wants to go back; back to when she and her husband, Adam were full of vigor and a voracious sexual desire.

In the wake of an horrific accident, Adam works from home. He works better this way. He's able to cope with left-over traumatic thoughts and feelings working solo. His home office is a perfect metaphor for his marriage: disconnected.

The author reels you in quickly, as she writes spot-on sentient details that transport you from your reality to hers. You picture the ubiquitous laundry piles and gag at the fetid, dirty diapers. She gives you the repetitive timestamp of illicit text messages.

You feel, see and cringe as you listen. The author makes this story real. So real, you can imagine it happening to someone you know.

As the couple's feelings, time and touch disintegrate, so does any semblance of their marriage.

The story escalates when Rachel engages in casual chatter with a man from her past. It's platonic, so what's the problem?  It's not like she sent the "Friend Request."

In tandem, Adam branches out his social network. He knows it's good to step away from work. Besides, tonight's dinner is "something Rachel made on toast." --AUDIBLE 20 REVIEW SWEEPSTAKES ENTRY

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Didn't want it to end!

Revisado: 07-29-17

Not your usual suspense subject matter. Fast-paced, intricate and fascinating. Your mind will thank you.

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