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Nice, but a cliche

Revisado: 01-24-24

Nice, but so predictable it generated little interest. The narrator was wonderful and was the reason I kept listening.
Best put: my time listening was not wasted, but could have been better used.

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Actor-turned-"author" trend fails again.

Revisado: 12-29-23

I wanted to like this book because I like Aubrey Plaza as an actor. However, as good an actor as she is, she is not an author or narrator. Who knows how much she contributed to the writing, but even though it is a book for juveniles, the prose and the lack of originality makes it sound like it was written by juveniles, also. There are so many other books for children out there that have depth of character and good prose. I bought another at the same time, "Tumtum and Nutmeg" by Emily Bearn, and such a difference. My children, and me, found it much more interesting. In fact, they lost interest completely in the Christmas Witch book. Unfortunately, I purchased volumes 1 and 2 of the "...Christmas Witch" and can't return them.

Lesson learned. Writing kid's books seems to be a trendy thing for actors and TV personalities, and these efforts overshadow the real writers and this is tragic.

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Put out after 7 hrs, the ambiance changes complete

Revisado: 12-16-23

I was quite put out that after spending seven hours listening to what seemed a good story, then it began to spend an inordinate amount of time on scenes of a more erotic nature. Don't get me wrong. I can deal with, and often like, a certain amount of romance and even mild eroticism, but when the story starts leaning on it, I lose interest. Another item that grew tiresome - the author far too often used the phrase that so-and-so "pulled a face", and I mean a lot. It happened time and again and I had to conclude that the author was not even looking for better prose descriptions of characters' reaction, etc.
Unfortunately, I stopped after wasting seven hours I won't get back...and I can't return it. Not much of a Christmas story in the end.
I try not to give negative reviews, but this one called for it for letting the reader/listener invest a lot of time and then shifting the narrative like this.

The narrator was very good and I would like to hear more from her.

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Unable to finish; more a Harlequin romance

Revisado: 11-26-23

I was unable to finish even this short novella. If you enjoy Harlequin romances with no imaginative story, only an average romance with multiple references to six pack abs and muscles, etc, you might enjoy it more. In addition, I could never get used to the narrator; a bit too dramatic of a read with no distinctive voice, in my opinion.

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An excellent surprise; highly recommended

Revisado: 11-12-23

I took a chance on this since it was short and done in a radio play style. I was delighted and hope there are more Christmas stories done like this on Audible. Looking for them now. The Characters were done such that one takes an interest in them, and though it as a romance, there is a real story here, and a story made for Christmas.

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esto le resultó útil a 1 persona

Then came gratuitous and quite explicit erotica

Revisado: 09-30-23

I was going along listening, not excited but interested, until explicit sex scene no. 1—which did nothing whatsoever to move the narrative along. It was erotica without a reason. I don’t mind sex scenes at all if they have a reason…this did not and was far to graphic for anything else but erotic entertainment. I stopped listening, but it was well into the story and so much time had been wasted. I'd give an example to back this review, but then the review would probably be pulled as inappropriate.

Also, the author talks about a woman playing the Pianoforte in the 1680s. The Pianoforte had not yet been invented. It was invented around 1700 and first showed up in Italy, owned by, you got it..the Medici. So the Pianoforte would not have been around in 1685 Britain. This should have been basic research for a novelist.

I almost stopped listening at the Pianoforte mistake, but let it go and continued on, unfortunately.

Final note—narrator was good, 5 Star good.

1 star overall and 5 star performance - if that makes sense.

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A wonderful surprise.

Revisado: 07-29-23

I rarely give 5 star reviews since 4 stars means "It's great", but I went with 5 stars here. Reasons: the book captured my attention early on, yet still took time to develop the story and it held my interest all the way through. I am now looking for other offerings from Soraya M. Lane. As for the narration - it was near perfect. Somehow, she gave each character their own personality, as did the writing. Again, a great combination. I'm also looking for more narrated by Sarah Zimmerman.

The story had a pleasing mixture of action and emotion, at times maybe a little sappy, but pleasingly so and the author did not take it too far as some do. The book was paced well and always stayed connected with no disjointed off and on ramps.

I just had three disappointing audio books in a row and was so pleased to find this book. I could picture listening to it again sometime in the future.

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Too expository; too much telling, little showing

Revisado: 05-20-23

I wanted to like this book, but I couldn't get past the first person narrative with mostly 'telling' me the story rather than 'showing'. I finally stopped listening. The narrator was good, though.

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This book gets it right on all counts

Revisado: 05-20-23

It was difficult at times to turn off. The story is moving and well-told. The narration could not have been better. I've read and listened to a lot of WWII novels, but none, so far, taking place in Asia, and this was a wonderful and meaningful way to explore that part of the war. Highly recommended. I'll not tell of the plot and characters because 1. I would have nothing to say that isn't positive and 2. I really think the reader, or listener, should absorb this book as I'm sure the author intended. I will say that the emotions evoked by the book run the gamut and the characters have depth.

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A bit pretentious; uses some cheap literary tricks

Revisado: 05-13-23

A bit pretentious; uses some cheap literary tricks I think to try and be 'edgy'. It didn't work for this listener. The narrator, who was very good, couldn't overcome on this one. The effort to try and be deep merely came off, as I said, a bit pretentious, at least from my point of view. I couldn't finish it.

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