Barbara R. Bess

No one is capable of making a reasonable decision

Revisado: 10-04-24

The narration was quite good, but I could not get past a character’s decision to not report stalking, kidnapping, and rape - when there was very clear evidence!!!! Cannot suspend my disbelief that much. Plot relies WAY too much on “how far would you go to protect your children” in situations that really wouldn’t endanger them.

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No one to root for.

Revisado: 09-27-24

I did not find any of the characters remotely likable which made it really hard to care what happened. They all made stupid, selfish decisions. The couple at the heart of the story could have solved every problem by simply being honest with each other. I also did not enjoy the narration, and I usually like this narrator. She just seemed to breathy and forced. I also found several of the plot twists to strain believability too much in a story I already didn’t care about. So, not one I recommend.

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I really wanted to like this, but..,

Revisado: 08-21-24

The premise was promising, but then everything fell apart. The narrator’s voice was all wrong for the characters (famous cast-aside women from British Victorian fiction and the narrator sounds like an angsty teenage YA character) The characters themselves seem without personality or agency. It’s very unclear how they came to be where there are at the start of the story, and even less so as the tale continues, since neither seems to have any ingenuity or, frankly, common sense. I found myself bored and annoyed with it, and finally stopped about 1/3 through. It just didn’t make sense to continue spending my time on something I wasn’t enjoying at all.

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Definitely not a favorite

Revisado: 01-17-24

The narrator was okay, but she barely even attempted to alter her voice for different characters, making it difficult to know who was speaking.
The dialogue was terrible, with characters using words and terms that no one would use in real life, and with no real difference in their speaking style or language choices.
The characters were thinly written with absurd leaps in development, such as the estranged husband of one character suddenly gaining insight and turning his life around literally in a day. Other characters had similar sudden and profound epiphanies with little to no help, which while a lovely thought, is NOT how alcoholic narcissists operate in reality.
The underlying ‘mystery’ anchoring the narrative takes forever to develop and be fleshed out into anything remotely sensible, only to turn out to be so incredibly uninteresting and unimpressive that the entire story feels as flimsy as the main character’s reasons for refusing to leave her house, even to go into her locked back door.
Final analysis: boring story, absurd dialogue, annoying and unrealistic characters. Do not recommend.

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Thinly written characters, predictable plot

Revisado: 11-27-23

The main narrator did a pretty good job, I thought, but the other reader did not impress. All of the characters (ALL of them) were cardboard thin reconstructions of negative stereotypes.
The main character’s naïveté was beyond belief. I did finish it, but I can’t recommend it.

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esto le resultó útil a 1 persona

Not an easy summer read (or listen), but worth it

Revisado: 06-29-23

I found the performances to be excellent. Each narrator gave their character a unique voice. The story structure took me by surprise (I got the audiobook because it popped up as ‘recommended’ for me, but I really didn’t know much about it) and I was initially a little put off by the change once the second part got started. If I were reading a paper copy of the book, I would have gone back and forth to re-read sections and I think I would have caught on to it sooner. Nevertheless, once I got into the third section, I realized what was going on stylistically, and I found it very enjoyable. The story itself is not earth shattering or thrilling, but I still found it captivating. The writing is excellent, pulling me into the lives of the characters, making me want to know what would happen to them. Like many readers, I predicted the twist, but I feel like the author earned it - I may not have been surprised, but I was very pleased. All in all, a great novel about wealth, greed, brilliance, and arrogance.

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Terrible dialogue, meandering plot, unlikeable/unbelievable characters

Revisado: 05-15-23

This book seemed like a mishmash of genres, never able to find a consistent tone. The dialogue was cringe worthy and unrealistic. The characters were poorly developed, making bad decisions with no purpose other than to move the plot forward. As for the plot - so many holes!! The narrator does her best, but there is only so much she can do with the words she was given.

Many other reviewers have commented on the swearing. I don’t have a problem with profanity in books per say, but is this case, it sounded stiff and repetitive without adding anything to the scene. It never sounded like real people talking.

The characters themselves, as I mentioned, are poorly developed and inconsistent. None of them are really likable. Michelle, the protagonist, makes baffling decisions and changes her mind and values seemingly on a whim. Her husband Cliff is perhaps the most poorly written character. Nothing about him is consistent or redeeming - why are we supposed to care about their marriage?? Pink is a chauvinistic pig. The author’s attempt to make him a sympathetic character is absurd at best, and hopelessly misogynistic at worst. Claire is the most inconsistent character - her choices never make sense, and she is written as a hopelessly pathetic woman with no agency of her own, just drifting around the story at the whims of the male characters. The rest of the cast of characters fare no better.

SPOILER WARNING:

The incest angle is bizarre. On the one hand, we’re led to believe it’s apparently enough to kill over, but on the other hand, it’s never really treated like anything that awful, especially since we’re supposed to be A-okay with second cousins being in a relationship, which genetically isn’t a big deal, but these kids were raised closely together, like the cousins that they are and in the same town, which seems really weird to me. And it all could have been avoided by just telling the truth!!!!!

The supernatural aspects of the story didn’t make sense and were, like so much else in this mess, inconsistent. It is also abundantly clear that the author either knows nothing about Wicca, or simply didn’t care because it wouldn’t fit his narrative to be either accurate or respectful.

Overall, I did not like this book one bit. I listened for free, which I would not recommend, but I ESPECIALLY would not advise anyone to pay for this.

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Utterly predictable with thoroughly unlikable characters

Revisado: 03-07-23

Ridiculous story with plot holes big enough to drive a truck through. The three main characters whose point of view the story is told through are all so similar as to be interchangeable. They are each selfish, self-centered, and foolish, making stupid decision after stupid decision. The narrator does her best, but these characters are beyond redemption. That the author is a man is unsurprising, given the clear lack of understanding as to how women actually think. Will not be reading this author again.

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Lost me at the climax

Revisado: 01-26-23

The lead protagonist made too many stupid mistakes, completely out of character, at the end. I can only suspend my disbelief so far, and there were just too many things that didn’t add up (ex a character falls from the landing of a stairwell in a 2-story cabin, yet the fall is somehow 20 feet??) And the editor should be ashamed - the average 3rd grader knows that lightening comes BEFORE thunder, not AFTER! I could let that go if it were just mentioned in passing, but it’s actually used to further the action/plot.
Narration was pretty good. Just wish the story had held up a bit better.

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Great!

Revisado: 11-29-22

Hope there is a second season!! This was a fun, always entertaining listen. Great cast, great story. Certainly hope to hear more adventures!

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