Amazon Customer

Mediocre Book. Narration truly awful.

Revisado: 01-29-25

I tried to return this one right after I started it because the narration was annoying and not a bit “believable.” Discovering that I couldn’t return it because I didn’t actually use a credit to secure it in the first place (2 for 1 deal) I decided to keep listening, thinking maybe it was my mood or something. But nope! It just doesn’t get better. One female character’s voice leaks into the other. Despite a decent plot, it was difficult to develop any kind of psychological intrigue because the characters were just not believable due to narrator interpretations. So strange. If you want to read this book, my advices to read it and not to listen to it. My sense is that it would come off in an entirely different way.

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Delightfully heartwarming and refreshing!

Revisado: 11-20-24

I read and enjoyed Rachel Joyce’s other books. This one is even better. The language, without attempting to overachieve, manages to paint clear pictures, moods, personalities, and more while always seeming utterly authentic. This narrator was a perfect match to the story. I needed this.

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Disappointed Louise Penny Fan

Revisado: 11-15-24

I have loved Louise Penny’s writing, and I’ve come to love the characters in Three Pines. This story seemed subpar, perhaps, in part, because the Three Pines characters were barely mentioned. But the incredibly disappointing factor is the horrible narrator. I can understand choosing someone with an authentic French accent. But this narrator was not able to understand and portray the characters. Not only did he not “know” them, he neglected to attend to basic things like word stress and the inflections that inform listener understanding. It sounded like he was reading, and not at an accomplished level. To clinch my negative reaction, the books ends with a teaser that implies we could expect more of the same in the next book.

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Predictable and Shallow

Revisado: 05-22-24

Narrator has annoying repetitive pattern of starting sentences in one pitch and dropping over an octave before the end of the sentence. Over and over.

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Predictable Romance

Revisado: 07-10-23

The storyline was engaging despite the average writing, But the performance of one of the narrator’s was unstudied, under rehearsed, and monotonous. Such a shame.

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Not perfect but worth the read

Revisado: 07-05-23

I enjoy Ruth Ware’s work a lot. I enjoyed this book for the most part. But I must say, there was a lot of repetitive, superfluous filler. I love Imogen Church’s ability to portray drama of all kinds but she reads EVERYTHING with SO much drama that its impact is diluted. I don’t get that.

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Engaging but very wordy

Revisado: 06-15-23

The story line is engaging, but it starts very slowly - partly because this author uses WAY more words than necessary to tell the story well. I felt that the constant reiteration actually distracted from the storyline. I didn’t think the narrator did it justice either. All of the male characters sounded just the same. All of the other narration was in an “I’ve got a secret” tone, so it became normalized and ineffective to me. Not sorry I read it, but neither would I seek out this author or narrator.

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Very disappointing.

Revisado: 03-31-23

I have loved many of Jenny Colgan’s books so if she’s new to you, try an earlier series! This one was terribly disappointing - shallow with unenlightened undertones concerning serious life struggles. The narrator’s desire to bring the characters to life unfortunately diminished several of them because everything (except make characters) was overly dramatic, making that sort of person the norm rather than adding color here and there. By contrast, make characters were made to be dull and lacking depth. I hated the ending; it seemed contrived and calculating - something I feel Colgan has been able to avoid in the past. I didn’t love the first book in this series either so perhaps I am finished with this author?

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Brilliant

Revisado: 10-28-22

I happened upon Catherine Steadman’s first book and liked it so much that I eagerly awaited the second, and then this one. Steadman’s writing is gloriously intelligent and descriptive. Her narration, unsurprisingly, is perfect. Perhaps I am a lightweight in the psychological thriller department because this plot would have been too creepy for me if I hadn’t been too thoroughly enthralled to stop listening. It’s an absolute treat!

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Returned for Credit

Revisado: 04-25-22

I'm really interested in this book, but I'm going to need to read this one. I just can't handle the terrible amateur narration in the opening chapters. It's distracting to me to have the narrator consistently dropping the ends of sentences as you might expect from a young student who has not yet learned not to do this.

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