Shoppermom

You'll be keeping your fingers crossed for Juliana

Revisado: 04-14-25

So many of us have had to travel with kids, but to do so with your child's life in danger, you're on foot in unknown territory, and you have no idea whom you can trust, is something else entirely! Juliana's husband's been killed, and now the place she had thought to be a safe refuge is compromised. Ransom seems trustworthy, but Juliana's been deceived so many times that trust is hard to give. I was caught up in the countless twists and turns of the story and happy to have listened to such an exciting and well-narrated audiobook.

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Sublime!

Revisado: 08-21-22

Julia Whelan is one of those people you want so badly to hate because she does everything so darn well. She's been delighting listeners--me included!--for more than a decade with her spot-on narrations of an incredible range of books, and then five years ago she brought out a love story, My Oxford Year, that kept me riveted from the first page to the last and left me crying buckets of happy tears. Now she's outdone herself with the most "meta" book of all: a delightful tale of a romance-averse book narrator forced to join forces with a mega-hot male romance narrator to read the most anticipated love story in years. Will Sewanee survived the forced-proximity with Brock McNight while still pining for the mysterious lover she was snowed-in with in Vegas? Oh, tee hee, such fun! The skill with which Ms. Whelan incorporates trope after trope and keeps the suspense alive is head-shakingly amazing, and the contentment she gifts the reader/listener at the end is incomparable. Julia Whelan's output is prodigious, but I selfishly wish she could clone herself or give up sleeping and give us even more. I listened to her narration and read the printed version, and they are both perfect.

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"Christian" category left out of audio description

Revisado: 11-08-21

My bad? I found the beginning of this book to be a bit slow and confusing--not super confusing, but along the lines of "just what is this book all about?" as I was getting both church-ish and "Rebecca"-type vibes. So I looked the title up on Amazon, looked up the book, not specifically the audiobook, and it is clearly characterized as "Christian," which was definitely not crystal clear in the audio description. My characterization of the story is Christian gothic, and that's not a topic I'm ever likely to really enjoy. Justine Eyre's narration is, as always, very good, and the story has a nice, romantic resolution. But if Christian gothic doesn't sound like your cup of tea, I'd skip it.

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Interesting take on psychic abilities

Revisado: 07-24-21 El oyente recibió este título gratis

I am grateful to the author for gifting me this audiobook and am voluntarily leaving this review. Last Kiss Under the Mistletoe is a cute love story primarily about the sister in a brother/sister powerhouse of chronological psychic abilities. I was put off by the frequent grammatical mistakes ("CJ looks between Matt and I," etc., over and over again) and by the constant switching of the female and male narrators (If the scene was from the male's POV, the female's lines were spoken by Rachel, and then the "she said" was said by Luke). Most of the story is recounted in present tense, and while some listeners love this style, it's not my favorite.

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Rags to riches and love & an odd fairy godmother

Revisado: 07-18-21 El oyente recibió este título gratis

Tramp was an interesting tale of young woman who made a life for herself in the world's oldest profession. By doing so, she removed herself from a world of poverty, substance abuse, and misery, and forged her own path, making her own decisions. She could do so in part, undoubtedly, because her service was run by a fellow independently-minded female, and in this Tramp is as much about female empowerment as it is a fairytale love story. I enjoyed the story, but I don't feel an overwhelming need to follow it up with Harlot (whose protagonist is a secondary character in Tramp). I requested and received a copy of this audiobook from the author and am voluntarily leaving this unedited review.

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The story we've all wished to know

Revisado: 07-18-21 El oyente recibió este título gratis

We follow headlines about babies switched at birth, or of kids abducted and raised by others, or even of children removed from their adoptive families by birth families after court decisions. But we never get to hear about what comes next. This innovative novel by Angie Stanton explores the idea of a young adult finding out she's not who she always believed herself to be. The flow of the story waxes and wanes; far too much time was spent on an extended attempt by Piper/Greta to run away, but all in all it was an engrossing story with a satisfying conclusion. The author kindly gifted me a copy of the audiobook, but I am leaving this review voluntarily and unedited.

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A part of history almost forgotten

Revisado: 05-21-21 El oyente recibió este título gratis

I received a copy of this audiobook, which I had requested, as I was intrigued by the subject matter and the subtitle. Having listened to every word, I still understand nothing about the subtitle and am not sure I had missed all that much in my prior ignorance of the subject matter. In a nutshell: it's the story of a British nut job who believed whole-heartedly that Hitler's National Socialism was THE answer to all society's problems in the years leading up to the Second World War and even throughout its duration. He was not alone in that belief, but fortunately, as time went on, his co-crazies either wisened up or learned to shut up. Not so the patriarch of this beleaguered family. This is a tale told primarily by his fictionalized family. Fictionalized, but true none-the-less, with the author admitting that much of the story is based on the real-life, often heart-breaking, experiences of her own family. The book is far too long and cluttered with far too much inconsequential detail, and in the end, there's little to cheer about, except, I guess, survival.

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Historical fiction with a whiff of the esoteric

Revisado: 05-21-21 El oyente recibió este título gratis

I requested and was fortunate to receive a complimentary copy of Temple Dancer. The narration was very good: The Northeast American upper middle-class accent of the contemporary protagonist contrasted perfectly with that of the young temple dancer in late 1940s India. The story was. . . in all honesty, I'm a bit flummoxed. I think we are supposed to take away the idea that yoga is good, marriage and motherhood are difficult, India's independence brought cultural loss as well as gain, and that the memory of an ancient religious tradition shouldn't be forgotten. This is all delivered in a dual-time strand narration that engages the listener's interest in the fate of young Saraswati, who has as much self-determination as a piece of dust blown around by the wind until she meets and is loved by a local royal who seems to understand her true worth, and less so in a modern, almost 60-year-old American woman who is stumbling along her own spiritual path while reading what may or may not be Saraswati's diary. And in the end, that's really all there is. So while I appreciated the glimpse into a world I knew little about, I was left still hungry after a buffet of crudités.

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Refreshing take on time travel

Revisado: 04-22-21 El oyente recibió este título gratis

As someone who had not read or listened to the earlier Librarian Chronicles, I came into this volume with few preconceptions. The author admits that most of her earlier work was geared towards younger readers/listeners, and I think this rather simplified approach to storytelling is what kept me from loving it. I never felt that I got to know either Adam or Rose very well, and I never grew to love/care deeply about either one of them. That said, it was an interesting snapshot of Native American involvement in the American Revolution. I received a complimentary copy of this audiobook.

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Love helped along by serendipity

Revisado: 03-17-21 El oyente recibió este título gratis

Take a young woman. Have her suffer tragedy and become addicted to alcohol when life proves too painful. Insert road trip and odd meetings, including to a nice young man. Have her struggle to rebuild her life. Have her succeed and find love again. The end. This review could have been written by a computer, but I had almost the same sense while listening to More Than Exist. There is nothing wrong with the story. It contains a nice, fulfilling romance, and lots to admire about the ability to start over. But I felt like it could have been written by a well-designed computer program. It left me totally unshaken and unstirred. Others have loved the book, so take my opinion with a grain of salt. I am grateful to the author for providing me a copy of this audiobook at my request.

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