T. Kinsley

Should Have Stopped At One Book

Revisado: 06-25-21

I totally understand... If you write a book that sells well, there is very strong financial and personal motivation to make a sequel. Empires were built on sequels like Star Wars, Star Trek, Avengers, Harry Potter, etc. The problem is some stories are complete unto themselves. They have a very definite beginning, middle, and end. I believe this to be the case with RP1. It had a very definitive and final ending. You don't write a story about someone who ascends to become a king/god of their domain and then write more stories about them. The story was already finished. Infinite power and riches were granted. They already "rode off into the sunset" so to speak. There was nowhere left to go but down. Much like "Ghostbusters 2", "Short Circuit" 2", "Tron 2", "Teen Wolf 2", "Speed 2", "Robocop 2", "Grease 2", "Caddyshack 2", "American Pie 2" and a host of others, I will now wipe RP2 from my memory forever.

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Not For Me

Revisado: 06-25-21

I couldn't even make it past the first couple of chapters. The story is just far too depressing for me. It made me deeply sad, so I stopped listening. There's enough stress and sorrow in the real world.

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It Could Have Been Better

Revisado: 06-25-21

It makes me feel bad when I have to give a "less than stellar" review to a book (especially when it's a book written by an author I typically enjoy). I'll just make this quick. The author decided that Witches of Wisteria is now an ensemble cast and that the story is told through many different points of view (many characters). I disagree with this decision wholeheartedly! I liked it better when the story was told primarily from Zara's point of view. If I want to read stories through auxiliary characters' points of view, I'll read the other related stories (and I have read two). Wisteria Witches works best when told through Zara's point of view. That's all I really have to say.

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A magical adventure

Revisado: 06-25-21

SPOILERS: I've read every book in this series and "Freaky Mage" is a worthy addition to the group. I got turned on to Amanda M. Lee by her "Witches of the Midwest" series, but somewhere along the way she decided to change narrators for that series and I find the new narrator intolerable. That's when I decided to try Mystic Caravan. I like it at least 80% as much as WOTMW and that's pretty good.

I usually find the main couple in MC to be a bit cloying, but they made progress in Freaky Mage. They finally seem like they have at least a little bit of trust for each other (instead of constantly needing reassurance). This is a marked improvement! Other pluses for this story include a trip to a magic shop (I was really hoping they'd return!) and a crossover of characters from one of her other series.

As for suggestions... One thing I would change (if I could) would be the overuse of the phrase "A smile that didn't quite make it to his/her eyes." It is so overused in Lee's books, that when I hear the phrase, it instantly takes me out of the story. It's a crutch. Time to let it go. I might also suggest that the final battles in Lee's books (I read Mystic Caravan and Spell's Angels) are getting pretty short and one-sided. The heroes seem to be winning a bit too quickly and easily lately.

If you like Mystic Caravan as a series, you'll like this latest addition.

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50% great, 50% awful.

Revisado: 07-30-20

I will attempt to not be overly-dramatic in this review, but I have very strong feelings about this book. I know the author will probably see that as a victory, but I wish she wouldn't. Being male, I understand I am not necessarily the target demographic for this book; however, I have listened to all of the books in the series and I have enjoyed them greatly. This book, however, is a large exception.

SPOILERS:
I freely admit I am a great fan of Halloween. I have loved it all my life. I'm certain it is part of the reason I was intrigued by a book about a witch family in the first place. I would think that the author of a book about a town full of witches and monsters would also love Halloween. This is why I feel so betrayed by "Wyteria Woven". When listening to earlier books in the series I remember looking forward to when the story would advance to Halloween. Of course, having finished "Wysteria Woven" I now know it's a case of "being careful what you wish for". You see, this Halloween installment of "Wysteria Witches" is jammed full of Halloween FUN: Costumes, trick-or-treaters, parties, food, family... Oh, and did I mention not one but TWO characters slowly dying of terminal illnesses (and one of them is a child)?! [in the interest of full accuracy I admit that one of the characters is saved at the very last second, but it is NOT the child.]

I'm not kidding! This book is 50% Halloween fun, and 50% a dramatic account of two different characters slowlyg dying of terminal illnesses. WHY?! I don't know. This should've been the most fun entry in the series, yet instead it's full of melodrama, pain, suffering, and the slow crawl towards death that the terminally ill face. If your idea of Halloween fun is to listen to the story of a young boy slowly dying of cancer (while those around him desperately try to save him--and fail), then this is the Halloween story for you. Did I mention the young boy actually dies on Halloween? What fun? I feel so betrayed by this book. I'll never understand why the author made the choices she did. Perhaps she thought a book about Halloween in a town full of monsters was going to be TOO fun and zany and joyous? I'm guessing this was some kind of attempt to be "taken seriously", but what can be of more value during these hard times than books that truly make you feel good?

If your idea of Halloween fun is listening to a detailed description of the heartbreak of watching a terminally ill child slowly die, then this is the book for you. If not...

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Action-Filled Adventure!

Revisado: 08-19-19

I am something of an avid audiobook listener. I work alone from home, so hearing a voice helps fill the void left by being alone all day. I previously listened to several books in Amanda M. Lee's "Wicked Witches of the Midwest" series. I was a fan... Right up until she changed narrators, which caused the series to become unlistenable (in my opinion). I have tried two other AML series, but they both fell flat compared to WWOTM. With "Bad to the Crone" I've finally found another AML story that I like! It is somewhat similar in tone to "WWOTM, but with more action. I really enjoyed it. I can't wait to listen to other books in the series... But OF COURSE they don't exist in audiobook format yet. :(. Just my luck. So now "my watch" begins...

As for the voice actor, she did a good job overall. I did find her performance of the lead male to be just a bit robotic. I know part of a female doing a male voice is to slow down, but she might have taken it a bit too far. I think she was going for "stoic", but she may have gone just a bit too far, and stumbled into occasionally "robotic" instead. It's a minor complaint though, about an overall good performance.

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The good and the bad

Revisado: 08-16-19

This book is annoying to me, because it is so good, and yet so bad at the same time! On the good side, I really, really like the writing style. The hilarious interjection of inner-monologue throughout the book is amazing. It's really well done! I actually laughed out loud once or twice.

The problem for me came on the mystery side of the book. I could not keep it straight. Too many similar characters! I finished the book, and still have only a vague idea of who the murderer(s?) are, and the motivation behind the killings. This is frustrating because I like the main character so much. The problem is if the mystery side of things is bad, then we're just left with a character who takes tea with her sister, and breaks up office arguments between and old lady and a cat. Not exactly engrossing material. I really don't know if I'm going to try Book 2 in the series.

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Kind of "blah".

Revisado: 08-16-19

This book was an odd crossover of a new series, and the Wicked Witches of the Midwest series, both by Amanda M. Lee. I was a big fan of WWOTM, up until they changed the voice-over actor, which is when it became unlistenable to me. I stopped with that series and thought I'd try another by the same author. This book is a blatant attempt to move her old fans over to a new series, which I understand. The problem is the new main character seemed so "flat" to me, compared to the characters from the older series. To me, she came off as kind of boring. I'm going to give Amanda M. Lee one more try, in a different series. After trying (and not liking) Moonstone Bay and Charlie Rhodes, I'm starting to worry she might be a "one-hit wonder", so to speak. Or "one series wonder" in this case. I'm hoping I'm wrong.

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How many ways can you call a guy "hot"?

Revisado: 07-29-19

I had high hopes for this book at first. I was looking for a story about a musician, music, being in a band, etc. It seemed to be heading in that direction at first, but then it hit a point where it changed. Once the male lead was introduced, the rest of the book was basically an exercise in how many ways there are to say a guy is "hot". It then escalates into an accelerating string of sex scenes, with some melodrama mashed in-between, plus the continuing quest to come up with as many creative ways to say a guy is "hot" as is possible. Clearly, I am not the intended demographic for this book. IF you are not excited by long descriptions of how "hot" a guy is, then this is not the book for you!

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Everything but the kitchen sink

Revisado: 07-26-19

First, the positive... This book does a good job of explaining the feelings of the main female character. The descriptions seem highly realistic and reflect how our inner thoughts don't always make sense. The author seems to have a good grasp of writing about inner monologues, especially the inner thoughts of the main female character. Confusion and conflicting thoughts are depicted well. The two main characters seem a bit cliched, but realistic.

Now, the areas that need improvement. This book is positively BURSTING with cliche teenage plot twists. Light spoilers ahead... There is a character that finds out he/she is adopted, a character who's parents get a divorce, a character who's parent died of cancer, a character who's mother goes into labor, TWO characters that have their significant others forced to move away, a character that is accidentally scheduled to do two important things at the same time and must choose, etc. Any one of these plot points would be enough for a single book, but in this book, a major cliche plot twist happens every two chapters! It is far, far, far too much for one book. Towards the end, it became comical to me how many plot twists (each stolen directly out of TV teen dramas) occur. Almost all of them resolve in the most stereotypical way possible, leaving no original plot points of any kind. Even the outcome of the band competition was stale. It resolved the way ALL similar plot lines have resolved in popular media since the late 90s.

I will also mention that this book is actually a lot more about SPORTS than music. This was the biggest disappointment for me. Sports are the meat of the story, and music is like the side dish or dessert. The title is misleading to say the least. Given the author's good grasp of the thoughts and feelings of her characters, I think maybe she should spend time really working on developing ORIGINAL plot twists, and maybe only focus on one or two per story.

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