Sherre

Good ending to the story arc

Revisado: 02-15-24

I had no clue the arc was ending here (though there are going to be more books. There were some unbelievable bits but in general I thoroughly enjoyed this one. Sure the characters did some dumb stuff, and things were wrapped up a little too neatly, but it was still quite good.

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Listen to the review about the narrator

Revisado: 11-15-22

So I probably would have liked this book more if not for the narrator. I saw all the reviews about the narrator prior to getting the book, but I assumed it wouldn’t be that big a deal. Most of the time I’m not too picky. In this case, I hated every second of it. The narrator made everything overly dramatic, and had weird pauses unnecessarily. Beyond that, she made the male MC sound overly growly during every smut scene, which was annoying. She also didn’t do a good job of differentiating each character, so I could rarely discern who was saying what. I will not listen to any more of this series if they use this narrator. The book itself wasn’t too bad, though also a bit dramatic.

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Adorable

Revisado: 06-03-22

I saw so many bad reviews for this book, and while it definitely pissed me off, I think that's the sign of a good book. Sure there are things I don't believe and that are so unrealistic as to be absurd, but I want a book to get away from reality. I didn't like certain things, the cursing/non-cursing idioms specifically. Some of the characters pissed me off at times (Jamie is hard to like and sooo frustrating I just wanted to slap her across the face) but that's just the sign that these characters are so fully realized that could even imagine doing so. I liked this book. I probably wouldn't reread, but that's because this book is like the cricket mint chocolate chip ice-cream Siri ate, fun until to enjoy once, an experience you'll remember, but not something you need to keep trying. This book is the perfect example of the snowball relationships Jamie describes. I enjoyed it, and now I'll move on remembering the great experience and happy knowing my relationship with my sister and parents is not nearly as terrible a shit show as Jamie and Siri.

Side note: the audiobook narration is great!

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Female Narration made the book worse

Revisado: 02-02-22

The male narrator was great, as usual, but the female made the already whiny “woe is me” MC even more depressing. I couldn’t take her constant internal belittling. I couldn’t take the hero’s inability to speak up for himself. This book took the miscommunication trope and shot it with steroids. No one learns anything. This didn’t feel like a whole book. It felt like the beginning of a book that got split in 3 parts in order to make people pay for 3 books. No thanks. I refuse to read the next books which will undoubtedly be more depressing and whiny and the more of the same.

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I think I'm too old for this

Revisado: 12-21-21

I think I'm too old for this book.

I'm 32, and I don't know how old Rue is, but tbh I think I'm too far outside the age range for this book to actually like it. In full disclosure, I didn't completely finish this book, but I got more than halfway through it and I've decided to mark it as read (so sue me, I never do this, and i've decided I'm doing it today)

The dialogue is not my favorite. It feels like someone tried to use AAVE (African-American Vernacular English) and has no clue how we actually speak. It's so overdone and feels cheesy and almost mocking of the way we speak. (Ranty side note: I have never heard someone verbally use "af" before, in the context of "mad/happy/angry af". You say it all, curse word and all. Every time I saw it, I cringed.)

Rue is also not my favorite. She doesn't know when to just shut up and pay attention, she's rude, and feels like every annoying TSTL character I've read.

Why'd I give this 3 stars you ask? Well, the storyline is pretty good, and were I younger I'd eat this up (minus the unbelievable dialogue). As an adult, and a mother, Rue's personality pisses me off, but I don't think I'd feel the same if I were younger. I could tell the author took care to create this world and to address real world issues at the same time. I could see where the story was going and, while I couldn't get past my issues with the dialogue to continue, I could see it being a good book otherwise.

I also think that what lead me to dislike this audio was Bahni Turpin's narration. There was something I just couldn't connect with and seemed stilted.

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Not for me

Revisado: 03-21-20

I DNF’d this one with about 2 hours left of listening time (maybe 85% through?) and couldn’t bear to waste any more time on it. It typically takes me a couple days to finish an audiobook, but this one tool me over a week (even with quarantine). I like smut, but this was a bit overboard and seemed to be going for a shock factor, instead of titillation. I also didn’t like the random out of left field discussions about sex. There was no build up, tons of insta love, and had so much gratuitous sex and discussions of sex that I couldn’t take any more. Don’t get me wrong, I love a good m/m scene, but this was not at all tastefully done and made me cringe in pain quite often. I’m done torturing myself...

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esto le resultó útil a 1 persona

Fun and quick

Revisado: 11-12-18

Okay this book was awesome. Definitely something that made me think and plays around with virtual reality. I thoroughly loved the MC and all the characters. There was one aspect that was predictable but it was otherwise a wild ride. #virtualreality #mindbending #tagsgiving #sweepstakes

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Unlike anything else out there

Revisado: 03-20-18

Would you consider the audio edition of Children of Blood and Bone to be better than the print version?

It's not terrible, but I do wish I read the physical book instead of listening to the audio version.

What three words best describe Bahni Turpin’s performance?

The narrator talks pretty slow, has a tendency to yell for particularly intense scenes, and doesn't quite appropriately differentiate between emotions for those yelling intense scenes. She overacts a bit too, and it takes you out of the story.

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

This book dealt with the common fantasy tropes: princesses and princes, magic, warriors, a ruthless king, oppression, and prejudice, yet it did so in a way that was so like our world that at times I wanted to cry. Once it got going I loved this book.

Any additional comments?

First of all, this cover, both in digital format, and in the physical book format, is absolutely gorgeous.

I wish I hadn't seen the hype surrounding this book before I read it. It gave me false expectations of perfection. That being said, though this book wasn't perfect, and though the characters weren't perfect, the book still touched me unlike any other book.

I rarely see books in my favorite genres with characters of color, and when I do, they're either feeding into the stereotype that all blacks speak a certain type of slang, or have drug dealing friends, or whatever, or it's an indie book that's so thrown together that I DNF it before I can even give it a true chance. This one not only had characters of color, its MC was a black girl, and most of the side characters too. (I say most, because it's possible that some were other races as well, it's hard to tell the exact races of everyone and I loved that...)

At the beginning, I was hindered by the hype. I wanted things to get going already. I wanted to hit the ground running, and I didn't get that. This book slowly built the world, and then, right when I thought, "get on with it already," it took off. The book wasn't without an annoying MC who doubted herself, and who made me want to tell her to stop feeling sorry for herself and just try, but that's life. I think she annoyed me because she reminded me of myself, backing out before I even give myself a chance to go forward because I wonder if I will fail. This book wasn't without characters who began the story weak and childish and scared. Characters who had qualities I abhor, and yet at the end, they (most of them) were better for the journey they were on. That's the platform of a good story arc.

If you want a fantasy story that's unlike anything else you'll read, and yet interwoven with the fibers of fantasy that you love so much, I'd suggest reading this one.

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Awesome book, interesting narration

Revisado: 09-29-17

The book was good, and right on par with Halle’s early works in EIT. I loved the story. The narrator though, she wasn’t terrible. She had great pacing, but some volume problems. It’s like she would go from speaking in a normal voice to whispering in the next. It was just this side of annoying, especially when I rode on the DC metro, and had my headphones turned up all the way, and couldn’t hear her whispery bits. It’s like she would start the sentence and slowly fade away, her own personal echo. Still, the book was good, and were it not for the narrator volume changes, the narration would have been perfect

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esto le resultó útil a 6 personas

Good, though it requires some suspension of belief

Revisado: 09-12-15

Is there anything you would change about this book?

I would definitely make it more believable

What could Shayla Black and Shelley Bradley have done to make this a more enjoyable book for you?

Make the character less desperate, and the premise more believable

Which character – as performed by Cindy Harden – was your favorite?

Lauren's sister. She was so honest and made the most sense.

Any additional comments?

Naughty Little Secret was a book filled with secrets and heartache. It was a book that, once you suspended belief a bit, was quite interesting and ridiculously sexy.

The Story: This story follows Lauren Southall, a divorcee' who is broken hearted, afraid of love, and completely jaded. She's also inappropriately interested in her boss/ex-husband's friend, Noah Reeves. What she doesn't know is that Noah is inappropriately interested in her too. Two years passes after her divorce, and Noah has a plan to win her heart. Unfortunately, everything doesn't always work out as planned. What ensues is an intense story that's at times frustrating and other times exciting.

The Narration: Cindy Harden was a good narrator. At the beginning, her voice seemed a bit too breathless, but eventually I got used to it and settled in. She did a great job with the narration of the story and made sure we felt the correct emotions. I didn't quite like the male voices she made at times, but I could deal with them. I know from personal experience that I can really only make one male voice, so I felt okay with the few that she made.

The Verdict: I give this one 3 stars. While I thought the story was beyond hot, I just couldn't connect with the characters, and the story itself required a bit too much suspension of belief. I just can't put myself in her position no matter how hard I try. In the beginning, Lauren seems way too desperate for affection from anyone with a male appendage, and at the same time as the story progresses she's too guarded, and seems to make stupid decisions. Beyond that, she had no confidence in herself, no confidence in others, and just basically no confidence at all. Noah's plan to woo her was an idiotic one, and I could see the writing on the wall at first mention of it. In addition, once everything was revealed, it took too much (in my opinion) to wrap things all up. Still, Shayla Black knows how to write a sexy scene, and the story itself wasn't bad. I really enjoyed it despite my misgivings about the characters. I would recommend this one to those who like erotica that requires a significant amount of belief suspension, but that fully involves a taboo fantasy many would never admit to having.

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