Sarah Cramerini

Engrossing story with classy polyandry

Revisado: 11-24-24

I read these this summer and I must say that the performance is superior to my inner monolog . There were a few places where it was clear that the production had to re-record a portion and it sounded like they were in an all tile bathroom. Additionally there were a few spots where it was just plain reading and not a "performance", but those minor details do not take away from the story or the overall performance. She did a great job.

The story has a few twists, turns, words, and actions that leave me befuddled. Without any spoilers, I'll say that some simple solutions are overlooked. Why can't she just get her GED or take classes online? I know that takes away from all the high school drama, but c'mon. If she's open enough to have 4 partners polyandry style, she ought to be open to taking classes online. I also think that it would have been nice to get some background on the guys. More character building. Yes they are upstanding wonderful men who have real problems and real positives, but don't they have friends or other hobbies? Superhero movies can't be that which she hangs all her hats on...right? Lastly for the next series, enough with "laboriously". Thesaurus, thesaurus, thesaurus (I had to look up the spelling) please use one. There are so many words for laboring extra hard. When you hear a phrase over and over it sticks out way more than reading so it was mildly irritating. All and all it's a good series and this production has proven that audiobooks are more than just words read out loud.

TL;DR

Good book, needs character building, simple solutions to problems ignored, over use of a few words. Worth the credit.

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Great potential, but no character development.

Revisado: 10-09-24

The story is one that could have been amazing, but it didn't quite hit the mark. I will say if you choose to listen to the entire series there are two things that could be hit or miss. 1.) There are monologues. Lots of them. They replace character conversation and they go on forever. If someone is asked a question the thought process to answer is so long that I can often hit fast forward my button set at 15 seconds twice. It's really just the other side of thoughtful going into unnecessarily annoying. That fact plays into the second issue. The mate bond thing is insta love which is cool, but that instant bond is applied to everything and it makes zero sense. The FMC has 1 relatively short conversation with someone and now they are friends she's going to do anything she can for them as they are her best friends....wha? The monologues will mention things like I've never seen them act this way in their life. Well of course you haven't, it's been a month for crying out loud. So, if you can suspend reality for the sake of reading, it's a decent story. There was a ton of time and space in the 5 very short books to develop the characters. If that had been done this would be an amazing story.

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Warning: Narrator's performance may cause whiplash

Revisado: 09-08-24

There is a short review below this just saying that I do like the books and there are some things I'd change. With that - What in the world is wrong with this voice actress?!?!?! When she's doing one of guy's voices or just other characters her voice is smooth, the performance is excellent. When she's Sang it's so bad I end up skipping the audio and going to kindle. She makes Sang sound like a pouty brat that's leaning to a loss of IQ points. I seriously don't understand how her Carolina accent and male characters are so amazing and the FMC is just awful. I do hope that with the newest books (15-17) she changes this way of making Sang sound nothing like what someone with her past would speak. Yes the dialog is the same as the book, but how she says it just seems so far off from the intent. Clearly that's and opinion, but it annoying enough to me and become more pronounced as the series continues that I needed to review the performance more than the book. She's got me wondering if I'm the one losing IQ points. Oh, and Silas now sounds Russian so that's weird, but it's still better than Sang sounding clipped and some sort of uptalking hard stop at the end of each statement. It's just odd.

As for the book itself - By this time I'm at book 10 so it's pretty clear I like the books. I do think the author needs to follow through with some of the events that seem big at the time and then are dropped and never mentioned again. The characters are awesome, but some of their traits are contrary to what their current personalities are portrayed, I'm willing to overlook it just because I love them. For instance, the first 5 guys have been with the Academy since they were kids and yet their maturity levels don't match that of kids raised in a organization that depends on people completing important tasks. Luke may be able to pick anything off of anyone and get entry into any building, but his judgment is severely lacking (skunk from the last book). No one is perfect, but there has to be some accounting for the disparity. I do hope as the series continues that Sang's time with each guy will be a bit more even and there will be more of a focus on each relationship and how it builds. Finding out what the problem is at the school, and dealing with the stalker keeps the action going, but is this a romance as well. There are 3 books yet to release (15,16,17) so my hopes are obviously for the new ones. The last thing - Sang needs to stop saying I don't know what that means, or what do you mean, it's absurd. She's supposed to be really smart, so ask some real questions and stop with the I don't knows.

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Frustrating but worth it

Revisado: 09-04-24

So if you've gotten to this point in the series I'm offering a few things which I want to mention. For starters the narrator is sounding different. When she's doing Sang's voice it's so robotic, and the worst acting pretty much ever. What's weird is that when she's doing any other character she sounds great. It's so confusing. I almost opted for my kindle edition, but stuck it out.
Second I understand that Sang is naive, recovering from abuse and ignorant to so many things, but the amount of self doubt, dependence on the guys played out in her inner monologs can be overwhelming. Not to mention her inability to literally say anything at all. It's infuriating. The story is worth it though.

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Living vicariously

Revisado: 08-14-24

I ended up really liking this listen after stopping twice out of frustration. The first few sexual encounters coupled with Lilith's grief mantra had me pressing the pause button so hard wishing I had an old school phone to slam down. Still I pushed through and feel like I found something of a gem. I will say the "my daddy is dead" mantra made me feel angry and gross with Lilith instead of sympathetic. It could have been the female narrator, but my guess is that it was both. I enjoyed the slow build of characters because truthfully that's how we get to know people - glimpses that eventually become pictures. As the story continues it was very easy to see where it was going and what would happen. It was entertaining to live vicariously through Lilith and sometimes you need a story that is pretty easy to see and relax into... this is that sort of story.
The male narrator was fantastic and I avoid books read by men. He could read me a pamphlet on tires and I'd listen. As for the female narrator, she has a habit of ending the last sentence in a chapter like it's a random sentence in a random chapter. Slightly on an up tone maybe? Like there was more, but she just stopped. It just doesn't sound like a closing of one section. She's read other books for the author before and has a nice voice, and truthfully if it were a story sans sex I'd be happy to listen 4.5 stars. The sex scenes end up choppy and that slight up tone isn't sexy at all, more like having to read in front of the class, but a class you love. I can't wait to listen to the next.

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Soup Sandwich Mess

Revisado: 08-07-24

Seriously where do I start? I'm going to just go in as I only have one positive thing to say about the book. The hike that the MFC takes with her roomie and the guys is really really neat.
The rest...well the narrators clearly have never listened to each other. The female does a south Texas accent and the male apparently is from Savannah GA.. It's so noticeable I was drawn out every other chapter with that issue only to be disappointed that the female narrator was speaking her nearly mechanical voice the next. It was really a head jerking experience.
Next the writing and story...the plot had potential, but the writing was at a high school level. The characters were totally undeveloped and the word building was lacking so it's confounding she's all of the sudden in a committed to a RH romance. Oooookay. The guys act so odd I don't think you could convince me to be in the same room with them, but again the MFC is all in. One character did seem special needs which is OK, but not for a RH story with poorly written sex scenes. Oh boy the sex was weird and not good weird. Time with the professor creeped me out. Through all of that mess the story gets lost and this group in the RH are trusting the MFC AND her roommate. Overall it's hard to understand why the MFC is being attacked and why she has to hide her magic. It's explained, but not in a way that makes sense with a college girl free from oppression in Colorado no less (I'm a first nations native) and an outspoken awesome roomie.
I think the fact it's in the plus catalog and my love of another RH 4 part series in Colorado I gave this a chance. I made myself listen to the entire book and not only do I regret it, I thought about all the things I could have done in those 7+ hours. Read/listen at your own risk because you'll be giving up the equivalent of a good night's sleep.

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True Bully Story 3.5

Revisado: 08-04-24

Possible spoilers after asterisks.

Let me start by saying that I literally yelled JFC out lout at 1:30 in the morning at the ending. It's a true bully story that had me in tears several times without any physical abuse. Even so I was sucked in and listened to it in one marathon. It's not the best story ever, but it is decent. I appreciate the flow of the story, some of the characters, and the portrayal of what it's like to have a horrible parent. That said the siblings characters and personalities were simply lacking. There was no insight into them as people outside of being mean, rude, or passive. Some of the choices made by every character baffled me and were contradictory. The women in the story are supposed to be strong in character and yet they either let people walk all over them or they behave so poorly you'd think they were truly feral prior to their adoption. It's true that the rich can be very rude (years of firsthand experience here) but what's offered as rudeness is more like a sociopathic tantrum. I am starting the second book and I'm excited to have found a series that is better than 60% of reverse harem books. I hope there is more character development that makes sense and some punishment for the abuse served up. Sorry wouldn't begin to cover the bullying.
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The fact that the siblings used the "your mom's a whore" trope makes zero sense. I would guess all of their moms were crossed off the "Sorta OK Parent" award for the past decade. Also the lack of Harlow fighting back and letting others speak for her yet she's a strong woman willing to put up with anything because she's tough as nails does not compute. She says she won't stand for abuse and yet she's being abused - badly. Plus I didn't understand why Nana or anyone else on Harlow's side never scolded the siblings in the same room as her when they were passive aggressive, or really at all until they did unforgiveable things. Also how come the bedroom door doesn't already have a lock on it or why not ask for one the very night someone walked right in...as a kid whose mom was shady you'd think Harlow wouldn't be able to sleep in the house without a lock.

Last - if someone sexually assaults you and your body finds pleasure that DOES NOT EVER EVER EVER EVER negate the assault. This is fantasy and I'm down to look past it, but please never take the example in the book for anything other than a made up story.

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Living vicariously through magical hot people

Revisado: 07-11-24

Most reverse harem stories have the romance portion of the story, they all get together and then fight the apocalypse. I hate that and stop listening around book 4 or 5 for most series. This wonderful series is the story of falling in love told over a month's time with drama, but the bigger focus was the romance. The characters are fun, the story is interesting, and honestly I couldn't stop listening. I go so caught up I didn't realize I stayed up until 4 in the morning one night. It really is stranger's drama with some great sex that isn't unrealistically frequent or weird AF for 18 year olds to even attempt. I am sad that there isn't a 5th book focusing on Cricket and her bandwagon of awesomeness.

I do have some critiques though, for starters the time line of the story is so far off from any known timetable used by humans. Either August is 9 weeks long or July is 13 weeks but still just 4 weeks at the same time. I don't think the author understands the calendar of high school and college start dates coupled with their self imposed dates for Cricket's birthday. Oddly enough they knew the Colorado school system well (I'm a native). There were even hints about the DU hockey program and yet missed things like we say college not university or that colleges start fall semester a couple of weeks at least before any school starts the year. The time line did pull me out of the story, but the rest was so fun that I suspended reality. I also had a hard time with the "I am so lucky I am so loved and I love them so much which also makes me lucky because they love me..." and on and on and on or discussion about polyamory. Uh hi, we're on board if we're reading about it through 4 books. This series could have been 3 books and things could have sped up without the inner soliloquies, dropping things that happened which seemed important but were never touched on again or . I don't know if some of the dropped issues were because a book 5 was expected or not, but there are sinkholes. Last, a warning to people who get embarrassed on behalf of others - it happens a lot. Holy Gladys Presley mother of Elvis I had to skip ahead a few times because I just couldn't take it. Mildred... Overall I laughed loudly or hollered out WHAAAAT so many times my family thought I was in crisis which is the perfect sort of fiction that lets you live someone else's life for a while.
Oh and the male narrator improved over the 4 books, he still says baby like Butthead from Beavis and Butthead. heh heh heh

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Excellent Listen

Revisado: 07-09-24

My review is simple - just a great listen. Multifaceted characters, great word building, great story that's not one apocalyptic tragedy after another, quality narration, and multiple view points. It's a 4 book slow burn and could be 3 bigger books. This is how poly relationships are when handled maturely and with love.

My 2 critiques are, first the time line is absolutely impossible and nonsensical but doesn't take away so much that I wouldn't recommend. I am a Colorado native and I love the backdrop, but school which is almost all block schedule (point to author) doesn't start in July OR August isn't 7 weeks long. Second, the male narrator kinda pulls me out of the story at times. He says baby like Butthead from Beavis and Butthead...I laughed for a few minutes the first time. He also makes Hollis sound developmentally challenged at times. He speaks very slow and deep like it's a cognitive thing (maybe just me because I have experience). He's not bad, but this would be 5 stars across the board had the male narrator used his Theo voice style more.

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Unexpected

Revisado: 06-13-21

So I really stumbled over this and a few chapters into book 1 I was hooked. I really love the characters and by the middle of book one I was invested... do much do that the performance which would turn me away from almost any book didn't matter. My issue could have been production though. There were times that he'd be talking and Isaac and from one sentence to the next he went from a teen in a post apocalyptic war to a very old man who drinks black coffee, smokes brown More cigarettes, and it's on the in the throes of a 3rd battle with bronchitis. That said, he has a nice voice, but Luke sounds like he's a regular at Rincon Point and doesn't like groms or your moms.
Bottom line, I feel like there could be some loose ends tied up, and some of it seems rushed, but I love the characters so much. I even have an idea what Isaac and Indigo look like. It's definitely worth the try.

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