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Narrator is the problem

Revisado: 03-19-25

This was hard to get through. Mainly because the narrator reads like she’s reading a children’s book to a group of kindergarteners. There may be a Fredrick Backman quality story in there somewhere but I couldn’t get past the narration long enough to find it.

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This is NOT the same story

Revisado: 06-25-23

I love Suanne Laqueur and this is my absolute favorite book by her. I've read it so many times, I've lost count. So trust me when I say I noticed every single change they made between the book and the audiobook and I am infuriated about it. Not just because they made changes but because they made BAD changes. And unnecessary changes. They didn't just brush over details to save time or make practical changes for the benefit of the audiobook. They altered entire scenes, characters, and conversations. For no discernible reason. Large parts of this audiobook don't even align with Laqueur's writing style. Nothing will convince me she was responsible for this. It's like when a book you loved gets optioned for TV and the show writers don't really care much about the story itself and are more focused on making a quick buck off of cheap drama. They didn't even bother to make the changes consistent. Sometimes a scene or conversation is altered but those alterations aren't reflected downstream in the story. So you have this weird disconnect like you're playing a game of Telephone. There's one scene in the chapter Hablame where they awkwardly edited an exchange between Geno and Steph. Geno (in a very un-Geno like fashion) is begging Steph to let him go home with Jav instead of going back to EP. Steph says okay. But in the next paragraph, Geno is confused when Jav takes him home instead of back to EP. Because no one checked to see if the conversation they altered unnecessarily, had an impact on what followed. Geno's confusion makes sense in the book and it's all on par with the moment and his state of mind at the time. But after all the alterations to the exchange in the audiobook, it just looks like lazy writing. Several powerful moments (like the chapter mentioned above) were stripped of their gravity or were just made awkward with extended exchanges and the addition of extra explanations. Any inferring or reading between the lines (however simple or obvious) required by the reader was removed, as if audiobook readers are the dumb readers and we need a little extra push to understand. The deep connections between different characters in the story are made shallow and the overall message of this story is diluted . I'm so SO disappointed. I don't know why the story was rewritten for the audiobook version or why the writing was made so unworthy of Laqueur but I want my money back. If you are reading this and have never read the original version of this story, please believe me when I say this is not it.

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Irritating narrator

Revisado: 03-05-21

The narrator makes this painful to get through. He has an annoying cadence. Like a cartoon flight attendant. Or like he’s giving a museum tour. It’s beyond annoying. If we would just read the book instead of whatever he thinks he’s doing, this would be a much better listen.

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Ugh

Revisado: 12-16-20

I can’t even finish. Soap opera drama with incredibly one dimensional characters. This one is going back

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Goodness I miss Jeff Woodman so much

Revisado: 10-22-20

I would literally pay Jeff Woodman out of my own pockets to get him to read the last 2 books in this series for me. And this isn’t an insult to Steve West. He’s great generally. He’s just so wrong for this. And I don’t even have the words to express why. Megan Whalen Turner has a gift for subtly and nuance and it is so important to the personality of this series and a HUGE part of what makes it so unique. Steve West, despite all of his talent, is just not good at portraying that. And the lack of it changes the whole personality of the characters and the story itself.
It’s clear the publishers wanted to rebrand this series and give it a different identity and that they did. But it feels like we’re being cheated in a way. Because there’s so much more we should be getting out of these stories. Turner is such a remarkable writer and it saddens me that the narration doesn’t do it justice. West was probably chosen because he has the prettier more regal sounding voice but that’s not this series at all. Or at least not on the surface. If you’re reading this and you’ve never heard Jeff Woodman read this series, go to your library and find his versions. (They’re not for sale anywhere. It’s like they want us to forget it ever happened) Unfortunately he only narrated the first 4 books in the series but you’ll see what I (or we because I’m not the only reviewer to say this) mean. Ive listened to each of those books a dozen times a piece and they get better every time I listen. If Steve West’s narration makes this a 5 star series then it’s 10 stars with Jeff Woodman. That’s how incredible Turner’s writing is. I’m so sad to see this series come to a close. It is hands down my most favorite series ever. Just please please please, If it is in anyone’s power to get Jeff Woodman on these last two books to finish the series.... I’m begging.

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Terrible narrator

Revisado: 06-15-20

I’ve read this series a few times but this is my first time listening to the audiobooks. The narrator ruined the story. It’s painful to get through. He reads dialogue stilted with awkward pauses. It’s as if he believes Amish is a sort of mental disorder and he tries to make every character speak like they have brain trauma. When he isn’t insulting every character’s speech he’s overly dramatic and just... wrong. Weird, awkward and wrong. It saddens me that this narrator was chosen and allowed to destroy such a good series.

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Terrible

Revisado: 05-19-20

Wow. This book is terrible. Possibly worse than book 1. Emily is one of the most unlikable heroines I’ve read in awhile. She’s immature, whiny, irrational, selfish, dumb (so so dumb) and annoying. The story is written with the logic of a 12 year old. Things either don’t make sense or they’re so unrealistically contrived that it’s embarrassing. I started skimming just to get through. If this wasn’t free in the Escape package, I’d be requesting a refund.

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Terrible writing

Revisado: 02-28-20

This is quite possibly the most (or one of the most) terribly written books I’ve ever read. It’s so bad. All over the place. If it wasn’t for 2 of my favorite narrators I would have given up.

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Waste of potential

Revisado: 03-18-19

This was a sloppy sequel. Rushed and underdeveloped. I’m very disappointed because there was so much great potential here.

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Jeremy York is NOT Franco

Revisado: 04-26-17

What did you love best about Franco?

The story is great from start to finish in typical Kim Holden fashion!

How did the narrator detract from the book?

Franco is every bit the silly, flirty, easy going rock star we've all come to love and Kim captures his personality expertly. This narrator however, sounds like an uncool, middle aged creeper and it completely throws off the entire story. All the fun vibes and playful banter we got from Rook in the previous books are dead. Jeremy York isn't a bad narrator, he's just bad for this book

Any additional comments?

Narration can make or break a story! I highly recommend avoiding the audiobook and reading the kindle or print version instead. The story is amazing, Kim Holden is amazing, Franco is amazing.

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