Alana Lee Rock

prefer original narration

Revisado: 08-26-21

as much as I love Wil Wheaton, I much prefer the original narration. not bad, just not the best

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Underwhelming

Revisado: 03-05-20

I am an absolute fan of the pairing of Molly Harper and Amanda Ronconi narration overall... but I must admit this book just left me with feelings of *meh* The story line was not as detailed, the characters were not as fleshed out, and the ending just kinda felt called-in and lacking. Performance was good but narrators can only get you so far. Ambivalent about continuing this series.

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Adore this Series in Print & Now Audio!

Revisado: 04-09-17

This series holds a special place in my heart. Princess Bride references, nerdy little tidbits, urban fantasy, fun characters, even the slightly after-school special teen drama beginning - it speaks to everything I enjoy in books. I am smitten. This is a fun read that left me aching for the sequel. Sweet Blood of Mine is fantastic for adults and young adults alike!

As for the narrator, as I specified in the review title, I first fell in love in print so I had pretty firm inner voices for characters in my head. The narrator did a fine job - probably even deserves the full five stars... but his voices don't always match what my brain expectes to hear. Not his fault, my weird brain is totally to blame in this case. Though as I listen to more audio books in the Overworld Chronicles series I hope I can clear out my inner voices to fully enjoy the narration.

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Amazing Ending of a Great Trilogy -EPIC

Revisado: 02-23-16

Epic. It's got everything: love, loss, death, war, laughter, bravery, surprises, space, planets, moons... it's just pure brillance. From the writing to the narration, it is just all this seamless machine that works together to knock my socks clear off my feet (this is a good thing).

I am just dumnfounded by how great this series was (though keeping track of some of those names was quite the challenge.) Seriously, I would recommend this to anyone and everyone (well, not children, as it's not a full-on children's book) because I can't see this series (and this final book in the trilogy) not appealing to everyone. It's got something for everyone and I'm still struck by how amazing it was.

Just DO IT. Seriously. EPIC.

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Fun Accents, Romantic Suspense, Geeks, and Europe

Revisado: 07-29-15

Alrighty, I think I should do a quick disclaimer here- originally I read this eBook in exchange for a honest review in 2012. BUT - this is the audiobook, which I did NOT get for free. So this is a cat of a different color.

First off - props need to be given to the narrator. Just a touch of Irish brogue and an overall delicious accent and he didn't even half bad with the female voices. Probably the one main issue I had was it being a little odd a few times when an 'American' character would be speaking but I still was hearing Irish brogue.

Secondly - I like that the characters are flawed. You've got Cassandra: ex-CIA, stubborn, tenacious, and emotionally frigid. She totally makes mistakes but it's an endearing quality (for me at least.) And Trevor... lovely, geeky, Irish brogue NSA agent with hidden skeletons in his closet and a computer named Jack. He's the 'McHotpants' version of your average computer geek, but I'm not complaining about that at all. Though it all takes place over the time frame of a few weeks, the relationship development I thought was very realistic.

Why, you may ask, am I only giving this 4 stars instead of 5? It's a two part answer here... repetition - which I hadn't noticed as much in eBook form, but hearing it spoken in my ear really highlighted it. It's not a huge thing, just a minor irritation at times that make me want to quickly wave my hand in a movement of, "Yeah, yeah, we got that bit already - move on!" Even the high action scenes were almost so eager to give both sides of the events that I'd hear about the exact same action from two POV back-to-back, it seemed. Again, I really must stress how minor this was, but I had to mention it. Second part (I mentioned it was a two part answer) that was somewhat lacking for me was the descriptiveness of the various European locales. There are times where we get wondrous description (Monte Carlo comes to mind) but they spent at least a week or two in Paris and I never really felt I got a 'flavor' of the location in the writing. I must again stress how this is a 'small fries' issue in relation to the greater happy meal of the book. It just bothered me enough to drop a star.

Overall, if you're a fan of romantic suspense/thriller with some geeky overtones and a variety of locales, then I'd recommend giving this a try. I know I'm putting other books in this series on my TBR list and will happily continue.

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Sweet and Sassy Second Book ~ Just Plain Fun

Revisado: 12-01-14

I don't know if it was just because of my love of the narrator Amanda Ronconi, or what... but I was a little on the fence after book 1. No longer. It's fun, it's funny, it's sassy, and has a fabulous narrator. Is is great, deep thought literature? Hell to the no. Is it entertaining and worth the purchase and listen? Hell yes.

My main caveat, or issue, or whatever you want to call it... Gabriel just hasn't crawled into my pants, er, heart yet. I'm just not sold on Mr. Tall, Dark, and Undead. I like Dick Cheney better, and that's REALLY saying something. Having read the Half Moon Hollow series, I was a little 'spoiled' on future events... but since these are really just meant to be fun read, I'm not too broken up about it. In fact, I almost have the urge to re-read (re-listen) to a few of those titles, so that basically a non-issue.

Overall, I will most definitely continue, if nothing else than to just find out about this Janine character (that's one spoiler I either don't know, or don't remember.) I like Jane. Though I'd like to kick her sister in her lily white behind.

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Oddly Named Must-Have if You're a Fan

Revisado: 12-01-14

Hmm... well, if you're a fan of Veronica Mars, this is a slam-dunk. Especially in audio with Kristen Bell narrating... oh, yeah (damn skippy if she hadn't narrated I likely wouldn't have purchased the book.) I must also say, it fits really well in the 'Veronica Mars' universe. It's not like there are characters acting way out of their 'norm' or anything like that; it was comfortable without being boring.

One thing that must be said... in terms of 'romance' it was on the lacking side. Great mystery, great snark, great Veronica... but very little to no romance. That's my sore point in regards to the reading experience. Also, though this totally goes against my usual M.O. and opinion, I like the 'screen' version better. I spent the entire book pretty much imagining what it would look like on TV, and really I think given a choice I'd prefer to still see it there. So, the book is not as good, IMO, but like I said this really goes against my normal preferce and opinion.

If you're a fan, it's a Must-Have, Must-Read. If you're not... why are you even looking at this review, you silly person!

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Dark Dystopian that Doesn't Suck My Hope for Life

Revisado: 11-12-14

YES! A new dystopian series to sink to teeth into that doesn't suck and doesn't destroy my hope for life. It was 'age appropriate' and not too hormone-ridden but still honest to the ages of the characters, but not so juvenile that I wanted to just smack around the kids and say, "grow up already!"

I feel I should warn readers though, along the lines of The Hunger Games- this is not a happy-go-lucky society. It seems a rather innocuous society at first; 'revitalizing' war-ravaged and fallout areas in the nation, limited technology for 'daily' use but knowledge of technology wasn't foreign, and they even had a coveted University for the chosen few students. Seems on the up-and-up and not sinister at all... that is, until Cia is chosen to BE one of those University candidates.

Enter the dark underbelly of their society, and the testing. It is NOT to be missed if you are a dystopian fan!

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Sweet Feel-Good M/M Romance with a Southern Drawl

Revisado: 10-10-14

It really deserves that extra ½♥. Really mello but still touching and hot m/m romance. Pride can be such a tricky bitch, keeping those lovers apart. It was an easy read over an afternoon, and really sweet.

The narrator has a lovely Southern drawl that was very appealing and easy on the ears. I thought he was a wonderful choice for Webber. Being from the South, I must say it worked well for me; I found it believable and more than comfortable to listen to. Like a tall glass of sweet iced tea on a hot day- only for my ears. OK, that's kind of a strange analogy, isn't it?

The only thing I wanted a little more of, and this may seem odd... but adversity. I suppose it's part of Webber's draw is that he can charm the pants of anyone... well, sort of, but there was a shit ton of acceptance going on. I hope that the world is filled with such loving, open-minded people out there, but deep down I found that hard to really believe that. But then again- this is fiction, suspension of disbelief and all that. It flirted with almost being 'too much' acceptance, but never quite crossed that line (it toed it, though).

This will most definitely be a re-read, it was just too easy to suck it down in a single afternoon.

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Not Bad ~ But Smokes More than Burns

Revisado: 10-10-14

I was having a really hard time rating this one...

About the only thing that gets 5♥s - the description of Rothko Chapel. Anyone that has been there and not appreciated the swirling complexity of the paintings and the lovely serenity and spiritual feeling the space imparts: you're missing out and my soul weeps for you.

But, beyond that and the metions of the humid air and maybe Buffalo Bayou- I wasn't as jazzed about reading about my old stomping ground. I thought, for some reason, that being set in Houston it might influence me to like it more... No. I instead felt somewhat frustrated. Driving anywhere seems to take forever and a day. Granted -creative license, and who wants to read about traffic and all that - but I just didn't get a nostalgic and really spot-on peek into Houston to relate to the story in that fashion.

The characters... now this is approaching more of a personal thing for me. I just felt that "Bea" ... *uugghhh* on one hand, there were MANY things I have in 'common' with her. I've tried to follow that rule, "If you don't have anything nice to say don't say anything at all." *crickets chirping* And there were some swoony elements of Gio... I guess I just found myself more interested in the side characters. Her grandma- she freakin' rocks (where can I find a grandma like that?). The fashion-challenged vampire priest. Oh, yes, I'd have a barrel of laughs around him. But 'Gio' and "Bea"... honestly, their 'non-relationship' had me bored most of the time. *Yawn*

One more thing: the ending. It's not a HEA, it's not even really a HFN. It's not a 'bad' ending, and not even a cliffhanger. It just kind of fizzled out in this unknown future void. Not bad, not good - just is. Where is the passion? Where is the burning desire to continue the series? Where is ... I don't know - just something that seems more like a real ending? It's like the different between songs that have a solid end, last note, no question- the song ends here versus those songs that just fade away into nothing still playing the chords over and over... Even in a series, I prefer books not to just fizzle out.

Do I want to continue the series? Yes. Will I pick the next book in the series up today, this month, or maybe even this year? Probably not. I'm not in any great hurry to continue, but I eventually will. Rolling all of these points into one rating... I'm going to have to go with 3½♥'s. I'm rounding up to 4... but even that was a close thing.

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