Kj

A warning about the narration/sound

Revisado: 04-23-20

I'll start off with a review of the book, since I wouldn't have normally written a review for it I don't feel I have a very helpful opinion about the story. It was a pretty alright book, I always rate based on my judgment of a book alongside peers of the same genre(s)/themes/subjects, so out of what I'd expect after reading the summary, it was a generous 4/5. Worth the time spent listening to it, it kept my interest enough that I found myself willing to work longer just so I had an excuse to keep listening.

I hesitated when reading the description due half the main pair being a hockey player, but gave it a shot because a review mentioned it wasn't very hockey-filled. I like a sports romance as much as the next person, but why are so many of them about hockey? It's been done very well enough times that I have good examples to judge every subpar book against, and I don't understand why it seems they're leading themselves to comparisons that cannot be flattering, is this a weird correlation where some hockey romances did well (because they were good) so now everyone who wants to write a sports romance writes one with hockey? Anyway, the other reviewer didn't lead me astray, I think there may have been more story time dedicated to talking about Beau's van than hockey, so it didn't feel like a sports romance much at all.

It was very much focused on characters over plot, as I'd expect given the summary. I didn't feel characters were too flat, even with how many there were. I will agree with the reviewer who mentioned it strained the suspension of disbelief that almost every character in the book is gay, especially given the small southern town they live in, but I've read books that are worse about this.

It had some nice elements of adjusting perspective to change the narratives we have in our heads about people who love us, how we grow up, what we deserve. I wanted to read this as I was craving a family-focused story, and it was, but not quite as much in the way of parenting-and-absorbing-scraps-of-domesticity sort of thing as sort of like it was, Connor is the oldest kid, he's very much their big brother rather than their parent, in my opinion as the eldest kid.

I believe the main pair were both meant to be around thirty (I know Beau was), but they felt younger to me, more in the new-adult stage of life than I would expect people who haven't lived with their parents in more than a decade to be. I'm in my mid-twenties and found it a big odd how their strained/distant relationships with their parents (or in Connor's case, what that relationship had been) and forging an identity were such huge factor in their lives given what was going on.

By which I only mean I think the ages were written to let hockey and the military have been a thing for them rather than for the age they seemed to be, but it wasn't bad. I felt for Connor, as I have some similar feelings about my dad, who I lost suddenly when I was 19. Minor spoilers, when the parent at the softball game was talking about Connor's stepdad and how he'd have been proud of him, how he'd never talked about Connor like he was a mess, was heartbreaking. And Beau and his dad made me tear up a little.

Anyway, it was worthwhile, not in my top domesticity or sports or really any category by any stretch but I'd read more by this author.

Now, the sound, the part I felt I needed to review.

I've listened to over 300 audiobooks and I've listened to enough hours of podcasts to add up yo months, I tend to be fairly well inured to bad sound editing, equipment, or narration style. I don't think I've listened to anything narrated by Chris Chambers previously, and I don't yet know if it was even his doing that the sound experience was not all-together pleasant. I like his voice itself, his southern accent was nice, he has a pretty good range of different character voices, and his narration style wasn't bad at all.

But I nearly stopped listening to this book within the first five minutes because of the loud inhales between every sentence, it was jarring and incredibly distracting. I've never had this problem while listening to a book before, I'm leaning toward blaming either the equipment or editing because I can't imagine he's actually breathing that much louder than any other narrator, right?

Poor audio quality is usually easier to ignore at higher listening speed, and I often don't even notice issues in cases where a healthy third of reviews complain about the sound/narrator, so I was surprised to see no reviews mentioning this when I started it off at 2.35x speed. After feeling like I wasn't able to parse meaning from the English language anymore between each loud breath, I tried reducing it in increments until I was all the way down to 1x speed, and it was still noisy. I tried turning the volume down, it didn't help. Tried using crappy headphones, but the gasp between sentences. Was. Still. There.

To give it the benefit of the doubt, maybe if you enoy listening at normal speed usually, and hadn't first heard the grating cadence of brief soothing speech interrupted by a loud, quick sip of air again and again, it might not be annoying. I borrowed this book for "free" (Audible Escape), so I'm not upset about it, but I would have returned it if I'd paid money. Still listened to the whole thing, still going to give the narrator another try, still felt I should say something about it.

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Enjoyable quick listen, give it a shot

Revisado: 03-08-20

Half of the cast was pretty robotic, it could almost be attributed to the in-character overly-formal way they're forcing themselves to speak, but does come off as bad voice acting for about the first half. I did really enjoy the characters, even with the narration.

The story was funny without it feeling forced, with just enough silliness. A nice, quick sci-fi story without much action or angst, the right amount to give it a bit of depth.

Sci-Fi related:
As a sci fi fan, I respect the quality world building in a story this short. It wasn't revolutionary, but it was very enjoyable. I know it does get on some people's nerves, so beware there are replacement curse words and slang phrases (I actually like this when it's done right. For a well known example of what I'm talking about, see Battlestar Galactica and "frak").

Extra:
I loved the representation of potentially queer characters and that heteronormativity wasn't presumed.

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Goofy, Funny, Lovely

Revisado: 12-14-19

I read about 3/4ths of the Kindle version of this book a while back, and it got to a point where I thought some real angst was about to happen so I paused on reading it an never got back to it (I'm good at that). The audible version came up in my recommendations and I leapt at the chance to finally finish the book.

The good news is, the book really doesn't get angsty! It walks a line of understanding, mixes in so much humor, and while it doesn't take itself too seriously it also doesn't avoid real feeling or internal conflict in order to keep things light. Really well done.

I tend to like Michael Ferraiulo's narration, and he didn't disappoint here. He was perfect for teasing the humor out of each line without making the story read as ridiculous, which can be a fine line in a story with as many silly situations as this one has.

Overall, recommend to anyone looking for something that isn't too doom-and-gloom (especially for a hitman story!).

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Fake Relationship Trope - A Bit Below Average

Revisado: 12-14-19

First, the not-my-taste portion, since I rated it the lowest and if you like it then you might enjoy the experience of this audiobook far more than I did. The worst bit for me was the narration:

I knew going in that I wouldn't love the narration, so I wasn't tricked into it by listening to a sample or anything. Kenneth Obi narrates a lot of books I take an interest in, and each time I see he's the narrator I put the book in my wish list and decide to come back when I'm desperate for any new book, because I know I don't like his narrating style. I have listened to at least five books he's narrated, and I've never liked his style, but a lot of people like him, that's all fine. I found his narration itself less challenging in this book than usual, but his accents were grating. Until the narrative spelled it out, I couldn't place what he was aiming for: "is that supposed to be... British? No wait, that line was more maybe - Australian? Oh, no, it's South Carolinian? ...Bostonian?" and indeed, nearly all of the characters are meant to have a New England accent, apparently. It was incredibly distracting, especially Julian's voice as his kept dipping more southern to me, I was left really wishing the narrator used his normal accent.

Now, to the story:

I have been feeling that trope-craving, seeking out that comfort-blanket warmth of the familiar with just enough difference to hold interest. I always base my ratings off of what could be expected given the summary and the genre, I don't think it's fair to judge every book as if it was aiming to be a deeply thought-provoking, poetic read. That's not even what we want all the time, is it? Sometimes we need the story that just brings us in enough to pull us along with the plot, but not any of the rest. A light popcorn read.

Even so, this book was not great. It wasn't awful by any stretch, but it was on the lower end of what I'd hope for given the fake-dating/fake marrying trope, and I've read pretty extensively from the trope.

I liked some of the side characters for the little glimpses we got, I look for characters who aren't complete copies of genre stereotypes within the trope-y stories, I figure since the plot writes itself to a great extent in these cases then a good author can give us some interesting characters to stand out in the mix. I appreciated that Diego and Sophia, a prior hook up and the potential alternative spouse, were not characterized as awful people, and that though there were few female characters with speaking lines in the story, none were particularly demonized (though we did get the ex-who-is-a-gold-digger).

I also appreciated the element of 'continuous consent is the only consent' that went on, especially given the discussion of what one of the characters had gone through in past. I liked the trust that developed, keeping misunderstandings from being that particularly obnoxious sort that the genre can lean on starting about the 75% through the story.

There was a lot of missed opportunity in this book, so much that was superficially interesting just didn't come together, it felt unpolished. I didn't love either of the main characters, I didn't care much about their relationship, I didn't love the setting, There is something of a side-story about another couple who lived on the island years prior that seemed to take up story time without committing to it in a way that brought the audience in, it felt like a way to keep Julian busy more than anything. It felt a bit like a story of "Caleb is going to have an important job and do things and lead the plot, and then Julian needs to not get in his way, bring the issues, and feel like he has a life here too" rather than actually tying disparate bits of story together and weaving something immersive, intriguing, or heartwarming together.

Some elements of the story also challenged my ability to suspend disbelief, mostly the evil-villain levels and host of people who are not bright enough to see what is happening sorts of characters.

Overall, I won't listen again. I think if you like Kenneth Obi, and are okay with the attempted accent, then this isn't a bad read, but there are better out there. If you want a fake marriage story, I'd give a higher rating to The Husband Gambit by LA Witt, bonus because the amazing Greg Boudreaux is one of the narrators (and Michael Ferraiuolo is the other).

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Surprisingly good, a real plot

Revisado: 09-29-19

(As always, my review is taking the genre into account for how it rates.)

This book was pretty good, it does end on a cliffhanger of sorts, I don't think that's a spoiler given the series title (the mystery isn't yet resolved). I'm definitely intrigued, I feel like I know who did it, but I want it to be someone else for satisfaction's sake. At any rate, a good use of red herring information and clue dropping, it kept me interested.

I appreciated that we got glimpses of the POV characters' lives without the mystery plot being left completely on the wayside. For a first book in a series, it was very nicely balanced between plot, intrigue, and establishing/developing characters. I also thought the author did a great job of filling the book with characters so the story didn't feel insular or superficial, but still let those characters be only side/background characters so the book wasn't overflowing with unnecessary details.

I liked the slower approach to building something between the main characters, though it definitely isn't a slow burn. I hope to like Levi a bit more in the next book, he wasn't a bad character and I did connect to him in some scenes, but compared to Dom I felt he missed a bit of heart.

The narrator was okay, no annoying voices, but not my favorite. As a personal choice issue, I didn't find the voice he chose for Dom fitting at all. I noticed he mispronounced a few more words than seems typical for audiobooks, but it wasn't anything too distracting.

If you liked this book, I'd recommend checking out the Shadow or the Templar series, it is another LEO and consultant series (though completely different set up) that I loved. Hoping this series improves as much each book as that one did.

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it was just alright

Revisado: 09-27-19

I've been on an urban fantasy (and shifter romance??) kick recently, which means I've read a good deal of honestly terrible books along with a few real gems that will make it into my reread cycles. This book belonged to neither group, but judging and rating based on the genre rather than based on books in general I would still sort this one on the lower end.

Mild spoilers in this paragraph: First and biggest complaint, if I hadn't been driving at the time Ihis part started I would have angrily stopped reading. Jordan has an actual argument, and mentions on multiple occasions that he is worried, because he thinks he /turned Duncan gay/. Which is incredibly messed up on multiple levels, I have to assume the author is heterosexual because there seemed to be a deep, offensive well of ignorance at why this whole part is awful to write? Who, as a queer person, has ever thought that they could /turn/ someone gay? And Jordan is supposed to be an adjusted, experienced gay man, who has always been loved and accepted by his parents and his best friend. Why would he have such a toxic view of his own sexual orientation that a man who is interested in him means that that man's future is in jeopardy so he should distance himself to the point of not even listening to Duncan.

Some shorter comments about it: It was cringe inducing at times - cannot believe the word "butt" was used in serious contexts, it surprised a laugh out of me and not in a good way. It had plenty of cliche parts, but it included some small amounts of world building instead of resting solely on established tropes, this was probably my favorite thing about the book (but my usual genre is high fantasy, so I have an abiding love for all things world-building). The story felt rushed at times, and a bit disjointed, perhaps it is setting up the stories for future books so that would make more sense if I did ever want to read another of these books.

The book had way too many male characters with little to distinguish them, or not enough time spent with them to see who they are. At one point in the book Jordan starts calling two new male characters "Thing 1" and "Thing 2" in his head because he can't remember their names. and I wondered if the author was poking fun at herself or if it was a bit of irony. I could easily have named the side characters Thing 1-5, I listened to the book in a day and I'm still pretty sure I mixed up some of the side characters during parts of the story. I did like Jordan's mom, but I wonder if that was partially from her being the only woman to get more than a scene in the book. I think I also liked Blaze, or the version of him that was whatever amalgamation of other characters and his scenes.

The narrator wasn't too bad, he has a pretty good voice and can differentiate characters somewhat. His voice for Jordan's mom sounded like a fairly old lady for the most part, and he often changed tone quickly from one sentence of dialogue to the next, which was offputting. He was accidentally quite funny sometimes as he does have some moments where the author's word choice and his narration choice combined to make something disastrous, but he might not have been really into ready this, I'd probably give him another shot.

Overall, not incredibly impressed, but I did actually make it through the book on a pretty boring day, so it wasn't all bad. There are many, many books I've had to return after listening to twenty minutes of them, so take this review as you see fit.

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Great narration, terrible writing

Revisado: 08-22-19

This narrator is amazing, especially because I assume he was able to continue reading while rolling his eyes every few sentences. He was nearly the only positive thing about listening to this book.

I don't often take time to review books unless I absolutely love them, but I felt duty-bound to try and save people from reading this. To be as generous as possible, others who read much more from this genre might have a higher tolerance for the variety of sappiness/sex that seems like it was written by a teenager, so if you're a truly battle-hardened romance reader and you're finished with all the rest of the books in your wishlist then maybe this would be worth trying (with the knowledge you can return it if you hate it).

As an alternative if you are hoping for a good book in this genre, I really liked All Kinds of Tied Down, which is still even a law enforcement partnership book (I found this while looking for similar books to that one).

If you're on the fence about this one, let me dissuade you, I do still read a lot so I feel more confident saying that this book is filled with universally bad writing qualities. The characters are very superficially developed, even the two main characters, and what does exist feels mostly like cobbled together cliche. The plot had not really gone anywhere by the point I gave up on it 22 chapters in, and I doubt it went anywhere intriguing through the rest of the book. I really tried to give this book a chance to find its feet, but it turned into one of those hate-read books where I wanted to find things to like so I kept going but I was nearly as frustrated with myself for not giving up on the book as I was at the book for being mediocre. I was constantly taken out of the story (that I could barely get into in the first place) by bizarre writing choices like long descriptions of the POV character's room interrupting the action of the scene. There are plenty of great ways to slip in a bit of detail about the surroundings or background for characters without it seeming like a crowbar jammed between paragraphs of a previously-written page, this is the kind of thing I'd expect editing to solve as I can't see it as a valid writing choice.

For the writing in this book, the only thing I liked was a bit of the humor, it did get a smile out of me a couple times. All in all though, pretty bad.

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Not my usual genre, but good

Revisado: 07-20-18

First, I dont see why people are so down on this narrator, I thought the book was fine to listen to (and I have returned books previously when I didn't like a narrator). She wasn't great, but was not at all grating.

People who enjoy thrillers might like this better, but it was just pretty okay to me. As someone who overcame a milder form of agoraphobia (with help of medication and therapy), I really appreciated the thought pattern of the main character! I bonded with her a bit, that was the best part of the book to me.

I didn't find the story as predictable as the few other thrillers I've read, so that was nice. Overall, not a waste of a credit, but probably won't relisten.

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Good story, worth a listen

Revisado: 07-19-18

Definitely kept me interested! I wouldn't have probably finished if I'd been dedicating time to reading this, but for a quick listen it was perfect.

I appreciated this narrator for her voice acting talent, she was amazing with expressing emotion. Not great attempts at accents (I thought her American was meant to be a bit Irish until the text said otherwise) but not strictly bad either.

All around, worth a credit to hear.

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THE BOOK WAS AMAZING ENOUGH! LIN TOO???

Revisado: 05-18-18

I've loved this book for years, the characters attach to your heart in an instant, the families are amazing, the feeling is lovely, the story and writing style break and mend my heart. I was reminded of this book a few days ago and decided to reread it, but since I already owned the kindle copy (as well as my hard copy) I thought I'd see if there was a discount for the audiobook too.

AND IT IS NARRATED BY LIN-MANUEL MIRANDA. Perfect. The only thing that could have improved this book. I'm in love.

I've gotten a few friends to read this book already, and now I'll be able to convince people to listen as well!

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