Bad Hat

Not original enough to be good fantasy

Revisado: 12-28-18

And not steamy enough to excuse its faults as part of the nature of the average formulaic romance.

Clunky place and character names, and derivative plot devices combined with a level of writerly sophistication below even the average YA fantasy ( and, let’s be real, only tolerable when liberally mixed in with solid action scenes, either romantic or otherwise, of which this book lacks both) make for an odd duck of a listen that never really pays off.
The whole thing feels like 2/3 of a story, perhaps deliberately
to sell the numerous sequels. Will give one more a listen to see if the “second in a series” rule holds, but have my doubts.
Also, performance lacked in subtlety, though did show promise.
Overall: intriguing at first but failed to deliver a truly satisfactory experience in any category.

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Marred by flat narration

Revisado: 12-18-18

Bad editing, and a little too much homophobia.
Otherwise, totally acceptable vampire fare. Also, just caught a look at the spellings and, well, they are awful. Listen, don’t read. No way to take the name seriously when it is spelled Zsadiszt. Ugh.

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Amazing book, difficult performance

Revisado: 12-13-18

This is a gorgeously written fantasy, but the performer’s heavy accent,stilted delivery, inconsistent pronunciations and limited character voices where a hindrance. The enrichment of the atmosphere intended by casting an Eastern European voice to read a story based on Eastern European folklore was less than successful in this case. As a Russian American who grew up bilingual and around heavily accented English, I respect and love the idea, but believe its execution could have been handled with more care.

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Could not finish because

Revisado: 08-15-18

the reader has one of the most clock-stopping nasal accents Ever. Also, excessive mispronunciations and lots of lazy word endings and t and d mushiness. And don’t get me started on the ghastly French accent.

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esto le resultó útil a 1 persona

Weirdly militaristic and a lot of product promotio

Revisado: 07-24-18

Yeah, rather than a compelling story, this is a pro-military, terrorism-panic fueled romp with a protagonist clearly experiencing PTSD, despite the number of times the reader is assured otherwise. The third in a series of similarly themed tomes, if the line I read in the previous book that mentioned something like " Terrorists all want death to the infidels" is any indication. Also, white people get physical descriptions, everyone else gets " partly HIspanic" or "African American" or, my personal favorite " Asian heritage".

Also, Garrett's clear, but not very wide, vocal range made me realize this feels like a romance novel written by a man attempting to turn a profit off a "lady book" or possibly a woman trying to write a romance novel that a man might write, if all men and women where white hetero-normative, slightly conservative, Texans. Sex scenes demonstrate a pretty profound misunderstanding of female anatomy, much less sexuality. Writing style is bizarre, with all "lady things", from blouses to nipples, described with a single adjective: "pretty", but detailed descriptions abound about the following: cars, guns, freeway driving, the military. Also, lots of product promotion, from Ford F-150s to Kindles.

On the other hand, props for a b-plot exploring the productive post-war lives and sexuality of disabled ( differently abled? amputee?) veterans.

Bottom line: I will not be going back to read the first two books in the trilogy, and you can skip all three.

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esto le resultó útil a 3 personas

Rapey

Revisado: 03-04-18

What did you like about this audiobook?

Anne Flosnik is a great performer. Her subtle changes between characters is clear, her pronunciation stunning, and her pitch only occasionally drops into the comical "deep voice because I am a manly man" theatrics so many other performers rely on in reading romance novels.

How has the book increased your interest in the subject matter?

Well, I would be interested in learning more about medieval uses of herbs. There is a lot of cooking, eating, potion making and doctoring between long drawn out bouts of spousal rape.

Does the author present information in a way that is interesting and insightful, and if so, how does he achieve this?

The subject matter seems reasonably well researched, with certain glaring exceptions. For example, I am pretty sure cotton socks would be an unheard of luxury in 13th century England.

What did you find wrong about the narrator's performance?

The extremely precise RP pronunciation occasionally feels a little affected, but better too crisp than sloppy.

Do you have any additional comments?

This would actually be a cut above the average historical romance in terms of research, dialogue, and story if not for the basic premise being " Rape is ok and leads to love"

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When read by a man...

Revisado: 03-04-18

This book wasn’t for you, but who do you think might enjoy it more?

Less men being mean to women for exactly zero reason

What do you think your next listen will be?

Later work by Lowell to see if they are better. I seem to recall liking her at some point. Maybe it was when I was younger and more full of self loathing.

Did Laural Merlington do a good job differentiating all the characters? How?

Significantly better than R. Ferrone, who reads some of the others in the series. Also, she doesn't mispronounce "tarpaulin" every five seconds.

If you could play editor, what scene or scenes would you have cut from Autumn Lover?

The ones where the male character repeatedly verbally abuses a woman he does not know at all.

Any additional comments?

Well, there wasn't any actual rape... Redeemable.

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Hearing it Read by a Man Highlights the MIsogyny

Revisado: 03-04-18

What could have made this a 4 or 5-star listening experience for you?

Actually, nothing could have.

What was most disappointing about Elizabeth Lowell’s story?

The repetitive trope of men not believing women. Throughout this series

What did you like about the performance? What did you dislike?

Ferrone mispronounces "tarpaulin" to disturbing excess.

You didn’t love this book... but did it have any redeeming qualities?

The sex scenes are pretty solid

Any additional comments?

There were times I actually considered the possibility this series was written by a man trying to convince women that they are terrible.

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esto le resultó útil a 3 personas

Ridiculous

Revisado: 02-05-18

Absurd plot even for beach reading, and vaguely racist albeit not in a deliberate, or even pr

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