Jenni Z

Good Read

Revisado: 10-17-22 El oyente recibió este título gratis

As is the case with many of Roeder's books, this was narrated by the golden-throated Jerry Bradshaw. He sang in this one, which is just such a treat.
A lot about the precursor to this book, Falling Star, left me sad. It was lovely to see Adam get a second chance to make things go differently. It was a very satisfying journey to go on. In fact, one might say it was the most.

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

esto le resultó útil a 1 persona

You'll Feel All the Things

Revisado: 03-10-22

Sweet, moving, and realistic. This really took me through a full range of emotions. I enjoyed this as an audiobook and I just love the narrator

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

Sweet Story of Friendship with Bonus Spooky Stuff!

Revisado: 01-04-22

I was expecting a story about a boy's adventures with spooky things, but found a very sweet story about friendship. Not just a pie-in-the-sky "friendship is magic" tale, but a nice, organic development of friendship. I found Thad to be extremely well-written, a difficult task when writing about a teenager with a rough childhood.
The narrator was, as usual, fantastic! Jerry Bradshaw injects so much energy and personality into the story. He gives each character just enough of a different voice that it's impossible to get lost or mix characters up. It certainly doesn't hurt that his regular voice is just pleasant to listen to! I'm always delighted to see that he has a new recording out.

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

BRADSHAW SINGS!!

Revisado: 11-25-21 El oyente recibió este título gratis

There are so many positive things to say about this book, but the golden-throated narrator took my ears to a new level by singing in one of the vignettes. Oh. My. God. That. Voice!
I'm going to be perfectly honest and easy up front that I kind of hate Christmas. I hate the commercialness. I hate compulsory gift-giving that leads to last resort "gotta get something!" purchases of things like bubble bath. I don't believe in God, so the religious angle does nothing for me either. My grinchy self even hates the snow. So when I was gifted a collection of Christmas stories, I wasn't exactly thrilled or expecting much. Way to prove me wrong, Mark Roeder! This wasn't really a laughing out loud book, but it sure had me spending a few extra minutes in my car before going into work, trying to stop crying at some of the more emotional stories. Instead of promoting excess, these stories acknowledged the difficulty so many people have with money and encouraged thoughtful, even if cheap (or free!) gifts. Instead of cramming the idea of spending time with toxic family or existing only for romantic love, these stories acknowledged people who have cobbled together families or even people who spend the holidays completely alone and how those circumstances can still lead to happiness and a lovely day. There was much talk about forgiveness and acceptance and just honest love. I highly recommend this, even to my fellow Christmas haters.

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

Sweet, Fun Read

Revisado: 11-17-21 El oyente recibió este título gratis

A very sweet story about finding family, love, and acceptance. I'm consistently surprised by how moving and enjoyable I find these YA books. I love the narrator - beautiful voice and great detail in breathing life into characters.

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

Fun Adventure Story

Revisado: 07-23-21 El oyente recibió este título gratis

This was a fun adventure story with great character development and some sneaky, subtle lessons about the importance of not judging others. Possibly a spoiler, but not of an important plot point - possibly my favorite thing in any book ever was Colt relaying the story of Star Wars in German to help the other boys understand the experience of hearing a story they may know in another language. Pure gold.

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

Not as Silly as I Feared

Revisado: 06-25-21

I was expecting this to be some far-reaching, fantastical nonsense somebody dreamed up, making loose, tenuous connections. I was truly surprised by the solid research, logic, and sometimes even confirmation from the screenwriters about deliberate connections. Very interesting read.

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

Full of Surprises

Revisado: 05-27-21

I got a few surprises out of this book, which would definitely be spoilers to discuss in detail. There was a character who, upon being introduced, I expected to despise throughout and be annoyed by the inevitable redemption arc, but his story wound up being very moving and satisfying. I thought we were moving along in a nice, straightforward story, but there was a sucker punch that definitely threw me.
I, of course, made some jokes with the friend who recommended this to me about the heavy amounts of detail in describing food and dick, but these are important things! As much as the emphasis on those topics made me chuckle, this dove deep into strong emotion and had me in full tears more than once.
Overall, this was just a lovely surprise of a book. I was very pleased with the narrator and his voicing of the principle characters, as well as the subtle effects thrown in for added realism. I think every one of my heartstrings has been plucked.

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

esto le resultó útil a 2 personas

Weird, Funny, Fun

Revisado: 05-12-21 El oyente recibió este título gratis

Like its predecessors, the third book in this series was a fun listen. The whole series was weird and twisty, but in a comprehensible way. I think my favorite (non-spoiler!) thing in the series was the censoring of curse words with random words. It's a silly device, but it makes me laugh every time. And the narrator is so superb that his delivery just makes it the silly humor absolutely hilarious.

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

Dat Voice Though

Revisado: 04-17-21 El oyente recibió este título gratis

Reviewing, or even rating, an anthology is kind of insanely difficult! I've become quite a fan of the narrator, Jerry Bradshaw, and came across this compilation while searching for books he's recorded. His performance once again exceeded my expectations. I suspect this guy could read the phone book and make it delightful, and yes, I know how old I sound referring to phone books.
The anthology itself was presented as "unholy," which might lead a reader to think they're in for some demon stories, some interesting tales about good versus evil. You're not. This is a collection of gore porn. And that's not meant to insult or belittle the subgenre - gore and violence is fun and even cathartic sometimes. But it's not great when you aren't expecting it, so be prepared for blood, guts, viscera, eyeballs, eating human meat with cheese, and just...gore.
The stories vary in how compelling they are. Some have sympathetic characters, others have unrealistic disaster protagonists. The writers' artistry differs wildly, from very engaging to nearly incomprehensible in a way that I'm pretty sure wasn't an artistic choice. All told, I probably won't be revisiting this collection, but I'm happy to keep seeking out more work by Bradshaw!

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña