🔥 Phx17 🔥

9 hours of talk on effectively communicating?

Revisado: 04-22-25

I was skeptical that this book would hold my interest, however this author narrator made the topic light, fun and engaging. Go figure: I even loved his homework assignments which played more like games and quizzes than actually working towards self improvement. I will make this mandatory listening for my sons as they enter the workforce, even if I’ll recommend breaking it into chunks (because yes, nine hours in one listen was a bit much).

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

Pretty sci-fi noir for having an MC named Bubbles

Revisado: 04-21-25

“Rain came down in sheets that would make a neurologist wince.”
The cover art and book summary teased a flavor like The Fifth Element meets Blade Runner. And, yes, there are shades of each. But, the predominant feel is sci-fi noir as former cop turned washed-up cyborg-detective finds murder and mystery while trying to find a missing girl.

She’s a “gray sprinkle on the cupcake of life.”
On the quirky side, there’s a lot of colorful imagery, from Bubble’s pink hair and robo-arm, to Cosmo the glittery drag-queen sidekick, who reminded me of bar tender/warlord Pree in the TV series Killjoys. There’s some snark and silliness, especially with Hammet the pig, narrated with annoying anime effect. But, there’s not nearly enough humor, sass, or action for a series titled Bubbles in Space.

“If my life is going to be more than a fart in the undercurrent, I have to square up against the big fish.”
If you want a decent mystery procedural starring a Sam-antha Spade-ish Bubbles, that’s free of sex, profanity, or anything more than cozy-level murder-mystery violence, then this is a pretty good series, especially for the 5 books for 1 credit value. The narrator is fine for dialogue but the other parts are robotic beyond the deadpan delivery common to detective noir.

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

Snoozer of a second chance romance

Revisado: 04-21-25

Another novella by this author where two adults fail to talk to each other, causing an unnecessary slow burn. Here, he joins her photography class and we get to listen to a dull recitation of art lingo at each chapter where they don’t talk about their previous fling.

The heat is more sweet than sexy … and you’ll need to trudge through a story with a kid to get to the sex at the very end. Maybe it’s just me, but a story titled Slash and under the 1001 nights series moniker should have been steamier.

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

Hard to get past unlikeable FMC

Revisado: 04-21-25

Admittedly, the summary did warn me. Bad enough we have the premise of two allegedly best friends who nonetheless utterly fail to communicate or be remotely honest with each other. But, Eden was also shallow, selfish and oblivious, focusing on the more powerful, more rich cousin until she discovers her bestie is interested in another woman. What exactly about Eden should have had me rooting for her?
If this had been a one hour novella that upped the comedy, I think I could have forgiven these numbskulls and rolled with the story.

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

A sexy standalone

Revisado: 04-20-25

Given the novella length, this was a pretty good age gap (34F, 26M), office romance. It stayed in the
merry go round (rather than roller coaster) range of conflict. The heat level was also tamer than
I expected from a dom/sub romance, perhaps because Norma spent a lot of time inside her head
thinking about control and Boyd spent a lot of time passive-aggressively withholding sex to teach
Norma lessons in control.

Nonetheless, things moved along quickly enough, and the naughty bits were creative enough,
that I had a good time listening.

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

90% kink, 10% married life

Revisado: 04-20-25

Perhaps I would have liked this more if I’d listened to the duology first, but I don’t think so.
This was just a married couple dealing with babies, sagging body parts, and the doldrums spicing things up at a sex club. Without an actual story, the sex scenes at the club were just tawdry.

While I adore Ms. Eby for romcoms, her nasal, cutesy narration fizzled the sizzle big time.
I needed whiskey (and not school dance fruit punch) narration.

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

Lost in time, mirrors and dopplegangers

Revisado: 04-20-25

"The cracked mind is free of time."
Ugh, how could such a stellar book 1 devolve into this mess of timelines, mirrors within mirrors, dopplegangers and body/spiritual possessions and ... where was I?
Lost down the rabbit hole of deep thoughts and paradoxes.

Everyone dies, and dies again. Everyone does awful things for ... reasons.
No light. No hope. No reason. Until the end, where there's an HEA ... for no credible reason.

16 hours of:
"Her life is a timeline ripped apart at the seams - moments scattered between thin threads - finality that insists on tying them together, though she knows that such union is pointless. The continuity of her life lost meaning the day she cracked and, as is the nature of being cracked, she supposes this means she never had continuity of consciousness at all. A difficult thing to come to accept; after nearly forty years as a bumbling creature of skin and warmth and the terrible irrefutable decay of entropy, her mind was not equipped to understand what it meant to break with time..."

Sound like fun? Then by all means, have a listen.
Personally, I'd rather book 1 have been a standalone.

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

Cracked plots dragged things down

Revisado: 04-20-25

I wish this had kept up with the horror and the sci-fi of book 1 instead of leaning in to romance and political power plays. There were plots that didn’t make sense to me, like how Tarquin could be the most powerful man in the universe and still be completely at Flecher’s mercy. The takeover plots were unnecessarily convoluted and yet the resolution against each adversary happened in seconds of action,
I never felt any gravitas because all the major deaths are off screen (and generally of the mass red shirt variety … as in “oh, look, the whole station died… yawn”). and success seemed more because of chance than anyone’s plan.

My biggest disappointment was the move away from the complex character interactions of book 1 and
to impulsive, emotional, and frankly foolish actions. I get that some of the chaos was caused by the insidious takeovers of character’s minds or the fracturing caused by double printing host bodies,
but it felt like I listened to 19.5 hours of hallucinations and flashbacks.

Instead of rallying, book 3 jumps the shark down the rabbit hole and lost in time.
Yeah; it was that messed up.

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

The Expanse meets Altered Carbon

Revisado: 04-19-25

“My spies have handed me pieces, the edges of a puzzle… and I recognize the shape within.”
Holy cosmic horrors, Batman, this was a spectacular ride! It has the same mind-tripping concept of Altered Carbon’s re-sleeved bodies, where humans die and live again in reprinted shells. It also has Altered Carbon’s ethos of a feudal-like class system with worlds ruled by a small group of wealthy elites and where one of the best occupations for the poor is to become a soldier.

“See what you are!”
“Survival depends on not destroying your world.”
“We can never leave.”
There’s also a slow burning mystery with the same horror tones as The Expanse, along with a resistance against the new world’s order. Yet, for all the complexity and pacing, I was riveted from start to finish.

“You … licked it?!”
The romance supports, but doesn’t take over the story. The characters are layered and engaging.

“Hello?”
“Hello.”
“Hello!”
The narration, however, is sublime. Mr. Saward’s range ensured the huge cast was easy to distinguish. His voices for the A.I. and the cracked were inspired. I’d give him six stars if I could.

It was so phenomenal, I immediately moved on to books 2 and 3 ... and absolutely hated the end.
Book 2 was oaky, but I could feel the shark preparing to jump. I wish I'd have stopped at book 1.

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

esto le resultó útil a 1 persona

Only missing David Bowie’s Goblin King

Revisado: 04-18-25

What a delightful story that feels like Alice in Wonderland meets Labyrinth and sounds like a girl which got waylaid by a gaggle of pirate leprechauns. The dream world ran a wee bit long and went too deep down a few philosophical rabbit holes for me, but the narration was over the top hilarious.

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

esto le resultó útil a 1 persona