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Amazing narrator transports you to 1296 Scotland

Revisado: 02-13-20 El oyente recibió este título gratis

If you like historical fiction coupled with romance, you may enjoy A Hundred Kisses. It takes place in 1296 Scotland when the English king wants to take over Scotland and various Scottish landlords want a Scot to rise to power instead. The land is divided, and friends have become enemies.

The story follows Diedre MacCoinneach who is cursed in marriage. (Her first two husbands died on their wedding nights, and a fiancé died before their marriage marriage.) When Alasdair Montgomerie comes upon their keep, her father wants Diedre to seduce him and make him believe the baby is his, thus having to marry his daughter. Diedre does run off with him, but for her own purposes—to meet her unknown aunt, who can potentially tell Dierdre about the mother she never knew and to learn if there is any truth to the curse and Dierdre’s strange visions. On their journey, they slowly begin to fall for each other, but it becomes clear both Dierdre and Alec (as he is known to her) are keeping significant secrets from one another. Add in a dangerous baron, rumors of witchcraft, and you have a suspenseful love story.

I highly recommend the audio version of A Hundred Kisses. The narrator did an amazing job of transporting the listener to 1296 Scotland. Her accents were amazing, and she effortlessly switched between characters and even her male characters sounded authentic. I plan to listen to the prequel next.

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difficult to follow without visuals

Revisado: 12-13-19

I don't believe I've ever written a one-star review. Most one-stars, I give up on, but since this audiobook was so short, I finished it. Also, I'd never do that to an author, but this seemed to be more of a Broadway company endeavor than the work of just the author.

I got this book free because it was an Audible Original. Those seem to be hit and miss. One of the biggest problems with this audiobook, was it was more of a Broadway play, but no visuals making it tough to follow. There were 5 main voices and 9 male voices, not counting a lot of little parts. I had such a hard time knowing who was speaking because there are no words such as "said" like you would get in most audiobooks. Along the same lines, having a production like this that relies entirely on voice also doesn't allow for any setting details so you can't envision the scene and who is even there until people start talking. And you can't hear their inner thoughts. I don't know about you, but when I listen to an audiobook I am multi-tasking, e.g. driving and I can't concentrate so hard on following things such as distinguishing voices. And all the noise such as clinking glasses and singing makes it sound like I have a TV on in the background.

As for the story...
1 - I should have known with characters named Sugar and Booze, I wouldn't like this book. I didn't care for either character as they were too extreme and dramatic. Especially at the end.
2 - Why was there a narrator? He didn't add anything to the story except make random comments. And he sounded like he should have been narrating a horror film from the 40s. Reading Christmas letters out loud alone would have been worked to tie the scenes together, and they provided the dates.
3 - I think the gay friends were as cliche as you can get. I think many people would be offended by them, and I'm surprised to see gay characters portrayed the way they are in 2019.
4 - I was expecting some feelings about two friends who grew apart and came back together. But without their inner thoughts which is impossible in this type of production, the story had to rely on dramatic dialogue.

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Well developed and relatable characters

Revisado: 11-20-19 El oyente recibió este título gratis

I loved this story. It about a woman who goes to Vermont for spring break at the insistence of her friends. Charlotte has been in a depression for the past five years since her younger sister was lost while hiking and is presumed dead. She blames herself for her sister's death since she was supposed to go on the hike with her. Since then, she has pulled away from her friends and has avoided serious relationships. But in Vermont she meets Matiu who pushes Charlotte to forgive herself and reopen herself up to love and the love of hiking. I don't want to give anything away, but the story is very inspiring and likely relatable for so many women. Charlotte is not perfect and struggles with self-doubt like so many people. And there is so much to like in Matiu's character. It is a beautiful romance in a beautiful setting.

I listened to it on audio and I have to admit it took me awhile to get into it because of the narration. The first few chapters felt like the enunciation was being forced. However, the narrator's cadence became more natural after a few chapters. The other issue i had was the accent. I assume it was an Australian accent. This ended up working well for the chapters in Matiu's perspective as he was a Kiwi. But since the book started in Charlotte's perspective, I had a hard time believing the story was taking place in the US. But I suggest you stick with the narrator because it does get better and the story is amazing.

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The audio is as great as the book

Revisado: 11-20-19

I rated this book 5 stars a few years ago, so when I saw the audio version release, I had to buy it. And it was just as good as the book. The narrator was easy to listen to and seemed to have a slight Brittish accent which worked well for the book since it takes place in Europe.

Like the book, I was able to listen to the audio for weeks since it is so long which to me is a bonus. The books takes place during 16th century Malta and Turkey when the Christian knights of the Order of St. John fought the Muslim Turks of the Ottoman Empire and was researched well. The characters were well developed and I found myself rooting for them as their stories intertwined with the history of Malta.

As with all my favorite books, I never felt like I was reading (or listening to) a history text. Instead, I was engrossed in the story and its well-developed characters, so I was easily able to absorb the rich historical setting, little by little.

I’m looking forward to buying the sequel when it comes out.

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Wonderful to hear characters come alive

Revisado: 04-24-19

After reading the book, it was fun to listen to the audio book. Kaitlin Cohen did a great job of making the characters come alive. It sounded like she could really be the main teen character, Autumn.

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A great overview of the queen’s life

Revisado: 04-12-19

I didn’t know much about queen Elizabeth’s life so I found the audiobook fascinating and easy to digest. The perfect level of detail for me.

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Entertaining cross between The Martian and Hatchet

Revisado: 02-23-19

I got this audiobook for my 12-year-old son and me to listen to during six hours of driving. I probably wouldn't have picked it myself based on the diverse reviews, but there were limited audible originals appropriate for a tween. However I was pleasantly surprised, and it kept us both entertained. (I think my son liked it a little more than me.)

The premise of a boy being left on an unexplored planet alone to wait for rescue (he was the son of space explorers) was fun and unique. The first 2/3 of the book read like a cross between The Martian and Hatchet. Truly the planet Sovereign was much more like the Earth's wilderness than anything I've ever imagined about alien planets. It was really about a boy coming of age and choosing to live rather than die.

Personally, I got a little frustrated when every time something went really wrong, Micah had a dream and then somehow ended up safe or healed. I started wondering if this was really a fantasy book or the whole thing was a dream like The Wizard of Oz. And the last 1/3 got a little weird with a lot of flashbacks with his friend back on Earth which got to be confusing at times making me wonder what was true... the Earth scenes or the Sovereigns scenes. There ended up being an explanation for it at the end (I won't spoil it) that makes sense of everything. Lots of people hated the ending. I thought it was okay and was just relieved it wasn't all a dream as I really felt like it was going all over the place for a while.

But the end result was it was entertaining and my son really liked it. So I'm giving it a 4.

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Inspiring & great voice

Revisado: 05-01-18

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

I would recommend to fellow writers as it encourages people to listen to their inner voice and write.

Which character – as performed by Natalie Goldberg – was your favorite?

Natalie

What’s an idea from the book that you will remember?

Just write even if garbage

Any additional comments?

This is an inspiring book if you want to write. The focus isn't on the actual "how to write a sentence" type of material, but more on how to fit writing into your life and how to come up with ideas and a process to keep writing. Natalie Goldberg was the narrator and I loved listening to her voice.

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