Dee M.

I love this series, but this one ..

Revisado: 03-25-25

I'm always so excited when I see a new installment is out. I love the characters and the messes they get into. This one is not the best one of the series, though. The caper is designed by a group consisting of all the pertinent adults, but when it's time to carry it out, it's done completely behind the scenes.

They do some listening in on a hidden microphone that is supposed to make up for no personal involvement by Violet, the main character. It fails to create the kind of picture of what's really happening. There is a small-time villain that could be fun to actually see what he does, but that's all off screen, too.

It's clear that there is a major event about to happen, but the story ends right when the plot says it should take place.The lack of Violet and Doc participating personally makes the story boring and seem to just drag on.

I don't know if Ann reads these comments, but if so, I have a message for her:
Please don't chop up the plot in the future. I know it's a series, but there should be a kind of temporary wrap up by the end. This book felt like a build up with no climax. Ann, please don't leave us hanging like this. There are cliffhanger, and then there are CLIFFHANGES! Nest time, let us be ready for the next round when it's over, not wondering why the tension broke halway through before we're satisfied.

Also, this is the obligatory plea for another Cliff book in the near future. I enjoyed those two books more than any in a long time.

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I absolutely love Maggie Weber!

Revisado: 08-01-24

I am a devoted fan of Refashioned Hippie, Maggie's YouTube channel. She is just as funny, self-effacing, and caring there as she appears to be in this book.

The book is hilarious and insightful when it comes to the retail and resale worlds. I loved it. I've always been considerate and friendly with customer service staff whenever I shop, but this book helps me understand why that's so important.

Maggie also shares about her experiences working food service in a family-run business. I personally identify with this because it's how I grew in my family's restaurant. If you have ever wondered about what goes on out of the customers' sight, here's a great example.

If you have not already, please GO SUBSCRIBE to MAGGIE'S YOUTUBE CHANNEL! Again, it's called Refashioned Hippie. She makes shorts and longer form streams about ridiculous designer fashion, and sells her own upsell fashion creations.
You will not be disappointed. I promise.
❤️❤️❤️😁🩷💜💙

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Interesting story.

Revisado: 06-28-24

Interesting start on life. It's a fun listen. Steve is a fav comedian of mine. It was cool hearing about how he began his journey

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Absolutely %100 Perfect

Revisado: 06-02-23

Queer people need exposure as "just people" now more than ever. With this book, Matt Baume gives a kind of GPS for where we have been and how that can be used today and tomorrow in the effort towards our freedom.

Baume gives a thorough history of queerness on TV, from barely there in the 60s to almost normal in the 2010s. I myself have been there for all of that, too. There wasn't a single show mentioned that I didn't watch almost religiously. I have been proud of each slow step we have taken toward equality. This book has put all those steps in line on the path, letting me, and a lot of others I'm sure, see just how far we have been able to come. This is something needed so much now. We need to see how much strength we have, if we are going to continue the march toward equality.

I had a quick discussion online about this topic, and was told that "everything was fine"until we came along. I said we have always been here. You just didn't notice. I was then told that we need to be careful because there a lot of people like my interlocutor out there, and we'll be sorry. I ended the interaction by listing not only just how many queer people there are out here, but also all their allies, friends, family, and people who don't care about us per se, but who just think what this person and his group are doing is wrong. That's one hell of a lot of us queers and queer-adjacents. A lot more than those bigots realize. The sheer number of queer characters on TV now should have been a huge indicator for that person I talked to online.

We are people...just people. Characters like us belong on television no less than people who not like us. Through TV, we have started to push our way under the umbrella of "normal", even if we end up with our backsides facing out and getting soaked.

BUY THIS BOOK.

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So impressive..smart but sometimes humorous

Revisado: 05-21-23

I didn't exactly know what to expect. It could have been dull (immediate return) or funny, but filled with misinformation (also immediate return). It could have been unreadable for some other reason, but it's not at all that. I knew as soon as I heard Aron's voice that it would be wonderful, and it is.

When technical information needed to be explained, it's easy to understand. When personal anecdotes are offered, they're heartfelt. History is accurately presented. There is quite a bit of sarcastic humor here, too.

If you want to know the truth about many of the things religious leaders have made up to manipulate their followers, it's in this book. From abiogenesis to embryonic development, the untwisting of the misinformation that many religious people have been led to believe is expertly done here.

You will also find quite a bit of sensible, easy to understand philosophy. PZ put together some ideas I had never thought to look at in that way before.

Overall, a thoroughly enjoyable read. If you are an atheist. If you're not, be forewarned.

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Lots of fun!

Revisado: 02-27-23

I now know what my life would have been like if I had been born in South Shields rather than Oklahoma City. Almost everything else about Sarah and I is the same. I was shocked as the more she read and revealed about herself, the more I saw me. Being in my late 50s now, I think I've worked through a few more problems than she has, but she works a lot harder than I do, so she's probably actually ahead.

She is crude, it's true, but so am I. I don't apologize for it anymore, and she makes money from it! She doesn't want kids, and neither did I when I still could (if you ever read this, Sarah, have a hysterectomy ; it'll change your life.) I appreciate hearing that attitude from someone else so much. I just know I am a much better pet mom than human mom, and even with all the shit, dogs and cats are actually cleaner.

Anyway, I really enjoyed this book, and I don't see why you wouldn't too.

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Great to see the girls back in action, but...

Revisado: 02-04-23

I'm always thrilled to see that there's a new Jackrabbit Junction book ready to be heard, but this time, I was a bit disappointed. There was just not a lot to this one. It just seemed like a lot of exposition and filler. There was very little in the way of action of any kind. It just seemed like a lot of ramping up of various characters' anxieties without any real reason and very little pay off in the end.

*****SPOILERS*****




As the series proceeds and unlike what usually happens with a series, the characters seem to be getting more and more two dimensional. Ronnie is too apprehensive about deepening her and Grady's relationship, for what seems like very little reason. Claire is less nosey than usual, plodding along going from one job to the other without much action. And Crazy Kate has gone off the deep end for what appears to be no reason at all.

Penny has Mississippi spinning his wheels for no good reason either. There is a short rundown of her rather uneventful history that is supposed to explain her reticence to get into a new relationship with him, but it really does fall short.

The hitman storyline involving Ronnie was just dumb, moving from one unbelievable event to the next, culminating in a completely unnecessary death. Kate's weird fixation on the deputy has gotten old and we still don't have a clue as to what it is actually about. None of the Morgans' boyfriends made much of an appearance though Mac had a little more attention than the others.

The weirdest thing in the whole story for me this time was the grandfather's complete absence. He was referred to quite a bit, but never made an appearance. I found this especially disappointing because he is one of my favorite characters in this series.

Lastly, the cliffhanger ending was not so much of a cliffhanger as it was just a dead stop. It's as if Ann couldn't figure out where to end the book, but since it was kind of over-long already, she just hit pause and said "See ya next time" and waved goodbye.

I'm really hoping the series picks up in the next book. This is one of my favorite series and I'd hate to see it just peter out. In the end, it was still good to spend a little time withe the South Dakota-to-Arizona transplant trip. I just wish there could have been a bit more excitement this time around.

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Absolutely loved it.

Revisado: 01-01-23

It's possible that growing up in Oklahoma City and environs gave this book a little extra joy for me. But it's also just the genre and theme that I prefer, so I do know a good one when I read it.

This novel and the 2 preceding it in this series are well written, and well plotted. Even if you're not from Central Oklahoma or Colorado Springs, CO, this book is well worth reading. The LGBTQ+ angle was not lost on me, either. The love story makes it worth reading just for that. There is a mental health dimension to the series that I identify with, as well. It's pretty incredible how well Slayton worked together all of this using a rather gritty, impoverished but realistic background into a really enjoyable horror/urban fiction novel.

I don't give 5 stars automatically when I finish a book. And I don't just give vague puffery, either. I think this series is really worth all the detailed praise I can muster, but I don't want to spoil it for any readers who will buy it based on this review. And they WILL buy it, I'm sure.

I would like to say something about the narrator that I consider to be high praise for an audiobook reader - I really didn't notice him much. He put just the right inflections and stresses on the text, had accents so good that my ear just heard them as "normal", rather than studied; and best of all as far as I'm concerned _he pronounced everything correctly_ .

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esto le resultó útil a 1 persona

Probably the best book in the series

Revisado: 12-06-22

Like many of Lee's recent offerings, the story gets bogged down a little in the middle with everyone talking about needing a plan, making a plan and listening to at least one person whine for being left out of the plan. However, there was a little less of that in this one. The real problem was that the cast of characters got to big by the end.

Good ending to a good series, though. Pretty predictable, but good anyway.

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Poorly written, terribly narrated

Revisado: 07-03-22

The dialog is stilted, and read poorly. It's as if the author is just typing the ideas he needs his characters to say in the fewest number of words, then suddenly remembers the setting is in Texas. He switches (briefly), over to a sort of Texas drawl, then just as suddenly, he forgets, and we're back to quick bursts of perfunctory, stilted dialog again.
What's worse is the narrator. A good narrator can really help out a bad dialog writer with good timing, by doing voices and accents, etc. Too bad this one isn't good. His voice characterization are bland, and his accents are sporadic and just...off.
I forgot I bought this book, so borrowed it from the library. When I finished it, I thought, "I'm glad I didn't shell out money for this one." Then I did a solid facepalm when I found it in my library.
It's unbelievable that there is such a huge number of installments in this series. I guess some people will read anything with "druid" in the title. Or perhaps they are just completists. There's no accounting for taste, I guess.

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