Sandra G

Male character spoils the story

Revisado: 02-10-25

This could have been a really good book. The narrator is excellent. The main character’s son is absolutely pathetic and the relationship between the son and wife seems very unrealistic. The story became very tedious and I couldn’t wait for it to just end. I wish the focus would’ve stayed on the main character and her different adventures and experiences.

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Double Disappointment - Reader and Story

Revisado: 09-03-24

I was barely able to get through this book. The story is not captivating and the reader speaks as if to an inattentive toddler. She over-enunciates words, stretching out the first syllable of multi-syllable words as if for emphasis when the word itself does not deliver meaning or emotion. Listening was so painful that I nearly gave up until I sped up the narrative to 1.3X. After that, the narration resembled a normal English language speaker at least 75% of the time. The character of Bella was dumpy and unintelligent and no one with whom a reader could identify. The village characters were so flat and uninteresting that I could not tell them apart. I paid for the book so I finished the book although a visit to the dentist would have been a more pleasurable experience. Maybe the story would have been different with a better reader or read in print where I could add sparkle to the characters with my own imagination. Truly a disappointment and a waste of money.

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Why weren’t the stories put in chronological order?!

Revisado: 02-08-24

These are great stories, but Elizabeth and Darcy are married within the first two stories, and six of the seven subsequent ones are all episodes that happened before their marriage containing information already shared in the first two books in the recording. If they were put together in a compilation, they should’ve been in chronological order. I’m really disappointed because I have about 40 hours of reading that will not hold any romantic suspense for me and the joy of the books is lost now. Caution to readers! Read the title details and attempt to listen in chronological order so you are also not let down.

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esto le resultó útil a 2 personas

Thank you for bringing back Lisette Lecat!

Revisado: 09-16-22

Lisette Lecat captures the essence of Botswana and the wonderful characters with her gentle voice and pace of reading. She reads with such poignancy that I am always very moved by the wonderful words the author creates. It is another winner from Alexander McCall Smith and I cannot wait for the next installment.

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esto le resultó útil a 3 personas

Liked it but was disappointed in the censorship…

Revisado: 09-14-22

As usual I loved the characters and can’t wait for the next chapter in their lives. A few things disturbed me about this book, however. This is the first time I have ever listened to an unabridged book that was censored. The “N” word was bleeped out while all other foul and racist language was read as the author wrote. This is wrong - we are a country of free speech and free press. If the UK author wrote these words and later regretted them then a second edition should be published with edits. Do not censor my audiobooks or I will go back to reading print.
The second thing I was uncomfortable with was the excessive violence toward women which has become so prevalent in mystery and suspense fiction. In Scandinavian noir it is generally physical violence only but in this book it was mental, emotional, social media, rape fantasy, and physical. I guess it’s the truth but I don’t always pick up a fiction book to be faced with the truth.
The final comment I have was that the constant reading of Twitter feeds was extremely hard to follow and it probably added about 10 hours of audio time to the book that wasn’t necessary. It was distracting and took my mind away from the story itself. I am still giving the book a high rating because despite those things I listened for the full 46+ hours and can’t wait for the next book in the series. The characters and their tortured relationship will bring me back!

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Happy to be immersed in the art world again

Revisado: 07-22-22

Very thankful that the author gave up on political ranting and brought back the old Gabriel Allon. It was great to be back in the art world with all of the wonderful characters. The author managed to squeeze in many of his political views but kept it to a few sentences. I did find that the portions that included an excessive amount of lovemaking with his wife when he is described as being in late middle age were totally unrealistic. We all know he adores his wife and don’t really need to hear about their daily nooners. Overall it was a good read and I recommend it. If you were like me and had given up on Daniel Silva after the last novel please give this one a chance.

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esto le resultó útil a 48 personas

Wrong reader for this book

Revisado: 03-19-21

American reader wrong for British English and Irish characters- she did not bring them to life.

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esto le resultó útil a 7 personas