Minnie

Outstanding Full-cast & Sound Design

Revisado: 04-12-24

Whether you are new to country music history or have a longstanding love and appreciation of musicians, performers, and songwriters like Willie Nelson and Waylon Jennings, this production will captivate you. Outstanding performances from this dynamite cast, including Mandy Moore as Sue Brewer, make you feel privvy to history unfolding. And any production about music worth its salt will of course include the songs flowing it, like this. As Sue Brewer is quoted as saying, "Make me feel" (or some variation), which this Audible Original most definitely does.

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Must-listen interview

Revisado: 07-27-22

Fantastic conversation with two stellar narrators! LaVoy and Damron talk about their careers, self care, and more.

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An End of the World adventure I didn't want to end

Revisado: 03-12-22

An immersive production filled with dynamic performances and a fitting soundscape that enhanced scenes and heightened emotional connections between characters.

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Charming the Listener

Revisado: 02-25-18

"Axdale had a gay, female vicar in heels and a biker jacket. Had she walked into the Twilight Zone?" Famed Mentalist and atheist Finnian Kane has no idea what she's in for when she selects the small English village of Axdale as her retreat from the world and her sorrows. Narrator Nicola Victoria Vincent narrates this tale of heartache, love and loss, and healing. Not thwarted by a chilly reception, Reverend Bridget Claremont continues her attempts to help Finn heal. Despite their growing attraction for each other, the church prevents Bridget from having relationships with women. Together, they discover that coming home isn't always easy. Vincent delivers wonderful characterization of leads and supporting cast, though the pacing sounds hurried at times. She heats up the sex scenes, stepping into Mistress Black in much the same way that Bridget does with firm and sensual tones. Finn's need also amplifies these scenes as she pleads and takes. Take some time for yourself and enjoy this delectable blend of sweet and spicy!

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Friends to Lovers: Hurts so good!

Revisado: 11-21-17

Narrator Paige McKinney infuses BFFs Quinn Burke and Grace Everett’s friends to lovers dilemma with all of the baggage of their twenty years together. Her warm performance reflects the mostly sure and satisfied women’s personalities, a blend of confusion and determination mixed in. When the two women first met, co-working at a grocery store, Grace was more interested in having at least one close friend than in having yet another girlfriend. Life has reached a phase, however, in which Grace is looking to settle down with a woman who meets at least some of her standards, someone in the ballpark of “good enough”. Besides a satisfying job owning and operating a bookstore, great friends, and loving grandparents, she doesn’t want for much. Quinn, for her part, enjoys tending bar, Sunday brunch with her mother and Grace, and, for the time being, avoiding potential heartbreak. The women’s relationship is a slow burn romance that neither wants to acknowledge. After all, doesn’t every pair of bosom buddies complete each other’s sentences? When Quinn’s mother suffers a major heart attack, it acts as the catalyst for resolving bad blood and buried desire.

The cast of family, friends, and lovers, is wonderfully portrayed. Beth, Quinn’s homophobic older sister comes across as extreme and ridiculous in her prejudices through McKinney’s narration. Through raised pitch and clipped haughtiness, McKinney leaves listeners with no doubts as to who Beth thinks has the moral high ground in the family. Meg, the other estranged sister, is voiced in softer tones as her relationship with her younger sisters, Quinn and Callie, evolves. And Callie, the baby of the family, says what she means and means what she says, the lack of hesitation and fierceness of her love reflected in her the narrator’s tone and pacing. Family, whether it is the one that the characters are born into or the ones they make over a lifetime, is everywhere and everything in this story.

***Review originally published on my blog, Omnivore Bibliosaur (jthompsonian.wordpress.com).

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Delightful Gothic romance

Revisado: 04-24-17

A delightful Gothic romance, full of atmosphere, romance. and intrigue! Cathy Conneff's immersive narration heightens the listening experience and enhances Henderson's storytelling. Although it's Spring, this audiobook draws the damp fingers of fall around me. I can't wait to devour the other tales!

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Big Bad Meet Red Hood & Detective Ass Kicker

Revisado: 03-11-16

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

Seattle is under siege! An unusually large and focused group of werewolves are howling at the walled city of Seattle under the full moon. Detective Daria McQueen is one of many SPD officers assigned to keep the "Clean Bloods" (people uninfected by the lupine curse) safe from werewolves every night of the full moon. She is driven year after year by the need to find her missing sister and avenge the murders of her parents by an alpha werewolf. Maireni Damaschin, aka Red Hood, drops into Daria's life under a full moon. The two women both harbor dark secrets and a thirst for justice. As the two women track a mysterious green-eyed werewolf, their sexual chemistry sizzles and their attraction for each other grows. Will they discover the lair of the beast or will humanity fall to the werewolf's curse?

Hollie Jackson delivers a solid performance as both Daria McQueen and Maireni Damaschin. The novel is told through Daria's eyes for most of the novel. When the adventure takes a twist 3/4 of the way through, the novel shifts back and forth between Daria's and Maireni's perspectives. Hollie builds suspense and anticipation of what will happen next as the women battle impossible odds, with her intuited pacing (at times quick and at others languid) and emphasis.

The brisk, yet reflective, tone and pacing of Daria's sections reflects the matter-of-fact, take no shit kind of woman that she is. As Maireni, she uses a passable Romanian-accented English that enhances the air of mystery surrounding the character's background. It's worth remembering that many years and miles have influenced Maireni's diction. Hollie also draws out Red Hood's flirty nature, which makes for a lot of fun in the scenes between Red and the Detective.

Many of the characters seem to be slight variations of each other. The main difference between Hollie's characterizations is whether the people are from the Pacific Northwest, Romania, or London, and gender of the characters. This is not necessarily a huge draw back, as there are only a few instances in which I had trouble telling who was who.

Overall, I definitely recommend this listening experience, especially to people who enjoy modern-day retellings of fairy tales, fantastical creatures, and spicy, suspenseful adventures!

What does Hollie Jackson bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

She adds nuance to the chemistry between Red and Daria. I also enjoyed her accents.

Who was the most memorable character of Red Hood - The Hunt and why?

Red Hood is very flirty, fun, dark, and mysterious! Loved her! I also liked the grittier, focused, down-to-earth Detective Daria. I look forward to the next installment.

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