Shirlyn E. Davenport

Helpful and Hilarious

Revisado: 02-27-18

I really enjoyed listening to this book. I can tell that this is going to be a book that I revisit over-and-over again. Anne Lamott is so witty and pithy, and Susan Bennett really makes her voice come alive. I felt like I got so many helpful tips, even as someone who is not necessarily planning to write anything. I think this book will also be helpful to me in learning to guide my reading skills. I've recommended this book to nearly everyone I've spoken with since starting it. It's too quick, too funny, and too useful to pass up on.

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Fun but Tedious

Revisado: 02-27-18

Let me just be frank: I love Rainbow Rowell. This was the 3rd book of hers I've read (the first via audio) and I really enjoy the plot concepts. This was definitely no exception. While it might sound creepy at first, Rowell really makes the story interesting as it's told mostly through the dialogue of two friends swapping e-mails back-and-forth.

Unfortunately, that format makes this story really annoying to listed to. You have to drudge through a lot of "Beth to Jennifer" and "Jennifer to Beth." This made it very difficult to follow when Beth was speaking versus Jennifer. Laura Hamilton just didn't change the cadence or tone enough for me to distinguish a difference, and there were multiple times that I got confused and forgot who was talking.

If I read it again, I would do it in book format. But I certainly wouldn't mind reading it again.

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Complex but Worth It

Revisado: 12-07-17

Are the names a bit confusing? Are you perplexed by the culture? Don't worry! It will all come together, and when it does, you'll feel like you're at Hogwarts. I definitely got Harry Potter vibes from Maia the entire time. He was courageous, considerate, logical, and compromising. It was a real treat to "watch" him through his initial reign. I felt like the adversities he met with were reasonable, and his approach to them was well-considered and not at all contrived. Kyle's range of vocals made it a real treat to understand each character clearly and differently. Overall, I would be completely willing to listen to this book again, and I highly recommend it to anyone considering it.

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You Might be a bit Disappointed

Revisado: 12-07-17

It's been a few days since I listened to this book, and I still don't know how I feel about it. Half the characters die in the end, and based on the ominous title, you would expect that, but the reality of how it happened was somewhat dull in comparison. I will say that I think the most striking scene, for me, was when Ben comes back from going on the treasure hunt search with Archie and he learns that it was all for nothing. I think it was a sharp, gripping understanding for both Ben and the reader. That kind of stuff is what I expected from this book, but every other death seems cliche and therefore meaningless. In terms of narration, I picked the book out because of both the ominous title and the fact that MacLeod Andrews read it, so I was really disappointed with the reading, and I don't think it's one of Andrews' best. Overall, I think the book should only be read in a guided manner through a book club. Personally, I wouldn't listen to it again otherwise.

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Two Narrators Necessary

Revisado: 12-07-17

Personally, I find it frustrating when a book with a large number of both gender characters doesn't also have two narrators. In this case, I was supremely disappointed that the book did not have a British AND an American narrator. Hannah Tointon's portrayal of Noah was so off that it really distracted from the story itself. While it's not the greatest story, the part in the end where Penny is finally found out and slayed all over the internet is a really poignant and necessary message for young people today. In the midst of what I found to be a very fluffy story, that was the part that most prominently stuck out to me. That being said, if given the chance to listen to it again, I probably wouldn't.

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Relatable, but Young

Revisado: 12-07-17

I'm a big fan of the fake relationship concept, and I think this book portrays it magnificently. My favorite part of this book was probably when Kitty first met Peter, probably because that's when you get the first inkling that there's more to the story than what we're being told. After much thought, while I find Margo's character to be most relatable, it's Kitty that's actually my favorite character, because she's so honest that sometimes she even seems to be older than she really is. If it weren't for Laura Knight Keating's excellent vocal portrayal of Kitty, I might have imagined she was about the same age as Margo and Laura Jean. Laura Jean's character, herself, is a little bit childish. There were many times that I forgot she was supposed to be a 16-year-old and thought she was closer to 13, although there were also many times that she thought things which I still think to myself these days--as a nearly 30-year-old. Despite that singular flaw, I am recommending this book to everyone I know. I binged and finished this book in one night because it just made me feel so good. I look forward to reading the next one.

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Swings and...Misses?

Revisado: 10-10-17

In the initial hour of this book, I was captivated even as Lily was escaping. I was so terrified with jumping nerves, that I may have made a mistake by reading a review on Kirkus. In it, they write that Overton "never manages to maintain narrative momentum beyond a series of heartfelt vignettes." Maybe I shouldn't have read it, but after I did, I couldn't help but agree. Overton sets up so many possibilities for dramatic conflict throughout the story--a sister that's pregnant with the heroine's ex-boyfriend's baby, a kidnapper with smooth psychopathic planning skills, and a teenager who was locked away for 8 years only to escape and be confronted with very real adult decisions--but none of it actually comes to anything. Lily is quite the Mary Sue, never really getting angry, and barely scratching the surface on the amount of crazy one would expect from a 16-year-old forced to bend to the will of a psychopath. Rick manages to get three-quarters of the way toward villiandom, although he seems to be thwarted like a comic book bad-guy every time. Arguably, it's Lily's sister, Abby, who manages to be the most well-developed character of the book--and even she has too much crazy to be properly explored...seeming to take on all the crazy you would have expected to see in Lily's character if you met her in real life.

I was terribly disappointed. In the beginning, I thought this was going to be the book that I recommended to all my friends and family, and in the end I was left with the disappointed feeling of having eaten too many sweets after never really wanting them in the first place. The only solace was the narration. I came into the story for MacLeod Andrews, and of course he didn't disappoint. And while Jenna Lamia has an accent I could never really get comfortable with, she does have a knack for accents that really made every character distinctive. The narration is the only thing that would have me reading it again.

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Hits Home Again and Again

Revisado: 10-06-17

I was riveted by this series from the very beginning. Since I started listening over a month ago, this series has become more and more poignant in everyday life. Issues of sexism, racism, and classism still permeate today. On the one hand, it's hard to believe that WWII happened only 70 years ago, and on the other...we could easily be in the middle of it right now. Martin Sheen provides excellent narration of a tale that you'll find both very familiar and horrifically unbelievable. I learned so much from this series. To anyone who says "look how far we've come," in the last 50 years, I urge you to find out how much we may have actually stayed the same by listening to this series.

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Completely Enchanted

Revisado: 10-04-17

I think I fell in love with this book from the beginning. The story is such a great mystery, and halfway through, I was sure that it was an unsolvable one. But I have now left the story thinking that I need to form a book club just to solve the emotions that I have coursing through me. The story made me consider my own past, my own ability to maintain memories, and made me question whether I was really putting my interest in my future, my present, or my past mistakes. The characters were so rich and deep that I could have spent hours analyzing them.

I loved the narrators. Amy McFadden, in particular, has a voice like liquid marshmallows, and I loved every minute--even if it wasn't Oklahoman in nature. Brian Hutchinson really made me fall in love with Wyatt. The way he spoke the part of the narrorator--in a way that was almost old-fashioned in tone--made Wyatt that much more appealing and lively. He managed to catch the "smartass" tone all the way through the character's portrayal.

I am recommending this book to everyone I know--and everyone I don't. It's been a pleasure, and I am definitely going to miss hanging out with these guys every day on my drive to work.

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Predictable and Angsty

Revisado: 09-28-17

I was neither a fan of the story nor the accents of the narrator. While I will acknowledge that Collins has a great variety in cadence and pitch, I found Ethan's accent in particular to be more the accent of an older generation. With regard to the story itself, I was out off by the "poetry," the predictability of the storyline and it's outcome, the unreasonable stubbornness of the adults, the pretentiousness of the verbiage with regard to the supernatural, and finally the unrealistic representation of teenage soulmates. I would not recommend this to readers above middle school age.

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