Twitterpated

Narrator was beyond horrible

Revisado: 01-27-15

I couldn't get past 2 hours of listening to this. The narrator must be from another planet. The 1 star I gave the story really isn't valid since I was only able to listen to 2 hours of the audiobook. But the format of the review system requires that a rating be given in each category, so I had no choice but to give the story 1 star.

Having said that, I've read rave reviews about this book, so I wish all of you KA fans the very best in getting beyond the narrator's horrible performance to go on and enjoy the entire story. As for me, I'll be getting my credit back after this review is posted.

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Not captivated at all

Revisado: 11-19-14

I made it about halfway through this book before I gave up on it. The narrators were really bad. Jill Redfield's excellent performances in the first three books of this series has left the building. She sounded bored with all the melodrama and angst herself. And Jerermy York's performance was mostly flat, but also laughable when he did female voices. I just couldn't have their voices in my head anymore.

The constant repetition of the insecurities of these characters and the never ending effort to convey the idea that they truly love each other despite all the self-inflicted melodrama is way over the top. And to think their is a fifth book on the horizon is a bit nauseating. I already believe that this story could have been done in three books if they were properly edited, so adding another book to the series is really going to be much ado about nothing.

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Too long since the last installment was released

Revisado: 09-01-14

This final installment of The Callahans was a mediocre story at best. I think it would have been a good idea to listen to the other 3 books again before listening to this one. The storyline in all the Callahan books is very convoluted - so many details, so many characters, so much melodrama. For some reason, Lora Leigh didn't make Crowe a very likable character until the very end, and that got old very quickly. It's hard to have to keep reminding yourself that he's not really the jerk that he seems to be. Why do that to the "hero" of the story?

Worst of all, Julia Duvall is a HORRIBLE narrator. Her tone and inflection were really bad. Sometimes she would use a low voice for a female character and a high voice for a male character while they were actually dialoguing in the story. So confusing! And she changed pronunciation of words from one chapter to the next - why do narrators do that? I will never listen to another book that she narrates.

Anyway, I'm glad the Callahan series is over, but all 4 books could have been trimmed down quite a bit. They just seemed to drag on way too long.

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Narrator ruined it for me

Revisado: 08-20-14

It's been a while since the last Hard Ink book was released in audio format, so I was a bit lost in the beginning of this story. I had a hard time remembering the details of what went before. Probably should have re-read the last book before I started this one.

Anyway, then we're told it's only been a week since Sara and Shane met. The story just didn't seem to flow very well. The writing is very uneven. Grammar and sentence structure were awful.

Combine the bad writing with the terrible narration by Seraphine Valentine and it makes you want to scream. Her voice and inflection are just all wrong. It was just a very painful experience to listen to this story.

It seems like there are fewer and fewer good narrators these days. And it's hard to tell by the audio samples provided sometimes. I hope the audiobook industry does a better job comes up with some better narrators soon.

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Yawn!

Revisado: 08-17-14

This story had potential, but it just didn't draw me in or engage me in any way. I think the narration was part of the problem. Tatiana Sokolov (a/k/a Tanya Eby) has done some halfway decent work in other books, but she was really bad in this one.

The plot was so predictable. The story takes place in New Orleans. The main characters, Allie and Mick were high school sweethearts, but when Mick went away to college, the romance ended. Then they had one very hot hook up during college. They both still love each other, but Mick is too deep in his own self-loathing to want a relationship with Allie. He got involved in BDSM and was a highly-trained dominant. Plus he is into underground fighting, too, as a way to vent his anger.

Meanwhile, Allie is living all over the world learning to become a pastry chef. She also got into BDSM (as a "perfect" submissive). Allie returns to New Orleans after she inherits a house from a relative, and at this point, you can probably write the rest of story yourself.

The sex scenes were supposed to be hot, but honestly I didn't get the slightest tingle from any of them. Part of it was the narration, but they just fell flat for every time.

Waste of a credit (I am going to return it after the review gets posted); definitely not worth paying cash either.

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A real disappointment

Revisado: 08-07-14

I really loved the Sullivan series, so I thought I'd try this book. It didn't take long to realize that I should have paid attention to the description "new-adult" series.

New-adult is obviously the new industry term for "young adult" (meaning late teens, early 20's).

New adult (notice no hyphen) means a new series suitable for adults.

This story took bits and pieces of all The Sullivan books and watered them down for a young adult readership. The characters in the Morrison family are similar to the Sullivans, so I imagine that the future installments of this series will just be more watered down Sullivan wannabes.

I won't be buying anymore books in this series even though I like Bella Andre.

On a final note, Eva Kaminsky does a really good job as always.

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Least favorite of series so far

Revisado: 08-07-14

Is there anything you would change about this book?

There was a part of the story where Jack was trying to win a contract to restore an historical building in Utah. He lost the bid over "moral issues". Ultimately this ends up causing a huge fight between Keely and Jack. This seemed like a real ploy in the storyline and just didn't work for me. Also the scene towards the end when Keely's 5 brothers bring Jack to her at a campsite and then her father shows up.........I don't know. I wish LJ would have written some better material in these scenes (and a few others as well).

How would you have changed the story to make it more enjoyable?

This just felt like a rough draft to me. I would give it a very thorough edit and rewrite in some crucial areas. Keely's character was fairly well developed, but Jack's character still needed some fleshing out.

Would you be willing to try another one of Rebecca Estrella’s performances?

Rebecca Estrella is one of the WORST narrators in the audiobook market. The only reason why I am hanging in there with the Rough Riders series is because I love the characters. Otherwise, she is pure torture.

What would have made this romance irresistible?

I'm not a big fan of romances that have a lot of conflict in them to the point where the couple is constantly fighting and making up (or having "angry sex", etc.). While some conflict is necessary to put some tension and reality into a romance novel, a story like All Jacked Up had a little too much conflict in it for my taste.

Any additional comments?

The McKay family is getting so big. It would be nice if one of the future books would have a prologue or something that named all the couples and their kids (or maybe LJ could put a McKay/West family tree on her website). It's very frustrating not remembering all the kids' names. I'd have to go back and start over with book #1 and read them all again in order to make my own family tree. Not sure I'd be able to stand listening to Rebecca Estrella all over again for that project.

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Think I'm burning out on KA

Revisado: 07-31-14

Is there anything you would change about this book?

I've been KA fan for a while and listened to everything by her that's available on Audible. Her books are becoming formulaic to me. Although this was as good a story as almost any of the other ones she's written, I think that's exactly the trouble - they are all pretty much the same story.

How would you have changed the story to make it more enjoyable?

I'm getting tired of all her heroes and heroines being drop dead gorgeous, multi-orgasmic and usually pretty wealthy, too. I realize these are romantic escapism novels to the extreme, but I always end up feeling totally inadequate as a woman after listening to one of her books.

She also uses words/phrases repeatedly. For example, she's always saying that someone is "folding in/out of their car" - it was original the first 100 times I heard it in her other books.

How could the performance have been better?

Emma Taylor's male main character voice is very annoying. So neanderthal. The female characters' voices were great. She utilizes all kinds of accents, from British to elderly Southern black women. She might not be the right reader for a book told from multiple POV's.

If this book were a movie would you go see it?

On DVD maybe, but not in a theater.

Any additional comments?

I'm still a fan, but I think when the next installment of this series becomes available, I'll wait a while before downloading it. I need to listen to other genres for a while.

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Uh.....no.

Revisado: 07-23-14

What would have made Try better?

My main complaint was the narrator. Just way over the top. His voice for Tate sounded like an old man. Logan's voice was okay. The narration during almost all the sex scenes sounded like a sportscaster on ESPN during a really competitive football game.

The sex scenes were also beyond sexy. Graphic to the point of being gross.

The storyline itself was okay. Maybe this is one of those books that would have been better if I had read the e-book (or if it had a better narrator).

Would you ever listen to anything by Ella Frank again?

Don't think so.

Who would you have cast as narrator instead of Shannon Gunn?

Sebastian York is my go-to guy. He can read the phone book and make it sound sexy.

What reaction did this book spark in you? Anger, sadness, disappointment?

My main reaction was frustration because the story had potential, but the narration was just ridiculous.

Any additional comments?

Even though I know this is a series (and the cover art is very clear that this is part of a series), I still HATE CLIFFHANGERS. Granted, this one was fairly obvious (and you can read the synopsis of the next book on Goodreads), but I still hate cliffhangers. The author could have tied up that last detail in this book, and then end it with some teaser for the ongoing story.Cliffhangers are an attempt to manipulate the reader into buying the next book in the series. If a book is well written and the characters are memorable, cliffhangers aren't necessary in order to sustain your readership.

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Just awful!!

Revisado: 07-21-14

What disappointed you about Kaleb?

The writing was very uneven and derivative. Not very well edited at all. The "f" word was used in ridiculous excess in the course of normal conversations amongst the characters. It was overkill. But the BIGGEST disappointment was the narration. Freddie Bates was maybe a 2-star, but Eliza Grace was a -1, so I gave the performance 1 star. I couldn't finish the book because the narration was so bad. I notice there's a review already posted that says the narrations was amazing. I suspect that person must be a close relative of one of the narrators.

Would you ever listen to anything by Nicole Edwards again?

No.

Who would you have cast as narrator instead of Freddie Bates and Eliza Grace ?

Sebastian York and Grace Grant (although she seems to have dropped off the audiobook scene lately - I miss her).

You didn’t love this book... but did it have any redeeming qualities?

I like stories about big, tight-knit families. The thing about the Walker family is that all the sons formed a company and work together. That's a bit too much togetherness to be believable (not to mention that they share women - that's DEFINITELY more togetherness than necessary!).

Any additional comments?

There's erotica and there's smut. I think this falls into the latter category.

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