Adele Buck

Overwrought narration

Revisado: 04-18-25

I had to nope out on this one. The narrator does too many over the top voices for my taste.

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Obvious and over long

Revisado: 09-10-24

Ever get frustrated because a book had characters that behaved in opposition to their description? This book’s premise is basically that.

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Plot holes ahoy

Revisado: 07-08-19

There's just all kinds of incongruous stuff going on in this book. Like, the male main character (MMC) and his bestie/roommate live in a luxury penthouse and there's a dive bar in the same neighborhood. The book literally STARTS with the penthouse full of hockey groupies and the bestie/roommate basically orders women as takeout later in the narrative, but! When it's convenient for the plot for him not to go home, he "doesn't like to bring women to the apartment."

Also, I get that certain men use female-coded language as insults, but I really hate it. And there's a LOT of that in this book.

Add to that a lot of characters dithering and not saying logical things to each other and I noped out on this. Too bad, because I really enjoy Jason Clark's narration, especially.

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Okay story - bad narrator

Revisado: 05-03-18

I'm a big fan of Victoria Dahl's novels. I think this was the last of her contemporaries that I hadn't read. Not my favorite of hers, but a decent story.

The narrator sounded okay on the sample - probably because it was dialogue-heavy. But when it comes to exposition, she sounds a bit like a primary school teacher. Weird cadences and odd pauses and stresses mar the narration.

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Ugly American in Paris. No thanks.

Revisado: 04-21-18

DNF'd at 45%

The good: Armitage's narration. I almost kept going just for that.

The okay: Grant's narration. Honestly, just about anyone's narration would suffer when contrasted with Armitage's. But her English accent was abysmal. So every time we were in Joy's POV and she talked to Griffin, I was cringing.

The bad: Joy. Joy, Joy, Joy. Here is a professional who thinks she's going to come to a foreign country and just...absorb the language by osmosis. Like a child. Every time she busts out a "bonjour" she congratulates herself. And when her (slightly) more complicated efforts go tits up because she doesn't know what she's doing? She spirals. She thinks her smartphone translator app should be a substitute for actually...learning the language. (And around the point where I quit, she says she actually did take French in high school. So she should know better. Learning a language is damn hard.)

She comes off as very much of an Ugly American stereotype. And I just didn't want to spend another minute with her.

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Ummm. Some good stuff, but problems.

Revisado: 11-16-17

Narration: the female narrator has a SUPER ANNOYING TIC where she builds up to a crescendo at the END OF A SENTENCE...aaand draws things out...

It creates this SITUATION WHERE THINGS GO UP...and then they go down. Narratively speaking, it bears no relation to the actual story. It's just irritating.

The male narrator apparently can't do accents. Like, at all. There are two secondary characters, one of whom is Australian and the other is French. The female narrator does the accents. The male narrator...mostly doesn't. Except when he does (badly).

Story: Harlow is supposed to be super mature for her age (22). She is really not. She's a bit smart and a lot spoiled. She has famous parents in her corner, she goes crashing in to try to fix everything in a festival of privilege, I just...couldn't get behind how she was described. The other characters' impressions of her didn't jibe with my experience with her. And Finn...well, he's a bit of a jackass. Anyone who cuts and runs when things get hard? No, thanks.

The good stuff? Well, the sex was hot. Honestly, the more I'm writing this review, the less I'm liking the book.

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Bored.

Revisado: 10-26-16

What could Jill Shalvis have done to make this a more enjoyable book for you?

The story dragged. There are some weird phrases she uses again and again that distract, especially in an audio book. "[character] went brows up" is one. Who says this?

Would you be willing to try another one of Karen White’s performances?

No. She has a tendency to drawl the final words of her sentences in a weird, distracting way. She also voiced Willa in a way that was almost like the "Sexy Baby" girl from 30 Rock.

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Wonderful book and perfect naration

Revisado: 10-02-16

What about Kate Reading’s performance did you like?

Her reading is always so beautiful. She has the range to do male characters well without trying to force her voice into strange, harsh intonation. I'd listen to her read the phone book.

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

Oh...I'm not much of a cry-er at books, but there was a scene toward the end that just about brought me to tears!! Not going to spoil it.

Any additional comments?

This story is just lovely - unconventional and compelling. The antagonist is interesting. I mean, I HATE HIM, but Chase also makes his motives and actions understandable.

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Amateurish narration

Revisado: 08-27-16

Would you try another book from Emily Foster and/or Zoe McKay?

Emily Foster, yes. Zoe McKay, no.

Who was your favorite character and why?

I liked Annie a lot. Too many New Adult characters (especially heroines) are praised by other characters for being mature when there's no evidence in the text for it. She came across as realistically 22, but a solidly mature 22 who makes (mostly) good choices.

Who would you have cast as narrator instead of Zoe McKay?

Someone who could actually produce an upper-crust British accent. Charles' voice was all over the place, sometimes veering almost Cockney.

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Heroine needs a therapist.

Revisado: 08-11-16

Is there anything you would change about this book?

I would eliminate about 50% of the repetitive introspection. We get it: the heroine's an ice queen because her dad was an emotionally withholding jerk and the hero regrets his criminal past. We don't need it repeated every single chapter. Also, honey: you realize you're emotionally screwed up. Get therapy.

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

Progress. I'm about halfway through (and about to return it), and neither character seems capable of growth. They do something that indicates they may begin to see their way towards working through their issues, and then, boom. Next chapter is almost entirely introspection about how they are or have screwed up.

Which character – as performed by Nicki D. Noir and Jay Crow – was your favorite?

Really, really didn't like the female narrator. She pauses in odd...places and makes very jarring character decisions (one thankfully minor character sounds like Annie Potts in the original Ghostbusters...because why does a paralegal in Colorado need to sound like they're from Brooklyn? Reasons, apparently).

The male narrator had a great, deep, sexy voice and a lot of range. I liked his pieces very well and will seek him out.

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

Maybe? Because we probably wouldn't have all of the "back to square 1" introspection in a movie format.

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