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terrible writing about terrible cops

Revisado: 06-19-24

Wow...these are some seriously terrible and dumb cops. Setting this in Chicago was just cliched and the story fairly predictable. The only redeeming thing were the performances and the fact it was short and free. The writing was a total joke and I can't believe all the positive reviews.

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entertaining cozy series but...

Revisado: 04-03-23

I found Webber's Lucy Valentine series to mostly fit my current craving for easy, cozy mysteries. There's humor, romance, plenty of pets, lots of friends and family and a touch of magic to balance out the darker aspects of murder mysteries. Dina Perlman is an okay narrator but some of the voice choices and fake giggling bugged. My biggest issue revolved around the fact that Lucy's moral compass clearly stems from a place of white, wealthy privilege. This book in particular highlights that and while it didn't stop me from listening to (or regret buying) these stories, it did affect my overall enjoyment of the series.

I'd also like to point out that this final book in the series is almost a decade old and Webber's newer stories are completely different. Her writing and subjects have matured and I've enjoyed her books very much.

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glad I stuck with the series

Revisado: 03-20-23

I didn't care much for The Ambitious Card though I did like the set-up and locale so decided to keep listening and am glad I did. Eli can still be a bit of a chump but he and the other characters are likable and the mystery engaging enough even if it's fairly easy to predict where the story is going. I was looking for something entertaining and not too dark and these books were perfect to listen to while working around the house. I said I probably wouldn't spend a credit to listen to these before but I've already bought the next 2 available in this series.

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likable characters but Eli is a chump

Revisado: 03-10-23

Decent cozy mystery with mostly likable characters and a good setting. I enjoy the incorporation of magic into the plots but 2 issues keep these from being really enjoyable. The main character Eli is a total chump. It's like he's desperate to be liked by everyone so is overly friendly with the guy who had an affair with his ex-wife. Instead of trying to win back Megan (or at least give her space to process her recent divorce), he pursues his old HS crush because she's still pretty. Ugh. It doesn't help that the narrator sounds much older and often sounds like Casey Kasem. The narration is also sometimes overly emotive to make up for a limited range of voices (there are too many craggy sounding elderly characters). Megan deserves much better than Eli and he should have at least had to work to win her back. The author also tries too hard to make Eli funny and it comes off mostly lame. Despite all that, these are decent for a cozy mystery but I wouldn't use a credit to listen to them.

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didn't live up to glowing reviews/Amz marketing

Revisado: 02-03-23

This is a story about co-dependence more than anything else. Nora's inability to live without obsessing about her addict brother Mario (& taking his choices personally) was trying in the extreme. Her do-gooder ways ended up being nothing more than about her need to control his story. Marilyn was a curmudgeonly widow cliché, Jasmine's surprise was easy to guess and dragged out frustratingly and Vlotto was simply too good to believe. Homeless addict Elliot was the only truly interesting character even though his story was predictable and I didn't care for his narrator. The ending came together too easily and overall too saccharine for such heavy subjects.

I felt like I was almost pushed into reading this by Amazon and should have paid better attention to the fact it's published by them. It didn't live up to the positive reviews and the hype.

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better watching on hallmark

Revisado: 12-08-22

Schaler tried to make a visual Hallmark Christmas movie but used the most cliched, predictable plot. I'm pretty sure there are a couple of versions of exactly this story already made. This was not a difficult plot to follow so including a narrator was unnecessary and annoying. The performers all did a great job with what they had to use.

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great premise, too many boring details

Revisado: 11-03-22

I bought this because I enjoy Painter's gentle PNR storytelling and thought the premise of this one sounded fun. It is but the story gets much too bogged down in unimportant details and has doesn't move the story forward. Given the suddenly life changes Ro is experiencing, I got bored of the endless daily details of Ro getting up, getting coffee and the number of food choices and then getting dressed and then...she doesn't seem to learn anything interesting at all about this new kingdom. As doctor who specializes in antiquities and history, she asks no questions about her family or bequest that brought her to the kingdom or how that kingdom had kept going without having a ruler for so long or what her potential magic may be. Instead we hear a lot of details about the palace and pretty flowers and cute village and did nothing to advance the heart of the story.

And while I think BJ Harrison is a good narrator, he's the wrong narrator for a book that focused on women. I do not understand using him for this at all. The story ends on cliffhanger of sorts but I'm not sure I'll stick with this series.

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esto le resultó útil a 1 persona

humor at heroine's expense

Revisado: 07-27-22

Nope. Painful with cliched humor like sassy grandma trying to hook her granddaughter up on air which is her job, btw. Ugh. I was curious about a male written romcom but turns out it's at the expense of the female MC. Lori is lame, constantly getting embarrassed or doing embarrassing things and is never clever because she's supposed to be sweet and shows it by the dumbest musical taste (there are contemporary romantic songs). Ugh. Ben OTOH get to be this confident magical thinking man who's not just more clever than Lori but also a doctor IRL, loves classic romcoms and goes around town saving children and animals. Ugh. This story pissed me off more than made me laugh and I couldn't finish it. Amooi is clearly not for me.

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trying too hard

Revisado: 07-13-22

I'm clearly in the minority but I found this boring and unfunny and like it was trying too hard to be clever. I have mostly enjoyed AO performances and the performers themselves were fine but the story was just dumb. It made me groan much more than it made me laugh. The only reason I'm bothering to review this is because I can't believe all of the injudicious raves this is getting.

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esto le resultó útil a 2 personas

performance gold

Revisado: 05-16-22

I've enjoyed all of Bastone's Audible Originals and appreciate how in each one, the romance is presented in a different manner. This one is all about the meet-cute that just keeps going and is almost exclusively told via dialogue which I loved. We get to know the characters as they get to know each other by the conversations they're having, like IRL. Not enough can be said how important the narrators were for this kind of story and Webber and Ronconi both brought solid acting to give the story depth. This was obviously presented as a script and the acting from all the performers made this great entertainment. I'm crossing my fingers that Bastone and Audible continue this beautiful relationship.

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