The Wife

FMC difficult to like.

Revisado: 03-06-25

The FMC was insufferable. Why authors insist on showing how “strong” a female character is by making her unnecessarily combative is beyond me. Other than that, story was engaging.

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

Cute…sometimes

Revisado: 11-16-24

Overall this was a cute idea, I love a good second chance romance, and was interested in the fact that it was about Hanukkah rather than Christmas. As a Christian, I was absolutely enthralled by the Jewish traditions, as they were all new to me.

This book had its fun moments, but was ruined by the female MC. She was insufferable. There was also a ton of “telling” to the reader (or in this case, listener). Instead of putting the characters in a scene that showed the point the author was trying to make, the author lectured to the reader about the point.

We were beaten over the head through the story with reminders that the female protagonist was suffering from CFS. It was literally in every scene—multiple times. We get it, she’s sick a lot of the time. Readers are smart enough to keep up without repeating “chronic illness” over and over and over…

I too suffer from a chronic illness that people can’t see just by looking at me. I was diagnosed with Lupus over 20 years ago. It isn’t, however, something that I linger on every second of my existence.

I’m disappointed. This book could have been so much better.

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

A different version of an old favorite…

Revisado: 02-01-24

I honestly don’t know why some listeners are showing such a dislike for this version of the audio. I loved the original with Callie Dalton and (I am pretty certain) Gomez Pugh. Callie is one of my favorite narrators, and Gomez’s deep voice with the smoking’ hot growl was *chef’s kiss*. I won’t lie and say that I wasn’t apprehensive about the remake, because I was. I mean, why mess with perfection?

I was so pleasantly surprised with this version.

I’m not a diehard fan of Sebastian York, like the majority of the listeners. I have listened to a few performances that I wasn’t sold on. There are times when he narrates and it feels like he wasn’t the best fit for the book. This time around it was like he was made for this character, or, the character was made for him. He was fantastic as Rhodes.

Amanda Ronconi always kills it with the projects she does, and this one was right up there with the best.

I wouldn’t necessarily say that this pairing was better than the original, rather it was another fantastic performance of an already wonderful audio book.

I get that there was a new publisher dealing with a couple of Mariana’ s books, and that was the point of the re-recording of an already well done performance, I am just kind of sad that the an audiobook that NEEDED to be redone *cough-Rhythm Chord and Malykin -cough* wasn’t chosen instead. That is my only gripe.

If you’re on the fence about this, I’d say that it is worth the credit or $$. I bought it and was absolutely satisfied that I got my money’s worth. Big applause to Sebastian and Amanda, as well as Gomez and Callie. All of you performed Zapata’s stellar book well and both versions are excellent.

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

esto le resultó útil a 1 persona

So good.

Revisado: 11-19-23

This installment has everything. What a roller coaster ride. I have never wanted to shake sense into a FMC as much as I wanted to with this one. The next book due out at end of March…so far away. As usual, the narration was stellar.

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

Over halfway through and…

Revisado: 10-24-23

This book is so schizophrenic that it becomes tedious after a while. I get that the author wants to keep her readers on the edge of their seats, but does such a poor job at it. Instead we’re left with a storyline that bounces all over the place and becomes extremely frustrating to follow along with. The three books could have been one longer book with better editing. I’m so far in it at this point that I’m afraid if I take a break and listen to something else I’ll never actually finish this one. Not sure if I’m invested enough anymore to even care about that.

Side note to authors: don’t be so gung ho writing the “kickass female MC” that you turn the love interest into the male equivalent of a wet dishrag. It’s insulting to the guy readers and unappealing to actual strong females who want their men to be men and not little boys who run to their Mommies for help.

The narrator does a fantastic job as usual.

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

Had to quit 2 hours in.

Revisado: 07-31-23

The narration is good, this has nothing to do with the narration. The main character is incredibly unlikable. I cannot stomach any more of this nonsense, when I am two hours in and NOTHING… not kidding, absolutely nothing has happened to move the plot forward. It wouldn’t be a problem if the MC was interesting. She isn’t. Not wasting any more of my time.

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

Could have been incredible

Revisado: 04-25-23

I’m about halfway through the first book and can already see the issue with this audio book. The narration isn’t necessarily bad, it’s just not great. The way the story is written necessitates at minimum dual narration. When the female narrator attempts chapters from the MMC POV the listener is pulled completely out of the story. It seems as if we are listening to the FMC, and it is very confusing.

This could have been handled three ways. A more versatile narrator, like Callie Dalton, who can play a convincing male character would have worked in this situation. A better choice would have been dual narration, adding in a Zachary Webber or Teddy Hamilton for Tennessee’s POV would have boosted enjoyment of this story by 110%. Option three, and where I really think this would have made this a stellar story would have been to have done the narration in duet format. The reviews for this series would have easily been 5 stars if it would have been done that way.

This deserves a re-record. I would buy again if it was released in duet format with both male and female narration.

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

esto le resultó útil a 6 personas

DNF…So Frustrated

Revisado: 04-09-23

Chapter 8. That’s as far as I made it before I noped out. If it wasn’t for the absolutely stellar narration I wouldn’t have made it that far. The premise had so much potential. The FMC was AWFUL. I haven’t hated a fictional character this much in a very long time.

Every scenario in this book could have been solved if she would have just explained to her husband how she was feeling…or shut up and listened to what he had to say when he was trying to smooth things over with her. Or best yet, throw some duct tape on her sister’s mouth and shove her in the closet so the adults could have a conversation.

There has to be conflict and tension in a story, or there’d be no story. But this dumpster fire of a book made me want poor Gavin to just give Thea her damn divorce and go get a drink.

If you like listening to women verbally beating down their men, and the men taking it and asking for more…well, this is the book for you.

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

Worth the listen.

Revisado: 02-17-23

Look, I get where the low reviewers were coming from in their complaints about politics. Anyone who pretends that authors don’t skew solidly in one particular direction would be lying or deliberately obtuse. Since over 98% of authors can’t keep their own political opinions out of their work these days, it would really be nice if they realized that not everyone agrees with them and not everyone likes to be hit over the head in every book they read with the bashing of conservatives, Christians, and the other “woke” narratives of current year.

However, if you look past the thinly veiled allusion to the horrible, bad guy politician being a republican (seriously—only republicans can be hypocritical cheaters, right? Ahem, Anthony Weiner anyone?Clinton…I could keep going), the remainder of the book is very good.

The conflict between protagonists was compelling, and for the everyone claiming the female lead was a squishy pushover while the male protagonist was a douchebag, I am unsure what they were smoking. Both of them had moments of bad behavior, both were way too quick to take blame when it wasn’t necessary. They weren’t perfect people! That’s what made it good—and as realistic as a movie star and basic Becky pretending to be a couple could ever be.

If there was no conflict, no misunderstandings, there would be no real story. The characters grew throughout the book. The bickering and verbal sparring was as realistic as any argument I have ever been in with a significant other.

Don’t let the other reviews keep you from listening to this story. It was good enough to keep me up way too late on a work night. The narrator was absolutely fantastic and had me seeking out other titles she has narrated, which is really the best indication to me of a stellar performance. I took one star off of the story—mainly because I find the political stuff to be a drag to listen to when I am wanting to freaking be entertained. Seriously, with all the me too crap in the past few years, the dude could have been a producer, director, CEO of some big company. Naw it had to be a Republican politician—of course. I guess at least it wasn’t the pastor of some evangelical church, because that’s the other scapegoat for these sorts of situations in fiction.

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

It was okay.

Revisado: 02-28-16

I received a free copy of this audiobook in exchange for an honest review.

Imagine if everything you have ever read in a fairytale were true. If pixies, trolls and dragons were real...in this world, they are. Tesser is a dragon. He wakes up after being asleep for a very long time. And he wakes up in Boston.

Of course, if the things that are in the fairytales are true, there is also a "big bad". In this case, it is an evil corporation that is headed up by some sketchy characters. The CEO is a delusional trust fund baby who has been raised to believe that all of the evil brought about by the corporation is for the common good.

There are elements of this story that are done so well. The dragons are very well thought out. I loved their characters and how they related to the overall plot. The humans were interesting and the action scenes were good, but the love stories in the book were not. There was a whole lot of insta-love being thrown around here.

The thoughts and conversations from the female perspective were not realistic. At least from my perspective as a female. Sure, we go to clubs in order to blow off some steam after a rough week on the job, but it is rare to fall into relationships after a night at the bar. Especially if you and your bestie both find relationships on the same night in the same bar.

The "sexy times" are pretty explicit. Though I don't particularly mind that, I really think it narrows down the ages that should probably be reading the book. I think it really isn't suitable for young teens. Maybe 17+.

I would be interested in seeing how the series plays out, but can think of other authors in the genre that do the character interaction much better, like Thea Harrison. Her Elder Races series is pretty similar, but the contact between the characters seems more believable and not so rushed.

The narrator was good, but there were some spots where I had to crank up the volume to hear what the heck a character was saying. Then had to immediately turn it back down so I wasn't deafened. His accents were okay. I think I've been spoiled by some really good narrators like Oliver Wyman, Fred Berman and Holter Graham, because I couldn't help but think how much better the story would have been if any of them had voiced it.

Overall, it was good. I would probably pick up the next in the series.

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

esto le resultó útil a 5 personas