Miss

Not impressed

Reviewed: 12-05-20

If you are writing a book where the lead character is a writer and 'wonderful wordsmith' it helps to have at least some of that quality yourself. Peter Kenyon did a good job considering the poor material, he didn't laugh once, and I found myself feeling for the narrator more than I did about the characters in the book.
Dear Ms Brandon, please buy a dictionary and thesaurus. I counted the use of sardonically 6 times in one paragraph (also please learn that sardonically and sarcastically are not interchangeable). I got sick of hearing about orbs (eyes) and at one point breasts were described as 'hung perkily' - erm hang is down and perky implies up. My preoccupation with the, frankly awful, writing shows how little I was engaged with the narrative, which became increasing bizarre as the plot of one book was stretched to three. I can't tell you if there was a satisfactory conclusion as I did not make it to the end. I think that repackaging this as a drinking game would make more sense (take a slug everytime you hear/read a particular word or cliché) than trying to sell it as a novel. By about 10 pages in you would be so smashed that you wouldn't care that the plot was ludicrous and didn't made sense. I can only think that this was the use made of the book by the writers of the rave reviews that I read before downloading. Returning.

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Almost laughable it is so bad

Reviewed: 27-11-19

Long rambling story that just doesn't make sense. Characters are paper dolls with no depth or development and things happen out of nowhere, with no plot development either. Not helped by a narrator who really should not try to do accents. I'll be returning this one. Generously I have given two stars rather than one as I did make it past the first chapter - I was incredulous to hear how much more of a car crash it could become. I actually made it quite a way before I lost the will to live and eventually gave up.

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30 people found this helpful

I eventually Gave up

Reviewed: 02-01-19

I tried to stick with this, I really did - I very nearly made it to the end but it was not very gripping and in the end I just didn't care enough about the characters to carry on. Also a lot of it didn't make sense - contradictory or just implausable. Performance was adequate, but working with poor material.

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2 people found this helpful

Uncomfortable and unconvincing

Reviewed: 08-12-15

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Wholly unsatisfying book. Some understanding by the author about trauma and its effects, and some ability to develop convincing characters instead of cardboard cut-outs would have been a large step forward. Shame as it was a good premis for a book, but the main female character was a spoilt rich bitch with uncharacteristic outbursts, the male lead a character of two opposing halves - unintentionally it seems as this was never addressed or used to create dramatic tension, and the in-house baddie just would have never been in-house in the first place. I read good reviews of this book on this site, but can only assume that they were reading something else. Fortunately I can return it and get something decent to listen to.

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two strikes

Reviewed: 22-08-15

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Two strikes: firstly it is initially quite hard to get into this book as an audiobook as it zips back and forth in time, but it is written with (just) enough skill that I managed to get over that and got into the story and was helped by the pretty good narration. The 2nd strike though really pissed me off. In the English version the book just ends abruptly without completing the story. The 2nd book: Broken Juliet is not available as an audiobook. Maybe it has not been recorded yet, but the German translation has both books in one. To not complete the story is disingenuous and disrespectful to the reader by asking them to cough up again to hear the whole story. While I would like to complete the book I will not be doing so as to pay another £4.99 for the kindle read or possibly in the future another £19 for the audio version is playing the publisher's profit led game. Shame on the author for playing along too.

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sweet book if overlong

Reviewed: 12-05-15

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I read reviews that criticised the narration before I listened to this but I had no problems with the narrator and I have returned books before that I simply can't listen to. Not as raunchy and a slower pace than some of KA's books but a sweet enough story. Could have done with some editing as got a bit repetitive and have seen it criticised for the heroine giving up a jet set lifestyle for a wife and kids one, but then I have personally known jet-setters who have got bored with it and craved 'normality' especially those that have lived behind a mask as Josie does in this. Those that feel that way will also probably not like Jake, especially his going ballistic at the thought of his daughter dating while allowing his son to string along 5 girls, but then again life is often stranger than fiction and double standards seem especially easy for alpha males. For those reviewers that say Josie talks like an Englishwoman - you have been reading too much Jane Austen. Come visit the UK and hear us swear and drop vowels left, right and centre and see that we are not all educated to dictionary-swallowing levels.

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Not very original & naration not good

Reviewed: 26-10-14

Would you try another book written by Jennifer Kohout or narrated by Michaela James?

Don't think so

Would you be willing to try another one of Michaela James’s performances?

Not if she reads it like this. Some of her pronunciations were like bad British costume drama and some were unconvincing Americanese, but the most annoying thing was the speed she was reading at and lack of paragraph pauses. Most akin to rattling off a shopping list.

Do you think Wolf Lake: The Complete Trilogy needs a follow-up book? Why or why not?

can't see why to bother

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1 person found this helpful

still waiting for it to get vaguely engaging

Reviewed: 27-08-14

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I stuck it for an hour and a half. Then I relented and eventually gave up at 3 hours 4mins and 14 secs with 4 hours or so to go. The story had not moved on AT ALL. That 3 hours plus was filled with character introductions - for 3 characters with a few other place holders and narrative movers thrown in. So roughly an hour for each main character - we should know them very well. Not so. All we get is vague generalized comments repeated in a slightly different way with no back history or insight. This is one I am returning.

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Touching, enjoyable tale

Reviewed: 10-08-14

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I initially thought 'not another Cyrano De Bergerac retelling, please' but the author alludes to that comparison and swiftly moves on from the letter writing device to tell a story woven with believable main characters and home truths about their flaws and strengths. Sad, touching and hopeful in turn, I enjoyed this book immensely.

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1 person found this helpful

Grittier then normal Ms Roberts, and better for it

Reviewed: 10-08-14

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I have listened to a few books by Nora Roberts and found them a little saccharine for my tastes but this is grittier than her usual offerings. Being a fan of her other pen persona: J.D. Robb's 'In Death' series, this ticked the boxes for me. Good believable characters, well portrayed and a story that pulls you along and buffets your emotions. I will be listening to it again.

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