AmandaB

I’d skip this one…

Revisado: 12-21-24

This book was really annoying. I was pretty much over it by chapter 5 but I continued to listen because I love Abby Craden’s voice, and I wanted to give an informed review.

For those wanting a short explanation here it is:

There was no depth, the supporting characters were all irredeemable jerks, there were some weird word choices and situational turn-offs, it was infuriating yet boring and the MCs ages are 44 and 63 respectively.

For those wanting a longer explanation:

The first thing is that it felt superficial. I got the feeling that the author wanted the reader to intuit the emotions that weren’t explicitly stated, but unfortunately, her writing here wasn’t skilled enough to make that happen,

The next thing is that nearly every supporting character is generally a horrible person that continually treads all over the indefectible MC. The amount of times the MC declared that she “didn’t have a choice” anytime her family members took advantage of her was maddening. Yes, you have a choice Val! You’re a 44 year old woman for crying out loud! It put me in a bad mood to listen to someone being treated so poorly and doing nothing about it.

In the moments that the story wasn’t irritating, it plodded along slowly and uninterestingly. There were also some weird choices that were distracting like phone calls always being answered on the fourth ring and an excessive use of the word ‘crotch’. Crotch is not an attractive or sexy word. It’s bad enough that it was used at all and so frequently, but using it during a love scene is unforgivable.

Finally, the age discrepancy was too much for me. The second MC is 63 years old (which you don’t find out until well into the book). I’m sure there are plenty of people who are fine with that dynamic, but I would have preferred that it be mentioned in the synopsis as it’s not really my thing. Also there was a weird moment where the 63 year old was worried that the 44 year old was only attracted to her because she saw her as a stand in for her recently deceased GRANDMOTHER!! What??!!

I really didn’t like this one. The only reason I’m giving it more than one star is because of Abby. She is the queen after all.

I always struggle to write reviews that aren’t favorable, but the audience should know what they’re getting into. No disrespect intended.

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Big Potential, Massive Letdown

Revisado: 05-20-24

The first few chapters were so promising! A platform by which to launch this story into the stratosphere of popularity. Instead, it nose dived then face planted directly onto the sticky, tar covered asphalt.

The length of the book should have clued me into how rushed and unimpressive the story would be, but I thought, hey, maybe they’ll surprise me. Nope.

3 hours and 45 minutes isn’t nearly enough time to let the story breath and this one was suffocating.

The inconsistencies began to pile up a few chapters in, becoming more and more glaring with each passing scene. In the beginning the two MCs were intriguing, intelligent, mysterious and complex. By the last half of the book they had turned into vapid, cheesy, superficial simpletons.

The epilogue was so terribly Pollyanna that I nearly detached my retinas from how hard I was rolling my eyes.

The main characters have about as much depth as a sidewalk puddle after a light rain, and the supporting characters were essentially mannequins standing in the background.

It was as if randomly selected pieces from ten different jigsaw puzzles were forcibly jammed together to form an unsettling image of incongruity. The characters actions, like the puzzle pieces, didn’t fit the big picture. Everything felt forced and inorganic. It reminded me of a last minute term paper; hastily thrown together so as to at least receive a pass.

Basically, it was a skeleton with no meat.

The only reason I gave two stars instead of one was because of the narration. But even the incomparable Abby Craden, Queen of lesfic narration that she is, seemed to struggle with the lack of substance. And honestly, she deserves better. She should be narrating books like “And Playing the Role of Herself”, “Jericho” and “Curious Wine”, not sequestered to these hurried and disappointing plots.

I recommend skipping this one.

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Naw Fam..

Revisado: 07-16-23

This one wasn’t for me. I can sort of understand why some people liked it; It was generally well written and it was intriguing in its own way, but I didn’t like it for the following reasons:

First, there were a lot of plot holes and a lot of things that didn’t add up. That’s always frustrating for me as a reader. It left me uninterested and suffering through at times.

Next, the military portion was unrealistic. I was active duty for ten years and did tours in Iraq and Afghanistan. I could go on for a while about the inaccuracies, but I won’t bore you with that. Suffice it to say, the way things went down in this book are unlikely at best and BS at worst. It grated on me. I understand that it’s fiction and this pet peeve is likely specific to me but it’s worth mentioning.

Next and most important to me, there was no meaningful romance. There was intense erotic sex, but beyond that it was romantically superficial. Perhaps that’s what was intended but the lack of monogamy and (as cheesy as it may sound) a lack of a connecting of souls, is not for me. I’m a hopelessly romantic, two people meant for each other kind of girl.

And finally, there were things that were left unexplained. Which in and of itself isn’t bad, but it was like the writer didn’t want to take the trouble to explain pertinent information about the story. It was like she said “That would be difficult to explain, so I just won’t try.”

So, while I’m sure this will be a favorite for some, it fell short for me. As always, the incomparable Abby Craden was wonderful. I probably wouldn’t have finished the book if it wasn’t for her.

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Slow starter to a great story

Revisado: 06-05-23

EJ Noyes and Abby Craden are my Jam! And this was a good one. It was a bit of a slow starter but I never lost interest and it picked up quick.
The character development was well done as always, and while the romance seemed superficial at first, it very quickly became deep.
I loved the theme of integrity and doing the right thing because absolute integrity is very important to me.
Noyes must do some in depth research because this story was very believable. I have a tendency to pick books apart when they involve government themes as I was Active Duty for 10 years. But there wasn’t much to pick apart here. It was interesting and intriguing and well thought out. If Alone and Turbulence are a 10, Integrity is a solid 8. I look forward to the rest of the series.
Happy listening!

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Mundane

Revisado: 02-27-23

I really wanted the negative reviews here to be wrong. Unfortunately, they’re pretty on point.

The story was generally boring and anticlimactic. The relationship between the two MCs felt superficial and lacked.… meaning, if that makes sense.

There were two long, and in my opinion, pointless chapters, that reverted to, and detailed one of the MCs previous relationships. It was a turn off. I didn’t want to hear about Riley’s previous sex life while I was trying to root for her current relationship with Anna.

Additionally, everything seemed to lack any type of resolution. And Riley’s attitude toward everything seemed lazy. It was like she was saying “Well, this beautiful and wonderful woman just fell in my lap, I guess I’ll go with it as long as I don’t have to try too hard.” And Riley’s refusal to tell her ex to f-off made me dislike her.

As always, Queen Abby drew every bit of class and likability as possible from the characters, given what she had to work with. She’s the only reason I finished to book, aside from my compulsion to not leave things undone. If I was actually reading this book, I’d have been tempted to throw it in the fireplace after reading the disappointing and underwhelming last line. I say skip it.

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Don’t do it!

Revisado: 10-01-22

This book was absolutely infuriating. I have never read something so simplistic and yet, at the same time, so difficult to understand.

It seemed as though there were sentences missing or parts left out. It was like it was poorly translated from another language and thereby stripped of comprehensible nuance. I was so confused throughout the entire book and annoyed at the lack of substance and depth of the characters.

There were descriptions that were beautiful and poetic, but they were attached to things that lacked any understandable framework. It also has terrible continuity issues, and goes from moments of great epiphany to nonchalance so quickly that you’ll get whiplash.

It felt like an endless steam of thought from the mind of an inexperienced teenager. There was no believability and it was filled with factual inaccuracies. And I don’t mean the Greek God aspect, I mean the complete lack of understanding about day to day life.

It was forced, lazy, trivial, contrary and exasperating. And worst of all, there is zero resolution of any situation that arose.

Angela Dawe was superb as usual, but she didn’t have much to work with. I honestly don’t even know how they got her to narrate this.

Sorry if this review is harsh but I was so irritated when I finished that I just had to be brutally honest. Skip this one.

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Hurry with part 2 & 3!!!

Revisado: 05-09-22

I was so excited to have a new Abby Craden audiobook to listen to! She’s been gone from the WLW world for far too long. This one won’t disappoint!

The characters: OSS spy Kat (tall, dark-haired blue-eyed beauty with a brilliant strategic mind and a difficult past)
And newspaper columnists Jenny (short, blond-haired, green-eyed innocent with a proclivity to attract trouble and a wide eyed optimism) …. My absolute favorite type of duo!!! iykyk 😉

The story is filled with intrigue and secrets making it have a bit more focus on the OSS spy stuff than the romance but the romance doesn’t disappoint. Additionally, I loved the focus on love for country and patriotism.

This is definitely a slow, slow burn on the romance side, that doesn’t culminate in this book.

I could tell about halfway through that this was setting up a series of books which I am super excited about. I love that there was no consummation in the first book because it allows the connection and romance to breath and grow deep strong roots.

As for Abby Craden… what can I say? She’s a brilliant artist and an absolute gift to this genera and hopeless romantic lesbians everywhere. She played the voices perfectly (per usual). If she doesn’t narrate the next two books, it will be a tragedy.

I can’t wait for the next audiobook (although I will be buying it when it comes out) but I need to know what happens next, so I bought the next book on kindle. I’ll just have to put up with the sound of my own inner voice for the time being.

Happy reading!!!

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Excellent!

Revisado: 09-28-21

This book reminded me why I loved Karin Kallmaker when I was younger. The recent ones that I’ve listened to have not really been my cup of tea, story-wise. But this is for sure one of the good ones that made me buy all the Karin Kallmaker books I could get my hands on in my early 20’s.

I’m fairly certain that I read this book 10 or more years ago and I appreciated it even more now that the supremely talented Abby Craden has narrated.

The story is interesting, sweet and very romantic. I love the opposites-attract-stories and this one is done so well. I fell in love with the main characters as well as Nicole’s mother and sister.

This book is funny and smart and very entertaining. Highly recommend. Plus, Abby plays every part perfectly, as always. Happy listening!

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Short and sweet

Revisado: 08-13-21

I was so happy to see that this was narrated by Abby Craden. I couldn’t bring myself to listen to the prior narration as I’ve been spoiled by Abby’s superb performances.

This is a short and sweet story and we get a brief revisit of Zula (Morgan) and Reese in Lake City.

This isn’t my favorite Gerri Hill book but it was still good and worth a credit. I just wish it were a little bit longer and had more development.

Also, this is just preference but, I would have enjoyed Abby’s more feminine voice for Jen as opposed to the southern accent. That’s nothing against Abby’s performance, it’s just my preference. I love Abby Craden and wish she narrated every les-fic there is. She’s the gold standard for sure.

This is a good one. Go for it. Happy listening!

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Pleasantly Surprised

Revisado: 08-10-21

I was biding time until “Snow Falls” was released and was itching for something new so I decided to try out this book. I was reluctant b/c I’ve never heard of the author and I wasn’t sure about the subject matter, but once again, because it was narrated by the Great Abby Craden, I took a chance on it and I’m very glad I did!

I am actually quite surprised that this book hasn’t gained more attention. It is very well written and has the kind of sweet nuance and delicate looks that I absolutely love in romance novels. Both MC’s are relatable and lovable and the supporting characters have unique personalities that make them interesting and likable. It was intriguing and suspenseful and there were many moments that had me on the edge of my seat. Towards the end I was worried that it wouldn’t end well (I hate tragic endings) but I got my happy ending so, crisis averted. That being said, I wish there was a little more to the ending. It would be great if there was a sequel.

Per usual, Queen Abby was brilliant in her narration. The way she played Gerda’s voice is so lovely and she always adds something so beautiful and intangible to these books. I’ll never tire of her voice.

This is a great listen and I would definitely recommend it.

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