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Audiobook Review – Only One Life – Sara Blaedel

24 Oct

Only One Life
Author: Sara Blaedel
Series: #3 in the Louise Rick series

Narrator: Joyce Bean
Run Time: 9 hours, 23 minutes

Audiobook provided for review by AudioGO and Audiobook Jukebox

Book Description
It was clearly no ordinary drowning. Inspector Louise Rick is immediately called out to Holbaek Fjord when a young immigrant girl is found in the watery depths, a piece of concrete tied around her waist and two mysterious circular patches on the back of her neck.

Her name was Samra, and Louise soon learns that her short life was a sad story. Her father had already been charged once with assaulting her and her mother, Sada, who makes it clear that her husband would indeed be capable of killing Samra if she brought dishonor to the family. But she maintains that Samra hadn’t done anything dishonorable. Then why was she supposed to be sent back to Jordan? Samra s best friend Dicte thinks it was an honor killing. A few days later Dicte is discovered, bludgeoned to death, and Samra’s younger sister has gone missing.

Review
One thing I have learnt over the last year or so of reading Nordic Noir is that the most obvious solution is never it – so I had to keep my mind open as the mystery played out in Only One Life. This is the third book in the series, although only the second one had been released in English prior to this. That being said, I didn’t feel like I was missing all that much having not read/listened to the previous book in the series. Although, I will be reading it in the near future, as well as looking forward to book 4 that is due out in December.

If I was going to compare Sara Blaedel’s writing to other authors from the area, I would put her somewhere in the middle of the ranking when it comes to the darkness that is prevalent in the genre. The crime was dark, and there was lots of society influences that contributed to the crime, but at the same time, she was able to focus on some of the interpersonal relationships that made the crime all the more real. The book also made me want to pick up some other books that deal with honor killings – whatever the setting. I did identify the killer early on, but then I completely dismissed the person because I didn’t believe that it could be them. You think I would have learnt to not do that by now…lol!

This isn’t the first book I’ve listened to that Joyce Bean has narrated and it won’t be the last. There is something about her voice that just sucks me in. Her range of voices continues to surprise me – having listened to her narrate Urban Fantasy (the fever series), mysteries (Karin Slaughter) and now Scandinavian crime fiction. I found myself driving long routes home just so I could finish up a chapter, or sitting in the parking lot at work. For me, I find that listening to these mysteries helps me to pronounce many of the names that I would normally massacre if I was trying to say them.

Overall, I’d give the book 3.5 stars and the narration 4 stars with a 4 star rating overall. I hope others who read/listen to Only One Life enjoy it as much as I did.

 
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Posted by on October 24, 2012 in Book Review

 

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Review – Warrior’s Last Gift – Melissa Mayhue

17 Oct

Warrior’s Last Gift
Author: Melissa Mayhue
Series: 1.5 in the Warrior Series
Publisher: Pocket Star Books

Thanks to Pocket Star Books and Edelweiss for providing the e-copy of this book

Book Description
When Jeanne MacGhie had nowhere to turn, Eymer Horvesson stepped in with an offer of marriage. He asked for only one favor in return…and now that he’s dead, Jeanne will stop at nothing to keep her promise to the young warrior—even though it means turning to the one man she swore she’d never speak to again.

Eric MacNicol never expected a cavalier refusal to wed would result in his losing the one thing he truly wanted in life. When a warrior’s final request forces him on a cross-country quest with the widow, he must battle his inner demons to make the right decision this time. Only one last gift from a fallen warrior can offer them both a second chance at true love….

Review
Since I re-discovered Melissa Mayhue’s books above a month ago, I have been slowly but steadily working my way through her Daughters of the Glen series. However, when I was browsing Edelweiss not long ago, I saw that she had a second series out, again with Highlanders and I was all over it. Warrior’s Last Gift is the bridging book between the first and second books in the series, and while short (only about 70 pages), I felt that she was able to develop the characters into people I would like to get to know more of and hopefully they will appear in later books (pretty please!)

As with all books there was some stuff that I really enjoyed and others that I didn’t. I liked how you could tell that the author had done her research in various Norse traditions – it was reflected in the substance. However, at the same time, there was also a common romance trope that I’m not a fan of (involving babies), which was kind of disappointing. I can see why it was in there, but I don’t know, it just felt a bit too cliched’

I’m really looking forward to reading the other books in this series, especially with the Norse mythology that is featured in them, as well as the time travel. I would give Warrior’s Last Gift 3.5 stars for being a short cute read and I am looking forward to reading more.

 
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Posted by on October 17, 2012 in Book Review

 

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Mini-Review – Les Miserables – Volume I (Fantine)

09 Oct

Thanks to Tien of Tien’s Blurb for hosting the above read-along.

So originally this post was supposed to go up over a week ago and I could have sworn that I finished it and hit post – but apparently not. I blame it on…umm, my ability to be a complete and utter scatterbrain at times…anyways, here we go. This review is my thoughts on the volume I of Les Miserables (Fantine), along with some discussion questions posed by Tien. This review has the potential to be completely and utterly SPOILERIFIC!! so you have been warned 😉

General Thoughts on Volume I
I have to admit that when I started reading, I was pleasantly surprised with how well the translation (by Denny) flowed. I was very easily sucked in and reaching my page goal each night (about 15-20 pages) was easy to do. I even found myself reading just a little bit more (which is always a bad idea when you had to be up at 4am for work)…I do have to admit that if I hadn’t had no only Tien, but other friends reading this, I might have gotten distracted but having that buddy support system for reading is great.

My other main thought so far is that I was surprised how well the first part of the musical mirrored what had happened in the book up until the end of the volume. And yes, I was singing various songs from the musical as I was reading.

Discussion Questions
1.What do you think of Bishop Myriel? He’s definitely described as being truly saintly; I’m wondering if there’s any pessimistic reader out there?
I have to admit that the beginning I was that pessimistic reader – I couldn’t believe that anyone was as perfect, as truely righteous and saintly as Bishop Myriel. But as his story progressed, he started to grow on me and Hugo’s writing style was persuasive in such a way that by the time Valjean’s path crossed with Myriel’s, I was convinced that he was that true saint. The kind of permission that you would expect have been made a Saint in the Catholic church 100 years or so post book setting.

2. For those of you who are reading this for the first time, was there any assumptions you have made previously from whatever source which was just incorrect? Was there anything which surprises you from the past week’s readings?
As I alluded to above, I’m a huge fan of the musical, although I have never seen it live (and yes, I’m still mad at my mom for not taking me to see it because I was too young…) I was pleasantly surprised with how well the musical mirrors (albeit reduced in time and descriptive). Personally, I can’t wait to see the new movie to see how well it has been adapted from the book.

3. What do you think of the contrast between Javert & Valjean?
The dichotomy between Javert and Valjean is intriguing, although I don’t think we have necessarily seen all there is to see yet since overall there was fairly limited interaction between the two. I have to wonder, whether in part, Javert’s pursuit of Valjean is in part jealously of his success – you have Javert who was born in a jail to a convict and made a life for himself that was moderately successful as a police inspector, but comparatively, then you have ValJean, a convict who served nearly 20 years, who is released, doesn’t finish his parole, and turns into a huge success – a rich business owner in a time, when many were struggling to just survive.

4. What has been the high point for you this week? Any quote/s which bowled you over this week?
As I was reading through this section and found a particularly interesting quote, I was bookmarking the page – unfortunately, I forgot to go back and highlight several of them…whoops.
But looking at the pages that I marked, there were several that I thought were significant:

“I mean that the man is ruled by a tyrant whose name is Ignorance, and that is the tyrant I sought to overthrow. That is the tyrant which gave birth to monarchy, and monarchy is authority based on falsehood, whereas knowledge is based on truth. Man should be ruled by knowledge.” – conversation between the Bishop and the old man (pg 52)

“There are men who dig for gold; he dug for compassion. Poverty was his goldmine; and the universality of suffering a reason for the universality of charity.” (pg 69)

“Do not forget, do not ever forget, that you have promised me to use the money to make yourself an honest man” – this quote epitomizes the book – the choices that we as individuals must make, how many of them are based on promises made to other people. How you choose to live your life is affected by those promises

 
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Posted by on October 9, 2012 in Book Review, Read-Along

 

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Audiobook Review – Weekend Warriors – Fern Michaels

28 Sep

Weekend Warriors
Author: Fern Michaels
Series: #1 in the Sisterhood series

Narrator: Laural Merlington
Run Time: 6 hours and 6 minutes

Book Description:
The first in an exhilarating new series following a group of extraordinary women who are out to see justice done … a step at a time Nikki Quinn is devastated when her best friend Barbara is knocked down and killed by a hit-and-run driver who claims diplomatic immunity. But Nikki has her work and her lover, fellow lawyer Jack Nolan, to keep her going, whereas Barbara’s mother, Myra, has nothing. Festering in a sea of recriminations and hatred, unable to gain a sense of perspective, Myra is lost…until one day she switches on the evening news and sees Marie Lewellen, mother of a murder victim, take matters into her own hands and stab her daughter’s killer. An idea is born, and within months Myra and Nikki have drawn together a group of women who have one thing in common: they have been failed by the American justice system, they’re down but they’re not out, and they’re ready to find their nemeses and make them pay. First up is Kathryn, a long-distance truck driver who was raped at a road stop by three motorcyclists as her paralysed husband watched, helpless. Banding together, the Sisterhood plot the ultimate revenge — but with dissension from inside the group and out, there’s no saying if the plan will work until the moment of truth arrives

Review:
In the words of my non-existant Jewish grandmother, oy vey…where to start…looking back over my reading history, I don’t know if I had ever picked up a Fern Michaels book before, but after listening to Weekend Warriors, I can tell you for certain that I won’t be picking up one in the future. Whoever classifies this book as a romance has some serious delusions – there is nothing romantic about male castration as a form of revenge (yes, this is completely spoiler-ish and I don’t care). I didn’t see one whit of romance in any of the going-ons in this book. I would more accurately describe it as revenge based women’s lit and not even good on that account. Thankfully, it was only 6 hours long in audio format (so about 220 pages and I managed to listen to most of it in just over 2 days – this is one time that I wasn’t too mad at my long commute because I could simple tune out when needed). If I hadn’t had this scheduled into several different reading challenges, I might have even DNF’d it – but since I did, I persevered.

The premise had potential – a group of women, gathering to together to right the wrong’s done to them by the legal system. But it was the execution that just didn’t hold water – one of the main characters was a lawyer and she almost immediately says that she’ll be involved…now, I know there are corrupt lawyers (as there are individuals in any career field), but to knowingly agree to commit the crimes that were discussed as revenge just made me cringe. Not only that but this super rich woman decides to essentially invest all her money into this scheme (since it was her idea to begin with) and all of a sudden she has a technology suite to rival something you might see in the Batman movies for technical prowess and a “butler” who is like an ex-CIA agent…and it just doesn’t improve much from there…

I wish I could say that the narration helped to improve on a bad book, but unfortunately, that wasn’t the case either. I’m not sure if I have ever listened to anything narrated by Laurel Merlington before, and am not sure if I will seek her out again in the future. Maybe if it were for a book by a favorite author, but I wouldn’t listen to anything by an unknown author and narrated by her because in general I struggled. Yes, she was a competent narrator, but it just seemed like there was something missing. I had a hard time visualizing the different characters in my head because there didn’t seem to be much vocal differentiation between them – and when you have a cast of 10 women, 5 of whom are fairly dominate that is something that is needed.

I know that I could not recommend the author, and would hesitate to recommend the narrator to anyone. But that being said, I would be more inclined to give the narrator a second chance than the author…overall, 1 star for the book, 2 stars for the narration – 1.5 stars overall.

 
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Posted by on September 28, 2012 in Book Review

 

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Review – Highland Guardian – Melissa Mayhue

27 Sep

Highland Guardian
Author: Melissa Mayhue
Series: #2 in the Daughters of the Glen series

Book Description:
Ian McCullough is neck-deep in his own trouble. A half-mortal descendant of Faeries, he’s been a Guardian for more than six hundred years, but he’s never encountered a woman like Sarah. Assigned to protect her, he finds the job tougher than he could have imagined. Oh, he can handle the stalker, and even the renegade Faeries trying to kidnap her. But falling in love means forsaking his role as Guardian — which is some-thing he could never do.

But there is no denying the passion that exists between two souls fated to be together.

Review:
Sometimes when you dig through your ancient purchases file you find a good read – I think I bought this book like 3 years ago not long after I got my kindle and I went crazy buying books. Then I promptly forgot about it until recently when I came across a recommendation for the first book in the series and I remembered that I had enjoyed the first book in the series, and had bought at least the next few to read. So I dug it out. Overall, I was pleasantly surprised with how much I enjoyed the read. Fae’s in general are a favorite paranormal creature of mine to show up in books and are often overlooked in the craze of vampires and werewolves that seems to dominate paranormal romance currently.

In terms of character development, I liked Sarah the main female character, but there was just something about Ian that irked me – its hard to describe – maybe it was because he was fae and had that immortality thing going on – but I’m not sure. The cast of secondary characters were also fun and I can’t wait to read later books in the series to see if they re-appear. I have a feeling (although its been a while since I read the first book) that the characters in that one did make an appearance in this one – but I can’t remember…(whoops)…

Overall, cute read if you like paranormal romance and are looking for something new to try out. If you like the Fae storyline, you could also check out Karen Marie Moning’s Highlander series (Paranormal Romance) or Fever Series (Urban Fantasy) or the first book in Charlotte Featherstone’s Sins and Virtues series – Lust. I’d give Highland Guardian 3.5 stars.

 
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Posted by on September 27, 2012 in Book Review

 

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Audiobook Review – Undone – Karin Slaughter

25 Sep

Undone
Author: Karin Slaughter
Series: #3 in the Will Trent series; #1 in the Georgia series

Narrator: Natalie Ross
Run Time: 16 hrs and 7 min
Publisher: Brilliance Audio

Book Description:
When a tortured young woman enters the trauma center of an Atlanta hospital, Dr. Sara Linton is thrust into a desperate police investigation with Special Agent Will Trent and his partner, Faith Mitchell. Though guarding their own wounds and their own secrets, Sara, Will, and Faith find that they are all that stand between a madman and his next victim.

Review:
One of the things I love about Karin Slaughter’s books is that she isn’t afraid to go dark – and for me the darker the better. Such is the case in Undone. Having kind of jumped around her various series’ in the last year or so (Book 1 and 6 in her Grant County series and book 4 in the Will Trent series), you would think that I would have learnt to actually read books in order. I did feel kind of lost a few times when the history of various characters were mentioned but since all the books in the series are interlinked, I knew to expect that.

Undone opens on a dark and deserted road (which I guess could be kind of a cliche) but totally wasn’t and the reader (or listener) in my case, is quickly sucked into the case by Will’s actions. It was great seeing Sara Linton show up as a character again showing how the Grant series books ended (but I won’t tell you what happened there), as well as seeing Will and Sara interact for the first time. Now that I have read Undone, I want to go back and re-listen to Broken which is the first book by this author that I read and that i have to admit, I enjoyed but was also completely lost character wise during. There were so many twists and turns through-out the book that I didn’t figure out who the killer was until right before they were revealed.

I have come to realize that I like Natalie Ross’ narration of audiobooks over the last year. I loved her narration of the last 3 books in Karen Marie Moning’s Fever series and listening to her narration of Undone just sealed my enjoyment of her narration skills. I loved how all her different voices were do distinct and she had a nice southern twang that I experienced while living in Georgia without it being too overwhelming. I started listening to Undone on the drive home from a concert one night and found myself wanting to take the longer route home so that I could listen to more of it before I had to stop.

Overall, I’d give the book 4 stars and the narration 4 stars and highly recommend it to people who enjoy police procedurals, mysteries, and thrillers. But if you dont’ like the dark and disturbing, this book isn’t for you.

 
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Posted by on September 25, 2012 in Book Review

 

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Review – Burning Alive – Shannon K. Butcher

20 Sep

Burning Alive
Author: Shannon K. Butcher
Series: #1 in the Sentinel Wars series

Book Description:
Three races descended from ancient guardians of mankind, each possessing unique abilities in their battle to protect humanity against their eternal foes-the Synestryn. Now, one warrior must fight his own desire if he is to discover the power that lies within his one true love…

Helen Day is haunted by visions of herself surrounded by flames, as a dark-haired man watches her burn. So when she sees the man of her nightmares staring at her from across a diner, she attempts to flee-but instead ends up in the man’s arms. There, she awakens a force more powerful and enticing than she could ever imagine. For the man is actually Theronai warrior Drake, whose own pain is driven away by Helen’s presence.

Together, they may become more than lovers-they may become a weapon of light that could tip the balance of the war and save Drake’s people…

Review:
I wanted to like this book so much, but it was a disappointment. It had been recommended several times to me on the Paranormal Romance boards over on Amazon and for the most part, there are a good of people there that I trust when it comes to recommendations – but for some reason this there just seemed to be something missing.

I had been reading Burning Alive for maybe 3 or 4 chapters and from what had occurred in the story, it seemed like I was missing some kid of back story…so I can off to goodreads to check and see if there was maybe a prequel that I was missing, but nope. So I had to content myself with scratching my head and hoping that more about the world was explained later one. While as it progressed more of the world came out, but by the time I finished it, I was still so confused about the world, I was glad to see the book done. I normally have a rule about reading at least 2 books in a series before deciding if I want to continue it or not, but I’m not sure if I want to spend the money on buying the second book. If my library has a copy I may go that route, otherwise, I don’t see myself reading another one. Overall 1.5 stars…

 
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Posted by on September 20, 2012 in Book Review

 

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Audiobook Review – Animal Magnetism – Jill Shalvis

18 Sep

Animal Magnetism
Author: Jill Shalvis
Series: #1 in the Animal Magnetism series

Narrator: Karen White
Run Time: 10 hours and 32 minutes

Book Description:
Co-owner of the town’s only kennel, Lilah Young has lived in Sunshine, Idaho, all her life. Pilot-for-hire Brady Miller is just passing through. But he soon has Lilah abandoning her instincts and giving in to a primal desire.

It’s Brady’s nature to resist being tied down, but there’s something about Lilah and her menagerie that keeps him coming back for more.

Review:
Jill Shalvis is a name that commonly comes up in romance forums for people looking for contemporary romances to read, but for the life of me, prior to listening to Animal Magnetism, I couldn’t read if I had read anything by her. I don’t think I had, or I have just forgotten (which is entirely possibly, since I am always making jokes about my mind being as leaky as a sieve). So I was looking forward to picking up Animal Magnetism and listening to it and overall, I have to say that it was an enjoyable listen.

The first thing that drew my attention to the book, even before I bought the audio was the cover. I am a sucker for dogs and the eyes on the one on the cover just made my heart go awww (very similar to what my German Shepherd does to me most days – and which is he actually doing right now, since I am typing and not playing Frisbee for the 10 millionth hour today…). And the fact that there was a hot guy holding the puppy, even better -lol – what can I say. There was something about Brody, after I started reading AM that just drew me in. I think it is the guy who is a nomad, trying to find out who he is and ending up back where he began that just draws me in. Although, I will say that Lilah did kind of bug me. I understand the whole wanting to be independent, heck, I am very much like that. But at the same time, there is a difference between being independent and being stupid, and I feel that she definitely bordered on the latter, not the former.

Looking back at my audio listening, I also couldn’t believe that I had never listened to anything done by Karen White prior to this – so it was a two-fer of newbies for me. I’d chatted with her several times in one of my goodreads groups, and after listening to her narration, I know that it won’t be the last time that I listen to anything done by her. I liked her range of voices for the different characters and she was even able to pull off 3 distinctive male voices, which is something that I often find female narrators have a hard time doing (and the same can often be said for males voicing females). As I was listening to her narration, I could see all the characters in my head.

The production of the audio was excellent and I had no complaints about the quality of the download from audible. Overall, I’d give both the book and the narration 3.5 stars, but rounding up to 4 for the consistency between the two.

 
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Posted by on September 18, 2012 in Book Review

 

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Review – Laugh with the Moon – Shana Burg

16 Sep

Laugh With The Moon
Author: Shana Burg

Book Description:
Thirteen-year-old Clare Silver is stuck. Stuck in denial about her mother’s recent death. Stuck in the African jungle for sixty-four days without phone reception. Stuck with her father, a doctor who seems able to heal everyone but Clare.

Clare feels like a fish out of water at Mzanga Full Primary School, where she must learn a new language. Soon, though, she becomes immersed in her new surroundings and impressed with her fellow students, who are crowded into a tiny space, working on the floor among roosters and centipedes.

When Clare’s new friends take her on an outing to see the country, the trip goes horribly wrong, and Clare must face another heartbreak head-on. Only an orphan named Memory, who knows about love and loss, can teach Clare how to laugh with the moon.

Review:
This is another book that I likely would never have picked up if I wasn’t doing my read around the world challenge. Set in Malawi (which prior to this I only knew through mentions of it on Grey’s Anatomy) it is the story of a teenager who goes (against her will) with her father who has volunteered to be a doctor there. He had previous spent time there when he was younger and wanted to go back. In the beginning Clare drove me nuts and I couldn’t help but feel that she was acting like a spoiled brat. It wasn’t until about mid-way through the book that you found out a lot about what had happened to her in the previous year and felt kind of sorry for her. In the end, my perception of both her and her father changed – I ended up liking her a bit more, but felt that her dad was a bit self-obsessed and couldn’t see that his daughter was suffering.

You could tell just from the reading and the vivid portrayal of life in the country that she had spent time there which was confirmed by reading her bio after the fact. This would be a really good book to teach in a classroom because of the life-lessons that are illustrated in the book. The rise of YA fiction set in Africa and other countries makes for a wide variety of books that could be used in the classroom. I would recommend this to anyone who wants to read about Africa, or who wants to get their kids involved in reading about kids in other countries. 3.5 stars overall.

 
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Posted by on September 16, 2012 in Book Review

 

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Audiobook Review – Things I Overheard While Talking to Myself – Alan Alda

16 Sep

Things I Overheard While Talking to Myself
Author/Narrator: Alan Alda
Run Time: 6 hours, 1 min

Book Description:
On the heels of his acclaimed memoir, Never Have Your Dog Stuffed, beloved actor and bestselling author Alan Alda has written Things I Overheard While Talking to Myself, an insightful and funny look at some of the impossible questions he’s asked himself over the years: What do I value? What, exactly, is the good life? (And what does that even mean?)
Picking up where his bestselling memoir left off–having been saved by emergency surgery after nearly dying on a mountaintop in Chile–Alda finds himself not only glad to be alive but searching for a way to squeeze the most juice out of his new life. Looking for a sense of meaning that would make this extra time count, he listens in on things he’s heard himself saying in private and in public at critical points in his life–from the turbulence of the sixties, to his first Broadway show, to the birth of his children, to the ache of September 11, and beyond. Reflecting on the transitions in his life and in all our lives, he notices that “doorways are where the truth is told,” and wonders if there’s one thing–art, activism, family, money, fame–that could lead to a “life of meaning.”

Review:
I’ve always liked Alan Alda – I grew up watching MASH re-runs on TV, and to this day, it is a comfort show for me. 99.9% of the time, I have already seen the episode, but there is the odd-occasion where one that I don’t remember ever watching pops up. So when I was browsing the shelves at the library one day and came across this audiobook, I jumped on the chance to list. As with the Ellen DeGeneres one, it is narrated by the author, and after listening to it, I don’t know if I could have named anyone better suited to do it.

Each chapter in the book is based around one of the various speeches that he has been invited to give over the years – at college graduations; for various professional societies and the events in his life that have influenced what he talks about and how he came to give the speech. So in and of, itself there is a lot of personal memories. But it also has his known sardonic humor that many of us probably remember from his role as Hawkeye (I mean, who can forget him making gin in his tent…).

The production of the audiobook was good, although, the CD’s when I listened to them, you could tell that they were a bit older and there were a few jumps here and there – but it didn’t distracted me too much. I’m def. going to be checking out Alda’s other memoirs in the future. 3.5 stars.

 
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Posted by on September 16, 2012 in Book Review

 

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