Neecie

Not a Fan

Revisado: 06-05-24

I’m definitely in the minority of those not liking the book. Can’t understand the rave reviews.

Reads like a young adult romance in a fantasy setting. I even went to the audible page and scrolled down to see if it was young adult.

I’m not finished with the book, pushing myself through maybe to the end….

The narrator doesn’t help. She is so over the top, dramatic with her acting. One of my pet peeves is narrators who act out the book. They are usually bad at it because they're over the top. Case in point in this novel are over the top sex scenes narrations—cringe worthy.

Also, I like a book read to me not acted out. When I read a book to myself I don’t act out the parts in my head. So, why do narrators feel the need to? Leave the acting to actors.

The story is ok. It’s a lightweight fantasy. Though the Hunger Games series is a different genre this book has the same young adult feel but with sex.

There’s a lot of “does he” or “doesn’t he” angst, which feels juvenile. The female character is forgettable. I say that because I was going to write something about her but can’t remember anything about her except she’s physically weak which gets repeated ad nauseam.

The male protagonist is the typical brooding romance trope.

So, at about chapter 25, I got bored with it. To the Hunger Games’ credit, I never got bored or contemplated not finishing it.

Definitely will not be reading the rest of the series.

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

Rollicking Story, Performance Distracting

Revisado: 05-27-24

Done in Kwan’s signature storytelling style, the novel is a jet setting rollicking fun adventure with some social criticism thrown in. Towards the latter part, the plot seems a bit forced or contrived. But all-in-all a good light read.

My biggest complaint is for the performance. Personally, I do not like when the reader acts out the parts. I went the book read to me and not acted out. When this performer just read the text with of course the proper inflections, she was great.

However, her acting out parts took away from the story because the focus for the listener then became the bad acting and not the story. The acting was overdone for several of the characters and inconsistent. Some characters were acted out and others weren’t, or maybe it seemed inconsistent because the acting of the loud, angry, emotional characters was so over the top.

I was particularly annoyed with her acting out the character, Arabella. Every time, Arabella comes on the scene, the listener gets an earful of very loud screeching as well as a similar yell fest for one of the male characters.

It was so distracting that a few times I almost returned the book. Also, some of the male voices were cringe worthy.

I do not prefer books to be performed, and if they are it should be noted as such. It is unnecessary to act out to convey emotions, etc. The author’s words are enough to do that.

For example: If a character in a book I am reading silently to myself, starts screaming or becomes over wrought with emotions, I don’t then start screaming the words, etc in my head. So, why do some performers feel it’s necessary for them to do it while reading a book out loud?

I often listen to books before going to bed or if I wake up in the middle of the night. There is nothing more jarring and irritating than to be startled by a reader acting out a loud, emotional, angry, etc character. And if you have ear buds in, ouch.

Authors when choosing readers for their books need to be aware that while a reader has a good voice, articulation, and inflections, it doesn’t mean the reader is a good actor.

Likewise, actors don’t always make good readers of books. There are some Audible books read by famous actors that are poorly done. Just like authors may or may not make good readers of their books.

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

Story Overshadowed by Sex

Revisado: 02-22-24

Over the top, tooooooooo much detailed sex scenes for my taste. This book should be categorized under erotica. The sex overshadowed the story if there was one. Didn't get past chapeter 5.

Bummer. Can't return it I've had this account for years and learned when I went to try to return the book that I couldn't because I didn't use a credit to purchase it. Yuck. In the future, will only use credits to purchase books.

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

Boring

Revisado: 01-27-24

Boring story. Skipped most chapters to get to the end. Some characters sound like ones from her other 2 books, which I liked. It’s was like the author “phoned it in.”
Book was free or else I would have returned it.

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

Not for me.

Revisado: 04-21-23

Found the book & especially the narrator annoying. Melodrama with over the top narrator who ends every sentence with an explanation point instead of a pause.
The main character is annoying, story line implausible, esp the ending.
I don’t know why I didn’t return the book. Guess I kept hoping for it to get better. Don’t waste your credit.

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

Can’t Go On

Revisado: 02-25-23

Made it to chapter 12, but cannot go any further. Kept hoping the story would get better, but it hasn’t.

A new character & her story enters in chapter 12 that is unrelated to what has transpired, If it ties in to the story there is no foreshadowing, or hint to why it belongs in the book.

Chapter 12 was the “straw that broke the camel’s back” for me. The story line is disjointed. It’s like Morton wrote separate scenes/prose then tried to knit them into a story. Where was the editor?

I really tried to like it. However, a good story should grab you or let you have an idea of where it is headed in the first few chapters. I gave it twelve chapters to have a direction, but the story was all over the road.

The references in first few chapters of the character’s “perfect” dead mother was repeated ad nauseam. We were told about the fiancé, but never met him. Though a young girl’s story shows up in chapter 12.

Book was not for me.

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

esto le resultó útil a 1 persona

Too Vulgar

Revisado: 01-29-23

Some may like vulgarity, but not me. And the vulgarity is not just here & there, which maybe I could deal with. But, it’s every chapter. It’s like vulgarity for vulgarity sake.

I got to chapter 10 but couldn’t take hearing the male character say “blood flow to my cock” one more time. And the female character is the same, which is poor storytelling and character development.

You would think one of them had some refinement. It reduces them to charactures instead of characters.

And the male character is not appealing,
in part due to the delivery of the narrator.

Yuck.

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

Overrated Romance Novel

Revisado: 01-09-23

Without Reese Witherspoon choosing this book for her bookclub, it would not have done as well. And for that I congratulate the author.

I listened to the book from the Plus catalog so I did not and would not have used a credit. Or if I did, would have returned it before finishing.

I trudged through it because it was an easy listen to fall to sleep to while recovering from the flu & bronchitis. But, even with that it was hard to finish.

Though at times the writing annoyed me so much, I couldn’t fall asleep because I was exasperated with it.

It’s basically a romance novel with some Cuban Revolution history as backdrop. There was nothing new to the history that I hadn’t already known.

Some of the imagery was ridiculous, such as “his naked fingers.” What are naked fingers?

The dialogue was the worst part. All the characters spoke the same. There was no attempt to capture the different dialect or patterns of speech from one character to another. The same kinds of words, sentence structure, inflections where the same or very close.

For example, an old man and young woman where given the same speech pattern, syntax, sentence flow, etc. and yet they were also from different countries.

It was pretty much the same with all the characters except for the aunt. There was a small attempt to differentiate, but did not carry through.

Transition from dialogue with a person to internal dialogue was often difficult to distinguish. And there was a lot of repetitive reflection with the protagonist.

She commented on how she was Cuban ad-nauseam, though she was born on US.

Parts of the story were far-fetched as in everything fell neatly into place, even falling in love at first sight. A rather juvenile mindset.

There is a worthwhile story in the novel some place, it just needed to be worked more to pull it out and form it.

What came to mind while listening was that it felt like the author followed a recipe on how to write a novel.

She didn’t add anything to make it her own and thereby take it to the next level, like the difference between a beginning cook and chef.

With regard to the narrators, I did not realize until the very end when the two names were given that there were two of them. They sounded alike, which is interesting because most of the characters are Cuban and main character was American.

This book is why I do not read books from celebrity “book clubs.” In my experience , they are usually over-rated. However, if celebrities get more people reading then I’m for it.

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

Short and sweet

Revisado: 04-09-21

Grandchildren love the “How Do Dinosaurs...” series of books. Short read but also has nice sound effects.

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

A Book to Reread

Revisado: 03-28-20

I’ve listened to this book several times, which is something I rarely if ever do with books. It’s a comforting book, meaning the story is intriguing without the necessity of violence and sex that seems to be a common “necessity” in writing of contemporary authors.
I enjoy how the author easily goes back & forth in time.
Although, I have to say that I don’t like the narrator’s depiction of the voice of the main character.

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

esto le resultó útil a 2 personas