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I’m really glad someone recommended this one

Revisado: 05-19-23

The title (or, more accurately the subtitle) made me think I would not like it, but it’s probably one of my favorite new reads of the year, so far. Weatherspoon understands the assignment and carries it off well. Rafe is pure fantasy—high-heat instalust that quickly become instalove—but you can see the real world from where they are in ways I wasn’t expecting. It’s not at all subtle, but there are still some moments of surprise, often with a side of humor. And unlike in some books that claim com(edy) as part of their description, the humor is actually humorous to me. Rafe is a gentle giant; Sloane is “short-ish” former wunderkind, now premier heart surgeon; the twins are adorably sassy; and I appreciate the way that Rafe and Sloane’s families and friends are a part of their lives and, therefore, part of the story. There is, technically, an external conflict, but it’s not *really* a conflict. And I’m ok with that. Sometimes I want drama. Sometimes I just want to watch two nice people decide that they both like each other and want to bang it out. Bonus: there are moments of both dialogue and characters’ internal monologues that feel like they could have been my thoughts or conversations I’ve had with friends.

I was already planning to read more of her work, but the epilogue ensured I’d do that sooner, rather than later. No regrets!

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What would a well-rested world look like?

Revisado: 02-17-23

Hersey shares personal, intellectual, and imaginative underpinnings of the her Nap Ministry work. It’s a very thoughtful exploration of rest as a need, a right, a spiritual practice, and a means of resisting the insidious culture of exploitation that is 21st century American capitalism. I’ll definitely need to get this one in physical form and spend more time with it—audio marginalia will not be enough.

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Thoughtful, clear, and compelling essays that move deftly between anecdote and analysis

Revisado: 02-08-23

The Racism of People Who Love You is a very good book, and you should read it. In seven thoughtful, compelling, and sometimes (frequently) devastating essays, author Samira Mehta examines the broad concept of what she refers to as “mixedness” through the lens of her particular lived experience as the daughter of a South Asian immigrant father and a white American mother. The essays are about her and her family and about race, culture, and belonging both within and beyond her family. They are also about gender, friendship, work, and class, among other things. Mehta touches on a lot in this fairly brief book, but it all comes up organically because Mehta’s identity and experiences are touched by all of it. Throughout, Mehta pulls off an impressive set of balancing acts, weaving theory through stories, knitting personal memories, public histories, family dynamics, and cultural norms together with brutal honesty and no small amount of tenderness as she attempts to understand hurtful behavior without excusing it.

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Fated mates without the supernatural justification?

Revisado: 03-29-22

The story had potential, but felt rushed, perhaps incomplete. The problem is not that it’s short – it’s perfectly possible to write a novella that feels like a complete story. But this feels like something that should have been more developed, or at least could’ve been more developed, but wasn’t. It’s Wolf Ranch (a series Vale co-authored), fated-mate levels of instalove/lust but without the shifter framework to justify it.

Characters launch almost immediately into graphic sex talk that quickly becomes belabored, repetitive, and uninteresting.

Narrator is monotonous and doesn’t seem to get how inflection works. I haven’t checked the release dates, but I suspect these came out before the Wolf Ranch books, which have the same narrator. She is not great on those, but I think she’s even worse on this.

Based on the potential of the core of the story, I will listen to the second book. I don’t know that I’d recommend this one, but it’s not the worst I’ve heard.

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Rushed, uncompelling, and poorly read

Revisado: 03-29-22

I’ll be tapping out of this series early and would not recommend it.

It’s like the CliffsNotes version of a book. There’s the core of a plot (a potentially decent one, honestly), but it’s not developed. Neither are the characters, whose actions make absolutely no sense. These issues are even more pronounced in this second book than they were in the first. I almost didn’t finish, but there was only half an hour left, so I did.

The sex scenes aren’t bad, but if you actually want any plot with your smut, there are much better choices.

The narrator for all of these books is terrible. Her voice is fine, but she doesn’t seem to understand sentence phrasing and conveys little to no emotion.

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Pleasantly surprised (mostly)

Revisado: 03-15-22

The stories are actually pretty good, the narrator is pretty good. Sex scenes are high heat. Two things have kept me from being more enthusiastic in this review: rescuing Emily is one of the most infuriating stories I have ever had the misfortune of reading. There is simply no way she would be that stupid. There is also no way that Fletch or any other member of the team would leave that one person uninvestigated for so long. No possible way. Second, the last story ends on a cliffhanger. Yes, it’s a set up for the following book, but I don’t do cliffhangers. If it had been labeled as a preview—an excerpt from the forthcoming book—I could then have chosen whether or not I wanted to read it, knowing what it was.

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Charlie deserved better

Revisado: 03-03-22

I have been, for the most part enjoying the series. There are times when the male protagonists are a little too far along the alphahole spectrum for me, and Charlie is not the first of the female protagonist to have an incredibly frustrating inner monologue or to make annoyingly ill-advised choices. But I almost stopped listening to this before the end because she was being so inexplicably stupid. It makes absolutely no sense for her to have gotten into her initial predicament. It makes absolutely no sense for her to have continued. It makes absolutely no sense for her to feel like she had to go back home to solve the problem. It makes absolutely no sense for her to give in to what happens with the bad guy and the house he shows up at (trying not to give spoilers). And this is all exacerbated by the fact that the shitshow of a construct was given to the only woman of color in the series so far.

The only reason I didn’t bail on the book was that I only had about an hour left.

I was really excited for there to be a black heroine in the series. It’s unfortunate that this particular heroine was given her particular problem and was written to have so little common sense and be so immature.

So much potential. Charlie deserved better.

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Would make me want to find myself a Cajun of my own if I didn’t know better

Revisado: 10-19-21

Being Black and from New Orleans, “quaint bayou town” isn’t a draw for me, but I’m glad I gave it a shot. Super cute, solid enough story, and I’d marry Davis’s Zed voice if I could. Lower stars on performance are because Ronconi’s performance is great except for her Zed accent, which is frequent enough to make it hard to ignore.

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Heat level lower than I was looking for, but the story itself kept me listening.

Revisado: 09-06-21

I didn’t know what to expect from this one. I haven’t listened to anything by this author before, and I don’t often listen to second chance/prior tragedy stories. But this was well told, and I’m glad I checked it out. I can’t say that the main plot twist was particularly surprising, and it was heavily telegraphed from pretty early on. I didn’t mind that it was a bit predictable, but it did seem like the characters should’ve caught up/caught on a little sooner than they did. The minor twist was more of a surprise but also felt unnecessary.

I like the degree to which Sophie maintained both her love for Jude and her anger toward him. I also appreciated the balance that was struck between her being supportive and hopeful but also realistic about how difficult recovery is. Similarly, while I myself do not have experience with addiction and recovery, Jude’s shifting between determination and resignation and depression felt believable, and I think the author also did a good job of having him be cognizant of the difficulty of recovery, committed to it, and eventually hopeful about his future with Sophie. I especially liked seeing him embrace the idea that he had actually found some family, and I’m glad the story didn’t spend too much time mired in the “I must stay away from you for your own good but also will not tell you l that’s what I’m doing“ trope.

I don’t have strong feelings about the narrators one way or another—I will neither avoid nor specifically seek out their other work.

Finally, I didn’t realize this was part of a series. I enjoyed it enough that I will look into other books, but unless they are also included in my membership, I will probably pass on them. That’s more to do with the type of stories I generally gravitate toward and not so much because of any shortcomings in the storytelling!

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Sexy and sweet

Revisado: 08-31-21

This one is an improvement over the first in the series in terms of both plot and characterization. We all know where it’s going to end, but it’s fun to get there. Desmond has moments of wolflike pushiness, but never coercion, unlike in at least one of Dohner’s solo books (Mate Set, I’m looking at you). The performance is good, though the wolves’ voices aren’t quite consistent or consistently well-differentiated from each other. And Audible has some sort of glitch—later in the book, the audio begins to stutter and skip. Enjoyed this one overall, and I’d love the sequel to be out, like, yesterday.

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