Cissy & Mike

Perfectly delivered banter

Revisado: 09-10-24

I'm not a romcom fan, but I love absurdist situations and a good regional UK accent, so before the sample was done playing I'd bought the book and it just got better from there. I grew up watching replays of "Are You Being Served" and other ensemble BBC sitcoms and the narrator's delivery makes the banter feel as natural as a proper cast and the characters are so extreme and ridiculous that they feel all the more real. I normally struggle to suspend disbelief enough to tolerate the typical tropes and plot points of a modern romance, but this story let the romance build so gradually that it really was sweet and heartfelt when things progressed.

This is the first audiobook in a long time that really surprised me with how much I love it. My partner, who is the romcom lover between us, has liked the book but not understood why I particularly find it so funny. They tend to prefer a Hugh Grant style smug faux self deprecating British humor. But apparently Sam's combination of earnest, clueless, happy nihilism with a side of "chicken fisting" really, really does it for me.

Will definitely be re-listening to this one.

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Good Ideas Poorly Executed

Revisado: 02-15-24

Downloaded because of the concept. The first couple chapters were pretty good - enough that I went back and listened to the previous book when I realized this was a sequel. Similar experience with that book - the first establishing chapters were much better and then it quickly slides downhill in quality. Most frustrating with this book because I like and can relate to the narrating characters so much. But motivations and actions aren't internally consistent - and only the REALLY glaring WTFs are acknowledged with ridiculous conversations that read like an editor asking why XYZ happened and the author making up an explanation on the spot with no real thought or care. The other characters immediately accept this and we let the plot roll on even though we've just dismissed entire world building concepts we've previously established.

Finished it because I needed to be sure there was no redeeming ending and NOPE. Worst kind of book - so much potential with interesting characters at all levels of the story but reads like a forced, rushed job where every basic trait or in world truth will be dropped as needed for no reason other than lazy convenience.

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Brilliant concept well explained

Revisado: 11-02-21

listen at 1.5 or higher because of narration but excellent content. not so much a how to book as a "why come" book 😉, reader is still left with actionable advice and moreover the inspiration and hope to try again. was aware of her clutter bug concept before and had struggled to identify with it, but listening to the full book really helped.

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NARRATOR CHANGE, FML

Revisado: 10-29-17

UGH. They changed narrators. This voice actor insists on attempting all the accents. DAMNIT.

If the accent is not key to the character - and Dunnett will use appropriately accented / broken English if that’s the case - there is NO reason to use the different accents.

An Italian monk speaking flemish or Greek would not sound like a bad Italian accent speaking English anyway.

This narrator is giving me such a headache. There are TOO MANY polyglots in this book for fucking accents.

And how is he choosing who gets one?

So Nicholas doesn’t have a Danish accent? Or Thomas a bad English accent even though the book clearly says he’s speaking whatever third language with a bad Briton accent?

For fucks sake Nicholas is speaking to the Cypress queen in perfect Trezibond accented Greek - which we know cause the author tells us. The voice narrator giving her a different accent than Nicholas for their dialogue is RIDICULOUS. It completely undermines the point the book is making in again mentioning his fabulous language skills.

And it just sounds bad. Which is especially cruel with this story as half of the beauty of a Dunnett novel is the lovely sound of the words she strings together.

Even when I’m utterly confused by her, I can at least enjoy the writing on a superficial level. Or at least I COULD. This narrator has even taken that away. He’s ruined the cadence of her writing just to show off.

Narrators should serve the writing. Save the bad accents for a 400 page spy thriller. Unlike those books that depend on character names and repeated references to their ethnicity, where an accent would be helpful, Dunnett uses subtle word choice to imply a character’s social status and background and none of your poorly executed parlor tricks are necessary.

DAMNIT. Sorry but I love this book in the series and was really looking forward to it after slogging through book 2.

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Norton writes a good three way

Revisado: 10-06-17

As a mystery it’s definitely disappointing - I don’t mind knowing more than the characters but there was zero suspense here. The supporting characters are believable but not very engaging. Surprisingly where Norton shined for me was in his depiction of the unexpected second love triangle.

I’m not a fan of romance but Norton really has a talent for writing it. Unlike other POV changes in the story, when he switched between the lovers POV it carried the story forward nicely and made you care more about both characters.

I’d like to see his next book be exclusively about relationships with no “mystery” element and would love there to be more humor. Like a modern Maeve Binche. Extra points if the love triangle is an LGBTQ+ relationship.

The narration isn’t bad, especially for an author read book. The only thing that I think was actually bad about the book was the setting - specifically how little description there was of it.

I read the book because it was Graham Norton and it was set in South Ireland. I adore Cork and I was able to visualize places from my own travels in Ireland to fill in the gaps here, but Norton’s story depends so much on it being set in a small Irish town that the lack of any real description about that town is a big hinderance to enjoying it for an American reader.

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Ugh the wedding

Revisado: 07-20-17

Really enjoyed the new characters and even the returning FBI agent. The mystery was typical Longmire but he doesn't do everything by himself for a change which is nice and reminiscent of the first book, a fave.

The peyote scene didn't bother me, and in general the book did a good job of describing reservation life without implying any judgment, but the wedding at the end just seemed so out of step, crossing fully into cultural appropriation and not just appreciation.

Cady doing a traditional Native wedding complete with a doe skin dress and riding in bareback on a black horse is just silly. Whites being able to quickly and easily master native speech, with only Walt mildly struggling to memorize his lines defies credibility. And what point did it serve?

To my unschooled ear the narrator's pronunciation of the language was beautiful and I did enjoy it throughout the book. I also loved the description of the native wedding, but hopefully future books can include details like that without the cringe factor of The Great White Hope trope.

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Adrenaline Rush

Revisado: 07-15-17

The previous book (Junkyard Dogs) had me wondering whether I like the series anymore or just listen because it's a comfortable bedtime routine. This book answers that big time. Love this kind of Walt story.

Such a perfect build of suspense and action that I listened straight through instead of just 30 minute segments as I fall asleep at night.

I love how the story is always so fully Walt's POV. I never know more or less than him like some mystery series and I enjoy the random side parts that you're never sure if they will be relevant later. But mostly I like the uncertainty of not knowing what's real and what's his imagination and having a character self aware enough to question it himself and simultaneously intelligent enough and spiritual enough to know it could be his subconscious combining knowledge and observations or it could be something "other" or maybe even both.

Very satisfying ending. No idea how the next book could pick up from here.

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Meh? Not sure why I like it so much.

Revisado: 07-10-17

I thoroughly enjoy the books as my bedtime routine, the narrator's voice is a particular favorite. Enough progresses in the relationships of the main characters that it's not boring and I continue to feel connected to their lives. But otherwise, the mystery itself is just bleh and I'm not sure if I like the books just because they are dependably inoffensive - Not in a politically correct sense but a literary one.

The mystery isn't particularly mysterious but it's also not obvious nor are the facts withheld and contorted to make Walt seem smarter than the reader. The police procedures seem credible and the result is more or less satisfying, but do I really like it or is it just comfortable...

Not recommended unless you are looking for a pleasant time killer. I have already downloaded the next book however and will be starting it shortly.

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Writing not up to the story

Revisado: 03-26-17

Very poorly structured book. Decent plot and interesting new side characters but only a few sections feel polished and complete. The rest feels like an outline that needed much more development.

I enjoy stories that switch between character timelines and I'm glad Briggs is considering it for the Mercy books. But many authors manage to do it very well without the clunky narration in between each chapter. It just slowed the story down even further; seemed to add little suspense or detail and with the amateurish segways, constantly jarred me out of the story.

All of which is particularly frustrating because Patricia Briggs has so many story ideas that she throws most of them away as little hinted references throughout this book and then spends excessive amounts of time having characters explain basic plot points and motivations to us ad nauseam.

Performance was ok. The male narrator wasn't a plus. His voice is nice but it didn't add anything. His choice of delivery for intense scenes was frequently off - his Darrell especially.

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5 stars for the Yodel alone!

Revisado: 01-26-17

John McDonough is the reason I keep listening. He *is* Father Tim, but he's also amazing at making a believable 80 year old woman, let alone 4 distinctly different 80 year old women. And he does a stutter without it seeming like an insult or mockery of people who really have one. I've always loved his singing both as Father Tim and as Louella, but when he did a Yodel! In Character! Just awesome.

If only the quality of the story could be as consistent and surprisingly fresh as his performance.

3 stars for being enjoyable and full of lovely words and scenes inspite of being predictable and the same recycling of plot points and character types since around book 4.

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