TJ Cole

Kept Me Guessing

Revisado: 01-25-24

I have read two books by this author now. In both of them, at some point, I thought I had it all figured out, but then a plot twist or two kept me guessing until close to the end. The author also does a good job of developing characters that you really care about. In the two books that I’ve read so far, the storylines can get a little intense. The plots have revolved around women who are in bad situations and need to get out. I like the fact that in the end, the main characters succeed.

When the narrator in this book uses her “narrator” voice, it’s very lovely and melodious. However, a lot of the characters sounded more like caricatures, which was distracting for me.

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The final two hours of the book were my favorite 

Revisado: 01-07-24

This book was recommended to me by Audible because I am a fan of the Outlander series. It’s really hard to judge or review books against that series because it’s one of my favorite series of books. But if I consider Outlander a five star series, I would give this book 4 stars. I wish the plot had moved a little more quickly, with a little less written about the romance between the two main characters. It definitely read a lot like a romance novel, which is not my favorite genre. I give the author kudos for emphasizing body positivity for the main female character. I felt like it took the ghost/murder plot a little too long to take off, but in the last two hours of the book, it really came together. If you like to read a ghost story, but nothing scary, around Halloween, I would highly recommend this.


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Lots of Civil War History, Not Much Of a Ghost Story

Revisado: 10-30-23

There were several things I really enjoyed about this book. It’s well written. The author writes vivid and interesting descriptions as this tale of the Civil War unfolds. The narrator does a very good job. His style of narration is a little understated (as opposed to dramatic) in my opinion.

This book was described as a ghost story, and that is the main reason I purchased it. It seemed like the perfect story for a slightly spooky read at Halloween time. The ghost story aspect of the story really seemed almost like an afterthought, though. I kept waiting for that part of the plot to fill out, for more heartfelt interactions between Tom and Phoebe. I think this book could’ve stood alone as a well written and interesting novel about the Civil War without the ghost aspect. And I wouldn’t have felt as frustrated as I did waiting for the “ghost story” to develop as I read it.

Sidenote: the author really does provide a great amount of detail regarding battles and other Civil War history. I found the details very interesting, but for me personally, I’m better off reading books like this in print and not listening to them. If I had known it was going to be this type of book, and not a ghost story, I probably would have read it in print.

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Lovely Writing

Revisado: 06-09-23

While the story didn’t always hold my attention and the characters were a bit tiring in their cynicism and pretentiousness, the writing kept me interested enough to listen to the entire book. The narrator’s nasal, flat tone was probably a big part of the reason this didn’t always hold my attention. I think she did a good job of portraying the voice of the main character in the book - I can imagine that is the way she would sound. But it just didn’t make for interesting listening.

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Couldn’t Move Past One of the Plot Points

Revisado: 05-26-21

I chose to read this book because I am a fan of resilience stories. I also wanted to read it because I grew up on a farm and love the outdoors, which are two major settings in this book. If you are someone who is not familiar with farm life or the outdoors and camping, and you enjoy long, descriptive narration about these things, you may like this book. For me personally, I found all the descriptions of the farms and wilderness camping long and uninteresting, which was disappointing. Also, the plot took a turn after which I found myself unable to finish this book. SPOILER: The main character in this book is a teacher. As a teacher myself there’s teacher behavior I find inexcusable and don’t care to read about. And to me, it seemed like the author was using the main characters deep sadness and loneliness to excuse her behavior with a student. I couldn’t get past this story line, so I had to stop reading the book.

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Characters Never Seem to Come Alive

Revisado: 08-09-11

I was really very surprised that Audible recommended this book to me. It is not something I would usually choose to read, but I decided to give it a try. I found the main character, Cora Cash, to be pretty unsympathetic until about two-thirds of the way through the book, when I finally began to care about what was happening to her. The sub-plot involving her maid, Bertha, was also not all that interesting. I felt like this was a lot like a paperback romance novel, which is just not the type of book I enjoy. And the narrator's voice really bothered me (I know, I should have listened to the preview). I see that she has narrated a lot of well-reviewed books, so maybe it was just me, or maybe it's just the vocal inflections she used for this book. She constantly sounded like a 1900s-era high society lady, which fits the book, but I found it annoying.

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Story of Amazing Love and Intuition

Revisado: 08-09-11

This is a fascinating book. The journey these parents embarked upon in the name of love for their child is amazing. While this is most definitely a tale of how one family found success in treating their son's autism, for me the theme that came through loud and clear is that amazing things can happen when we trust and follow our instincts and intuition. I very much enjoyed the author's narration; it often felt like a conversation.

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