Elizabeth

Love triangle one-up

Revisado: 08-26-18

Excellent political concept with too much focus given to the romantic storyline. 3 men in love with the same girl- almost like they're trying to one up Hunger Games & Twilight with an extra love interest. Written pretty well, but ultimately disappointing.

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Better Than Just Another Paranormal Romance Novel

Revisado: 06-20-15

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

I enjoyed this story even though it sounds like storyline of a cheesy vampire chick flick. You know the one where the girl is a normal human and the boy is a vampire (shadowhunter in this case). Girl meets boy then catastrophic life events force girl into boy's world. They fight and crush on each other while trying to prepare girl for what her new version of a normal life (which is nothing like her human normal life). But it's so much more than that.
Clare does an excellent job of developing all of the characters in her story which include the girl (Clary) with her best friend Simon and the boy (Jayce) with his adoptive family: Alec, Isabelle, and Max. She creates beloved side characters, some of whom are as likely to be your favorite character a main one. She describes in depth the culture of shadowhunting and the training it takes to be one. I found the story to be mostly unpredictable, filled with action, and though it included a larger dash of cheesy romance than I found necessary, I did the listening version of 'couldn't put it down' which basically means I did everything in my day with earbuds playing.

Who was your favorite character and why?

Magnus Bane because he has so much potential in his backstory. I love him like a main character.

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Favorite

Revisado: 06-20-15

What did you love best about Instinct?

I love this series and purchase each new audiobook as soon as it comes out as a pre-order. Kenyon has a surprising mix of action, intrigue, and humor in her series The Chronicles of Nick. Nick is a demon's son coming of age with all the awkward, scary, heart-warming moments of a teenager. Developing unexplainable demon-powers at exactly the wrong moment (like in the middle of class). Meeting the love of his life who happens to be on assignment to kill him. Becoming best friends with his demon-bodyguard who hates him. Discovering his father is a woman-raping-killer-demon. And dodging death on a weekly basis from beings he never even imagined existed, which incidentally his mama would kill him for if she found out. I cannot predict what will come next for Nick which makes me love it all the more.

Have you listened to any of Holter Graham’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

Graham has done all of the Chronicles of Nick series. He is one of the best narrator's I've listened to (which is saying something). Graham makes it easy to follow who is talking and whether Nick is thinking or speaking out loud. He does an excellent job differentiating each character with a distinctive voice which matches their personality.

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

Nick has a sarcastic wit that literally makes me laugh out loud, often while in public when I realize people are glancing at me with no clue why I'm giggling to myself so I avert my eyes, tuck my hair behind my ear and try to make it obvious I've got earbuds in and listening to something funny. I get so caught up in these stories I forget where I'm at.

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A

Revisado: 06-20-15

Would you consider the audio edition of Steelheart to be better than the print version?

Andrews did an excellent job of inflecting suspense into this story which caught my attention listening to the sample and left me wanting more. I doubt I would have been as interested reading the dust cover in a bookstore.

What other book might you compare Steelheart to and why?

Steelheart has a comic book feel to it. This is a classic villains and heros story with an intriguing twist: each person with super powers inexplicably plays the villain and the "heros" (if they can even be called that) have no special abilities whatsoever. This unique scenario poses the question: can good prevail in the absence of a super-hero? Can a common person defeat evil?

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

There were many action packed scenes in this story. I enjoyed futuristic equipment used. In one scene, David and a female Reckoner are in a motorcycle chase dodging bullets, explosions, and buildings at high speeds, and technology on this bike allows them to make impossible turns and jumps while attempting to escape super-villains and their soldiers.

Any additional comments?

I would recommend this book to teens interested in science fiction; however, as an adult I wasn't overly impressed. Don't get me wrong, it was good but it felt like the kid version of a better story.

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A Real Story of Adventure

Revisado: 06-20-15

Is there anything you would change about this book?

This adventure story is inspiring: describing one of those people who go on a fantastic journey of the body and soul. Cheryl is honest and vulnerable in her telling. She explains her heartache and uncertainty, the mistakes she made and the pain she endured. I found much of it to be refreshing but there were definitely moments her choices made me crazy with worry or frustration. She seems self-assured that this journey and the choices she made lead her to the happy life she now lives, but I seriously doubt that she is better off for some of them. Some choices she admits she doesn't understand and can't really explain but felt she had to do. If I were her friend I couldn't possibly support some of the decisions she made and if she were my friend she would blow off my help and do whatever she felt anyway. After all the honesty Cheryl shared with her readers, she gave herself a happily ever after ending I found inauthentic, unbelievable, and disappointing.

What did you like about the performance? What did you dislike?

I enjoyed that the narrator's voice was a bit rough, I felt that her natural voice matched the personality of Cheryl very well.

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Intreiging Letdown

Revisado: 08-16-13

Is there anything you would change about this book?

Fantastic dystopian concept with moral qualms, heart thumping action, tragedy & love, but at the end, I was left disappointed. Government corruption was alluded to but never addressed, moral questions were raised but never processed. The main character contemplated these issues then they were forgotten, lost in a love story.
A great dystopian novel wouldn't gloss over and pretend the government corruption is acceptable or that the main character is perfectly content to have complied with that corruption.
Here are the facts:
1) The government brings together 2 couple's DNA to create twins (called alts) who are separated at birth and raised in completely different environments, supposedly because there is not enough resources for both alts- though parents seem to be able to register for as many children as they want (West's parents had 4).
2) Each alt is raised and at the age of ten they begin training in weapons & defense which is when they can officially become 'active' in their assignment to find & murder their alt at which point they become a 'complete.' Completes receive better treatment than those who are 'Incomplete,' almost as if they are second rate humans until they have reached Complete status.
3) The Alt who murders first is the more perfect version and the one who dies is undeserving of Complete status. However, the main character struggles with this idea since 2 of her siblings were killed by their Alts and she can't process how they could have been undeserving, and their lives meaningless.
4) The main character then overcomes her feelings of undeserving, conforms to the government's rules, completes her assignment as per activation instructions, and lives happily ever after with her love interest despite her entire family and his having been killed due to this practice.

Would you ever listen to anything by Elsie Chapman again?

Probably not. Her ideas are amazing, but she left me with a feeling of unresolved tension. Important moral questions were obvious in her book Dualed, where twins are required to hunt down and kill one another for the right to be a 'complete' member of society, but she focused on the love interest of the story.

Which character – as performed by Alicyn Packard – was your favorite?

I enjoyed Cord. Alicyn did a great job of voicing characters' emotions during her reading which drew me into the story.

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It's one of THOSE books

Revisado: 11-14-12

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

This is one of those books. The one you devour in a day, tell your friend to read, and hope it wasn't just the tasty chocolate you were eating at the time that caused it to seem so darn amazing. But then your friend finishes it and you completely geek out together on how fantastic it was so you continue to recommend it even more enthusiastically to the rest of your friends. Eventually all your friends have read it and geeked out, then you find out....they're making a movie! Yep, one of those books. If you haven't read/listened to it yet, you should.


Content Concerns? Although many young adult novels contain drugs, sex, self-abuse, swearing, etc., this book contains none of that.
I would selectively recommend this to avid readers from 13 to 15.
And I would highly recommend this for any reader (reluctant or avid ) from 16-25.

What does Emma Galvin bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

I feel she softened Triss' character a bit, in a good way, from how I would have read it.

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

Mere pure enthusiastic excitement.

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