OYENTE

Ruthie B.

  • 17
  • opiniones
  • 2
  • votos útiles
  • 145
  • calificaciones

Dropping seven hours in…

Total
3 out of 5 stars
Ejecución
3 out of 5 stars
Historia
2 out of 5 stars

Revisado: 04-08-25

Because this book moves sooooo slowly. I can’t speak for the last six hours, but the first seven are mostly Victor getting progressively sadder.
Sorry for this early on spoiler, which I’ll put a couple lines down so it might be hidden…












but the first two hours are Victor meeting Erik (Eric?), who turns out to be a big jerk. I really think that relationship could’ve been backstory or just a couple flashbacks. Jayce (Victor’s actual love interest) makes dumb cliche mistakes that make Victor sad. Yeah, things are just now starting to look up (the upward movement in mood probably started like six hours in) but I can feel the upcoming drama (bc even if things are looking up there are still lots of problems Victor’s gotta go through/fix). At seven hours in I’m tired of being sad/mad/frustrated so I’m just not going to continue.
Syntax is decent, though there’s lots of “the brunet(te?) did xyz” or “the doctor did xyz.” It’s a better book if you like lots of angst, but it still moves sooooooo slowlyyyyyyyy. Yeah slow burn can be good, but at seven hours in, there’s been one spicy scene (one night stand type deal) and very, very minimal romance. Jayce and Victor started talking with the intent of an eventual relationship somewhere around the six hour mark. I think lot of what happened in the first six hours really didn’t need to happen for us to see. Not many scenes were actually important, many could have and probably should have been cut. Also, so far, we have nearly zero lore/world building on the supernatural side of things.
I don’t like to factor virtual voice in my ratings because it’s fine-ish, so any stars docked are from the book itself. There are worse human narrators out there.
Overall, if you really want to listen I recommend getting to the wedding and listening to everything from that night and the next day (I don’t remember exact time stamps… it’s like two hours in? Three?), then skip to six hours in or so and go from there. You really won’t miss much, and most (if not all) of that can be inferred.

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The ending was…

Total
3 out of 5 stars
Ejecución
3 out of 5 stars
Historia
2 out of 5 stars

Revisado: 03-22-25

Very, very abrupt. Like it felt like we were in the middle of a scene and then, “This title was narrated with virtual voice.”
The plot was a little meandering, and nothing was ever explained. Like we’d hear about something, Patrick would go, “I wonder what that’s all about,” only to pretty much immediately go, “Oh well I’m too stressed/happy/annoyed/etc. to bother figuring anything out.” Though I will say, one of the details we don’t know about Justin for most of the book was well done and interesting. It gave him a dimension other than “hot vampire” and wasn’t one I’d seen before. I liked it enough for it to earn a star back from 2 after the ending cut off.
Unfortunately the rest of the book is pretty boring because nearly every interesting plot point is ignored. The spicy scenes are decent, though. Another issue I have with the end (nonspecific spoiler ahead) is that it’s super anticlimactic. There’s a stressful buildup and then they’re like “everything went fine the end.”

So basically, if you’re looking for something awesome, keep looking. If you’re super bored, this works.

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So…

Total
3 out of 5 stars
Ejecución
3 out of 5 stars
Historia
3 out of 5 stars

Revisado: 03-22-25

I’m glad I read the reviews on kindle. I’m fairly certain listening to this all the way through would be both stressful and dissatisfying (apparently all of the icky behavior on Karadas’ part just kind of magically evaporates, everyone forgives and forgets after we learn the reasons for his behavior).
So, if you want to get to book five (which kindle says is much better) I recommend listening through the first sex scene, stop, then listen to the last three chapters.
I mean yeah, there are going to be details missing, but I think a) it’s worth it to avoid hurt/comfort without the comfort bit, and b) those details can be inferred or just aren’t that important.
You get enough context to understand the next book without having to listen to what seems like a pretty bad time :)

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This was Fantastic…

Total
5 out of 5 stars
Ejecución
5 out of 5 stars
Historia
5 out of 5 stars

Revisado: 02-25-25

But I thought I would offer a bit of a disclaimer. This title is a little more serious than most of Alice Winters’ other works; its tone is reminiscent of her earliest works. Again, an excellent listen, but if you’re expecting another Hitman’s Guide, this is not it.
I love the both main characters and the conflict Gabriel feels over wanting him. Liam is very interesting and is so sweet to Gabriel. I mean he’s definitely one of those “hot in a book scary irl” types but it *is* a book. Lucille (the cat) has a wonderfully accurate personality and her feud with Liam is quite entertaining. The mystery itself is good too, probably Winters’ best that I can think of.
Overall, 10/10, very excited for the sequel :)

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Idk if anyone else has said this…

Total
5 out of 5 stars
Ejecución
5 out of 5 stars
Historia
4 out of 5 stars

Revisado: 02-20-25

Because I admittedly haven’t read the other reviews, but I thought it would be be a helpful warning: I was already crying less than ten minutes in. I mean I’m a huge cryer but still.
Anyway, the book is good. The angst starts to ease up before I got annoyed with it, the spice is nice enough, and the mystery isn’t too hard to figure out, but not so easy that you get it by the end of like chapter two. Everything made sense.
Hats off to the narrators, they usually make a good pair and this one was no different.
So overall, a generally pleasant listen.

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My biggest complaint…

Total
5 out of 5 stars
Ejecución
5 out of 5 stars
Historia
5 out of 5 stars

Revisado: 12-22-24

Is that there isn’t a sequel!
I think the world and the island itself is interesting and fun, and I’d like to see more from it. I do wonder if the island is so enthusiastic about other holidays. Alas, the text was published a year ago so we probably won’t see more of them, but we can hope!
I love how much Grey and Zen trust each other, and of course they’re great together. The spice is excellent too. There were many interesting side characters, and I loved how important some were to the story. Often times books featuring romance only place importance on the two main characters and the antagonist, but that’s not the case here. I would’ve liked more hints as to who the antagonist was before we found out, but the mystery’s resolution still made sense.
And of course Michael Ferraiuolo did a fantastic job, as always.
Overall, fun, very Christmasy, 10/10 definitely recommend.

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A good conclusion…

Total
4 out of 5 stars
Ejecución
5 out of 5 stars
Historia
4 out of 5 stars

Revisado: 11-12-24

(I mean sort of, considering the sequel series is under works) to the series, but it’s not as good as books two and three. Mostly because I was frustrated for the entire Halloween party arc.
I don’t mind the planning of the party, and the arc following, but the four hours dedicated to the party are incredibly frustrating. I really like Octavius, and of course he isn’t written to be a perfect person, but when the party starts he stops being fun and ridiculous and just becomes a massive jerk. He doesn’t listen to Turney about anything to an uncomfortable degree, he has no empathy for the people involved with the mystery at the party (they’re not bad people, so it’s completely uncalled for) and is almost cruel to them for no reason than his own entertainment, and generally bulldozes over anyone who suggests anything he doesn’t like. It’s icky. Like the author just took his character and all the fun parts of him and stretched them beyond fun and into mean. It was not a good four hours; I missed the fun tone of the rest of the series.
Now fortunately, Octavius goes back to his regular self after the party, and I liked the rest of the book. The author did pull it back to feeling like the other books. There were no loose ends, and I’m excited for the sequel series.
And finally, the narrator was just as good in this book as the rest.

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So…

Total
3 out of 5 stars
Ejecución
3 out of 5 stars
Historia
3 out of 5 stars

Revisado: 09-18-24

I think this series would be a lot better if it were one or two books. Sorry I’m putting stuff about the whole series on book one, but my goal here is to be helpful.
Book one is definitely best because Bane’s behavior doesn’t change at all in the next two books so book one has the whole novelty thing going on. Him being super dramatic and like, a big ball of self loathing gets really, really old after a couple hours. It goes on for wayyyyyyy longer than that. Yes, his backstory makes his behavior understandable, but not with 100 years or so to come to terms with everything. That’s a lot of thinking time, and it really doesn’t seem like Bane has changed enough from how he was before he was cursed. Also, all that is his entire personality. As far as we know, he has no hobbies, he just broods and does vague businessy things. As far as we know, that’s all he did for somewhere around 100 years. That’s a lot of time to do only those two things. Also, he hates Nick’s family for their business practices and considers himself above that, but he’s a billionaire. One person hoarding that much money isn’t exactly ethical either.
Moving on to Nick, he’s mostly just a bit boring. He’s more interesting when he’s mad at Bane, but as their relationship develops he becomes kind of blandly sweet. He starts solving all of Bane’s problems with the power of kindness. Which is fine, but dull. And it takes three whole books, which is too long for something so simple. It only takes that long because Bane is frustrating. In fact, the plot only happens at all because Bane is frustrating. Which is, strangely enough, frustrating.
The romance itself isn’t particularly remarkable either. As far as I can tell, Bane and Nick’s romantic relationship happens because they find each other physically attractive and not much else, other than Bane mooning over how nice Nick is. The switch between the two of them disliking each other and starting to have feelings for each other happens pretty rapidly after Bane realizes he was wrong about Nick’s character. The two of them don’t seem to have much in common other than how much they like their house. There aren’t any particularly cute moments, but the romance isn’t terrible. Squarely mediocre.
In terms of writing quality, the author uses the same descriptions over and over. I saw someone else remark on “Siberian blue eyes”, both Alistair and Nick have “platinum” hair, Bane is often associated with the word “alpha”, and the number of times Bane is referenced as “the billionaire” is a little ridiculous. The author tacks “-ish” (most commonly, but not exclusively, “tigerish”) onto things when there are other options (i.e. “feline”, “tiger-like”). There are some inconsistencies between books, but they’re all minor details.
Also, you can skip book two. Only the last chapter is important, and you can infer what happened pretty easily just by listening to the beginning of book three. If you want to save yourself nine hours and a credit, just go straight to book three.
The narrator is okay, but he does pronounce some things incorrectly. The two instances I can think of are “canapés” and I’m 98% sure Omar’s full name is “Omar Singh”, but according to the narrator, it’s “Omar Singe,” as in “I didn’t mean to singe my marshmallow.” There isn’t too much variety between voices other than accents. This is odd and subjective enough that it’s probably not helpful to include in a review, but I dislike the way he portrays laughter. It just sounds really strange. The best way I can think to describe is that it’s halfway between fake laughter and a Santa impression. Just odd.
Overall, this book and series are fine, but not amazing because of how drawn out everything was and how avoidable all the conflict was. If Bane ever stopped to listen to Omar or think for half a second, most of the conflict never would’ve happened. Yes, that would mean no conflict at all for this whole series, but if the central issues of a series are that simple, I think it needs something more (like comedy, external conflict, complex setting, etc.) to make for a great read/listen.

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Well…

Total
4 out of 5 stars
Ejecución
5 out of 5 stars
Historia
3 out of 5 stars

Revisado: 08-28-24

I can’t say I was the biggest fan of the plot? I know there are other reviews that say this but like the final conflict really does come out of no where. We were never given a satisfactory answer on why they did what they did either. They just kinda showed up an hour before the end.
And although Nate and Alistair’s interactions are cute, and so are their eggs, just an fyi I can’t say this is exactly a fluff piece (nothing wrong with that, just saying this book is not all cute family stuff). I think it gets explored a lot more in the following books, but dragon society is seriously messed up. On soooooo many levels. Genuinely horrific if you think about what we learn about it at all. Nothing explicit, but heavy topics are woven into the world setting of this series.
Alistair and Nate really are very cute though, and the writing itself is good quality. There aren’t any glaring inconsistencies, and there’s a pretty wide variety of likable and interesting characters. So overall, four stars :)

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The romance is cute but…

Total
2 out of 5 stars
Ejecución
5 out of 5 stars
Historia
2 out of 5 stars

Revisado: 06-04-24

If you think about it even a little, the resolution of the murder mystery makes no sense logistically. The author explains most of ‘why’ but basically none of ‘how’. And the ‘how’ that is explained doesn’t make too much sense either. I also have a hard time believing that the motive behind the murder would happen with the little explanation into the psyche of the murderer we got. If you think about it a lot, pretty much every step of the murder plot made no sense at all. It was really frustrating. I liked book one a whole lot more, and there weren’t nearly so many glaring omissions into how the murder went down. Sorry this is kind of vague, but I don’t want to spoil it even though I’m kind of mad about how it ended. I’m upset enough about the quality of the murder resolution to give this book a two stars overall.
As far as the narration goes, I’m a fan of the switch to Kirt Graves. I always like his work, and this one is no different.

Side note, if you’re feeling sad about Mason, just listen to The Blueprint. And if you don’t want to be sad about Mason at all, just skip right to it. It’s by the same author, and it’s almost like if Mason’s life turned out happy, and it’s much better quality. And if you’re like nooo but I’ll miss Danny and Rain, it’s okay bc the two main characters are like if those two had Mason’s backstory instead of their own. Win-win.

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