Category: audiobooks (Page 93 of 94)

Gunmetal Magic by Ilona Andrews, narrated by Renee Raudman

August 23, 2012 / Kaetrin

Why I ~~read~~ listened to it: Love this series, love Andrea and Raphael. Got it as soon as I could.

What it’s about: (from Goodreads) Some people have everything figured out—Andrea Nash is not one of those people. After being kicked out of the Order of the Knights of Merciful Aid, Andrea’s whole existence is in shambles. All she can do is to try to put herself back together, something made easier by working for Cutting Edge, a small investigative firm owned by her best friend Kate Daniels.

When several shapeshifters working for Raphael Medrano—the male alpha of the Clan Bouda and Andrea’s former lover—die unexpectedly at a dig site, Andrea is assigned to investigate…and must work with Raphael. As Andrea’s search for the killer leads her into the secret underbelly of supernatural Atlanta, she knows that dealing with her feelings for Raphael might have to take a back seat to saving the world…

What worked for me (and what didn’t): This is Andrea’s book and Kate doesn’t feature all that much (and neither does Curran *cries*) – they were busy doing other save-the-world-type things I gather – perhaps we will find out more in Kate 6. Because it was so strongly Andrea’s story, it felt very appropriate for Kate to be more in the background – she has a way of taking centre stage when they’re on scene together.

At the start of the book, Andrea is estranged from Raphael, has been kicked out of the Order of Merciful Aid and hasn’t taken up a place in the Pack (despite clear intention from Aunt B and even Curran that it is becoming urgent). When Jim tasks Andrea with investigating the murder of 4 shapeshifters on behalf of the Pack, she is both excited (this is what she does) and dismayed – the shapeshifters worked for Raphael’s salvage company and it means she’s going to have to spend time with her ex. It doesn’t help that very early on Raphael brings a blonde bimbo with him when he’s giving information to Andrea – and she announces that Raphael is “engaged to be engaged” to her (Rebecca). (This is a Very. Bad. Move.)

Pushed to her absolute limit, Andrea embraces the beastkin side of herself and finds new attitude – demonstrated in various ways including her newfound ability to rock a little black dress and scarlet lipstick. Raphael of course is still deeply in love with Andrea (as is she with him) but they are both hurt and in need of an apology from the other and some mutual understanding. Eventually they do talk and finally (finally!) Raphael understands why Andrea made the choices she did before and during the battle with Erra. While he does not like it (which is fair enough) he gets it and is then able to let it go. Andrea also understands things from Raphael’s point of view – it was very much that they both had things to explain and understand about each other – no one character was all wrong or all right – which is, you know, realistic.

When Raphael gets his inner Marvin Gaye on however, break out the fans because it gets pretty steamy. 😛

Of course, it’s not only a romance (there is a very strong romantic thread but it is a story about saving the world first I think). Andrea and Raphael, assisted by Roman (the Volv), Ascanio (he’s hilarious, I adore him) and other Pack members must battle an Egyptian god who’s trying to resurrect himself. I won’t give more of that part of the plot away – it’s too much fun to discover as you read (or listen to, as the case may be) the book.

Andrea also finds herself – she finally accepts the shapeshifter part of herself and finds her place of belonging – and it’s not just with Raphael.

I did find the ending a little abrupt and perhaps a little convenient, but I forgave both because I’m all about the happy ending. I spent a lot of time laughing and grinning like a loon at the snarky banter between Raphael/Andrea, Raphael/Roman, Ascanio/Andrea, Kate/Andrea etc. This is a rich world with fully fleshed out characters and it doesn’t just rely on Kate and Curran. Who knew? 😀

The narration: As far as the narration was concerned, Renee Raudman was her usual excellent self. There were some times when she continued with one character voice instead of changing to the correct one which made a couple of conversations difficult to follow – I would have been fine in print but on audio one relies upon character voices and/or dialogue tags – when there are none of the latter and the wrong character voice is used, it does cause some confusion. Fortunately, this didn’t happen too often.

I think Ms. Raudman’s voice for Raphael has changed a little but it did sound different to her “Curran” voice which I appreciated. There were only very subtle differences between the Kate voice and the Andrea voice – and I think Andrea’s beastkin voice was a little different (and very much like Aunt B’s) but these are small niggles in an otherwise very enjoyable listen.

What else? Curran is still my favourite in the Kate Daniels world but Raphael definitely holds a special place for me and he got extra bonus points for his treatment of Michelle late in the book.

If there are going to be more books in the Kate Daniels world (and I hope there will be), may I request stories for Roman (who knew he was so sexy? And funny?) and (when he grows up a little more) Ascanio? Pretty please?

Grade: B+

Sophia’s Secret (aka The Winter Sea) by Susanna Kearsley, narrated by Carolyn Bonnyman

August 10, 2012 / Kaetrin

Why I read listened to it: I’ve become a Susanna Kearsley fan and when I had a choice of reading The Iron Duke (Meljean Brook) or Sophia’s Secret (both of which I have in print) I decided to “read” both at once and downloaded the audiobook from Audible.

When this book was released in the US it was renamed The Winter Sea and the US audiobook release won narrator Rosalyn Landor an audie award this year. I’m not a huge fan of Landor audie or not, so I went with the Bonnyman option – she narrated Mariana and I enjoyed her narration very much so I chose this version which, apart from the title, is exactly the same.

What it’s about: Carrie McClelland is a successful historical fiction writer. She is writing a novel about the Jacobite rebellion of 1708 and travels to Scotland to attend the christening of her agent and BFF’s child. While there, she visits the ruins of Slains Castle, where The Dowager Countess of Erroll and her son the Earl of Erroll lived during that time, they both having great influence and involvement in the rebellion. Her book hasn’t been coming together and she decides to relocate to Cruden Bay, near Slains and start again, with a “point of view” character. That person is not supposed to be real, but rather someone who can “link the scenes together by her presence”. When Carrie gives this character the name Sophia Paterson after one of her ancestors, she thinks it is a deliberate, conscious choice. She also thinks the ideas about her book, which are coming thick and fast now, are subconscious. She’s wrong on both counts.

What worked for me (and what didn’t): This is a book within a book. We get Sophia’s story and Carrie’s as she writes about Sophia. It is also a dual romance book. Both Sophia and Carrie fall in love and have (mostly) happy endings.The romance for Carrie comes from the son of her landlord (she’s renting a cottage in Cruden Bay), a professor of history at the Aberdeen University, Graham Keith. Graham’s younger brother Stuart also has an eye for Carrie but it is clear early on that the spark is between Graham and Carrie. Stuart is charming but somewhat flighty and not terribly serious in his affections and they actually have little in common. (He put me in mind of a (quite a bit) nicer version of Adrian Sutton-Clark from The Shadowy Horses actually). There is little that keeps Carrie and Graham apart – Stuart is not a serious barrier. I did think that not making things clear to Stuart was more of a plot point rather than organic – in other words, I think it wasn’t made explicit to Stuart much earlier on that he was out of luck to serve the purposes of the book only.Sophia has the more dramatic and angsty storyline and because of that, the easier relationship with Carrie and Graham was a welcome change.

Sophia is an orphan of about 18 years at the start of the book. She travels from her home in Kirkcudbright (pronounced “Kerr-COO-bree”) in the west, to Slains Castle to live with her distant relative, the Countess of Erroll. She is treated there like a daughter of the house. Sent from the court of the exiled James Stewart at Saint-Germain in France, Nathanial Hooke and John Moray travel to Slains, the plan being that they will travel Scotland and gauge support for James. John however has a price on his head of 500 pounds – an enormous amount of money for that time and he is confined to the castle for his protection. John and Sophia are drawn to one another and commence a clandestine relationship – they know that the Countess would not encourage their relationship because John is a wanted criminal. When John returns to France to assist with preparations for the rebellion and to fight with his regiment in Flanders against the English, it is with the promise to Sophia that he will return with King James and they can then be together forever. The rebellion fails (as we know from history) and things get pretty bleak for Sophia for a good long while. There is sadness and a difficult decision but never fear, Sophia does end up happy. Trust me.

I did wonder if John wasn’t being very selfish in having a relationship with Sophia in such desperate times. They did a lot more than hold hands if you know what I mean – and this put Sophia at risk in terms of her future if something should happen to John (what if there were a child, she was no longer a virgin, etc) and also because she could easily be used as a pawn against John if it were ever discovered what she means to him.

The reasons for their secrecy were compelling and made sense. As do the events at the end of the book (about which I will say no more).

I really think I’ve listened to Ms. Kearsley’s books in the right order. Each book so far has, for me, gotten better – and by better, I really mean more romantic. There is plenty for a romance lover in this book. Add to that the beautiful prose and the rich historical setting – well, it’s a gem.

What else? Carolyn Bonnyman’s narration is excellent. Portions of the conversation are written in the Doric – the local language which was fun to listen to (I would have had no hope of pronouncing things so well), as well as Scottish, English and Canadian accents, all well differentiated. The scenes from Carrie’s time were clear because she used Carrie’s Cannadian accent to narrate and when we were in Sophia’s time, the narration had a Scottish accent to it, even though that part of the story is told in third person. I knew where I was in time at each point because of it and it heightened the listening experience.

Grade: A

The Shadowy Horses by Susanna Kearsley, narrated by Sally Armstrong

July 23, 2012 / Kaetrin

Why I read listened to it: I’m up to date on my review audiobooks for AAR so I got to pick one from my own stash. I really enjoyed Mariana and The Rose Garden and the excerpt on Audible intrigued.

What it’s about: (from Goodreads) The dark legends of the Scotland were an archaeologist dream. Verity Grey was thrilled to be at a dig for an ancient Roman camp in the Scottish village. But danger was in the air — in the icy reserve of archaeologist David Fortune. In the haunted eyes to the little boy who had visions of a slain Roman sentinel. And in the unearthly sound of the ghostly Shadowy Horses, who carried men away to the land of the dead…

What worked for me (and what didn’t): Okay, that blurb doesn’t really tell you much. Verity Grey is a 29 year old archaeologist type who travels to Eyemouth in Scotland after hearing about a job opportunity from ex-boyfriend Adrian Sutton-Clark. Adrian is a handsome devil but very immature when it comes to relationships. Verity found they were much better as friends, and besides, he has a marked preference for blondes and she’s a brunette. When she arrives in Eyemouth, she finds that the proposed dig is to be led by eccentric (some say mad) archaeologist, Peter Quinell, and supported by a sexy Scottish archeology professor from the local university, David Fortune. Peter’s property, Rosehill is the site of the dig – he believes he will find there, evidence of the fate of the famous 9th Roman Legion. The basis for his belief? A 9 year old boy by the name of Robbie who has “second sight”. (I heard from the author that an adult Robbie features as the hero in her upcoming book).

The other Kearsley books I have listened to (my experience with this author has all be on audio) involve time travel of some sort. This one doesn’t. There is certainly a supernatural element to the story and it delves into some of this history of the town and of the Roman occupation, but it is set solidly in the present. I also found it to be the most romantic book of Kearsley’s I’ve tried so far. That’s a big call, because Mariana had some big romance – but most of that was about Mariana and Richard and they didn’t get your traditional HEA. In this book, we see Verity and David slowly falling in love and yes, there is a traditional HEA. The story is told from Verity’s first person POV but I felt I did get to know David. It’s funny how just a few sentences can change your view of a person. For the first part of the book David is friendly but guarded with Verity. Later, Verity has a conversation with David’s mother (“Granny Nan”) and in one sentence, casts David’s actions in a new and very understandable (and sympathetic) light. I love that.

Adrian was pretty much annoying. He’s the guy who doesn’t want you but doesn’t want anyone else to have you either – so he makes sly comments that make people think there is more going on with he and Verity than there is and he puts his arm around her at strategic moments for the same reason. All this when he’s got his eye firmly on Fabia, Peter Quinell’s beautiful 20 year old (and blonde) grand-daughter. When Verity (finally!) puts Adrian in his place at the fish market, it was a thing of beauty.

The romance between David and Verity was a slow growing delight – the bedroom door is pretty much closed but there was definitely enough between them to satisfy my romantic soul and I totally believed in their HEA.

Robbie is a treasure and his mother Jeannie (the Rosehill housekeeper) and Granny Nan all add to a richly drawn cast of characters.The ghostly Sentinel who talks to Robbie in Latin, warns of a mysterious danger – and it comes from an unexpected source. The fine threads were expertly woven together to make a wonderfully complex and engrossing story. There were a few things at the end that I’m not 100% sure I understood but to go into them would be to head into spoiler territory so I won’t. It didn’t really affect my enjoyment of the story, it was just that a couple of things right at the end could have used a little more exposition (at least for my brain to fully compute anyway.)

What else? The narration is excellent. I’ve not listened to Sally Armstrong narrate before and, sadly, there doesn’t seem to be much on offer for me from Audible with her narrating, but I so wish there was. She’s the sort of narrator where you’ll listen to a book just to hear her performance. Her characters were all distinctly voiced, she has a wonderful Scottish brogue as well as the various British accents and her voice for young Robbie was just wonderful. There were a couple of times in the narration where she obviously thought a sentence had finished and then realised it hadn’t but other than that, from a technical perspective, she nailed the tone of the novel and the characterisations.I loved the lessons in Scottish dialect – Verity carried with her a pocket dictionary to translate the words people spoke which she didn’t understand and I think that this came across much better on audio – with the correct pronunciations and timing etc – than it would have in print. I’m a sucker for a good Scottish accent anyway and when you combine it with a sexy hero like David (who looks fantastic in a kilt) it’s just an added bonus.

I loved it.

Grade: A-

Mariana by Susanna Kearsley, narrated by Carolyn Bonnyman

June 20, 2012 / Kaetrin

Why I read it: I enjoyed The Rose Garden on audio recently and picked this one up on special from Audible.

What it’s about: (from Goodreads) From the winner of the Catherine Cookson Fiction Prize, this mesmerizing, suspenseful, and richly atmospheric tale of time travel draws us into the heart of a heroine we won’t soon forget…The first time Julia Beckett saw Greywethers she was only five, but she knew at once that it was her house. Now, twenty-five years later, by some strange chance, she has just become the new owner of the sixteenth-century Wilshire farmhouse. But Julia soon begins to suspect that more than coincidence has brought her there. As if Greywethers were a portal between worlds, she finds herself abruptly transported back in time. Stepping into seventeenth-century England, Julia becomes Mariana, a beautiful young woman struggling against danger and treachery, and battling a forbidden love for Richard de Mornay, handsome forebear of the present squire of Crofton Hall. Each time Julia travels back, she becomes more enthralled with the past, falling ever deeper in love with Richard… until one day she realizes Mariana’s life threatens to eclipse her own–and that she must find a way to lay the past to rest, or risk losing a chance for love in her own time.

What worked for me (and what didn’t): The blurb above does a fairly good job of letting you know what the book is about without revealing any massive spoilers. And there are some massive spoilers I will be avoiding – to know them early would truly spoil the impact of the book’s surprising ending.

Rather than being strictly a time-travel story, this one employs the device of reincarnation to explain events – well, mostly. Julia Beckett, present day, is the reincarnation of Mariana Farr from 16th century Restoration England. Once she moves into Greywethers, she starts experiencing strange episodes where she “becomes” Mariana, former Greywethers resident. Mariana has no awareness of Julia however and, the physical actions (walking, moving from place to place) Mariana takes, Julia mimics in the present day – so if Mariana walks from Greywethers to the river, then Julia also takes that walk – which places her in some odd situations from time to time.

Mariana moves to the country after her mother dies of plague. She lives with her Uncle Jabez Howard, a strict puritanical man and a supporter of Cromwell, his wife Caroline (and their baby son John) and her sister Rachel. Mariana meets Richard De Mornay and is instantly fascinated by him. But, she is warned by her uncle that Richard is a libertine and forbids her to have anything to do with him. Because the story swings in and out of the 16th century, there book is episodic and there isn’t a lot of Richard. The book is told from Julia/Mariana’s first person POV and that also restricts the reader’s knowledge of Richard. The book is about 11 hours long and up until about the 8 or 9 hour mark, I couldn’t have told you whether Richard was toying with a girl from a lower social station or whether he he was deeply in love. Fortunately for my romantic soul, there is enough in the latter stages of the book to satisfy me that Richard was on the side of the angels.

In the present day, Julia begins a relationship with the current lord of the manor, Geoffrey De Mornay and for much of the book, I admit to a certain frustration in the development of this relationship. Julia believes that Geoff is the current incarnation of Richard but he has no memory of it (when she eventually tells him) and he poignantly asks her if when she looks at him, she sees Richard or Geoffrey. He backs off to give her some space to work it out and is out of the picture for much of the last portion of the book. While I understood that he needed to be away so that she could go off wandering in a present day trance in his house (while Julia was Mariana in the 16th century), it limited the development of their romance. I had a feeling that the historical love story might not end on a happy note and I wanted the payoff in the present day.

Ms. Kearsley writes very much closed bedroom door. There’s not a lot of kissing and certainly no actual sex scene. I found myself wondering how far Julia and Geoff had progressed physically – there was mention of a few kisses and some dates over a period of months and I wondered about this relationship which seemed, to me, to be on the tepid side for such a great love story.

Without giving anything (more?) away, I will say this. The end section of the book, which totally surprised me, moved me and had my heart pounding has it all making sense. And I was glad.

I could have wished for more interaction with Richard – it would have been nice to be certain of his genuine love for Mariana earlier in the piece and as I’m a hero-centric reader, I did feel the lack.

What else? Carolyn Bonnyman did a wonderful job of the narration. Ian, a close friend of Geoff’s and a major secondary character in Julia’s daily life is from Scotland and her Scottish accent was just perfect. As she is British and the story is set in England, her voice had that authenticity of accent which just adds to an audiobook experience. She was able to differentiate the various accents of class but there wasn’t a lot of difference between the male and female voices and there were times I relied on the dialogue tags or wished there were more of them to make it clear who was speaking. I could have wished for a deeper “hero” voice but otherwise, her narration was pitch perfect – in terms of the pace and tone and atmosphere of the story.

I do think 1st person books work especially well on audio – perhaps there will be a post in that one day – but I think it boils down to the illusion of the narrator in the story telling you the story (as opposed to a storyteller telling a story) and there is something intimate and special about that experience I think.

I have listened to 2 Susanna Kearsley books now and I think she writes beautiful, evocative stories with a clever mix of past and present. While I don’t always understand the time travel/reincarnation thing, I’m fascinated by the idea of it and I think it makes for a great story. I’m also a fan of the idea of epic love which crosses and outlasts time. If I had my druthers, they’d have a little more of the hero and a little more heat (it doesn’t have to be erotic, but I would like some – or even a love scene) but so much else of her writing suits me so well, I feel sure that I’ll be reading and listening to many more of her books.

Grade: B+

Born to Darkness by Suzanne Brockmann, narrated by Patrick Lawlor and Melanie Ewbank

April 10, 2012 / Kaetrin

Why I read it: I’m a big fan of Suzanne Brockmann’s books. Although I credit Sarah Frantz from Dear Author, it was probably Ms. Brockmann that introduced me to m/m romance. I admit I wasn’t super enthusiastic about her move to PNR – mainly because it meant I wouldn’t be getting any more of her more traditional RS for a good long while, if ever. I have mixed feelings about the book but I’m not really sure it has all that much to do with the genre change.

What it’s about: The plot is somewhat complicated but I’ll do my best to summarise and introduce the main characters (of which there are 7 – that’s right there are 7 POV characters in this story and 3 romantic storylines). So, here goes.

The book is set in the not to distant (maybe 35ish years) future where the government, law enforcement and most other services have been privatised. Unemployment is high and poverty rampant. Various scientific types around the world are studying something called “neural integration” whereby some people naturally have the ability to integrate their neural pathways more efficiently than others and those people train to enhance their talents. The science is not widely accepted by the government, the authorities or the public. “Normal” people are called “Less Thans” or “Fractions” and their neural integration is about 10%. A “Greater Than” (not, in my opinion the most interesting or exciting name for a group of super hero types) may have 30% or more neural integration.

The Obermeier Institute (OI) in Boston is devoted to the study of neural integration – the Obermeier of the name is completely absent from the story even though she “runs” the institute. I guess she will appear in future books (?). Joseph Bach runs the institute on her behalf day to day. He is a 72% greater than. Michelle “Mac” Mackenzie is a “50′ and so is hottie Stephen Diaz. Elliot Zerkowski (I may have the spelling wrong – I haven’t seen the name in print) is a Fraction but he is a science geek who works at OI and assists with the training and research. The Greater Thans have various “super powers” in varying degrees of strength and control, ranging from self healing, telekinesis, telepathy, prescience, thought projection, flying, shielding, super strength – sort of like X-Men.

A new drug is on the black market. Known as Destiny, it mimic the effects of high neural integration but is instantly addictive. There is also a nasty side effect – which while inevitable, is unpredictable – known as “Jokering” (the name comes from the Batman comics). Joseph, Mac and Diaz help the Boston PD take down jokers and try and detox them from Destiny but, so far they have had no success in the latter endeavour. The makers of Destiny (known as “The Organisation”) harvest some of the ingredients from the endocrine system of pubescent girls with Potential to be Greater Thans – they keep them in a state of intense fear to increase the particular hormones they need to produce the drug.

13 year old Nika (again with the spelling) Taylor goes missing and her sister Anna, is approached by Bach to assist. Nika had recently been identified as a Potential by OI and he believes she’s been kidnapped by the Organisation.

Our final other main character is Shane Laughlin – a former Navy SEAL who has been blacklisted (and really, the overuse of the word blacklisted in this book! It got old early and often) has been offered a place at OI as he has been identified as a Potential with 17% natural integration.

The basic story from there is that the OI people and Anna try to find and rescue Nika.

Diaz and Elliot are gay and they get together (couple 1), Shane and Mac get together (couple 2) and Bach and Anna have a thing also (couple 3) and then there’s Nika. And, we have POV from all of them. Melanie Ewbank reads the parts of the book which are from a female POV and Patrick Lawlor reads the male POV – as there are 4 male MC’s he gets slightly more of the air time, which, IMO, was a good thing.

What worked for me (and what didn’t): This is a big book. It is over 18 hours on audio; the standard audiobook runs to about 11ish hours. However, it takes place over only 3 days. That’s right, 3 days. The Greater Thans don’t sleep much, so there’s more useful hours in a day for them, but still, it’s only 3 days. Shane and Mac meet on day 1, as do Bach and Anna. Diaz and Elliot have known each other for 7 years but not well (Diaz has kept himself from forming any deep friendships) and they hook up on day 1. By day 3 we are supposed to accept that we have 2/3 HEA’s. Bach and Anna’s story is unfinished at the end and this was most unsatisfying. (I suppose that is mildly spoilerish but it’s the sort of thing I’d want to know).

The beginning of the book was very promising. Mac’s “special power” is empathy and part of that is that she can ramp up her pheromones and her sexual attractiveness to those who are attracted to women and influence people that way. The problem with that is that she never believes that anyone is attracted to her for her own sake – she thinks it’s just because of her super power. She and Shane went round and round with this but I’m not sure it was ever fully resolved, at least, not in any neat kind of way, which was a bit disappointing.

Diaz and Elliot had such a promising start, but going from never having touched at all and only speaking on a professional level to “I love you, let’s get married” in less than 48 hours was too much for me. There wasn’t anything keeping this couple apart for most of the book and the relationship lacked tension after about the first third of the story.

There were also parts of the dialogue which didn’t ring true to me. This was the case with both Diaz and Shane actually – sometimes when they spoke it sounded like something a woman would want to hear but not necessarily something a man would actually say. At least to me. That’s a fairly small niggle though.

Anna and Bach’s story will no doubt be resolved over the next or subsequent books but I found it really frustrating that there was something of a cliffhanger as to their relationship. Thinking on it now, I should have known better – Brockmann is notorious for putting her secondary characters through the wringer and making them work for their HEA (Sam and Alyssa anyone?). I guess the thing for me was that in the Troubleshooters books I was always clear on who were the main characters and who were the secondary ones and I was clear that I could expect an HEA for the MC’s but not the others. However, Anna and Bach were much more than secondary characters for me in this book. It really felt like there were 6 MC’s with Nika coming up very strongly in 7th place. Still, maybe that one gets blamed on me. 🙂

The ending overall, was, I felt, somewhat rushed. I don’t want to give away major spoilers but something happens to Elliot and Shane which isn’t really explained and the tension of the situation kind of fizzles. Perhaps this will be addressed in future books?

The story was entertaining enough and when I was listening, for the most part, I enjoyed it. However, when I stopped listening and started thinking about it, things became a little unstuck. The really short time frame did my head in. I just didn’t believe the 2 HEA’s were for real. HFN’s sure, but forever? Um, no.

As for the super powers thing, well, that was mostly okay – it was certainly different from what’s around in PNR right now, that I know of anyway, but some of it did seem a little… silly. For example, when a joker was flying and breathing fire. That stretched my credulity just a little too thin. The one aspect of the Greater Thans that I had a little bit of trouble with – and only because I had difficulty getting my own head around it rather than how it was written – was the stuff that was done in dreams – Bach, in particular would share dreams with Anna and they would visit places and do things in the dream which of course were not real but they were kind of real and then my head asploded.

I will have to get the next one because I want to know what the deal is with Anna and Bach and see how Mac and Shane are going after, you know, day 4.

What else? Patrick Lawlor has been narrating Brockmann books for a while now and I quite enjoy his narration. He gets the Brockmann style and he has a reasonable range. When he was doing the girly squeals it got a bit much, but mostly, I very much enjoyed his narration. The good news was the he narrated all of the Diaz/Elliot storyline.

I didn’t enjoy Melanie Ewbank’s narration as much. It was just okay. She sounded too strident to my ear. Mac was pretty bitchy anyway and it’s possible that in print I would have found her a little on the unlikeable side regardless, but the narration didn’t help. Also, when she was narrating where a character was calling out for another character, it sounded more like the voice you’d hear in a ghost story which was a bit, um, weird. There really wasn’t any difference between her voice for Shane and her voice for Mac and it was difficult to differentiate between the two characters. I didn’t have that problem with Patrick Lawlor’s narration though.

The other thing I’ll add is that this book is not for the squeamish. If violence against young women is not your thing (think 12-14 year old girls), then maybe this is not the book for you. The Organisation kidnaps the girls and keeps them terrified. They want them to be in pain and fearful. Those bits are kind of full on.

The book was eminently listenable but I can’t say that it ranked up there in my favourite Brockmann stories. It’s possible the series will improve over time (I’m not sure how many books are planned for it). I think it may well have been a better book if one of the romances had’ve been deleted or otherwise only hinted at and the extra page time used to put more actual time into the story so that it went for longer than 3 days. I liked it but there were things that bothered me in the story and the narration and I can’t say I loved it. The ending felt rushed and managed to drop a brand new problem into the mix which was left unresolved (on purpose) and that’s not my favourite either.

It seems to be getting great reviews (at least the print version is) on Goodreads, so maybe I’m an outlier – it wouldn’t be the first time, 🙂

Grade: C (with a C- for the dissatisfying and incomplete ending).

Rainshadow Road by Lisa Kleypas, narrated by Tanya Eby

April 6, 2012 / Kaetrin

Note: Review originally written for Speakingof Audiobooks . Permission has been granted to publish review in its entirety here.

Why I read it: I was so looking forward to listening to this book. I adored Blue Eyed Devil and Smooth Talking Stranger and I love Tanya Eby’s narration. The combination of this author and this narrator felt like an automatic win for me. And I did enjoy it, but… well, let’s get to what the story is about first.

What it’s about: Sam Nolan is the owner of the old Victorian House and proprietor of the vineyard at the end of Rainshadow Road on San Juan Island, Washington. We met him in Christmas Eve at Friday Harborwhich featured his brother Mark and his, now, wife-to-be, Maggie. Sam’s gorgeous and talented and friendly and sexy but he doesn’t do commitment. Ever. He’s always honest about it. He’s not a cheater or a deceiver but his experience with his alcoholic parents and their toxic marriage has scarred him for life.

Lucy Marinn is a glass artist, working mainly on stained glass windows. We first meet Lucy when her boyfriend of 3 years, Kevin, dumps her for her younger (and very spoiled and not at all nice) sister Alice. We are toldthat Kevin has awakened Lucy’s sensuality and taught her about trust in a relationship (as she’s not otherwise a very trusting person) but frankly, Kevin is an asshole. We see that there are no redeeming aspects to his character at all. He whines. He blames everyone else for his shortcomings (eg, “It might be your fault, but it’s definitely not my fault” [that I cheated on you and slept with your sister]). I wondered why Lucy had been with him at all. Kevin was a caricature and didn’t fill me with confidence in Lucy’s judgment in men.

Moving along. Lucy meets Sam early on in the story and there is an attraction but Lucy is gun shy after her breakup with Kevin. They start to form a friendship and then Lucy is involved in an accident where she needs someone to care for her. She moves into the house at Rainshadow Road and their relationship develops as Sam looks after her. (It makes sense in the book, trust me).

What worked for me (and what didn’t): The book features “magical realism”. During times of strong emotion glass on or near Lucy turns into real creatures – butterflies, hummingbirds, and other small animals. I confess I don’t know much about it but, from this book, it didn’t seem to be something which really added to the story. I felt that those parts could have been left out altogether and there would have been no loss. I’m not sure if it’s supposed to be that way or not. In a PNR for example, the paranormal/magical aspects of the story are necessary, but I’m not sure the same could be said here.

Tanya Eby is one of my favourite narrators. She has a very pleasant voice to listen to. I think I’m extra picky because there are some narrators out there who do great character voices and everything but to my ears, their “narrator” voice (i.e. the voice they use when they’re not doing dialogue) isn’t that nice to listen to. Not the case with Tanya Eby. She has a lovely timbre to her voice. She also delivers a number of different female and male character voices across a range of ages. Her voice for Sam was very sexy – kind of husky and just like I pictured him actually having. Kevin sounded like the moron he was. Lucy’s mother sounded more mature without being old and Lucy’s dad sounded like the distracted, somewhat uptight, professor-type he was in the text. I’m happy to say that there is even a distinction between the voices of the 3 brothers Mark, Sam and Alex – it’s subtle, but definitely there.

I haven’t read the DIK review which was published at AAR the other day as I didn’t want it to influence my own review. But, suffice it to say that I didn’t have quite the same experience of the book as AAR’s Pat did. I liked it; Tanya Eby’s narration was wonderful. I was surprised when I looked at my iPod and saw that I was 6 hours into an 8 hour audiobook and realised that Sam and Lucy’s relationship had really only just begun. On the one hand, those 6 hours had flown by. On the other, there’s only 2 hours left and they’ve only just got together! I ended up having the same criticism of Rainshadow Road as I did with Christmas Eve at Friday Harbor – after such a beautiful set up, the ending is rushed. In this case, the relationship part is rushed. We see Lucy and Sam together for 3 or 4 days when she is recuperating at his house, but then all of a sudden we move to “over the past 2 months…” – I wanted to hear about those 2 months dammit!! They are beautiful characters – Sam is funny and he’s a geek with cool science-y t-shirts – Lucy (despite her previously appalling taste in men) is eminently likeable. Because those 2 months were missing in action, it was difficult for me to really buy into Sam’s conversion from “no commitment. Ever” to “marry me”. (I don’t think the HEA is a spoiler! :D) I wanted to but I just didn’t see enough of their interactions as a couple together. I didn’t see him completely falling for her over those 2 months. I was only told it happened.

What would have made this book an A read for me would have been to make it longer and fill in those 2 months. I would have had the joy of listening to Tanya Eby’s wonderful narration for more hours and I would have gotten to know those great characters better and been more convinced at the end. Oh, I believed it, but I didn’t sighover it. Not like I did with Hardy and Haven from Blue Eyed Devil.

What else? There’s one other thing. Sam and Lucy first make love very soon after her accident. As someone who has recently had some surgery, I found this a bit hard to believe. A few days after a significant accident where you can’t walk for a while is not a time when one is likely to feel sexy. Romantic? Sure. A few kisses and many cuddles definitely. But sex? Um, not so much.

I recommend this book. I flew through it. It was very good; it’s worth a listen for Tanya Eby’s narration alone, but it could have been amazing and because of that, I was left feeling a little disappointed in the end. The story was engaging, the narrator excellent – I would have happily listened to more. There was just something missing for me – those 2 months!!

Grade: B-