Category: B reviews (Page 6 of 74)

Go Hex Yourself by Jessica Clare, narrated by Holly Linneman & Andrew Eiden

April 26, 2022 / Kaetrin

Go Hex Yourself by Jessica Clare, narrated by Holly Linneman & Andrew Eiden. Interesting take on magic, good narration, romance a bit of a mixed bag.

I haven’t read or listened to a Jessica Clare book in what feels like ages. When I saw Go Hex Yourself, read the blurb and also saw that Andrew Eiden was co-narrating, I decided to pick it up.

Regina (Reggie) Johnson answers an ad in the paper for a personal assistant/familiar for spellcraft. She mistakes it as being related to a card game “Spellcraft: The Magicking” (which I imagine to be something akin to Magic: The Gathering) and applies. She’s had trouble keeping jobs in the past because she’s very particular about being tidy and organised. Some people don’t like her rearranging their things just so whether she’s been asked to do it or not.

It quickly becomes clear that Reggie is wrong about the card game but it takes her a long while to admit the magic that her new employer (yes, she gets the job and it pays a simply RIDICULOUS – high that is – amount of money), Drucilla (Dru) Magnus tells her they both have.

In this world magic comes from the Roman Gods (in particular Jupiter) sexing up the local populace way back in the day. From there various bloodlines of magic began. Familiars are usually sought from the Society of Familiars. Reggie, as a complete outsider and one who doesn’t even know about magic let alone believe in it, is a “mongrel”. But Dru is a 2000+ year old witch and very much not inclined to do things the way she’s supposed to. No, Reggie is who she wants and Reggie is who she’ll have.

Familiars wear a cuff on their wrist which binds them to their witch or warlock who then use the power of the familiar to amplify spells. No Reggie, that tiredness you’re feeling is not just low blood sugar.

Dru’s 500-year-old great nephew, Ben Magnus, a powerful warlock in his own right, disapproves of Reggie’s lineage and wants Dru to fire Reggie as soon as possible. So Ben and Reggie don’t get off to a good start.

However, they do seem to be thrown together regularly and over time they become friends. Ben even learns to play Spellcraft: The Magicking so he can spend time with Reggie doing something she loves.

When Dru is cursed, Reggie and Ben work together to find out who’s done the cursing and to break the spell before Dru dies.

And along the way, they fall in love.

There’s more to it; Ben and Reggie both have complicated feelings about their mutually terrible parents (the only difference being that Reggie’s are alive); it appears that all of Dru’s familiars have been cursed in the past and it seems Reggie might be next, Reggie’s BFF, Nick, starts a new relationship with hot military guy, Diego – and sends Reggie too many NSFW pictures and texts about it, Reggie makes a new friend in Penny who has been waiting for years for her chance to finally be a familiar.

The witches and warlocks in this world are, for the most part, morally grey. Sure there are healing potions and good luck charms but, for example, most of Ben’s work is in the corporate arena where he curses the competitors so the stock prices of his clients’ business goes up. Many of the warlocks are old white guys who are set in their ways and misogynistic. Ben is not a misogynist fortunately and he’s also very progressive -which often sets him at odds with Aunt Dru and his fellow warlocks. He uses his smartphone for scrying; Aunt Dru still uses entrails and a crystal ball.

I enjoyed the magic and the way the author mixed the modern experience with eye of newt and ear of bat and the like. I liked Reggie and Ben very much. But the part when the pair slid from friendly to in love passed me by a little. I think it happened in the space of a couple of lines of text which mentioned “two months later”. Unfortunately I didn’t hear much about those crucial two months and that meant the romance felt sudden and undeveloped to me.

The next thing I knew, Ben and Reggie were kissing and then they were haring off to find a cure for the curse that suddenly befell Dru.

There were at least two good options I could see for the culprit and the author did keep me guessing until right near the end as to the identity of the curser.

The narration from both performers was very good. Although, I did have a mental disconnect hearing Andrew Eiden’s voice for a character who was supposed to be a bit stiff and starchy and who was 500 years old. I do not associate Mr. Eiden with “stiff and starchy”. No he’s more warm honey and smooth charm. Ben’s not really that – although he is a sweetie. As much as I decided to listen to this book partly because Mr. Eiden was narrating, I don’t think he was the best choice for the character. Someone like Shane East may have been a better choice. Still, leaving that aside, the rest of Andrew Eiden’s performance was very good.

Holly Linneman sounded familiar to my ears but I haven’t listened to her before. She put me in mind of Amy McFadden a little (but with fewer tics) so for those who have enjoyed Ms. McFadden’s work before, Ms. Linneman will be a good fit. I liked her cast differentiation. My biggest criticism of her performance is that Dru didn’t sound old and even in witch years she was very old indeed.

Go Hex Yourself was a different take on the witch romance subgenre which seems to be very in right now and overall was an enjoyable listen.

Grade: B-

A Duke Worth Falling For by Sarah MacLean, narrated by Penelope Ann Rose

April 20, 2022 / Kaetrin

A Duke Worth Falling For by Sarah MacLean, narrated by Penelope Ann Rose. Entertaining with solid narration – though some issues with the English accent here and there.

Originally published as part of the Naughty Brits anthology, A Duke Worth Falling For is now out separately on audio and via ebook. It’s novella length at just over four hours of listening and so isn’t a big time investment. The story is necessarily fairly contained but nonetheless complete.

Lilah Rose was on her way to being the world’s best portrait photographer, a kind of up-and-coming Annie Leibovitz. But then she “turned down the wrong man” and he blacklisted her. She lost her career and for the past 18 months, has been travelling around the world finding her place in it again. She has been working on a project photographing various sustainable farms and their owners in various countries. She hopes the project will relaunch her career. She has a 10 day break before the launch in London and, based on a recommendation from a friend who knows the duke’s sister, is renting a small cottage on the estate of the Duke of Weston for some R&R until then.

When she meets “Max” on the estate after he rescues her from a marauding ewe, she believes him to be a land steward. And he is. What he doesn’t tell her is that he is also Rupert Maximillian Ardern, 14th Duke of Weston. Max has been burned by people wanting pieces of him for what he is and not who he is – or perhaps for wanting him for the “duke” part and not the “Max” part. So when he meets Lilah he is delighted when she treats him like a normal person and he can be sure she isn’t after anything more from him than his company.

After an initial poor start – Max isn’t a fan of photographers due to his own experience with celebrity – he makes a neat apology and he and Lilah share a friendly game of darts at the local pub (where she kicks his ass). The attraction between them is mutual and powerful and before long they are in a full-fledged fling for the remaining 9 days of Lilah’s stay. Neither thinks there can be anything else.

Max, for his part, understands that Lilah wants to go back to her life as a celebrity/portrait photographer which will mean a spotlight he eschews. Lilah thinks Max is the land steward and tied to the Salterton estate.

But over the next few days, they fall deeper and deeper and each begins to think of a possible future.

Of course the big conflict between them is the glaring omission of Max’s true identity and so the path to a HEA is not smooth. There is a “me too” moment too and a confrontation with the Harvey Weinstein-esque character responsible for blacklisting Lilah all those months ago.

The narration was pretty good. It’s clear that Ms. Rose is American but her British accent was mostly creditable. There were a few mispronunciations. Some of them made me laugh. (Cornish pasties are foodstuffs and not things you put on your nipples to cover them when stripping.) The British accent dipped in and out on occasion but overall it was fairly believable. There were various brands of English accent displayed too – some from locals and some from the upper echelons of society. I did wonder a little at the toffy English accent given to Arty (or maybe that is Artie? – I don’t have the print version) who I had though was from India? But maybe I was wrong about her heritage.

Lilah, of course, is American, so Ms. Rose’s natural accent worked just fine here.

She had a pleasing depth to her tone for Max as well.

Max was a little clueless about a few things but loyal and loving and Lilah was fierce and brave. Together they made a formidable and rather delightful pair.

Grade: B

On Location by Sarah Echavarre Smith, narrated by Donnabella Mortel

April 13, 2022 / Kaetrin

On Location by Sarah Echavarre Smith, narrated by Donnabella Mortel. Great narration but I had mixed feelings about the story.

Alia Dunn is a Filipino American working as an assistant producer for the Expedition TV network which specialises in travel-related shows – I imagine it something like a boutique Discovery channel. She dreams of running her own show and when On Location begins, she’s despairing that she’s blown her chance. Her pitch for a series “Discover Utah” about the national parks in that state was turned down by the boss and she’s feeling glum on the subway heading home. She’s particularly crushed as the series was inspired by summer trips she took with her brother and her Apong Lita (her grandmother) as a child when her parents were away in the military and the series was to be dedicated to her beloved and much missed grandparent. All is not terrible, though, as a handsome and built guy gives up his seat for an elderly woman, partially because it was the right thing to do and partially because he wanted to stand next to Alia. Inspired by a comment the boss made, she decides to “take a risk” and ends up going on the best date of her life with the “subway hottie” who identifies himself as Drew.

Unfortunately he ghosts her the next day so it goes nowhere. Alia puts it down to her viral tweet of the subway hottie (a photograph of him she took and posted without his knowledge or permission I might add – way not okay Alia!). She thinks he’s seen it and was unhappy about the invasion of his privacy. (Well, duh.)

The next week at work things take a turn for the better when her Discover Utah series is suddenly un-rejected. Alia has everything she’s ever wanted professionally at her fingertips. There’s only one catch: the boss chose the host and he’s a D-List ex-reality TV star with a massive attitude, an arrest record and a drug and alcohol problem. Alia does get to choose her crew however and her mentor recommends a freelance field coordinator to round out her team. His name is Andrew. I think you see where this is going, right?

As it happens, Drew didn’t ghost Alia at all. He also wasn’t upset about going viral on Twitter (why?). No, he had a tragic phone accident which not only ruined his phone but also the SIM and as a result he lost her contact information. As they had not exchanged surnames he had no way to find her. Jaded Alia thinks it’s a line at first but it becomes apparent that Drew is not like that.

Alia has a lot of trouble with Blaine, the host. Drew steps in and guides Blaine through his lines on every take. Drew had always longed to be a host but has terrible stage fright. However, when he’s guiding Blaine, no stage fright is obvious. Mostly this is because he’s not “on” for these performances but the rest is the ease he feels with Alia. For her part, Alia sees in Drew a natural charisma and screen presence. Drew is fantastic at everything he does. I think you see where this is going too.

As Drew and Alia get to know one another at the various beautiful Utah locations, their mutual attraction blossoms and they begin a fling. She had a bad experience with a cheating director earlier in her career and it has made her very relationship-shy so she’s very sensitive to being gaslit and lied to – to the point where she protects her heart rather than take a risk.

The thing is, Drew is so nice and practically perfect in every way that listeners know Alia’s fears are unfounded. I liked him quite a bit for the most part but I admit I lost some respect for him when he was just too much of a doormat with Alia at the end.

Drew is wonderful all the time – except when the plot calls for him to do something a bit not nice. It didn’t fit his character at all and jarred.

Alia repeatedly (why did she not learn??) misunderstands Drew’s words or actions and this leads to my least favourite trope, the Big Mis. Only there are multiple “mises” – mostly fairly small, leading up to the big one near the end. I didn’t like how Drew just accepted Alia’s actions as perfectly reasonable. She mistrusted him and, for the most part, didn’t use her words to clarify things and thought the worst of him over and over again. But Drew is all “I understand and it’s okay.” In the end, I thought he was just too nice.

The middle of the book dragged a little with not much happening except a lot of sex and sneaking around so the rest of the crew wouldn’t twig to their relationship. Interspersed with creative and hot sex scenes was a lot of “I’ll tell him I want a real relationship tonight” followed immediately by “Obviously he doesn’t feel the same way as me because I’ve just read into something he’s said or done so now I’ll stay quiet” – rinse and repeat. I was frustrated by it the first time but it kept happening. Thank God for assistant producer and best friend Hayley who said what I was thinking – “just talk to him, you dummy!!”.

The narration was quite good and made a lot of difference to my decision to persist and finish the book. There were a few small errors here and there and one or two occasions when the syntax of the sentence was altered by too long a pause at the wrong place but for the most part, Ms. Mortel’s performance was very good and I’d happily listen to her again. Her male character voices were different and believable and didn’t hinder me sinking into the listen and she had a good range of accents and character voices generally.

Ms. Mortel is a Filipino American actress and, given that the main character in On Location is also Filipino American, this worked very well. Her knowledge and familiarity with the Tagalog sprinkled throughout the novel was obvious. I appreciated the representation in addition to Ms. Mortel’s overall skill.

There were parts of On Location that worked well for me and the narration was certainly a plus but there were story aspects which didn’t work for me at all.

Grade: B-/C+

February Round Up

March 1, 2022 / Kaetrin

Monthly Mini Review

Wrapped Up In You by Ella Frank & Brooke Blaine, narrated by Wesley Paul – B I picked up this little novella (it only goes for 1 hour 17 minutes) in the Audible Plus catalogue when I searched to see what else Wesley Paul had narrated. He’s narrating a Kristen Ashley book I had my eye on and I wanted to try a sample before one-clicking. It’s a Valentine’s Day short featuring a gay couple who have been together for about 3 years. One half of the couple is Vaughan, an ER doctor and has also spent time overseas with Doctors Without Borders so he’s often away or working during holidays. But this time, to Carter’s delight, Vaughan has something special planned.

The story takes the listener over the course of the day and includes a few flashbacks to how they met, their first date, etc and leads up to a big romance (which I’m sure folks can probably guess but I won’t give it away here even so). It’s soft and fluffy, has no conflict at all and in that way is a perfect little bite if one is in the mood for those things (I was). Continue reading

October Round Up

November 1, 2021 / Kaetrin

Monthly Mini Review

The Stranger Beside Me by Ann Rule, narrated by Lorelei King – B I picked this audiobook up via my library. Lorelei King is a favourite narrator (she does the Mercy Thompson series) but I admit it threw me a little when Ted Bundy sounded like Adam Hauptmann!

I admit I knew little about Ted Bundy before this. (Hello. Australian.) I knew of him of course and that he was a serial killer but beyond that, not much else. Wow. What an animal he was. Cruel, vicious and manipulative. Ugh.

There’s an extra layer to this book though. Ann Rule was his friend. They met when they worked together at a crisis helpline. As I was listening there was a kind of meta layer to it and I spent a bit of time thinking about her relationship with Bundy and trying to put myself in her place. I think I would not have stuck by him or sent him money for cigarettes and postage stamps in jail. I think I would have washed my hands of him. That she did not was… a choice.

There are a number of afterwords which update events beyond the original ending of the book and take the story to Bundy’s execution in 1989. That last one seemed to shift in tone to more condemnation of Bundy than the original book did. I wondered about why that was. Continue reading

September Round Up

October 2, 2021 / Kaetrin

Monthly Mini Review

Riley Thorn & the Dead Guy Next Door by Lucy Score, narrated by Natalie Duke – B+ I picked up this audiobook for $4.95 when it was an Audible Daily Deal recently but as it happened it was easily worth the cost of a credit. What a delightful find! Not only did I stumble into a new-to-me author (with a significant backlist for extra bonus points) but a fabulous new-to-me narrator as well.

Riley Thorn comes from a family of psychic women but has rejected her heritage and lives in denial. Except, when she is confronted by a vision of her creepy neighbour being murdered, things start to get real. Nick Santiago is a private investigator who was trying to serve a summons on the guy who (spoiler alert) ends up actually dead and because reasons, he ends up investigating the murder, along with Riley.

Riley lives in a large shared house filled with old people (for reasons I didn’t understand – perhaps I missed the explanation? – she has to pretend they’re all related) and they’re quirky, hilarious and also a wonderful found family. Riley is a bit of a caretaker and feels responsible for her neighbours and so wishes to protect them from any potential harm once it becomes clear that after the murder the bad guy may well be back for more nefarious deeds. Continue reading