Category: Audiobook Page 12 of 24

In This Bright Future (Audiobook) by Peter Grainger, Gildart Jackson: A Stranger in a Strange Land

This Bright Future

In This Bright Future

by Peter Grainger, Gildart Jackson (Narrator)
Series: A DC Smith Investigation, #5

Unabridged Audiobook, 9 hrs., 18 min.
Tantor Audio, 2017

Read: January 7-8, 2021
Grab a copy from your local indie bookstore!

It’s Time to Wrap up Some Things

We’ve known for some time, that someone connected to DC Smith’s time in Belfast has been trying to get in touch with him. We know almost nothing about what he did, and he’s in no rush to think about it as whoever makes these attempts. But that’s done with now.

While recuperating from knee surgery, Smith finally confronts/is confronted by (you could make the case either way) with that person and ends up using his convalescence time going to Belfast to look into something that happened (probably) the day after he left.

Smith is brought face-to-face with friends and adversaries for the first time in decades. He has to come to terms with many consequences of his actions. And he looks into a killing from that time that he didn’t even know had happened until he made the trip.

So we learn who has been looking into him/trying to communicate with him. We learn a lot about his backstory that we’d only got glimpses of shadows of before. For fans who want to know more about DC Smith, here’s the place.

There’s another plotline that gets some resolution, too—in a very pleasant way. But I’m not going to get into it.

Never Fear, There are Still Some Storylines Alive

We don’t have any resolution when it comes to this author friend and her book (and digging up all sorts of horrible memories with it). And there’s a new one introduced in the closing moments, one that will probably shake up a lot of Kings Lake…

Jackson Nails It Again

Gildart Jackson makes sure that you get what DC is feeling, how the past is coming back to haunt him while confronting him with his failures, his missed opportunities, the what could have been. This is a lonely book for Smith, and Jackson ensures the listener experiences it.

So, what did I think about In This Bright Future?

Overall, this was strange. Still good, but strange. As much as we all pick up these books for DC, it’s DC in relation to his fellow officers. Here, he’s fairly isolated—he has his ghosts, his memories, and people he hasn’t seen for decades (some he’s tried not to think about since)—but he doesn’t have his team. The fact he can’t give any tutorials, he doesn’t have anyone around to amuse with his commentary, the fact that he’s constantly on his guard, all combine to heighten the emotional impact of this one.

But man, I want to get back to King’s Lake.

This was as good as the previous entries—probably better in some ways—but in a different way. I’m all for that, let’s keep this series from getting stale. You can read/listen to this without the rest, and enjoy it. But it’s a lousy way to sample the series. If you want to know what this winning series is like, grab book 1 or 2. But if you grab this? You’re in for a very pleasant experience.


4 Stars

2021 Audiobook Challenge

This post contains an affiliate link. If you purchase from it, I will get a small commission at no additional cost to you. As always, opinions are my own.

Wake of the Bloody Angel (Audiobook) by Alex Bledsoe, Stefan Rudnicki: A Search for A Needle in a Very Wet Haystack

Small confession, before trying to write this post, I read my 2014 post from when I first read the novel, and it struck me that I didn’t have much else to say. So I shuffled it a bit, cleaned a couple of things up, and added bit here and there. That’s not cheating too much, is it?


Wake of the Bloody Angel

Wake of the Bloody Angel

by Alex Bledsoe, Stefan Rudnicki (Narrator)
Series: Eddie LaCrosse, #4

Unabridged Audiobook, 8 hrs., 51 min.
Blackstone Audio, 2012

Read: November 27-30, 2020
Grab a copy from your local indie bookstore!

What’s Wake of the Bloody Angel About?

I looked up at the stars. Finding one pirate after twenty years was a lot like picking one star out of this sky. Just when you thought you had it, a cloud slid by and you had to start all over when it passed.

Yet that’s just what Eddie LaCrosse sets out to do—find the unfindable, track the untrackable. For those of you who don’t know—Eddie lives in a fairly standard fantasy realm, and makes his living as a “sword jockey”—what we’d call a P.I. in our world. These books are first-person narratives and read a lot like good detective novels—but with swords, horses, and the occasional dragon or whatnot.

Eddie doesn’t go alone on his search for a pirate—he brings along his old friend/colleague, Jane Argo. Jane’s a former pirate turned pirate hunter turned sword jockey and is as tough as that résumé suggests. Having her come along on this adventure as the Hawk/Joe Pike figure was a great addition to a series that I didn’t think required it. But now, I want more of her—back in Eddie LaCrosse #6, or in Jane Argo #1. I could be pleased either way, as long as it’s soon.

A Killer Line

Every now and then, in the middle of this fun read, Bledsoe reminds you he can do more than tell a fun action story, and drop a sentence, or phrase that shows he’s just a good writer, period. One such line that stood out to me, and I’ve tried to find excuses to use in the last couple of days is:

Hawk’s been called many things over the years, but you know what captures him best, in my opinion? That he’s simply a shiver looking for a spine to run up.

You get a real clear idea about this Hawk guy, the image is pretty creepy in and of itself, and yet, it looks and sounds breezy unless you think about it. I like Eddie and the rest of his world plenty—but it’s that kind of thing that keeps me coming back to Bledsoe.

What I found interesting as I re-read what I wrote years ago is this very line. I’d completely forgotten it in the intervening years, but when I heard it, I mentioned it to a coworker and at least one family member, and even tweeted about it. It struck me as a perfect line in 2014, and it did the same again in 2020. I clearly have a well-defined taste and will probably rave about it the next time I read/listen to this novel.

The Paranormal

The last thing I can think to note is that this book briefly features the creepiest little girl I can remember since Let the Right One In. I really can’t talk about her without ruining too much, but let me just say that absolutely loved the way that Bledsoe used her. And no, I’m not going to talk about why I mention her under “The Paranormal.”

For a Fantasy series, Bledsoe is very careful—almost stingy—with his use of magic and the paranormal. But when he uses it? It’s so effective. We get just a few incidents of it here and I love watching the choices Bledsoe makes regarding them.

The Narration

Obviously, as it was over 6 years ago that I read the book, I could be wrong about this, but I think that Rudnicki’s narration added another layer to the novel, and it struck a deeper chord with me. It’s not like I didn’t enjoy the book when I read it, but listening to it seemed to be more effective. I attribute that solely to Rudnicki. He just does a great job not only with Eddie, but with all the other characters—Jane Argo and the last new character we meet in particular.

So, what did I think about Wake of the Bloody Angel?

There’s adventure, piracy, sword-play, banter, friendship, and a bit of betrayal. That’s pretty much what you want in a novel like this, right?

Bledsoe did a great job of nailing the life of a ship (says the guy who gets too seasick to even contemplate a day-long voyage)—both the tedium of day-to-day and the excitement of boardings (or other adventures at sea).

I couldn’t have seen the ending coming, nor the details it revealed. But it worked, it absolutely worked both as interesting plot development, and as strong character moments. So well done.

I’ve only got one novel in this series to go, and I’m excited to get to it, but I don’t want things to end. That’s a good place to be.


4 Stars

The Salvage Crew (Audiobook) by Yudhanjaya Wijeratne, Nathan Fillion: A Unusual Tale of Artificial Intelligence, Cascading Failure, and Poetry

The Salvage Crew

The Salvage Crew

by Yudhanjaya Wijeratne, Nathan Fillion (Narrator)

Unabridged Audiobook, 8 hrs., 21 min.
Podium Audio, 2020

Read: January 20-22, 2020

Red Dwarf Remix?

I’m not suggesting for a second that Wijeratne’s mind worked this way (at least I don’t mean to), but this is the impression I got as this started.

The Red Dwarf TV Show/Novels had a couple of great ideas at the beginning—an AI that ran the ship, that had a strange personality, an odd sense of humor, and wasn’t entirely reliable. The second was that the ship generated a holographic officer based on the memories and personality of one of a dead member of the crew (whoever was highest ranking/most needed among the dead). A long time ago, it had been determined that AI with memories and real emotions actually perform better than those not based on actual humans.

Our main protagonist and narrator in this novel is an AI, made from the memories and personality of an engineer who served his whole professional life in space (after leaving his family’s farm). He’s now in charge of a small salvage crew for the company Planetary Crusade Service, sent to a tiny planet Urmahon Beta to recover as much as they can from an old colony ship that presumably crashed there.

His role is Overseer, and his crew nicknames him OC. This is OC’s first command, if it goes well—and a few others—he can move up to a larger, better body/command. In a few decades or so, he could work is his up to a large ship, overseeing a major operation. Again, that’s if everything goes well.

Everything Doesn’t Go Well

OC is promised an “A-Team” of a crew for his first command. He doesn’t get one. They’re not a B-Team either. There are not enough letters to describe how far this trio is from an A-Team. For that matter, I’m not sure OC is A-Team material either—they land far off-course (turbulence during descent, we’re told).

Almost instantly, the crew starts falling apart, ignoring orders and protocol. They begin to build a base to work from, but get distracted by things like indigenous flora and fauna, personality conflicts, and evidence that suggests they may not be the only salvage crew on the planet (there’s a rival company with bionic operators with aggressive tendencies).

From a rough start, it gets worse, and the next few weeks are a spiral of cascading failure, disease, injuries, strife, crop failure, questionable vodka distillation, bargain-basement tech, and…well, I can’t keep going. It gets messy, and what starts off as a quirky, comedic version of The Martian with a side of Red Dwarf turns into something tense, taut, dark, and suspense-filled. It doesn’t stay that way, depending on how you want to count things, ends up taking one or two other overall flavors, while never completing shedding the offbeat humor that characterized the book since the opening paragraph.

Poetry and Other Quirks

I’m going to focus on OC, rather than the rest of the crew (and they are all worth writing about) to keep this short (and because you really need to get into spoilers to do a proper job of talking about the humans). He is funny. There’s a snarky, offbeat humor to his narration and dialogue throughout.

He’s also a poet. I’m not saying he’s a good one, but he is one. Frequently in Fantasy novels (particularly older ones that wear their Tolkien-influence on their sleeves), you get a lot of poetry/songs/etc., but that’s rarely a feature of Science Fiction novels. The Salvage Crew is the exception to this rule. OC writes it, recites it to his crew to encourage them, he quotes and ruminates on other’s poetry…he’s the most poetic AI I think I’ve ever encountered in a novel. He’s also a Buddhist, and will often apply that to his situation.

He also has the best curses. He’s frequently letting off steam by cursing his crew, PCS executives, or local fauna to a horrible future reincarnation. I could have listened to some of those for a solid hour.

Fillion’s Narration

It’s tough to say for certain, but I think that Fillion raised this about a star in my book (maybe just a half). It’s his voice, his charm that hooks you in and gets you to like, believe in and root for OC. That said, at some point, I stopped thinking of this as Fillion, and just let OC tell me a good story.

It’s not the best narration I’ve ever heard, but it’s really good and it made me hope that Fillion does more audiobooks.

Co-written by AI?

So, there was apparently actual AI software involved in the writing of this. I learned about this when I started writing this post, and I’m not sure I understood everything I skimmed (I didn’t want to take the time to read carefully instead of just posting this). I’m intrigued by this notion, but am relieved to see that the software only “helped” with portions of the book and that Wijeratne was the final word.

So, what did I think about The Salvage Crew?

Roughly the first half of the book* is about what I expected—an amusing SF adventure—and was a lot of fun to listen to. The rest of the book isn’t what I expected from the premise in terms of story or tone. And I was riveted. There are portions of the book that get into more philosophical territories, and while I wasn’t as interested in them as I think the novel wanted me to be, they were really well constructed and told.

* This is an estimate, I didn’t jot down notes about when the tenor of the plot/novel changes)

I’m really glad I took a chance on this book, I’ll definitely listen to future audiobooks by Fillion (assuming any are produced) and am probably going to be trying some of Wijeratne’s other novels. I heartily recommend it to SF readers/listeners.

Disclaimer: I received this eARC from Podium Audio via NetGalley in exchange for this post—thanks to both for this.


4 Stars

2021 Audiobook Challenge

Free Fire (Audiobook) by C. J. Box, David Chandler: Pickett’s on the Case in a Prosecution-Free Zone

Free Fire

Free Fire

by C. J. Box, David Chandler (Narrator)
Series: Joe Pickett, #7

Unabridged Audiobook, 11 hrs., 5 min.
Recorded Books, 2010

Read: December 3-7, 2020
Grab a copy from your local indie bookstore!

What’s Free Fire About?

As it appeared certain at the end of In Plain Sight, Joe was fired as a Game Warden. He’s working on his father-in-law’s ranch, trying to make it by (his family no longer lives in state property, either). Sure, Marybeth’s business is doing pretty well, but it’s not the same.

Then Governor Rulon comes calling. He liked Joe the first time they met, and he’s pretty sure that Joe is the kind of straight-arrow he can count on. Someone figured out a weird loophole in the overlapping state and federal laws that govern the area of Yellowstone National Forest, and shot and killed several people and was unable to be prosecuted for it. Rulon’s hands have been tied and he can’t do anything about it. But he’d like Joe to go down and take a look, reporting to him, so Rulon can tell voters he looked into it.

Joe’s a Game Warden again, but one at large. No one at Yellowstone is happy to have yet one more person poking around there. But Joe has a job and he’s doing to do it right, no matter what feathers he ruffles.

Family Drama

We don’t get nearly enough time with the Pickett clan. Despite his hardships, things are good with Joe and Marybeth. Things could be better for the kids—because of their ages, and Joe’s very public lack of a job.

Joe and the family are living in a house on Marybeth’s Father-in-Law’s ranch—where Joe is working. The relationship between the Father-in-Law and the Picketts is pretty strong. Maybe even stronger than the relationship between Marybeth’s mother and the Picketts (the fact that Joe likes him probably accounts for a lot of that).

But it looks like things aren’t all happy on the ranch—there’s a lot of problems and who knows how long that’ll work for everyone.

Competition for Stephanie Plum?

Not in a million years, did I think I’d compare Joe Pickett to Stephanie Plum. But this Wyoming Game Warden might be as hard on vehicles as that New Jersey bounty hunter. It’s not as laughable yet, but it’s getting there.

I actually enjoy it more than I’d think I would.

I Did Not See that Coming

Now that I get to this point in the outline, I realize that there are two things I didn’t see coming. The first is that here in book seven, we get a lot of Joe Pickett backstory. If you’ve ever wondered what Joe’s childhood was like—or why we only hear about Marybeth’s family, this book will tell you.

But what I meant to talk about when I wrote the headings was this: Nate Romanowski shocked me. I’ve talked before about Nate serving as Joe’s Hawk/Joe Pike/Bubba Rogowski/Henry Standing Bear figure. We know what to expect from these figures—they’re the heavies. They do the morally/legally questionable things. They’re more likely to be the violent type (and more effective at the violent things anyway). But what Nate does here made me audibly gasp. I’m not saying he was wrong I just didn’t expect it.

At the same time, there are things that happen to him at the beginning and end of the novel that were surprising, but they rank among the “huh, that’s interesting,” kind of thing, not a “what did I hear?” kind of thing.

A Word About the Narration

Actually, I don’t really have anything to say here, Chandler delivers another solid job. He is the voice of Joe Pickett to me at this point. The two go together now.

So, what did I think about Free Fire?

I thought Box did a great job of coming up with a way to keep Pickett as a Game Warden and at the same time not making Twelve Sleep, WY to have a murder-rate that rivals Cabot Cove, ME.

Putting him in Yellowstone was just icing on the cake, and the angle of this prosecution-free zone in the Park is brilliant. At this point in the series, readers know the regular cast of characters and this world—Box can lean into them—or start defying expectations—as he needs to. This is a comfortable place for fans to spend time, and judging by the number of times Pickett comes back? It stays that way. I get that and am already eager to get back to spending time with the Pickett clan.


3.5 Stars

2020 Library Love Challenge
This post contains an affiliate link. If you purchase from it, I will get a small commission at no additional cost to you. As always, opinions are my own.

My Favorite Audiobooks of 2020

Given the large number of audiobooks I listened to in 2020, I sort of felt like I had to focus on them for one of these posts. But how to keep this from being just a rehash of the other best of lists? Well, I focused on the audiobook experience over the content. What was it like to listen to it? How engaging was it, how did the narrator do? Was it a good match in terms of tone, content, and performance?

Truth be told, this was a harder choice than I expected. Also, a couple of books that were in my mental rough draft didn’t make it to the final version when all was said and done (I’m still not sure I made the right call on a couple of these).

(in alphabetical order by author)

Dark JennyDark Jenny

by Alex Bledsoe, Stefan Rudnicki (Narrator)

My original post
Stefan Rudnicki brilliantly captures the humor, the confusion, the determination of Eddle LaCrosse and the situation he finds himself in—and then the horror, revulsion, and anger he has when he discovers what’s really going on. Starting with one of Bledsoe’s best books, Rudnicki goes on to bring it to life.

4 Stars

Dash & Lily's Book of DaresDash & Lily’s Book of Dares

by Rachel Cohn, David Levithan, Ryan Gesell (Narrator), Tara Sands (Narrator)

My original post
For me, this book came along at the right time—its particular brand of silly and escapist sweetness was exactly what it turned out that I needed. Add in a couple of stellar performances from Ryan Gesell Tara Sands and it’s just a delight. They can make you believe (even temporarily) in the magic of Christmas and young love.

3.5 Stars

Luck and JudgementLuck and Judgement

by Peter Grainger, Gildart Jackson (Narrator)

My original post
I’ve said it before, and I’ll keep on saying it: there’s a certain magic, an ineffable alchemy about Jackson narrating Grainger’s work. It’s just fantastic, I think I’d have liked these audiobooks with another narrator (or in print), but I don’t think I’d have liked them as much.

I could’ve listed each book in this series here, but I limited myself to this one because it’s an atypical crime for a novel, the solution (and how Smith and his team come to it) is offbeat, there’s some great humor and great emotional beats, too. It’s Grainger at his best and Jackson delivers it perfectly. There is a strong sense of humanity in these books, not just in the protagonists, but in the victim, the killer, the witnesses, the people who aren’t the killer but who aren’t up to anything legal/moral/ethical…everyone. There’s no one cartoon-y or over the top (in any direction).

4 Stars

The In BetweenThe In Between

by Michael Landweber, Brittany Pressley (Narrator), Mark Boyett (Narrator)

My original post
This is the story of what happens to a family when a young child goes missing during a teleportation trip that his parents make successfully (to put it too succinctly) It’s a gripping listen and wonderfully performed. As you may have guessed Brittany Pressley narrates the chapters from the mother’s point of view, and Mark Boyett takes the father’s. I don’t think I’d heard anything by either of them beforebut I’ll keep my eyes peeled for their names when I browse for audiobooks in the future. They truly did wonderful jobs. They got the emotion of the moment, the tensionand occasional moments of fun, joy, or reliefas well as giving a real sense of the characters. It didn’t happen often, but even when a character usually only seen in a Lillian chapter showed up in a Jackson, you could recognize them (and vice versa)which was nice. Landweber wrote a great story but Boyett and Pressley brought it to life.

5 Stars

GreenlightsGreenlights

by Matthew McConaughey

My original post
When Chris Hardwick interviewed McConaughey recently he described the audiobook as McConaughey playing McConaughey, which is a great way to put it, and I wish he’d posted this before I wrote about the book so I could’ve borrowed it then. But that’s it exactly, Yes, it’s his stories, but yeah, he’s performing. It feels like you’re sitting around the campfire or a table in a bar, listening to a great storyteller at work.

3.5 Stars

Crossing in TimeCrossing in Time

by D. L. Orton, Noah Michael Levine (Narrator), Erin deWard (Narrator)

My original post
Typically, when I post about an Audiobook, I close with a discussion about the narrator(s). But I started with it when I posted about this novel because Levine and deWard did such a great job, they’re the highlight of the experience for me. Typically, when there is a male narrator and a female narrator—the female will read all the narration and dialogue in the female character POV chapters, and the male will read all the narration and dialogue in the male character POV chapters. But here, deWard reads all the female dialogue, no matter the narrator (and vice versa). That’s a nice touch, and once I got used to it, I really appreciated it. Particularly, it helped the conversations between characters feel like conversations—there was a little bit of talking over each other, and so on. And when the two laughed together? That was either fantastic work by the narrators or by the editor (or both).

I’m not that sure how much I’d have enjoyed this book in print, but the way these two embodied the book made it one of the highlights of the year.

4 Stars

Far from the TreeFar from the Tree

by Rob Parker, Warren Brown (Narrator)

My original post
This was an Audible Original, so the Audiobook experience is a big part of it. Brown was a great choice of narrator—he’s the perfect voice for this material. He captured and shaped the tone as he needed to, and gave the right performances for each character.

I can’t help feeling like I need to say more, but I just don’t know what else to say. If I had problems with the performance, I’d probably be able to go on longer, but when a narrator gets it right, like Brown does here, what else is there to say? It was a brutal, brutal experience, with more twists than I can count, and a plot so complex I’m not able to talk about it in this small space.

4 Stars

Back to RealityBack to Reality

by Mark Stay & Mark Oliver, Kim Bretton (Narrator)

My original post
This is sort of a Fringe-inspired take on a Back to the Future/Freaky Friday mashup, and it’s as odd, and fun as that description makes it sound.

I’ll frequently (maybe too frequently?) talk about an audiobook narrator bringing the text to life. And Kim Bretton does that. But she does more than that—she fills it with life. Dynamic, energetic, vibrant…are just some of the adjectives that spring to mind. I was very happy when I just looked over her other audiobook credits and saw a couple of titles I was already thinking about—if she’s doing them, I’m giving them a try. (although, if I never hear her do another American male accent, I’d be more than okay).

Funny, sweet, amusing, heartfelt, laugh-inducing, touching, comic, imaginative—and did I mention humorous? This is 606 minutes of pure entertainment. I really encourage you to put this in your ear-holes. It’d probably work almost as well in print—Bretton’s great, but she has to have something to work with—but in audio? It’s close to a must-listen.

4 Stars

The Answer IsThe Answer Is . . .: Reflections on My Life

by Alex Trebek, Narrated by: Ken Jennings, Alex Trebek

My original post
Jennings was a great choice of narrator, since his time on Jeopardy!, the two are linked in the collective consciousness, and they clearly have a good relationship. He sounds like a natural when it comes to narration. But his work is overshadowed by the few chapters he didn’t read.

Trebek read a few chapters himself—the one about why he swears so often (it surprised me, too), the one talking about notable Jeopardy! contestants (like Jennings), the one about his wife (Trebek didn’t like the idea of someone else talking about his wife that way), and the last chapter, where he discussed his cancer and coming to terms with his impending death. I understand why he couldn’t do the entire book himself, but I’d have preferred it (nothing against Jennings—I’d have been content with Jennings doing the whole thing). But I’m so glad he did those chapters, you could hear the sincerity in his praise for Jennings, Eddie Timanus, Cindy Stowell, and others; his love for his wife; and the resolution and contemplation he’d put into his final days

4 1/2 Stars

Dawn PatrolDawn Patrol

by Don Winslow, Ray Porter (Narrator)

Wow. Despite this being my first and favorite Winslow novel, I wasn’t inclined to grab the audiobook. But then it was on sale and a fellow Winslow-fan recommended Porter’s take on the book. I didn’t know that Porter did audiobooks before this, but he’s on my list to watch for now.

I don’t know how to describe this—I was blown away. I’ve read the book two or three times, but Porter made it feel like it was all new. I was gripped. I was entertained. I was heartbroken. It’s as good as you can ask for an audiobook to be.

5 Stars

Persons of Interest (Audiobook) by Peter Grainger, Gildart Jackson: DC Smith’s Tie to a Murder Victim Leads to a different Twisty Case

Time’s gotten away from me on this one, been trying to get it done since August and keep getting distracted. But…I won’t let myself listen to the next one until I get this posted. So…


Persons of Interest

Persons of Interest

by Peter Grainger, Gildart Jackson (Narrator)
Series: A DC Smith Investigation, #4

Unabridged Audiobook, 10 hrsl, 30 min.
Tantor Audio, 2017

Read: August 14-18, 2020
Grab a copy from your local indie bookstore!

Allen wrote a short email of his own to Detective Inspector Reeve. The first version included the phrase, “Tell Smith to carry on as normal.” Then he had second thoughts and deleted that, telling Smith to carry on as normal might not be wise, because “normal” for Smith was not the same as it was for other people. [guessing on punctuation, etc.]

What’s Persons of Interest About?

DC Smith is called to a nearby prison to answer some questions. It appears that a murdered prisoner had a connection to Smith. Smith has never had anything to do with this man. Oh? Then why does he have your phone number? This is technically true, but it hasn’t been Smith’s number since the first book in the series. DC’s written off pretty quickly as a suspect (thankfully! I’ve made it clear that I just don’t like those stories), but he is curious about the man having his number.

But he can’t focus on that—the case belongs to a different jurisdiction, in the first place. In the second place, there’s a major new drugs task force temporarily in Kings Lake and he needs to focus on the new initiative. DC is enough of a cynic to have little use for it, seeing it as a PR stunt more than anything else.

Sadly, because of this task force, Smith and his team realize that something has happened to the drug trade in Kings Lake recently, power has shifted and the old players aren’t in the game anymore, or are playing a diminished role. So who’s running the show now, and how did this happen without any of the police aware?

Oh, and there is that nagging curiosity in the back of his mind about the murdered prisoner.

The On-Going Arcs

I really appreciated the way that Smith is still dealing with the, er, shortcuts he took to make sure he passed his physical exam. It was semi-comedic in the previous book, but that’s over and now DC is paying for it.

The new team member is becoming part of the crew but there’s still some room to grow—which is how it should be. There are some other internal moves, and potential moves, even some cooperation where I wouldn’t have expected it. I’m looking forward to seeing how it all resolves. I’m being vague, but it’s hard not to be without spilling details.

The story involving DC’s True Crime Writer friend was really scaled back, and I kept wondering if it was going to come into play more in this book. It didn’t, which I assume means that it’ll play a big role in Book 5. Which works for me. It’s not my favorite part of any of these books, but I’m really curious about how it’s going to play out.

Jackson’s Narration

Everything I’ve said before still holds. The perfect combination of text and narrator, protagonist and portrayer.

That’s it, that’s all I can say.

So, what did I think about Persons of Interest?

The reason that it’s taken me months to post about this book is that I don’t know what else to say about this series. I think that there are a couple of more compelling police procedural series out there, but I can only handle so much of them at one time. It feels like I could listen to this series on a loop and be perfectly content for a few weeks.

I love the cast, I love the way Smith’s mind works, I love his quiet little humor (he reminds me of a more realistic Francis Xavier Flynn making jokes that only he will understand or appreciate), I really like the cases this team works, and Jackson’s narration puts it over the top.

I’m not 100% convinced that this case was as compelling as the previous three, but the way Grainger tells the story makes up for that. I can’t wait to get back to Kings Lake Central and see what they get up to next.


4 Stars

This post contains an affiliate link. If you purchase from it, I will get a small commission at no additional cost to you. As always, opinions are my own.

Catch-Up Quick Takes: Greenlights, The World’s Strongest Librarian, No Time Like the Future, A Very Punchable Face

Greenlights

Greenlights

by Matthew McConaughey
Unabridged Audiobook, 6 hrs., 42 min.
Random House Audio, 2020
Read: December 1-3, 2020
Grab a copy from your local indie bookstore!

(the official blurb)
I’m not the biggest McConaughey fan in the world—I don’t think I’ve ever not liked anything he’s done, but I don’t seek him out—and am not at all the target audience for this. But something about what he said about the writing of this book when he was on Hot Ones, made me want to take a look. That my library had the audiobook available to borrow made it all the easier to do so.

This dude can tell a story. I’m sure he’s exaggerating a lot of the events—not necessarily being dishonest, just spinning a good yarn. And honestly, I don’t care. I had a blast listening to this. If 30% of this stuff is true, he’s led a great life and probably deserves to make up 70% of it for the entertainment value.

You’re not going to get a lot of behind-the-scenes stuff about his movies (there are a couple of exceptions), it’s mostly about his personal life—childhood, family, friends, wife, and some miscellaneous solo adventures.

I laughed, I learned a thing or two, I shook my head a few times. Mostly, I just enjoyed a good storyteller at work. (I’m not sure any other narrator could’ve pulled it off, but McConaughey made it feel like we were sitting around a campfire or at a bar somewhere).

3.5 Stars

The World’s Strongest Librarian

The World’s Strongest Librarian: A Memoir of Tourette’s, Faith, Strength, and the Power of Family

by Josh Hanagarne, Stephen R. Thorne (Narrator)
Unabridged Audiobook, 8 hrs., 35 mins
Blackstone Audio, 2013
Read: August 25-September 2, 2020
Grab a copy from your local indie bookstore!

(the official blurb)
I’d started a full post about this book months ago, and just couldn’t get it to the point I was satisfied with it—I think because something about Hanagarne’s story made me want to get granular about it. I’m going to try really hard to limit myself to a couple of quick paragraphs.

There’s a part of me that wanted more about Tourette’s, but after his initial diagnosis and learning to cope (for lack of a better term), Hanagarne largely left that behind. Sure, it was clear that Tourette’s was a constant presence in his life, but he didn’t dwell on it. He talked about some of the things he did to combat the symptoms, but he didn’t talk that much about having to deal with it day after day. This makes sense, it’s not what I expected, but as I listened to the book, I couldn’t argue with it.

Hanagarne’s a reader, has been for his whole life—and right there is where I made my connection to him. He talks like a reader, cares about literacy and knowledge, makes reader-ly references—an instant connection between me and his book. I can see myself having regular conversations with him that last for hours.

A lot of the book focuses on his family—both growing up and then his wife and their struggles to have a child and struggles adopting. A lot of that was heartbreaking, but it was inspiring to see the way that he and his wife kept moving forward.

I have to address this because Hanagarne does so much in his book, skip this paragraph if you want. What broke my heart more than that though was his repeated discussions of the struggling with his faith. Like every Latter-Day Saint I’ve talked to, he worried about doing enough. Praying enough—and sincerely enough. Doing enough good works. Believing enough. So that God would bless him, help him with his Tourette’s, his depression, his marriage, having a kid. It’s all about his performance, so that he might be enough. There was no Gospel here. No promise. No grace. No faith as the Bible describes. Just human striving. I was sincere when I said my heart broke, I stopped the book frequently to pray that even now, years after this book was written, someone would come alongside him and help. Even now, thinking about this book makes me hope that he actually hears the Gospel.

He’s living a fascinating life and this book was a great way to talk about it, not only can Hanagarne talk about books, he knows how to write one. There are no easy answers when it comes to religion, family, or Tourette’s. Just one guy stumbling through this and other things as best as he can.

3.5 Stars

No Time Like the Future

No Time Like the Future: An Optimist Considers Mortality

by Michael J. Fox
Unabridged Audiobook, 5 hrs., 59 min.
Macmillan Audio, 2020
Read: December 23-26, 2020
Grab a copy from your local indie bookstore!

(the official blurb)
It’d be easier to talk about this if I’d read Fox’s earlier books, to compare. But from what I gather, the past memoirs have been about embracing his challenges and finding ways to celebrate the life and career that he’s enjoyed.

This book seems to be about when it gets hard to be an optimist. When the challenges seem to be winning (and, sure, he’s in a privileged place, but his challenges are the kind that’d break many people), how do you stay optimistic? Or do you? Well, if you have people like Fox does in your life (and one great-sounding dog), maybe you do. Fox describes himself as characteristically optimistic, but lately, it’s because of the people in his life and deliberate decisions on his part to stay that way.

He talks about the challenges, he’s honest about the impact on him, and he celebrates the people—friends, family, strangers, medical professionals—who’ve helped him keep going. But told with a lot of heart and humor. I really enjoyed this.

Fox doing the narration—clearly not the easiest task for him, made it even better.

4 Stars

A Very Punchable Face

A Very Punchable Face

by Colin Jost
Unabridged Audiobook, 7 hrs., 41 min.
Random House Audio, 2020
Read: October 1-3, 2020
Grab a copy from your local indie bookstore!

(the official blurb)
Jost tells some jokes about Long Island, himself, cast members of SNL. He talks about growing up on Long Island, some early struggles in his life, his early career and making it to SNL and the ups and downs there, and what’s probably next for him—usually the stories are littered with tiny jokes, but not always.

The best—and most heartfelt part of the book—is when he describes the work his mother did in relation to the fire department and 9/11. Not that the book wouldn’t have been entertaining without it, but it’s that section that made it feel worthwhile.

It’s a pleasant way to spend a few hours, and it’ll make you chuckle at least a few times.
3 Stars


2020 Library Love Challenge

This post contains affiliate links. If you purchase from any of them, I will get a small commission at no additional cost to you. As always, opinions are my own.

Catch-Up Quick Takes: The Power of Bad, Everything is F*cked, The Checklist Manifesto, And Then You’re Dead

The point of these quick takes post to catch up on my “To Write About” stack—emphasizing pithiness, not thoroughness.

The Power of Bad

The Power of Bad: How the Negativity Effect Rules Us and How We Can Rule It

by John Tierney and Roy F. Baumeister, Paul Bellantoni (Narrator)
Unabridged Audiobook, 8 hrs., 9 min.
Penguin Audio, 2019
Read: November 24-25, 2020
Grab a copy from your local indie bookstore!

(the official blurb)
Ignore the chapter where the authors totally misunderstand the evangelistic work of Whitefield and Edwards in the 1700s (and the part where the Narrator couldn’t pronounce Whitefield’s name correctly, over and over and over and over), and I really liked this.

The way the authors explain negativity bias—and then apply it to improving our jobs/careers, marriages, and more. Utterly fascinating. I probably need to read and/or listen to this a few more times, and maybe take notes at least once before I can both articulate what I find helpful here—and what I find problematic.

But it’s the kind of book that makes you think about things in a way you probably haven’t before. While being counter-intuitive, much of it rings true. And best yet, it’s a good read/listen—engaging and entertaining.


3.5 Stars

Everything is F*cked

Everything is F*cked: A Book About Hope

by Mark Manson
Unabridged Audiobook, 7 hrs., 2 min.
Harper Audio, 2019
Read: October 16/17, 2020
Grab a copy from your local indie bookstore!

(the official blurb)
Manson’s warmed-over Stoicism didn’t work nearly as well for me as it did in his first book. The writing was almost as good—but not as clever, I just think it’s not as well written. The topics interested me, but I found myself questioning his basic premises in almost every instance.

Ultimately, his hope is founded on a total lack of foundation—he finds it freeing, I find it unstable and doomed to failure. It’s hard getting my point across short of a 20-30 page paper examining the book, and I just don’t care enough to undertake it.

I actually enjoyed a lot of it, but I also found myself annoyed and/or mildly angry with this one for significant portions of the time.


2 1/2 Stars

The Checklist Manifesto

The Checklist Manifesto: How to Get Things Right

by Atul Gawande, John Bedford Lloyd (Narrator)
Unabridged Audiobook, 6 hrs., 9 min.
Macmillan Audio, 2009
Read: September 21, 2020
Grab a copy from your local indie bookstore!

(the official blurb)
First off: Gawande is a doctor/surgeon, and a lot of his illustrations and examples are surgical in nature. A bit too detailed for me early on—I’m a little more squeamish about real-life blood and guts than most people. I figure most readers won’t be bothered by it like me (some may not even call it detailed).

Anyway, it’s a simple premise, but seeing how checklists have been used by pilots, surgeons, investment bankers and the like is utterly fascinating. There’s just no way that I can make it sound like it. Could’ve been a little longer, could’ve used a little more guidance on how to implement it for yourself.

Still, at the end of the day, more fun, more interesting than you’d think a book about checklists would be.


3.5 Stars

And Then You're Dead

And Then You’re Dead: What Really Happens If You Get Swallowed by a Whale, Are Shot from a Cannon, or Go Barreling Over Niagara

by Cody Cassidy, Paul Doherty, Dennis Boutsikaris (Narrator)
Unabridged Audiobook, 4 hrs., 59 min.,
Penguin Audio, 2017
Read: December 21, 2020
Grab a copy from your local indie bookstore!

(the official blurb)
So, yeah, what I said about squeamish earlier? Pushed to the edge a couple of times in this short read/listen. It’s all about the science behind what would happen to you if say, stowed away in an airplane, stowed away on a trip to the Moon, fell into the works at a Pringles factory, ate the same number of cookies as the Cookie Monster—and more.

It’s funny (thankfully, or I couldn’t have made it through a couple of spots), informative, creative—and a great way to spend a few hours. At one point the authors tell the reader not to do a google search on one topic. First, that hadn’t even begun to cross my mind as a good idea. But secondly, given the detail they’d used when describing what happens to a human body shot out of a cannon, or swallowed by a whale, and several other topics, when they say, “don’t go looking at pictures of something”? I am taking their word for it.

I had a blast listening to this. If I taught high school science, I’d have at least one copy of this on hand for reference or to pass along to students. Since I don’t, I just have to remember some of these stories/theories for my own amusement.


3.5 Stars

2020 Library Love Challenge
This post contains affiliate links. If you purchase from any of them, I will get a small commission at no additional cost to you. As always, opinions are my own.

Catch-Up Quick Takes: Dash & Lily’s Book of Dares; Undeading Bells; Paranormal Bromance; My Calamity Jane

The point of these quick takes post to catch up on my “To Write About” stack—emphasizing pithiness, not thoroughness.


Dash & Lily's Book of Dares

Dash & Lily’s Book of Dares

by Rachel Cohn, David Levithan, Ryan Gesell (Narrator), Tara Sands (Narrator)
Series: Dash & Lily, #1
Unabridged Audiobook, 6 hrs., 40 min.
Listening Library, 2010
Read: November 14-17, 2020
Grab a copy from your local indie bookstore!

(the official blurb)
I picked this up as the result of “I need something to listen to and the library’s app just happened to have it at the top of the list.” This was about the time that the Netflix series was about to launch, so a good part of my Twitter feed was talking about it. I’d read something by Levithan years ago and had good memories, figured I’d try it out.

It was adorable. It was sweet. Pure silly fun. The narrators did a pretty decent job convincing me that they were teenagers. I think Lily can do better than Dash, but that’s probably just me. I doubt I’ll continue on in the series, but I’m glad I gave this a shot.

3.5 Stars

Undeading Bells

Undeading Bells

by Drew Hayes, Kirby Heyborne (Narrator)
Series: Fred, The Vampire Accountant, #6
Unabridged Audiobook, 11 hrs., 34 min.
Tantor Audio, 2020
Read: November 9-13, 220
Grab a copy from your local indie bookstore!

(the official blurb)
The wedding is nigh—Fred’s just got a little to take care of first. He’s got to hire someone to help him deal with his rapidly expanding business, he has to submit to some tests from the Blood Council, Amy needs some help with her new business model, and so on. But the main event is the wedding—which brings out friends (old and new) and enemies (old) alike.

This is the same kind of book that I’ve come to expect—fairly episodic with a nice through-line, amusing stories, an overall “blue sky” feel, with some fun situations for our Vampire Accountant to get himself out of.

I appreciated the new hire on the accountancy side, her particular supernatural type was a lot of fun. I also was impressed by what we learn about the Sheriff of Boarback. That was a simply great idea. I’ll also admit to being touched by the last few pages of the book, Fred’s in uncharted territory for him, and he does it well—public Displays of Affection and a little bit of rebelling.

I’ve spent most of this year dipping into this series when I needed a fun palate cleanser, and now I’ve caught up. Apparently, he’s working on the next book now, so I know I’ll be able to come back at some point, but…man…what am I supposed to do in the meantime.

3.5 Stars

Paranormal Bromance

Paranormal Bromance

by Carrie Vaughn, Neil Hellegers (Narrator)
Series: Kitty Norville, #12.5
Unabridged Audiobook, 2 hrs., 11 min.
Tantor Audio, 2018
Read: October 26, 2020
Grab a copy from your local indie bookstore!

(the official blurb)
Three guys who never should’ve been turned, and likely wouldn’t have survived as vampires if they weren’t in Rick’s Denver, are the focus of this novella. Since they’ve been turned, they camp out in their basement apartment and live largely human-ish lives. Basically, they’re the kind of guys who need advice from Kitty Norville, but who’ve never called into her show (or even listened)

Because they’re clearly the weakest, most pathetic excuses for Vampires (one sells collectibles online, another reviews video games) they’re targeted as a way to Rick by an enterprising reporter. While dealing with that, Sam starts to fall for a mortal—exactly the kind of woman he would’ve dreamed about dating as a human, but now he’s still feeling like she’s out of his league.

Watching Sam and his roommates deal with his friendship with the woman on the one hand and then the reporter on the other brings out the kind of fun that Vaughn didn’t often get to show in the Kitty-verse. It was a pleasant way to spend a few hours while packing/cleaning—and like I’ve said, any time in the world of Kitty Norville is a pleasant time.

3 Stars

My Calamity Jane

My Calamity Jane

by Cynthia Hand, Brodi Ashton, Jodi Meadows, Sophie Amoss (Narrator)
Series: The Lady Janies, #3
Unabridged Audiobook, 13 hrs., 28 min.
HarperAudio, 2020
Read: August 31-September 3, 2020
Grab a copy from your local indie bookstore!

(the official blurb)
Man…of all of these in this post, this is the hardest to not write a lot about. I’m not sure this is my favorite of the series, but in many ways, it’s stronger—definitely an improvement over My Plain Jane (which I liked, don’t get me wrong).

Wild Bill’s Traveling Show is just a cover for him, Calamity Jane and Frank Butler to hunt garou throughout the Wild West. Annie Oakley is unaware of this, but is a crack shot and needs to make money (or get married off to someone she can’t stomach). She ends up signing on to the show, just in time for it all to fall apart. The group ends up in Deadwood, where a supposed garou-cure is being peddled.

Sure, Calamity Jane is the focus of the book, but for me, it’s all about Annie Oakley, she was a delight, and her stumbling romance was as sweet as you could ask for. I also loved that we got an Al Swearengen who never made me think of Ian McShane once.

These goofy supernatural alt-history books are just a lot of fun, and I’m eager to see what they do with Mary, Queen of Scots.

3.5 Stars

2020 Library Love Challenge

This post contains an affiliate link. If you purchase from it, I will get a small commission at no additional cost to you. As always, opinions are my own.

Venators: Legends Rise (Audiobook) by Devri Walls, Daniel Thomas May: The Venators Have Their Hands Full in this Packed Adventure

For the last part of my Tour Stop, I’ll be talking about the Audiobook version of Venators: Legends Rise, as I have with the first two books in the series this year as part of The Write Reads Tours for them. And, as before, I largely copied what I said about the paperback-but tweaked things a little bit and added something about the narration (just in case you read the earlier post and think I’m repeating myself, you’re right, I absolutely am.)


Legends Rise

Venators: Legends Rise

by Devri Walls, Daniel Thomas May (Narrator)
Series: Venators, #3

Unabridged Audiobook, 18 hrs. 9 min.
Tantor Audio, 2020

Read: October 6-9, 2020
Grab a copy from your local indie bookstore!

“How long ago were we here?” she asked.

“I don’t know. Two weeks? Three? I’ve lost track of the days.”

She sat with that for a moment, trying to reconcile the timeline. “Why does it seem like forever ago?”

“Because it was.” Grey rested his forearm across the saddle horn, face pensive. “We’ve lived a lifetime since then.”

I’m glad to see that I’m not the only one who couldn’t believe how little time went by in the first two books.

What’s Legends Rise About?

At the end of Promises Forged, Tate is taken by the Fae and is sent back to the Gladiator games that he’d escaped from not that long ago. He’s doing this so he can get his wife and son to safety (and maybe see them for the first time in years, too).

But our heroes, Grey and Rune, need to get him free from thatpreferably without letting the Council know he’s been taken. So while they’ve been assigned to go rein in the remnants of the Werewolf pack they let get away in Magic Unleashed, and maybe bring another pack to order, they’ll use that assignment as cover for their real concern.

A neat trick if they can pull it off.

Along the way they get to train, they get to experience more of their new world and abilities than they’ve been able to thus far in their crash-course introduction to the ways and mores of Eon. The training, obviously, is really important if we’re to continue to believe their success in combat. A couple of lucky breaks like we’ve seen so far is one thing, but at a certain point, we need to see some competence out of them.

Venator Development

This book sees Rune and Grey getting to know each other betterGrey shares a lot with Rune and she responds as she ought. They both settle into roles as partners, their individual personalities helping them support the other in weak spots while working together.

Grey continues to be the character I’m most invested in and most interested in for this serieshis strengthscompassion, empathy, concernare seen even more clearly than before. He’s quite the contrast to the Venators of legend on Eon. Yes, it gets him into trouble. Yes, he has flaws and stumbles into being someone I really don’t like during the final battle of the book. But assuming he can keep himself from that in the future, and stay true to who he is, he’ll be the hero that Eon needs and will keep me reading the series.

Rune on the other hand…I change my mind about her repeatedly in each book. As a character, Walls keeps developing her along the lines we’ve seen so farparticularly in Promises Forged, building on those traits and showing herself, her trainers, Grey, and the Council what she’s capable of. I’m not crazy about some of her choices and actionsbut I think most of them will be good for the series, and one of them will lead to melodrama and problems (and will be a source of delight for most readers).

I’m glad that I’m not all-in with either characterit makes them feel more real, more grounded that I like aspects of them, and am troubled by others. It also points to the tendency Walls showed in Promises Forged for the Venator powers to shape the thinking and attitudes of the individuals and how much these two need to strive against that. Give me a complex protagonist any day.

Some Skin in the Game

Zio makes a move herea lot sooner than I expected her to, too. It’s not a big attack, it’s more of a surgical strike, just to sound out her opponents and test out her pet Venator. If more happens and she gains some big advantages while she’s at it, all the better.

She’s craftier than I gave her credit for and I think that this was a smart move by Wallsboth for the progression of the story and for the development of Zio as a character. It’d be easy to write her off as a Skeletor-type, just a power-hungry magic-user trying to cause chaos and destruction for her own gain. And, yes, I still think she is thatbut I think there’s more to her than that.

A Bonanza of Backstory

Two of the most important figures for our Venators are Beltran and Verida. We know there was some sort of romance in their past, and that it didn’t well at all. We get that filled in a little bit, which is good. But more than that we get looks into their pastswhat brought them to the point they were at when we first encountered them.

We see a lot of what motivates Verida in her desire to train these Venators, to aid the resistance. We get some insight into what drove the wedge between her and her father. We even meet some of her family and can see that she could very easily have been a different kind of person. I walked away from this book liking Verida a lot more than I did before.

We see more of Beltran’s story, too, and come a lot closer to understanding himI think Walls is keeping a surprise or two about him up her sleeve, though. I’d like to think that someone with his centuries of experience would possess a little more maturity, and not be quite so emotionally adolescentbut maybe for his species you don’t hit that for a few more hundred years.

An Almost Entirely Frivolous Sartoirial Question

Does anyone on Eon wear loose clothing? Every time* someone’s pants are described, the words “tight” and “leather” appear. From just about everything I’ve ever read, leather pants are really uncomfortable. Maybe society would be better, people would be more prone to get along if Rune introduced them to denim? Could Grey get people to wear chinos and with the improved blood flow help cooler heads to prevail?

* No, I haven’t done a search on e-copies of this to verify this, there may be exceptions—roll with the hyperbole here.

At the very least, from this point can’t we just take it as read that every time Walls says “pants” that she means “tight” and “leather” and trim 1-2% of her word count?

Is this petty? Sure. But Walls spends enough time talking about clothing that questions arise. If I were so inclined (and someone would have to pay me to be), I think I could do an entire post on the clothing of Eon.

My Big, Not-Frivolous Question

What are people (the Council/Zio/Resistance) fighting for? Control of Eon? Power? Sure, that’s obvious. But Power for the sake of Power is dull and hard to care about as a reader. If you look at Panem, you can get an idea why people are fighting for it (on either side), ditto for The Society in Red Rising, Luna from The Lunar Chronicles—you get the idea.

What are the ideals of this society? What has the Council betrayed? Are they pretending to uphold something from the past that they’ve actually abandoned and that the resistance are trying to restore? (see the Rebel Alliance in Star Wars)—while at the same time, Zio has another idea entirely?

What’s the point of this Resistance movement? What are their goals? When are we going to finally meet them?

Where’s the joy in this world? Where’s The Good (or just good)?

We spend some time in a city and in a village here—they couldn’t be less similar, so we’re getting two separate looks at Eon society. The city puts Mos Eisley to shame, and the poor village is just…well, poor. Even before tragedy hits (thanks to the Venators, in a way) this village, I don’t see that there’s a lot going for it or its citizens.

I guess that I was just struck by the question, “why?” Why are these factions working so hard to gain control of this place? I don’t doubt for a moment that Walls has a handle on this question—she knows it. I just hope she clues her readers in soon.

How was the narration??

Daniel Thomas May really impressed me this time. He balances the action and emotion well, keeping the focus on the characters. Walls gave him a large cast of characters to work with in these pages and he handles it well. I feel like I should have more to say, but I really don’t. He does a good job and kept me entertained.

So, what did I think about Legends Rise?

This was by far the most ambitious of the Venators novels (I know it’s only book 3, but I read two versions of book 1, so I’m counting this as the fourth), and I applaud Walls for taking a big swing here. I wonder if she maybe tried to do too much, though. I’ve tossed this idea around a lot over the last few weeks and I’m undecided. I’m hoping that listening to the audiobook for the upcoming Book Tour will help me decide.

We got some good backstory on pivotal characters, we see a lot more of the world and have a better understanding of parts of it, the Earthlings get a chance to acclimate a bit more to Eon and spend some time with citizens. And, yeah, there are some pretty great action sequences. There’s even some romance for those who want that sort of thing—and I’m certain almost every reader of this series will be very pleased by it (I actually don’t mind a romantic subplot, I just can’t stand this one and think it’s a bad move for everyone involved).

Regardless of what the stars may suggest—I enjoyed this book and recommend it. Furthermore, I like this series, I’m really curious about what’s going to happen next and I think anyone who reads them will, too.


3.5 Stars

My thanks to The Write Reads for the invitation to participate in this tour and the materials they provided.

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