Vanessa

Libba takes a shot at everyone in this book. You can't take it seriously even though there are some serious messages hidden in the humour. This is NOT an 11-13 year old (which is the category it's in). Save it for your older teens. Near the end Bray starts to lose focus and like Going Bovine, needed an editor to say "reel it in" but overall the book was a keeper.

Imagine a bookstore clerk who only ever retrieves books from the "way back" list and a girl who is a Google prodigy. Add in a little mystery of books and a secret society and you get a glimpse into the strangest world imaginable...Mr. Penumbra's. old knowledge meets new knowledge in this funny, intriguing and down-right odd story. Narrator is great and worth the credit.

The book was disturbing when our main character gets sent to
Live with a dad he's never met.. And the conditions are terrible. But it gets worse...dad I'd a gravedigger , whose exploits are described in detail. But then it gets even worse, he decides to learn the trade. And shockingly...it gets worse. But I couldn't stop listening and it was well written. Who could I recommend it to? No young adult. But it does make YOU want to read it, doesn't it?

I downloaded this because is was an ACX editors pick for "laugh out loud funny" I have ready Kyra Davis' books before and some are funny but this was was absolutely not funy. Sophie finds Anatoli is married and she runs from the Russian mob...in a not funny kind of way. Not sure if the editors just got mixed up. Although the books is a nice light snack, I never laughed out loud...not even once.

As with many Libba Bray books,the ending got away from her. That being said, the beginning is always good enough that I am willingly, knowingly, prepared for a confused finish.

This was on a number of "must listen" booklists so I finally downloaded it. Although the story was good, I did not find it "great". It was a book I could have read at the beach on a holiday, I was able to pick it up and put it down without much effort. I "must read" for me is a book, like Gone Girl where I end up listening to it start to finish. Beautiful Ruins.. an OK story, worth one credit but not a must listen.

A great story of the Frankenstein boys and how they became the men of the future. No surprise...there is a sequel.

It was a pretty standard Stephanie Plum novel, not the funniest, not the worst. Still love Lorelei King as narrator - she captures the madness that is Stephanie Plum. This is a book about the girls in the series so if you are looking for Ranger or Joe, they only make bit appearances.

Highly recommended, I want to listen as I had read a review of Swamplandia. The stories were interesting but they end so abruptly that I struggled to get closure with the story.

This is a great example of a narrator taking a book and making it unlistenable. Although I did find the story a bit weak, it had a lot of smaller stories that never really went anywhere.
The narrator took the dramatic pause and used it every sentence! It was completely distracting. I made it half-way then bailed and finished with a hard copy of the book.