MarissaB

A good book that was badly read. Falsetto, breathy voices for the women. Harsh, brusque voices for the men. No feeling at all in the narration. Even when the words say the women are "in terror", their voices sound like they are carrying on an ordinary conversation. Just badly done.

Not typical, as another reviewer noted. What happens to Essie, her choices, and her motivations are the same for women today. But Essie soars above it all, especially in the end. Gist has written an engaging heroine. Excellent narration, too.

Witty, intelligent, funny, poignant, unusual, and satisfying. Helen Simonson's debut novel leaves me wanting more and Peter Altschuler's narration is spot on. Excellent all around.

I am really liking this series. Judy is fun, funny, sweet, smart, and seemingly self-absorbed. Then she does something unexpected but totally true to her character and you realize that she is also compassionate. I can't wait to read the next book. Rosenblat is amazing, as usual.

I was looking for lighthearted fun and I found it in spades in this book. Kids will be kids, and we all once were so self-centered and thoughtless. Yet there is the hope of growth and maturity evident in Judy. Good writing and just STUPENDOUS narration! Barbara Rosenblat tops the list of good narrators. Want more adult fare? Try the Amelia Peabody series.

I can understand why this won an award in Japan. The story is very much of that culture. I enjoyed it tremendously, even though the ending was not a happy one. Very character driven, this story is engrossing.

I read several reviews on this book before purchasing it, so my expectations for the world building were very high. Shinn did build a creditable world by twisting biblical facts and references around. Okay, I get that and it was clever, but the Bible is full of hope and what Shinn created negated that. I would have preferred to spend my money listening to an author who created a unique world out of their own imagination. I didn't enjoy Pride and Prejudice and Zombies either.

It would have also helped if I had liked the main characters, but the heroine's contrariness for the sake of being contrary got old really fast. I didn't like that the hero and heroine's problems all stemmed from their refusal to confide in each other. After the first BIG misunderstanding, you'd think they'd learn to talk to each other so that the BIGGER and BIGGEST misunderstandings didn't happen. But, no, it was too much to ask of these characters, even though she was already 25 and he was older. If they were in their teens, maybe, but . . .

I'm always looking for a good fantasy. This just didn't do it for me.