Susie

I love the humor in these books and I want all the clothes except Miss Hisselpenny’s of course. Lord Maccon is rapidly becoming my second favorite Scotsman second only to Jamie Frasier! There are great lines in this book too numerous to mention. I love Alexia’s wit and strength. This series has made it on my favorites list.

Narrator , Emily Gray does a great job with all the characterizations and accents I will definitely look for other books she has narrated and she is now on my list of favorite narrators.

Noah Michael Levine was a new to me narrator and he was wonderful for this book I would definitely listen to him again…in fact I will listen to him again because I plan on listening to this whole series! But I would listen to him narrate other books too. He has a great range of voices, inflections and accents even though one character does sound like Sean Connery I didn’t care this narrator is the perfect fit for this book!

Oh this was so much fun! These books had been recommended to me years ago and have been languishing away on my TBR list since then, when I saw on audible that they were finally available on audio I jumped at the chance to give them a try, and now have another series to listen to 18 books I could go broke but this one was so much fun I must listen to more!

I loved all the characters in this book, I appreciated that the author let readers get to know them as they got to know each other it was a great bonding experience with the characters. I enjoyed the humor and frivolity and also the great story.

Skeeve is a magician’s apprentice, when his master is killed he ends up being an apprentice to a demon named Aahz as they bounce between dimensions to try to get Aahz back to his own dimension and restore his magical abilities and get revenge for Skeeve’s masters death. Along the way they meet so many great characters. I really liked that the author tells this story through dialogue we still get plenty of world building but it isn’t in overly done descriptions it is in the different characters explaining things to each other. I loved the ending, I don’t want to spoil it but the way they get one over on Issivan at the end is sooo great and not what I expected.

I will be listening to more of this series this is a short audiobook but well worth the credit I spent on it. If you are a fan of Pratchett and Adams I think you will enjoy this series too!

4 stars

The Last Page by Libby Fischer Hellmann and David J. Walker Narrated by, Mary Conway and James Lewis

In the short story The Last Page a not very well liked librarian, Barbara Adams, dies from what they are saying was a heart attack but she just happened to be standing at the top of the stairs when it happened, Julia’s mother & Barbara were friends and both think the death sounds suspicious so Julia decides to do some digging. I love a book that is set in a library and the author did a good job in researching the ALA’s privacy policy and the ins and outs of information available to librarians. All in all this was a good short cozy mystery and I would read others by this author and would read more with the character of Julia.

The narrator Mary Conway is new to me, it took me a little bit to get used to her voice it sounds a bit young yet has a roughness so for me it took a little to get used to, but by the end I was happy with her narration and would listen to others narrated by her.

Chicago Blues short story My Sweet Man &another story I didn’t catch the name of by, Libby Hellman and David J. Walker narrated by, James Lewis, both were way more gritty stories than the first one. The last story is extremely gritty and has a lot of language it was quite a departure from the first story being more of a cozy and the second one was more family secret type mystery, they seemed an odd pairing on the same audiobook. I enjoyed My Sweet Man but I think it would have been better without the final story.

The narrator James Lewis has a husky deep voice that I like, his voice is good for gritty mystery or noir would fit his voice well too. I would listen to more from this narrator.

All in all this short 3 hour audiobook is pretty good I really liked the first story, the second one was also good but the last one just didn’t do it for me. I would have rated this 4 stars if it had only been the first & second story but the third story brings it down to a three but will end up with 3 ½ stars for good narration. Would read more from this author and listen again to these narrators.

3 ½ Stars


I received this from the Audiobookjukebox and the author/publisher Fischer Hellmann Communications for a fair and honest review.

This book will grab you, throw you back in your seat and make you hang on for dear life because it is going to be a heck of ride! This was so hard to put down because it didn’t let up for a minute. It is very hard to write a review with no spoilers and not so much gushing.

This is my favorite Harlan Coben book yet this had so many twists and turns that when you think you know what is going on it changes, yes, I was right on a few things but there were more aspects that left my jaw dragging on the ground. There were times when you have to roll your eyes at Jake, or maybe that’s just me because I am about as unromantic as they come. And there were times when you wanted to yell NOOOO at him as he charged from one dangerous situation to another (I actually did yell this once luckily I was in my car by myself!). I really liked that Coben even had me wondering about Jake’s sanity for awhile I was beginning to wonder myself if Natalie was real or if it was a figment of his imagination, but that is what made this book so great even the reader starts questioning Jake. Okay I need to stop here because everything else I am thinking of writing is spoilerific but man do I want to discuss this book with someone who has read it!

The narration by Scott Brick was as always fabulous, he is the voice of Harlan Coben for me. I will always listen to his stand alones on audio because Scott Brick brings the characters to life for me with, just right narration, nothing over the top but great character diversity so you always know who is talking.

If you haven’t figured out yet I loved this book, if you are looking for a thrill ride full of twists and turns you need to read this book!

4 ½ Stars

I received this from the Narrator/Producer Steve Scherf for a fair and honest review.

This is a performance audiobook all female characters done by a female and all male by a male, also there is a lot of music and a lot of background noises ie: gunshots, crowd noises and such. When I see more than one narrator I always assume that it will be a certain character per narrator but this one is done differently with all female by Maggie Scherf and all male by Steve Scherf which is different so is taking me a little to get used to. Also there is a lot of music that could really just not be there, I know this is an annoyance for a lot of people. Also traffic sounds were very unnecessary. However Steve Scherf has an impressive arsenal of different voices and dialects so not sure why the female narrator was added he is great at so many different voices that I am so curious if he isn’t comfortable doing female voices? Is he bad at them? Which, I honestly can’t imagine because all his different voices are pretty darn impressive. I am also not sure what I think of Maggie’s voice I don’t know if it’s her voice I don’t like or the format of the audiobook, when the female voice pops in it kind of takes me out of the story and am really confused as to why it was added in the first place.

Without looking at the original publication date of this book I could tell it was from the 70’s it definitely has a 70’s Noir feel to it. This is a good courtroom drama (and much more) with a very flawed, heroin addicted lawyer as our main character Foster Cobb. There is a lot going on in this book and it all centers around Cobb who has been trying to put away Dr. Au who is a scary twisted man and is going to make sure he doesn’t go to prison no matter who he has to intimidate, kill or make disappear, including Cobb.

As I said this book has a 70’s vibe going on, and in some ways reminded me of Ed McBain’s writing, very dark and gritty and life ain’t easy especially when your strung out on heroin and fighting for your life as the person you are prosecuting is trying to kill you and you have more troubles than just those. Even though this describes Cobb you still can’t help but root for him even if he is strung out and not always a good guy you still want him to survive.

I would probably read more by this author as the writing is good. If you like gritty crime/lawyer books I’d give this one a try.
3 Stars-book
4 stars-Steve Scherf’s narration
So 3 1/2 Overall

When Saba is 11 years old she remembers her twin sister Mahtab and her mother getting on a plane to America and leaving her and her father in Iran…This is what she remembers but is this what happened?

I felt Saba was an unreliable narrator she makes up this whole life for her twin sister Mahtab and her mother they go to America and she has this free American life and goes to Harvard and becomes a journalist which is Saba’s dream. As a reader you will have an inkling in the back of your head as to what really happened where they really are but until it is actually revealed you want to believe Saba. Also the reveal for me wasn’t what I expected but I don’t want to say too much more about that!

Saba is not always likable but yet you feel for her. Saba always felt like she was missing out so she made up these wondrous stories of what her sister was accomplishing in the US even though she had a pretty normal upbringing considering it is Iran in the 80’s it isn’t till she is older ,well marrying age, that this doesn’t quite hold true anymore. I kind of felt bad for her father at times, I felt like she treated him like a second class citizen when he was all she had and was trying his best, and I was glad to see that as she got older she realized this.

This is a really good story though at times a little hard to follow, it was nice to read a story about Iran that didn’t have so much violence , yes there is some but it comes from something/someone different than you will expect it to. This is the story of a family and a young girl’s life without her twin and mother and how that affects her entire life and who she becomes.

Sneha Mathan narration is well done her accent is not to strong; I think it's just the right amount to convey they are in Iran. She has a great voice and I thought she really helped convey the emotions of everyone she narrated. This was my first book narrated by Sneha Mathan but I don’t think it will be my last as I really enjoyed her voice.

4 Stars

This was surprisingly a very good self-help book; I am not saying that I didn’t think this book was going to be entertaining I just wasn’t sure that the advice he was going to give would be good. I am a big fan of Chris Hardwick and have been for awhile and even more so with his show the Talking Dead.

I really liked his nerdist way of self improvement I thought his advice for a character tome was great and XP points when you are on track, I thought this was a fun way to keep track of your successes. I thought his chapter on panic attacks was spot on and could tell he had truly gone through these to be able to explain them and how to overcome them was really good.

His very honest take on his alcoholism and how he quit drinking were very inspirational even though these stories were told with humor. I was a little surprised in the chapters about working out and nutrition just because us nerds are not known for being very fit and now I want to see Chris with his shirt off and see just how well all this exercising is working!

I really enjoyed this audiobook and Chris Hardwick’s narration, I do think you need to already be a fan of Chris to enjoy it though because of the way he talks and emphasizes certain things because I am a fan I could “see’ him saying these things and know how he puts himself across. But I think if you have bought this book I would guess you are already a fan of Chris. I think this was the way to read this book because of Chris’s delivery of the words he’s written.

I rarely (never) read self-help but this is the best I have found because his humorous honesty is perfect and I could actually see myself using some of the tenants he sets out in this book.

Starting my day with 100 XP thanks Chris!

4 Stars

Anne Hathaway did a good job with so many different voices but I had a hard time with the voice of the Scarecrow because it sounded like Marge Simpson. Listen to the sample on audible then go to youtube and listen to Marge Simpson it was too close to being the same voice I just couldn’t picture the Scarecrow in my head because the voice was Marge! That was the main voice that was just wrong and it took me out of the story, the rest of her voices were good with a few being annoying and some just not fitting, like a valley girl voice just seemed out of place. I guess I liked her narration overall I just wish the Scarecrow had sounded different.I would recommend this audiobook even with Marge Simpson cast as the Scarecrow! Anne does bring many voices to the mix maybe at times too many because some of them don’t seem to belong in the land of Oz but what do I know I’ve never been there!...

As I listened to this I came to the realization that I have never read Wizard of Oz before, yes I know I was shocked too. This story was a bit more violent in parts than I was expecting also there were some huge differences from the movie we have all seen 1,000 times so I had to try to get the movie out of my head and just go with the story, which I did enjoy. But in the end you can’t help comparing the differences…the shoes (silver, not red)...Toto (black, not brown) …Dorothy is a much younger girl…the violence, there is a lot of lopping off of heads that I did not expect..Also the witches seem to play a much smaller part in this than they did in the movie.

Everyone knows the premise of this story there are over 3000+ reviews and 98,000+ ratings on Goodreads alone so really what am I going to add other than if you think you have read this book but aren’t sure give it a try you may be like I was and realize you have never read the story Baum wrote, you only know the Hollywood version!

3 1/2 Stars

I will start this review off by saying I absolutely adore Gail Carriger’s Parasol Protectorate series especially on audio narrated by Emily Gray and I do admit to missing her voice on this book, I am not saying Moira Quirk did a bad job she was actually very good but there were times when I really wanted it to be Emily the biggest difference was timing Emily’s comedic timing is better than Moira’s and she pronounced Genevieve different too, and when it is a character from the other series it was glaring and bothersome to me because of my love for Carriger’s other series and Emily Gray’s narration of said series. I am NOT saying Moira Quirk was bad please don’t think that, she was very good I just could not help the comparison the Emily Gray. Moira was a new to me narrator and her accents and characterizations were very well done and I would definitely listen to more by her.

Now onto the book, this was fun and cute maybe not as much fun as the Parasol Protectorate series but it is the first book and I expect these to get better and better just as Gail Carriger’s other series did. Sophronia was a good character , and it was fun seeing Madame Lefoux as a girl and we also have a Maccon it is the Lord’s great-great-great granddaughter Sidheag ( not the Lord himself unfortunately) but we do get Professor Lyall (Pre-Biffy unfortunately) also I am hopeful there will be more of him in future books . I did enjoy meeting the new characters and I absolutely loved the mechanimal Bumbersnoot and want one for myself! I look forward to seeing more of Sophronia she seems like a character that will have trouble following her wherever she goes and that is the fun of it all. Dimity is quite a character too. Also the finishing school itself is not what it seems it is not where young ladies go to become good wives it is a …well read it and see what kind of school it is! **No Spoilers** We again have this wonderful Victorian Steampunk World that Carriger introduced us to in the Parasol Protectorate, we again have all the wonderful steampunk machines we have come to enjoy from past books. I also adore the names she comes up with, how she does it is beyond me!

I think this will be a great introduction to the world of Gail Carriger for young adults who will then go on to read more of Carriger’s books; I think they will become lifetime fans as I have. This book is fun stuff if you are a fan of the Parasol Protectorate don’t let the Young Adult classification scare you off it is still the humor and fun that Gail Carriger is known for. I am so glad we only have to wait until November for the second book in this series!

4 Stars

I will be honest with you I listened to this book right before I went on vacation and now a week and half later there is not much I remember about this book except that the narration was great. So that should say something right?

This book grabbed me right away with its atmosphere and gothic feel, and then towards the end lost me. I liked Jane’s story …

Above are the only notes I made other than about the fabulous narration.

So I went back and looked at other reviews and synopsis’ to try to jog my memory but honestly I just remember being a bit disappointed in the ending, as I said it grabbed me right away then let go and I think that is where my memory of this book ends. It seems I liked the way the author wrote so I would try another one by him. I also seem to remember being disappointed with the reveal of The Empyrean and the whole love triangle (if you even want to call it that) but really that’s about all I remember about this story. So I will stop trying to remember and just say give it a try it does have great atmosphere and maybe I just read it at the wrong time, the narration alone is worth the listen!

Susan Duerdan’s narration of this book was fantastic, all of her characterizations, accents and pacing were spot on and were consistent throughout the book. She did a great job at bringing this book and characters to life including a young French boy, along with the many other characters effortlessly. She has earned a spot on my list of narrators I will get on audio instead of paper book.

2 ½ Star Book
5 Star Narration

There was so much sex in this book that it really took away from what could have been a fascinating story about the women of Berlin during the war this book had it all, hiding Jews, the SS coming to search your home but the real story of the time seemed to get lost in all the sex these women were having. There are times when I was really enjoying the suspense of the story and it’s really good then she says something like kiss me to whoever will listen and it just takes me out of the story because it’s so farfetched that while all this stuff is happening that she would say it. I know I sound like such a prude and really I’m not but I am one that would rather not have a description of body parts or who was on top of whom I’m more of a, they went in the bedroom and closed the door type of person and my own imagination can fill in the blanks.

BUT I did like this book I just wish there had been more of the historical story and less sex. I had to keep listening I needed to know Sigrid’s fate and the fate of all the people she has been helping. I did really like her story I’ve read plenty of books about England during the war but never one about Berlin and the women left behind, I hope that the parts about them helping Jews and not totally buying into the Fuhrers beliefs were true but I’m just not sure they had as much sex as the author would like us to believe. Ok enough talk about the sex.

I will say I liked this story, and as I said was fascinated by the setting of Berlin during WWII it makes you wonder how many Germans had Jewish friends, lovers, neighbors and the choices they had to make about these people in their lives would you choose what Sigrid’s mother in law did or what I feel is even more reprehensible what Egon did. But you can’t really judge what you would do in this situation because unless you are there with the threats over your head you have no idea what you would do. I am hoping everything turned out in the end *no spoilers*.

I loved Suzanne Bertish’s narration of this, her voice is like a cross between Lauren Bacall and Ingrid Bergman so throughout this book the images in my head were like an old black & white movie and Sigrid was played my Lauren Bacall and all the other women were Ingrid Bergman. I would definitely listen to this narrator again I truly enjoyed her narration! (PS if you don’t know who I am talking about in this paragraph you need to tune into TCM more often or find the Big Sleep starring Bogie & Bacall and the movie Gaslight for Ingrid Bergman).

3 ½ stars