D.G.

Audible - Thanks for the Valentine's Day freebie. I love you too! (But not as much as I love Robert Petkoff.)

Anyway...in all the time I've been reading romance, I've never read one with a soap opera setting. Both the hero and heroine of this book are soap opera actors, living in L.A. Their lives intertwine as the characters they play on screen are paired up as a couple and a lot of the action happens around the taping of the soap opera.

Both Sean and Kayla have swore off dating other actors but from the beginning, their chemistry is off the charts. Both were likeable characters if a bit too wholesome for Hollywood - specially Sean who I thought was a bit too homey for a hot, popular actor.

Although I enjoyed the setting, I thought the author took it a bit too far. There were just too many discussions of Jared and Shay (the soap opera characters) and some scenes were performed more than once, which made for boring parts. The author also stretched the sexual tension past the peak, most likely because she was trying to mimic the teasing that usually happens in soaps. It just seemed very unlikely that too people that had the hots for each other in such a way would kiss and leave it a that, specially when they were alone.

Sean's character needed more development. We knew very little of his past relationships - except that some women dated him to meet his father - and almost nothing of his acting besides what he did in the soap opera. I could not believe that a talented actor (as he was portrayed) would be happy to play the same character all his life, specially when he had other options.

The stalker plot was totally ridiculous and the resolution was stupid. I suggest this author to stay away from suspense plots until she figures out how to incorporate it more seamlessly with the romance plot.

This was my first narration by Gia St. Claire and she did a good job. Some of her male characters sounded alike but in general her narration was pleasant, her pacing was adequate and the emotions were there.

Matt's story played such a big part in this book that I don't doubt his book is coming next (note to the author: division rivals rarely trade among themselves.) I'm looking forward to it.

This book started great. The mystery was multi-layered with a complex victim. Most of the time in mysteries/romantic suspense, murdered people are just bodies and the reader rarely gets to see them as real people with virtues and vices. Not in this one. The friends and family of the murdered Senator showed real grief at his passing and it was wonderful to see Nick, the hero, being overwhelmed by the murder of his best friend.

But around a third of the way in, the story became dragging and boring. At this point, the focus was on the investigation and we had to see every single interview Sam (the heroine) conducted and her pushing around all the witnesses. Worse, the relationship between her and Nick jumped from non-existent to her telling him (over and over and over) how they couldn't be together while she was on the case. It seemed unbelievable to me that a man in his position wouldn't understand the issues of a detective getting together with a material witness.

Then when it seemed as if there was some headway in the investigation, the focus switched to Sam's myriad issues. A stalking first husband, a couple of health problems, several work related controversies including a previous case gone horribly wrong plus her relationship with Nick. She should have been pulled off the case so fast but everybody kept giving her chances and chances. And the constants pats on the back!! Every two seconds somebody would mention what a great cop Sam was, how insightful, blah, blah, blah. It was maddening.

Her relationship with Nick was so sugary and maudlin. They confessed their love really fast and every other minute were giving declarations of undying love *roll eyes* or fighting because she felt she had to call all the shots.

At the end, the solution to the murder was rushed with several more bodies thrown in just for kicks - which btw, Sam didn't pay as much attention and she should have.

The narration was good but I had to speed it up at around 1/3 in. I don't blame the narration, just the slow pace of the story.

Even though I had problems with this book, I was considering checking out the rest of the series until I learned the rest of the books feature the same couple! I didn't like Sam enough to be in her head so much.

Everybody who has read my reviews of this series knows I'm still going because I love the narration not because I like the books. This one was the worst of the lot. As usual, there was a lot of corny dialogue and the hero was very similar to previous ones but the solution to the conflict was mind boggling and unbelievable even for PNR standards.

The first part of the book was really boring because there was little action and neither Conrad nor Néomi were THAT different or interesting. The second part is more exciting but some parts are really maddening - at some point, Néomi is in terrible danger and Conrad saves her using the most convoluted route, involving talking and talking and talking!

Robert Petkoff was amazing as usual (I probably would have dnfed it if it weren't for him.) I may continue the series because I have higher hopes for the next book but I think I'll schedule my listen when I'm in a really bad streak. Listening to this book after the Kate Daniels series just served to pinpoint the holes in the world building.

This book was very bland and run of the mill, with like a million uninteresting characters and a silly blend of romance tropes that made me laugh like crazy.

Aidan is a Fae Lord pirate turned corporate raider. *snorts*. He's lived more than 1,000 years but when he finds the "only woman he's ever loved", he's too busy with other stuff and lets her go without a fight. Elise is also supposedly deeply in love but doesn't try to work with Aidan on their issues. Neither ever mentions their feelings to the other so each is left with the thought that the other doesn't love them.

As you can see, neither character acts as if they are really in love. If you really love a person, you don't give up at the first opportunity!

Most of the plot was spent rehashing what happened in the first book and introducing so many characters that it was impossible to determine who was who. The seemingly insurmountable problems that separated these two in the first place weren't even an issue so that tells you that if only they had talked a bit, everything could have been avoided.

The murky issue of Dina's paternity is the author's way of having a secret baby plot without blaming Elise. All I can say is that it didn't work.

The narration was good. I'll listen to another book narrated by Gabra Zackman but definitely not continuing this series.

This book was a thoroughly enjoyable entry in the Lord Peter Wimsey series. The mystery was adequate, mostly about proving that a murder had been committed instead of finding out the killer.

But really, I don't read this series for the mysteries but because Lord Peter is so funny. I almost burst a lung laughing throughout the whole book. He's so witty and has such a way of expressing himself. Some quotes:

"I sleuth, you know. For a hobby. Harmless outlet for natural inquisitiveness, don't you see, which might otherwise strike inward and produce introspection and suicide."

"I did hope I was gong to vindicate him and have him played home by the village band under a triumphal arch with "Welcome, Champion of Truth!" picked out in red-white-and-blue electric bulbs."

Ian Carmichael is masterful in the narration. I don't think all these things would strike me as funny reading them on my own. He just has this sense of the ridiculous that brings wonderful qualities to the narration.

Hopefully Audible gets the rest of the series soon so I can continue listening!

As usual, this was an exciting book, full of interesting action and unexpected twists but I got mad by the way the business with Atticus and Granuaile got resolved. When I read a book in the first person I expect to know something about that person's emotions but the author spent more time on wisecracks that on really revealing Atticus' feelings.

I don't know why I keep getting disappointed with the continued lack of emotional disclosure by Atticus. It's clear that the author is just not going there with him. At first I thought the author didn't want to alienate the male audience by getting "mushy" but now I'm starting to believe the author is just not capable to take his characters in that direction. Please note I'm not upset because the love scenes were "fade to black" but because there wasn't any discussion about his feelings. If you've loved a woman for a long, long time and you finally get to be with her, I expect to hear at least a "Yay!!" to convey how you feel about the situation. Atticus has tons of potential but I feel as if there's a wall between this inner core and the way he behaves in public that not even the reader can see.

One thing I liked about their relationship was that once he wasn't her instructor, he treated her like an adult and allowed her to make her own decisions. He didn't go all caveman or pretended that he had all the answers. He gave her the lowdown and once she made her choice, there wasn't any boorish behavior (see why I say he has potential?)

Right now I'm feeling like giving up on the series but I know that once it gets closer to the release of the next book, I'll be sure to change my mind.

This was a cute read but not as deep as I expected. Given the enmities of the two clans and Eveline's disability, I thought this was going to be a really dark read but it didn't turn out like that.

Eveline is deaf because of an accident but nobody in her clan knows. How she was able to perpetrate such a deception is unbelievable specially because she was very close to her family and you have to be a extremely good actress to make your family believe such a thing when they know you so well. It's almost crazy to believe that this was the only way for her to get away from that pesky problem and that nobody would discover her ruse in 3 years.

Besides Eveline's deafness, the main issue in the book is the conflict between the two clans. Graeme is a nice man that takes to Eveline immediately and champions her even when he doesn't know she's all there. The only distinctive thing about him is that he's circumspect to whom he beds and he's very reasonable. I just didn't feel that much for him.

The conflict was resolved very easily - I would have expected it to take years for the clans to get to trust one another - and the villain was very convenient.

Kirsten Potter did a great job with the Scottish accents. I usually object when the narrator in a Historical set in Europe has an American accent (I mean really) but it didn't bother me as much this time. Ms. Potter's narration tend to be on the deliberate side so sometimes I had it at 1.5X or 2X speed and I could understand what was going on.

I'm not sure if I'll continue the series, I guess it depends on the plot of the next book.

I'm so MAD! Who was the genius who thought that speeding up this narration was a good idea? I've listened to the first hour and had to go back several times because I couldn't follow what's going on! I've listened to hundreds of audiobooks and this has never happened to me before. So far it seems like the book is one big paragraph without punctuation because the narrator is just rushing through. There's one part at the beginning where Mathias is supposed to be reflecting the bad things he's done in his life and it goes so fast that it almost sounds like the legal disclaimer in medication ads. I'm tired just listening. (Not blaming Eric Dove who did an amazing job with the previous books but the producer or whomever makes those decisions.)

I woke up at 5am on the book release day and the first thing I did was check Audible to see if the audio was available. I checked several times during the day and bought it as soon as I saw it - didn't even bother listening to the sample because I loved the previous 3 books. BIG MISTAKE! If you compare the narration of the first 3 books with this one, you can tell there's definitely something wrong. All the other books are around 500 pgs. in print and around 14 hrs. hours in audio...how can this book have the same number of pages but be almost 2 hrs. shorter?

Somebody fixes this or I'm returning this book. I just bought this audio because I loved the narration...if this SUCKS, then I'm definitely not reading this in print.

(Rating is due to the speed of the narration...if I understood what was happening, maybe I could rate the story more appropriately.)

As 12 years pass between the events in Tricked (Bk 4) and Trapped (Bk 5), this novella is set right in the middle timewise and sets the stage for Ragnarök (the showdown between the Norse gods and some really bad people) and some very interesting alliances between Atticus and some gods. We also learn how Atticus and Granuaile are dealing with their 'working' relationship and some very revealing tidbits about Atticus' past.

I wouldn't say the book was boring but it didn't have excitement of previous books, specially because most of the action occurred during a formal dinner - and we hear descriptions of every course.

Luke Daniels did a bang up job with the narration as usual but I don't know that I'd recommend anybody to pay the current price of this audiobook (which is $9.80 for Audible members.) I think it's a definite must read but I think the ebook will suffice.

But of course, I'm a big fan of this series and I'm sooo looking forward to Trapped. Like the last few books in the series, I'll probably buy the audio the day it comes out

This narration was so delicious that I was 67% into the book when I realized that if I'd been reading it, I'd probably wouldn't have finished it. The plot was exciting and the main characters were not terrible but the dialogue was sometimes corny and the romance was not at all the kind I enjoy (man chasing woman while they bicker constantly.)

Before I stumbled upon the audio, I had serious reservations about continuing the series. Like the previous book, we have in this one a man with an instinctive compulsion to be with a woman but this is not reciprocated. He has NO CHOICE and if he's not with her, he suffers tremendously. She, however, can leave him whenever she wants without suffering. Maybe some women fantasize about having a man completely in their power but I'm not one of them. I want a man who chooses to be with me, not a slave without any choice in the matter.

To be fair to Kaderin, if a stranger shows up one day to tell me I was his fated bride, I would run in the other direction too. I don't object that she had misgivings about the situation (who wouldn't?) but that he had not alternative but to pursue her or be deeply unhappy forever (and in the case of an immortal, this is a terrible thing indeed.)

You would think that with so many issues against the plot, I wouldn't have enjoyed it but I was so enthralled by Mr. Petkoff's yummy narration that I had a ball with it. His performance of the characters - specially the men - was perfect and his accents were so freaking good that I had heart palpitations the first time I heard a (male) Scottish character. Mr. Petkoff didn't demure from performing the love scenes as they were written - there was moaning, groaning, gasping, panting, you name it. His interpretation was so well done that most of the time I was fanning myself as I was listening.

So you can bet the farm that I'll continue this series as long as Mr. Petkoff is the narrator. I wonder how bad the books will have to get before I stop listening!