Moonrise

By: Cassandra King

Narrated by: Jennifer James Bradshaw, Willow Hale, Elle Newlands

Length: 14 hrs and 42 mins

Publisher's summary

When Helen Honeycutt falls in love with Emmet Justice, a charismatic television journalist who has recently lost his wife in a tragic accident, their sudden marriage creates a rift between her new husband and his oldest friends, who resent Helen's intrusion into their tightly knit circle. Hoping to mend fences, the newlyweds join the group for a summer at his late wife's family home in the beautiful Blue Ridge Mountains. Helen soon falls under the spell not only of the little mountain town and its inhabitants, but also of Moonrise, her predecessor's Victorian mansion, named for its unique but now sadly neglected nocturnal gardens. But the harder Helen tries to fit in, the more obvious it is that she will never measure up to the woman she replaced.

Someone is clearly determined to drive her away, but who wants her gone, and why? As Emmet grows more remote, Helen reaches out to the others in the group, only to find that she can't trust anyone. When she stumbles on the secret behind her predecessor's untimely death, Helen must decide if she can ever trust - or love - again.

©2013 Cassandra King (P)2013 Audible, Inc.

Critic reviews

King’s latest novel takes inspiration from Daphne du Maurier’s Rebecca, keeping the best of the latter’s atmospheric tension without falling into melodramatic cliché...A suspenseful Gothic that gives a nod to its predecessors while still being fresh." (Publishers Weekly)

“Moonrise touches all the night notes to make it a suspenseful story and also a romantic one. Kudos to Ms King for getting it right…this is a story that impacts the reader, and its mixture of emotions will linger long after you have closed the book." (Huffington Post Books)

“Though darker than King’s other novels, Moonrise succeeds at what she does best: masterfully weaving a story with threads that bind some characters together while pulling other strands loose. Moonrise dives into the waters of women’s friendships with the same level of honesty readers admire in Margaret Atwood’s “Cat’s Eye” and “The Robber Bride.” Moonrise further cements King’s high standing as a writer of contemporary women’s fiction.” (Charlotte Observer)

Book ruined by readers!

I like books read by multiple readers--it is often a performance that makes the book even better. These are three awful narrators. The voices they give to the characters are laughable. The story is ordinary--a southern retelling of the classic Rebecca (a much better book). If the book had been read by decent performers it would have elevated it to at least three stars. I will never listen to a book read by any of these people.

Worst narrative ever!

Is there anything you would change about this book?

Different readers - the women did terrible men's voices - completely took away from the reading of the book.

Would you recommend Moonrise to your friends? Why or why not?

No - because of the terrible narrative

Would you be willing to try another one of the narrators’s performances?

Would be the reason not to read it.

If this book were a movie would you go see it?

NO

Any additional comments?

Very disappointing

Mediocre book. Horrible narration

Maybe the book would've been more bearable if I had read it rather than listened to it. And, I hate to criticize someone's sincere attempt at a performance, but I could barely stand to listen to those drawn out accents and fake male voices. Yuk!

Fun, entertaining with engaging characters!

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

Yes. Highly entertaining and keeps you guessing about what happened to the first wife.

Who was your favorite character and why?

Tess

What did you like about the performance? What did you dislike?

Good - some of the voices were not as good as others - the southern accent was not done well at all and the heroine was too sappy.

If you could take any character from Moonrise out to dinner, who would it be and why?

The husband, He sounded like a dream in the quiet, sultry way that drives women crazy.

Any additional comments?

Some parts of it were too sappy and some of the scenes were not very believable or well constructed, but overall the book was a very enjoyable read. Not anywhere near the quality of Rebecca, but entertaining from a more modern perspective.

MOON

Would you listen to Moonrise again? Why?

YES IT HAS SOME INTERESTING PARTS

What was one of the most memorable moments of Moonrise?

ON THE LAKE TO SEE THE MANSION, JUMPING OFF THE WATERFALL

Which scene was your favorite?

AT END AT HOSPITAL WHEN WILLIA FREIND FINIALY STOOD UP FOR HER AND THEN FINIALY TOLD HONEYCUTS HUSBAND WHAT WAS REALY GOING ON

Drawn out, too slow.

About 10 times I was going to put the book away, if it wasn't for my reading challenge I would have.

One of if not the slowest moving book I have ever read.

No closure of many relationships in the story. Tje only closure isn't really a closure, it is assumed.

Good overall but I didn't like 1 of the narrators

Would you say that listening to this book was time well-spent? Why or why not?

For the most part. I enjoyed the story but found myself wishing I was reading the book myself because I didn't like the voices put on by one of the three narrators.

What was your reaction to the ending? (No spoilers please!)

"Wait. That's it?" I wanted to know what happened next for these characters!

How did the narrator detract from the book?

The narrators for Helen and Willa were both great. I could listen to Willa's narrator read anything. Her voice and accent were beautiful. The narration for Tansy fit in well with the other two narrators but, whoever she is, isn't cut out to do multiple voices. Her male characters all sounded like kids' cartoon villains and her female characters (besides Tansy herself) sounded like southern Marilyn Monroes, high and breathy.

If this book were a movie would you go see it?

Probably

Cloying slow narrative ruined this book for me.

An endearing southern accent is one thing but the fake southern drawl was a show stopper. I really enjoyed the story but gagged on the whiny performance. Did I say I didn't enjoy the narrators?

Great story! Ridiculous narration.

Loved the book but the narration was so utterly ridiculous it made it hard to take the book serious. It was worth putting up with for the story.

A southern accent that doesn't make me cringe

I am from Tennessee. We have different accents than Atlanta, Mississippi or along the southeastern coast. Most people have to use the overdone accents from Clampets of Beverly Hills fame. It is sooo annoying. The narrators for this story have Atlanta and Florida accents wrong but that's okay cause they don't over do it. How they think the Blue Ridge mountain native caretaker can have a Scottish accent (because her ancestors were from Scotland?) is kind of nuts but I just let that one go. The story was pleasant, the characters were a mixed lot, just like in life, full of quirks and contradictions. There was a bad person but it was well hidden and revealed in a series of believable encounters.

This was an enjoyable listen. While I didn't find it as engrossing as other reviewers, it was a pleasant story set in the south that was modern and showed admirable self restraint by depicting the southern characters as modern people living in contemporary United States while giving the usual trite southern woman stereotype a welcome rest.

Plop, plop, fizz fizz oh what a relief it is when we are not caricatures.