Handsome Howard...Hunky Howard...Hot Howard....
It's not every day that Elsa Bjornberg feels delicate, not when she hosts a home renovation show where she can effortlessly demolish a kitchen. But from the moment she meets Howard Barr, this bear of a man makes her feel like a woman. And the way he looks at her, as if she were a pot of honey he'd like to lick....
Howard is not like most men. For one thing, he's a shapeshifter. And he always thought his celebrity crush would never amount to anything more than drooling at Elsa on TV. When his meddling vampire employer gets involved, the star is suddenly within his grasp - and within a hair of her life. For an ancient curse forbids their newfound love, and Howard is suddenly torn between his desire for her and his desire to keep her alive.
©2012 Kerrelyn Sparks (P)2012 HarperCollins Publishers
"Howard the Barr Bear"
Book great. performance great. Love kerrelyn's books. It's too bad they keep jumping performers and can't have just one. I miss consistency with character accents/voices.
"Wild for Howard"
Hot Hunky Alpha
When Howard first Elsa Bjornberg. He reminded me of a tongue-tied teen suffering his first crush.
OMG -YES, I hated having to stop for interruptions.
I enjoyed this so very much that I will also be buying the print version to add to my keeper library.
"Grrr, distracting use of accents"
The actor works mostly with American voices in this novel, and it's easy enough listening to Howard and Elsa. However, as with the other novels by Sparks, the Scottish vampires appear in the narrative from time to time. This is when I gritted my teeth and became annoyed that the producers chose Zanzarella. She speaks their voices in an Irish accent, which is also Celtic and should be close enough, right? But if you've spent time in the countries, you can hear the differences pretty easily. It'd be like saying that an accent from the deep South is close enough to pass for Australian. There's some similarity, maybe, but the cadence is definitely different. Whenever Zanzarella switched to a Scottish vampire, I kept telling myself, "Imagine that they're Irish. That's no big deal. Irish vampires." It was distracting. The surfer dude voices of Howard's teenage nephews were so hammy (I thought) that it was hard to connect with them... a little more subtlety would go a long way.
Nope.
Audiobooks are great tool in dealing with my ADHD. They limit distractions while listening and I don't have to sit still. PS. I can't spell
"Holiday Howard - Worth The Wait!"
He's been there since the beginning and finally Howard gets his honey. I've been waiting for his story ever since the first "were-bear playing for THE Bears" pun. Like Mike Ditka, Howard's hottie is in a class of her own.
The story also includes some wonderful detail into the ongoing life of "Love at Stakes'" first family and the "super" community they are building. It puts paid to a series' "bill" that is way past due, introduces a new supernatural class, and the comedic duo of Howard's twin were-bear cousins. Named like Pokemon, Jessie and James, interject the right amount of lite with their "Bill and Ted" surfer bear dialog.
I really enjoyed this latest installment in the "Love at Stake" series and I have to say Howard's story was worth the wait.
"Great book well performed. Thoroughly entertaining"
A romantic story with engaging characters. The reading is terrific and the reader well suited to the story. I was thoroughly enterained.