Playing with Fire

Ok. So. I never expect Showalter's writing to be Pulitzer winning. Her proses leave much to be desired and sometime I want to give her a thesaurus. BUT her beefcake with a heart of gold stories are entertaining and I enjoy them. This is NOT an accurate depiction of Playing with Fire. Showalter has created the dumbest, most immature woman alive. I hope she doesn't identify with Belle. This book is slow moving and boring.

I love the demons of the underworld series, but I am having trouble with this one.. very little steam and the narrator talks like a valley girl impersonating captain Kirk. Badly. Even if the plot line had been fabulous, I don't think I would buy anything narrated by Jessica Almasy again. I want to poke my eardrums out..

I thought it was really funny. Couldn't stop listening to it. I love Belles personality, Rome is HOT, and Tanner is hilarious!!

First Off *Listen to the Preview* ??? If you find it funny and entertaining, then you will likely enjoy this book. This book, unlike the Lords of the Underworld series is more... Clueless/Legally Blonde meets a tamer version of Lords of Underworld. Mostly...

Gena Showalter spins paranormal tale in which our Heroine (an unsophisticated, outspoken, no-nonsense and dedicated to her father???s care - coffee wench) finds herself dragged or should I say drugged into a larger world in which competing paranormal agencies are battling it out and now are after her and her new abilities to control Earth, Wind, Fire and Water.

We are treated to Belle???s wide range of internal dialog (The preview gives you a good example of some of it) in a first person narrative in which the narrator (Jessica Almasy) does wonderful job portraying a good hearted but sometimes clueless young woman who hasn???t really found any direction in her life beyond caring for her father.

The Plot ??? Like many other books that are more about the relationship between the two leads, it does have some mighty fine plot holes. Some of which Gena does a fair job of glossing over or explaining away with a couple sentences. This plot would be really interesting in a more ???grown-up???/in depth work of fiction with a slightly less valley girl star.

Narrator ??? Jessica Almasy, I was pleasantly surprised by her ability to create a few different voices ??? Given the type of person Belle Jamison is painted, she did an amazing job giving her life.

Over all, I enjoyed the book and will likely get the second one soon. But once again, listen to the preview ??? I was laughing so hard listening to the dates/Titles(subtitles) for her jobs that I knew I would enjoy the story. And I did.

My biggest challenge was the reader. The book started off a bit different than what I am accoustomed to with Ms Showalter's work. However, after I got use to the narrators style and rhythm, I was able to settle in and enjoy the characters. I'm actually looking forward to "Twice as Hot", which is the continuing story.

I thought this book would be a departure from what I normally read. It seems to have a good story line to it. I am 4 hours into it and am still waiting for this book to actually start. Spoiler Alert... after becoming "infected" they are still arguing about how to devise a PLAN on how to deal with the situation. wow... If I pulled this at work I would have lost my co-workers 3 hours ago.

My sister recommeded this author. So I tried one when it went on a 4.95 sale. She writes like a child and throws in some "adult" scenes for some unknown reason. What is she 14 or 15 years old? I read a wide variety of genres, but this book fails no matter what genre you try to fit it into. There is MUCH better out there if you are looking for Young Adult, Romance, Mystery, Adventure, or whatever.

I am into my 4th CD and still am waiting for something to happen. The two main characters are very swallow and the conversation is so 'not real'. Very disappointed. Save your cash or credits and pass on this one.

As much as I love a good G. Showalter book, this book really sucks! I bought both books in the series book 1 &2 and I can't even finish book 1. and the reason are:

Audio is horriable and I'm not sure if its the narrator J.Almasy even though I do think her voice is more for a young adult book than this or the fact the audio performance just plain sucked. Ms. Almasy voice was so low in some parts of the story that I would have to turn it up to full volume only to have my ears blown out the the next sentence, because her range change from a soft whisper to a full out yell.
Ms.Almasy voice is very childish, I had a hard time believeing she was of age to say some of the words in the book, I was almost embarssed to listen to her.

As for the storyline, it drown on and on, such a disappointment from Ms. Showalter, I couldn't even get into the story.

To me this book is not worth a credit, I was sorry I got them both..

The writer shouldnt have tried so hard to be trendy...accidentally drinking a "latte" with that gave the main character magic abilities? C'mon...lame.

nothing corny like this

the narator shouldnt have sounded like an airhead valley girl.

the cliche sparked disappointment

I couldnt get past chapter 3.