Tempt the Stars

Cassandra Palmer Series, Book 6

De: Karen Chance

Narrado por: Allyson Ryan

Being a goddess is a lot less fun than you might think. Especially when you're only a half goddess, you only found out about it recently, and you still don't know what you're doing half the time. And when you've just used your not-so-reliable powers to burglarize the booby-trapped office of a vampire mob boss.

Yeah, that part sucks. But that's just the tip of the iceberg for Cassandra Palmer, aka the Pythia, the freshly minted chief seer of the supernatural world. After all, Cassie still has to save a friend from a fate worse than death, deal with an increasingly possessive master vampire, and prevent a party of her own acolytes from unleashing a storm of fury upon the world. Totally just your average day at the office, right?

©2013 Karen Chance (P)2013 Tantor

Love the story, vast improvement on the narrator!

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

Definitely. I immensely enjoy Karen Chance's Cassie Palmer series. I think anyone who enjoys urban fantasy, especially peppered with action, time-travel, and a healthy dose of humor would enjoy this series. Like the first five books in the series, "Tempt the Stars" does not disappoint.

Who was your favorite character and why?

I think it's tough not to love Cassie's tenacity and sense of humor, so I would call her my favorite character. However, both of her paramours have their strengths and weaknesses, which make them lovable...but when it comes to choosing a love interest for Cassie, I'm Team Pritkin!

Have you listened to any of Allyson Ryan’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

No, but I will seek out other books Ryan has narrated now that I've heard this one! I think she did a fantastic job.Also, I seem to be in the minority, but Cynthia Holloway's narration of the first five books in the series grated on me to the point that (after reading them in print) I only listened to one of the other Cassie Palmer books on audiobook ("Curse the Dawn," if that makes any difference). I've heard other series narrated by Holloway, and felt the same way about her narration if those. Not enough differentiation between characters, obnoxious female voices, and not enough variation in tone of voice between male and female characters. An irritation of mine specific to Holloway's reading of the Cassie books is that she didn't read Pritkin with a British accent. I might have forgiven that in the first book, but Holloway should have corrected it after that, because Pritkin and his accent are repeatedly described as English! It drove me nuts. Especially because, having read the series in print, I always imagined Pritkin with a sexy British accent in my head, and I felt kind of cheated by the error. Thank god Allyson Ryan has entered the picture and finally corrected that! I think Ryan took over for a subpar narrator, and improved the overall quality of the reading without substantially changing other characters voices, other than to make them a bit more unique from one another, thereby making it easier to tell who is speaking. She took familiar voices and improved upon them without totally changing them. I normally hate it when narrators get changed mid-series, but this is a welcome exception. (Another excellent narrator swap was changing from Joyce Bean, whom I actually like generally, to Natalie Ross and Phil Gigante in the last two books of Karen Marie Moning's Fever series--it's not always bad to make a change mid-series!)I do concede that Allyson Ryan mispronounced "stalactite." Fortunately, the word only comes up two or three times, and I'll take that over Holloway's mispronunciation of Pritkin's accent in the other five books in this series any day. Well done, Allyson Ryan! Here's hoping she sticks around for the remainder of the Cassie Palmer series.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

I had already read "Tempt the Stars" in print a few weeks ago when it was released, and I still listened to this audiobook in one sitting! It was that enjoyable.

Any additional comments?

If you love Karen Chance, give this book a try. Even if you're devoted to Cynthia Holloway like many reviewers seem to be, I would still encourage you to listen to "Tempt the Stars." You might be surprised at how much you enjoy Allyson Ryan's narration, regardless of which reader you ultimately decide you prefer!

Another Cliffhanger.

I do like Karen books, but I really don’t like cliffhanger. Give me the choice to continue another book, instead of leaving me to wonder at his fate. Also, I’m made about Cassie’s other relationship! We were left hanging about this too. Make the book longer if you have to. No peace meal and unfinished plots.

Love the story,Hate Cassie she is as dumb as rocks

I love the story, Cassie not so much, I am getting so tired of hearing how tired she is all the time even when she just woke up arghhhh... she never seem to know anything at all even when its being explained to her, why does she has to be that clueless? this is the 6th book should she not be further ahead by now.. she is annoying the hell out of me and I still have 4 more books to go because stupid me fell in love with the story from book one and bought the whole series assuming she would've turned into this untouchable badass not the dumb as rocks chick she is...

A bit confusing!!!

The book was good even though the way it jumps around you kind of get lost and I had to rewind a few times because i thought i missed something. I really feel that if your only turning out a book in a series once a year that you really shouldn't end it in a cliffhanger because you forget the last book and it's really not fair to the reader we like the books so we will get them regardless so no need to try to make sure we will read the next. The narrator personally I thought the previous one was better but this one did ok. In the beginning it's really hard to stick with the story because she sounds like a robot but it gets better later so if you can hang on do so. It's a good listen still a bit confusing though.

Complex story telling with non stop action!

I've read other comments on how others have found Ms. Chance's style of story telling hard to understand, but I think that may be because they were expecting a romantic story with a little of action and adventure in it. Well there is some romance, but the action and adventure is almost non stop. I would love more romance to happen between Cassie and John because he has more of a future to offer than a vampire, we will have to see.
So if you are trying to read these books for the romance you will be sorely disappointed. If you are use to reading complex stories of battle and the trials the hero or heroine have to go through to achieve the peace they want then these are the books for you.

You have to understand the time line Ms. Chance is sticking Cassie in; she has been sheltered all her life then all of a sudden she is thrown into this crazy position of power and expected to save not only Earth, but the demon and fairy world's as well from Gods! Cassie is only doing all of this with in a three month period with no training in anything! I would be freaking out and going insane if it were me.

So if you love to read stories of the impossible odds the heroine has to face and maybe be a little freaked out by all of it while she is doing it then this story will please you. It makes for some very funny moments where I was cry laughing my head off. These books would make for a wonderful TV series; hint...hint out there anyone?

If you ever read your readers comments Ms. Chance could you please add more romantic scenes with John and Cassie! I mean some really sizzling ones! Please!