An Unexpected Distraction

Richter, Book 3

By: Catherine Bybee

Narrated by: Lori Prince, Joe Arden

Length: 9 hrs and 29 mins

Publisher's Summary

Family secrets and fresh romance collide in this heart-pounding Richter series installment by New York Times and USA Today bestselling author Catherine Bybee.

Jacqueline “Jax” Simon knows how to expose secrets: she’s a skilled operative with MacBain Security and Solutions. When Jax hears her parents are divorcing, she races to London to find out why. She’s determined to learn the truth, especially when her investigation uncovers why her parents sent her to Richter, the German military school that made her a fighter.

Andrew Craig collects Jax at Heathrow Airport as a favor. He’s heard she’s a handful, but he didn’t know she’s dangerously gorgeous too. His instant attraction could change his life...or end it.

Jax doesn’t want to fall for Andrew, but soon he’s worming his way into her life. Together, they infiltrate Richter to discover if it has returned to its covert purpose: training children to be spies and assassins and blackmailing parents to look the other way. As the attraction between the two intensifies, so do the secrets exploding all around them. How deadly are those secrets - and who will survive?

©2021 Catherine Kimmer (P)2021 Brilliance Publishing, Inc., all rights reserved.

Performance was terrible

I really loved this series but switched to reading vs listening. I couldn’t deal with the performance of Lori Prince. She was terrible! Needs lots of help with her accents. Sounded like she was struggling not to cry half the time. Only reason I gave it 3 stars was because of Joe Arden.

Great story, horrible British accents!

I’ve listened to or read every book in this series. I’ve been wanting for An Unexpected Distraction to release since finishing A Thin Disguise. The cringy accents was an unexpected distraction. At certain points I was unsure which character was speaking because the accent all bled together. I will read this and try to forget about the horrid audible version. Story is 8/10 I’d recommend reading it versus getting the audible version.

Female Narrator Was Painful to listen to!!

I look forward to a Catherine Bybee story.
Unfortunately this one was pretty awful. The story jumped all over the place AND the female narration was terrible. It really ruined it for me.
If a narrator cannot pull off the languages that are called for, then it would be better for her to just read the story
and not Mangle the various languages…..
Definitely my least favorite Catherine Bybee book.

Very Good Story

4.5 Stars for me!

My rating range of this story... 4.25 - 4.50
If significant, why?

Main Character Ratings...
H = 8/10
h = 9/10

Narrator Rating(s)
M = n/a
F = 8/10
If below 5/10,why?

Was cheating involved? No
Any major triggers to be aware of? No

If Comedy... Type? n/a
Genuinely Funny
Cringe Inducing
Just No!

Angst Level? Moderate
Light, Moderate, Heavy or Please Stop


Scenes with heat... Yes
What point does it start? 60%
How much of the story? 3%
Anything beyond M/F? No
If yes, explained

Heat Rating... 6/10
Clean or Fade to Black - 1 or 2
Normal to Descriptive 3-5
Detailed Descriptive Sex - 6-7
Um, Wow, Beyond Descriptive Sex - 8 or above

Was there so much sex or unrealistic sex that you rolled your eyes and/or skipped forward? No

The back story... The h travels home to England when her brother asks her to to help with family problems. Dad has moved in with her brother and mom is overly proper. She decides to find out what is going on since both parents are being stingy with information. Brother sent a friend to pick the h up at the airport and there is instant attraction between the two.

The Romance... Builds quickly throughout the story, especially as they learn more about each other.

The drama explosion... The bad guy makes his big move.
Did it feel Real, OK or contrived? Mostly real
Was it OTT? A bit
Separation involved? Not really
Was it resolved properly or rushed? Properly with a lead in to the next book in the series.

Final Notes... This has been an excellent series and this was a very good read. It is much different from the last story and the relationships were the focus of the first half of the story. The second half is a blur.


HEA or HFN? HEA

Fun story, painful narration

However, the narration is the pits.
The narration goes back and forth, back and forth. totally throwing off the story and the plot.
Neither narrator is good with their voices turning from a male to a female; I could never figure out who was speaking until the book clarified the speaker. It hurt my head to listen

I can say that the story is worth fighting your way through the narration. Twists and turns and a lot of fun.
I could hardly follow the story because the narrating threw me off.
I would have gone on to read the 1st and 2nd books but they are narrated the same way and I cannot stand listening to them.

Great continued story

I would advise anyone to start at the beginning of this series. It is more fun that way. It’s really well plotted. Characters actually grow as the story unfolds through the books.

Great story, terrible accents by narrators

I’ve really enjoyed this series. This book is the third so far. There are a couple of detailed explicit sex scenes that I skipped over, and the accents were just atrociously done by the narrators. The main female character’s accent was never consistent; several times the English accents faded to American English, then jumped back to a more prominent English again. It was very annoying. I pushed through only because of the story.

Lori Prince really messed it up

I love the book, but couldn't stand Lori's narration. She ruined it for me.

Good story, performance not so much

I have enjoyed the story line on this series but have struggled at points with the performance. The accents and voices are not great. If you can listen with being annoyed by the performance it is a great story

Good story; painful narration

Love Joe Arden. Lori prince’s accents were cringeworthy. Between the cockney accent and the Germans sounding like Dracula, it was painful. Wish Emma wilder had been able to narrate this series as well as first wives… great series.

The end....or a new generation?

Fabulous end to this series with Jax finding her HEA in England.

However, I sincerely hope that this is just the end...for now.

Enjoyable romantic thriller

Only disappointment was Lori Prince's element of the narration. Her attempts at English accents for the characters were so poor they were distracting.

A Brilliant story.

I love this author’s writing style, her stories never fails to keep my interest and this one doesn't disappoint but the narrators did not do anything for the story.
The British accent is terrible and there are times when the same character voice sound different or the male and female voice sounds the same. I regret buying the audio version but I love the story

Great book

Wow another fabulous story in this ongoing series. Full of drama and suspense. I cannot wait to read the next book now. Narration was brilliant too

A rival to Claire and Cooper's story

I didn't think anything could match Claire and Cooper's story but this does. The author is highly skilled at pouring emotion into the plot. The only spoiling feature were those awful English accents!

Why why why?

Sadly like a lot of American books involving English people the English accents want you to wince they are so awful I have had to switch off the story.

Excellent

Another story in what is proving to be an excellent series. A series that I came across by accident and have looked forwards to each book as it is comes time for its realise.