Carrots

By: Colleen Helme

Narrated by: Wendy Tremont King

Length: 8 hrs and 39 mins

Publisher's Summary

Shelby Nichols is an average woman who is married to the only guy she ever fell for. Her life is organized and predictable, revolving around her husband and two children. All that changes the day she stops at the grocery store for some carrots. As the cashier rings up her purchases, a gunman is busy robbing the bank inside the store. When a customer grabs the robber's mask, he is shot and everyone runs for cover. Everyone except Shelby, who finds herself face to face with the killer.

The next thing she knows, she's lying on the floor with a bullet wound to her head. Luckily, the bullet only grazes her scalp, and she doesn't suspect any lasting affects until later, when she suddenly 'hears' what people are thinking. With this uncanny ability, her life takes on a whole new dimension. Her kids think she's bossy and too old to understand them, but that's nothing compared to her husband. He says he loves her, but what is it about the redhead at work that he doesn't want her to know?

As if that isn't enough, the gunman knows she can identify him, and he's out to silence her forever. In her fight to stay alive, she is saved from certain death by a handsome hit-man with ties to organized crime. This pulls Shelby even deeper into danger, where knowing someone's thoughts can not only hurt her feelings, but get her killed.

©2011 Colleen Helme (P)2013 Colleen Helme

Fantastic story and flawless audio! Get it!

I first bought Carrots for Kindle in 2011 on a whim. Naturally when I got the chance to listen to it as an Audible book I couldn't wait to listen to it.

As a Regional Officer with the British Diplomatic Corps, I travel bi-weekly, usually to a foreign country and usually it is a long, long long airplane trip. So I really want something that will capture my attention, and really pass the time without FEELING like 9, 10, or 11 hours is going by, steadily sucking the will to live from my body like a black hole.

I decided to start getting audible books since I have devices I can use that will enable me to listen in comfort and pass the time.

I was a little concerned about listening to Carrots, as I had read it, and I have just finished the newest book in the series, Trapped by Revenge, the 5th Shelby Nichols adventure. Boy, was I wrong.

Well, was I? There I am, sitting in my seat, and listening to Wendy King's phenomenal audio production, and now I'm gasping out loud. The first time, I knocked my drink over. Next thing I know, I'm laughing out loud, and Mr. 5E sitting next to me thinks I'm taking a nutty. Nothing daunted, I'm worse than the person at the movie theater who then starts talking to the screen: "No, no, don't go in there!" By this time on my overnight flight Mr. 5E is snoring, but I think the flight attendants began rooting about for their Valium reserves.

Fortunately, I was not incarcerated upon landing, but I just loved listening to the book. Possibly more than reading it! It was fresh, it was so well done and so consistently produced that there was nothing to complain about. I was sucked into the story completely, and 8 plus hours seem to pass in the blink of an eye.

It is hard in a way to separate the content of the book from the audio production. The book was incredibly well written, the story very enjoyable, the characters entirely believable, and the quality of the writing fantastic. Equally, Wendy's voice characterizations were right on the money. She puts just enough intonation and inflection into the recordings that you can tell when it's Shelby, you can tell when it's Uncle Joey, and you can tell when it's Ramos. It is what I think of as understated elegance.

I would recommend this Audible book to anyone. The Shelby Nichols adventures stand in and of their own right, but it is far more enjoyable listening to the professional, flawless recording in some ways than reading the book. What it really did was make me want to listen to them all, so I am now eagerly awaiting the release of the next book through Audible.

This is an absolute winner: Do yourself a favor: Get it!

94 of 98 people found this review helpful

Entertaining work.

This was a totally implausible, yet highly entertaining piece of fiction. Shelby Nichols is a highly likable well-drawn character. Uncle Joe is the ruthless, yet loyal and good-hearted Mafia Chieftain. Enjoy the selection; it's all in good fun; even the gunfights that kill multiple people.

29 of 30 people found this review helpful

Eh - I could not get through it.

The main character is pathetic and not well written. The dialogue seems to be written at the 5th grade level and the whole being "shocked" at profanity lost me. Oh - and her reaction to witnessing a murder? "I felt bad".... soooo - no depth there. Maybe this is a Christian writer, but it seemed as if she was just let out of a closet from the 1950's - people just don't talk like this. Maybe the series gets better in the later books, but this was not even worth the 4.95.

7 of 7 people found this review helpful

Great story line

Would you listen to Carrots again? Why?

Have listened to it again..to see what I might have missed the first time through.The plot is great...it kept you wondering,whats next.

What does Wendy Tremont King bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

Wendy King is the character.

Any additional comments?

Will be happy when the rest of the series can be had at audibel..Hope it will be soon!!!!!!

15 of 16 people found this review helpful

Interesting listen with a twist, great!

If you could sum up Carrots in three words, what would they be?

This is a great cozy, I can't wait for the next installment. The story and characters are easy to follow and the narrator is perfect and does a wonderful job.

What does Wendy Tremont King bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

Wendy does a fantastic job reading this book, she nails every inflection and switches characters seamlessly.

15 of 16 people found this review helpful

Light, Fun and Entertaing!

I got "Carrots" after listening to book six "Deep in Death" and enjoyed it so much I picked the first book to start the series from the beginning.

Carrots was a really good story but after listening to book six in the series, I can confidently say the stories get better so if you are undecided about continuing the series, I think you definitely like the other books in the series (at least book six which hints of events from earlier stories.)

Carrots does set the foundation for future stories and the characters are developed throughout the series.

While PNR are my favorite types of stories, I love to break and listen to stories like Carrots that are light, fun and highly entertaining.

12 of 13 people found this review helpful

I thoroughly enjoyed this book

I very much enjoyed this book. It made me laugh and you could just image the main character. The narrator was very good.

18 of 20 people found this review helpful

AudioBook Review Stars: Overall: 4 Narration: 4

Oh this was a fun story, and the narration provided by Wendy Tremont King provided lots of aural interest as she moves between characters, with subtle and distinct changes to pitch and tone that provided each character with their own particular feel. As the main character, Shelby, her performance managed to incorporate the character’s emotions, concerns, patios and sense of ‘thinking on her feet’ in the delivery: a really good match.

Shelby is your more typical suburban Mom, or was, before a badly aimed gunshot grazed her head and left her able to hear everyone’s thoughts. The complications could be endless in this situation: married, kids, grocery shopping, running into a colleague of her husband that doesn’t particularly like or respect you. Sure, we think we want to know what people think, but having that much honesty and unfiltered access to someone’s thoughts not spoken would be overwhelming. And that is exactly Shelby’s reactions. At first.

But, when the realization hits, and it seems that the person who shot her is also gunning for her: poor Shelby, rather reserved, clean spoken, and not particularly good at lying to her husband is tossed into a series of situations that will test her skills and her nerves.

Told in Shelby’s point of view, we are able to see that her natural manner of behavior is not to be sly or dishonest, and her habit of speaking first and thinking later combined with her own lack of pretense and agenda in her relationships make her rather a poor judge of character. It isn’t until she uses the new gift that she is brought face to face with her own lack of dissembling, and her sharing with us also gives us a unique perspective into the characters: good and bad.

And there are several characters: Shelby’s husband Chris is understanding, loves her dearly, and is completely unnerved by her own new skill. Even with his lack of realization of Kate’s interest in him in more than a lawyer to lawyer colleague way is rather typically male, he isn’t interested, so he doesn’t see it. Kate is not particularly likable: even without her overt attentions toward her husband, but there was more beneath her veneer. Uncle Joey and his other associates are rather fun characters: you see the bad guys from the thoughts Shelby shares with us, and through her particular skewed desire to be helpful and wanting to like them.

No, this wasn’t a mystery with the culprit a total surprise at the end, but I find those more entertaining: especially when you are led through the story by a character like Shelby. She’s just klutzy enough to hint at a Lucille Ball styled character, and like Lucy her intentions are really all good. She just doesn’t always see the writing on the wall until it is too late. It was light, fun and entertaining and wrapped up satisfactorily at the end.

I received an AudioBook copy of the title from the publisher via AudioBook Jukebox for purpose of honest review. I was not compensated for this review: all conclusions are my own responsibility.

19 of 22 people found this review helpful

Ugh

VERY simplistic writing. Narrator made it worse, flat and slow. Men in particular spoke slowly. I reread other reviews and I'm baffled.

8 of 9 people found this review helpful

I loved every aspect of it!

A housewife with 2 children ages 12 and 14 and a lawyer husband decides to stop by the grocery store in a rainstorm to pick up carrots. While waiting in the checkout line she hears a gunshot and she freezes. The bank in the store is being robbed and the gunman who has already shot a man shoots at her grazing her scalp taking some skin. The woman, Shelby Nichols, is taken to the emergency room for stitches. She soon realizes she can hear what other people are thinking.

Shelby's new talent gets her into a lot of trouble/interesting situations. This delightful police procedural is not realistic, but it is interesting and fun I enjoyed every minute of this novel and I highly recommend it. It is the first novel by Colleen Helme to which I have listened; it will not be the last. It is also the first time I've heard Wendy Tremont King narrate; she is outstanding.

11 of 13 people found this review helpful

Fantastic!

I read this book years ago and loved it, but I have to say the audio version brings the story to life thanks to the fabulous narrator Wendy Tremont King .

All because she needed carrots!

Shelby Nichols is an average woman who is married to the only guy she ever fell for. Her life is organized and predictable, revolving around her husband and two children. All that changes the day she stops at the grocery store for some carrots.

As the cashier rings up her purchases, a gunman is busy robbing the bank inside the store. When a customer grabs the robber's mask, he is shot and everyone runs for cover. Everyone except Shelby, who finds herself face to face with the killer. The next thing she knows, she's lying on the floor with a bullet wound to her head.

Luckily, the bullet only grazes her scalp, and she doesn't suspect any lasting affects until later, when she suddenly 'hears' what people are thinking.

With this uncanny ability, her life takes on a whole new dimension. Her kids think she's bossy and too old to understand them, but that's nothing compared to her husband. He says he loves her, but what is it about the redhead at work that he doesn't want her to know?

As if that isn't enough, the gunman knows she can identify him, and he's out to silence her forever. In her fight to stay alive, she is saved from certain death by a handsome hit-man with ties to organized crime. This pulls Shelby even deeper into danger, where knowing someone's thoughts can not only hurt her feelings, but get her killed.

I loved this book!

Shelby goes from stay-at-home mom, to reluctantly working for a mob boss. All because she needed carrots!

In this fun and fast paced story, excellently narrated by Wendy Tremont King. With a great set of characters, in this well plotted and written first in a series novel.

I voluntarily reviewed this audiobook. Supplied by the author, and download via Audible.co.uk