Close to the Bone

Widow's Island Novella, Book 1

By: Kendra Elliot

Narrated by: Christine Williams

Length: 2 hrs and 46 mins

Publisher's summary

An Amazon Charts bestseller.

From Wall Street Journal bestselling author Kendra Elliot comes the first novella in the thrilling Widow’s Island series.

FBI Special Agent Cate Wilde is back home on a remote Pacific Northwest island when she gets the call: a teenager’s skeletal remains have been found on a nearby island.

Together with Tessa Black, a childhood friend turned local deputy, Cate confronts dreary weather and bleak leads to make sense of the death. The complications pile up as Cate is distracted by the coroner on the case - and by nagging memories that draw her twenty years into the past. The remains suggest eerie similarities between this victim, and Cate and Tessa’s friend Samantha, who disappeared when she was fourteen.

Cate finds herself up against closemouthed locals, buried town secrets, and even her own heart. As the case unravels, will she be able to cut through the fog and find justice for the missing and the dead?

©2018 Oceanfront Press Company. (P)2018 Brilliance Publishing, Inc., all rights reserved.

Okay story and lousy narration..

Okay, this could never be one of my favorite novellas by Kendra Elliot. However, I don’t know if it was a bad novella or if it was the bad narration that made it bad. If I get the next book it will be to just read it.

It was about bones that were dug up and the search for the killer, which was a surprise when I found out who it was.

I liked Kate (FBI) and Tessa (Deputy) and Henry (new doctor in town) they were great characters

A slight touch of romance and the F-bomb was used 6 times.

As to the narration: 29 Performance reviews and 24 were 4 and 5 stars? You gotta be kidding.
Christine Williams totally stunk. Every single person, male and female, sounded the same. How can anyone give a narrator 5 stars while listening to a man that sounds like a girl? Not to mention she reads without emotions. I’m done listening to Kendra Elliot if that’s the kind of narrator she and her publisher choose. I’ve read or listened to 11 of KE’s books and novellas and this is the worse yet. Christine Williams narrates the next novella too, A Bone to Pick, so I won’t be getting that audio. If you can’t even attempt to sound manly Ms. Williams you shouldn’t be a narrator. IMO.

Not up to Kendra Elliot's normal standards

All of Kendra Elliot's audiobooks are in my Audible library and almost all have earned 5 stars. Her novella CLOSE TO THE BONE is OK, but is a disappointment. The bigger disappointment is the narration by Christine Williams. Kate Rudd has narrated most of Elliot's audiobooks superbly. I wish she had narrated this novella.

Not for Me

Maybe an ok story but I can't get past the narrator. Her performance is not what I like. There is no "acting" in her reading, it's like she just reads a book without feeling for the characters. I stopped trying about half way through the book.
I really like Kendra Elliot but not this performer.

Ending stinks

I don't like to be left hanging like that! Do they get the bones identified???? Bummer ending!!!!!

AWFUL

The narrator was awful the book was really short corny about an island with ghost and killers and FBI agent with a past it was awful!

Kendra Elliot continued to intrigued

I loved the book! Kendra continued to hold me on the edge of my sit with this book as she did with the prior ones!

I'd recommend reading, not listening

I had a hard time enjoying the story. Maybe, if I'd read it instead of listening, I would have enjoyed it more. The story itself wasn't bad, but there was so much thinking in the characters head, the narrator didn't differentiate between the spoken word and thought. The thought was always in first person. I was not impressed with the narration, the narrator couldn't give you the impression of different characters. It didn't help that I'd just listened to a book with an excellent narrator. If I had to, I think I'd recommend reading and not listening to this book.

Close to the bone

Excellent stor y. Short tquickly told. She writes smoothly and the retains your interest throughout .
Y

It was a great quick read. But it ended too soon.

I hope there is more to follow. I would like to know more about these people and this interesting place.

Disappointing

Very disappointing read. Uninteresting characters with a good storyline that is poorly written .
The romance probably picks up in the next book but I honestly don't know if I would take the time to bother reading it.

A great start to this thriller series.

I raced through this one in a day. It’s only a few hours so an easy task.

Even though this is a novella, it still had all the elements needed to create a well-rounded story while introducing us to a new world and characters.

It is set on WIDOW’S ISLAND and starts with the discovery of bones. We see the new local doctor, Henry, step up as coroner, and Cate who’s on medical leave from the FBI steps in as lead investigator due to the ferry to the mainland being out of action and her back on the island for some R&R.

Christine does a great job with the narration. Bringing life to this whodunnit. I thought all the characters played their part and enjoyed it enough to get started on the second book straight away.