Close to the Bone

Widow's Island Novella Series, 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 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!!!!!

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.

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.

Great

Great story very intriguing and keeps you enthralled. The narrator done a spectacular job with this book. I recommend it.

Not as thrilling as I had hoped

Great narration and story line wss good, it just wasn't a page turner for me.

good story bad ending

I know a lot of reviewers have criticized the narration but I thought it was well done. The story was worth the read or listen, however the ending very disappointing. No real climax, nothing resolved, not even cliffhanger. The story just kind fades away. Other than that its a decent story. I will read the next in the series to see if there is improvement or if this is a trademark of the author.