Covenant College

By: Amanda M. Lee

Narrated by: Angel Clark

Length: 36 hrs and 8 mins

Publisher's Summary

Zoe Lake is heading off to college - and she's excited.

It's not a regular college, though. It's a magical college full of vampires, werewolves, ghosts, witches, sphinxes - and pretty much everything else you can imagine.

Despite the monsters, it's often human nature that threatens her life most.

Follow Zoe through four years of college as she grapples with danger, magic, and love. This omnibus includes the entire Covenant College series: Awakening, Whispering, Conjuring, Waxing & Waning, and Graduating.

Get ready for fun, snark, and a love that promises to last a lifetime.

©2015 Amanda M. Lee (P)2017 Amanda M. Lee

Irritating Main Character and Slow Story

What could have made this a 4 or 5-star listening experience for you?

Had the Heroine of the story not been so utterly annoying, and had the male voices been done better (the narrator makes the male voices sound like a child pretending to be an adult), the audible version would have merited an additional star. The non-MC girl voices weren't great either, but they were passable.

What was most disappointing about Amanda M. Lee’s story?

The story takes a long time to get going. The first 1/3 of the first book feels like a "Day-in-the-Life" of a college student. There's practically no reference to, or hint of, anything supernatural, so it's mostly college students partying, having sex and bickering.

Also, (****POSSIBLE SPOILER****) I really didn't like how the alleged date rapes were treated. It took far too long for Zoe (the main character) to intervene. (****END OF POSSIBLE SPOILER****)

Lastly, Zoe was just plain irritating. She often thinks she's being snarky when she's just being mean. She's bossy and judgemental--actually wishing bodily harm on characters that annoy her. It's unfortunate because the premise, a college full of supernaturals, is a fun idea. I'm not super excited to keep going with the series, but I'll give it a go. I recommend buying the omnibus over buying each story individually because you're essentially paying the same price and there's always a chance the storytelling will get better.

How could the performance have been better?

If the male voices had been done better (the narrator makes the male voices sound like a child pretending to be an adult), the audible version would have merited an additional star. It was difficult to relate to, and really care for, the characters because of this. The non-MC girl voices weren't great either, but passable. One of the girl's voices is done in a high-pitched, grating tone and the other is in this weird, languid tone. If the narrator had dialed the voices back a bit, they would have been better.

What character would you cut from Covenant College?

All of the characters have a role and add to the mix, making the story more interesting than if there were fewer characters.

Any additional comments?

Overall, the story is okay and fine enough to pass the time. If the main character, Zoe, wasn't quite so annoying and the narrator's voices weren't quite so irritating, I would have rated this a solid 3, or if it were possible 3.5 stars, but unfortunately, that's not the case.

Just Couldn't Do It

Will be sending this one back. I had high hopes and really attempted sticking it out but everything about it screamed annoying.

not bad but not great

I enjoyed how easy the story was. I found that there were too many characters at times and a bunch were needless. the narrator was one of my least favorites ive ever listened to.

Greek Annoyance

I liked the stories and concept, but Zoey is beyond snarky.....she's a bitch. Her saving grace is that some of her roommates are worse.

The narrator is OK, but if you are going to hire a voice actor for college stories, at least get one who can pronounce Greek letters correctly. CHI is not pronounced like CHIA.

College Soap-oprea

The first three books are literally a college Soap-oprea with the rest of the plot taking a back seat to the everyday "drama".The last three improved but were still full of some pretty silly "drama". The plots were much more developed in the last three with less time spent on the petty bickering.

The narrator’s voice is so annoying

The story overall was slow to get into and the narrator’s voice was so grating it made me cringe several times. It’s hard to listen and enjoy a book when you don’t like the person telling it.

It was mindnumbing

I really disliked this narrator. She cannot do voices for characters while reading with expression.

Always listen to the preview

What would have made Covenant College better?

A different narrator...

What was your reaction to the ending? (No spoilers please!)

I wasn't able to listen to all of it.

What didn’t you like about Angel Clark’s performance?

E-V-E-R-Y-T-H-I-N-G! Her voice and "different voices" for characters, is like nails on a blackboard. I will absolutely NEVER buy anything read by her again.

Any additional comments?

I wish I hadn't bought this.

Not for Everyone

Is there anything you would change about this book?

A faster pace would be nice. A deeper plot. Essentially it is reality TV in book form with a paranormal twist.

How would you have changed the story to make it more enjoyable?

A little more information about the characters and history and description of the paranormal world in the book would have been a good addition

Could you see Covenant College being made into a movie or a TV series? Who should the stars be?

No. the story is too slow for a TV Show.

Any additional comments?

The humor and jokes throughout the book were good.

writing feels lazy to me

No real distinctions between character traits. No real use of magic, it's sporadic and no understanding of it. The main character is horrible, tries to force her way of thinking onto everyone. Too much trashing of other novels and uses pop culture references too much (easy way out of describing things). Sexual conversations between parents and children are inappropriate and uncomfortable. Her other series are better.

I grew to love it

I almost gave up on this as the first hour is so boring but I was addicted after that. If you like supernatural and are a sucker for a live story like I am, and can overlook general failings in plot etc you can enjoy this! At first the characters are just very annoying but somehow grow on you. After that the only thing that bothered me was that there is sooo many unanswered questions in each book, thing suggested or stated but never resolved like the writer just forgot about it. But who cares after the initial 'this is so bad and my brain is dripping out my ear' it grew on me so much I just downloaded the second trilogy straight after so that says it all.

Passed the time!

Was ok I suppose! just listen in drips n drabs, cos some of the voices were a bit squeeky to my liking, but I persevered to the end.

Terrible

The story is horrendous, the characters boring, the plotline so illogical and stupid it makes you cringe at every turn.
They boyfriends are abusive, the main character is vain, rude, super self absorbed and actually quite evil, luckily she is not a complete pushover sometimes so I guess that's good? Though usually that ends in her being told of for being stupid, which to be fair she probably was.
She seems to be a prime example of an author trying to make a 'strong female character', but truly has no idea what that actually looks like.
Oh and did I mention she gets superpowers that seem to do everything, but only at certain times, like finding one person, but for no apparent reason can't find another?

Worth a listen

Really fun listen with laugh out load moments, binged the whole thing in just a few days!

Annoying voice

As always with Amanda M Lee, great books. Only thing that lets these down is the voice. It's so high pitched it grates on your ears.

Brilliant

Great author , main characters, quick wit and fast pace stories with great plots. Have re listen to the whole series including the following series after the college is finished.
Narrator is as well great, very much aimed for young adults and teenagers

Good listen

It took me a while to connect with the main character, but stick with it, you're gonna love her by the end of book 1 😂

great books

loved the characters, made me laugh quite a few times
some good twists , well worth the read

Enjoyable paranormal saga

Any additional comments?

This series is a good listen - I liked Angel Clarke's voicing of the characters, and the story is engaging and entertaining.

Sadly, having also listened to the author's Avery Shaw series, I can't help making the comparison and concluding that Avery just does it better. Zoe Lake is basically a younger, slighhtly less acerbic Avery Shaw, but withotu the endearing Star Wars obsession.

Brilliant

Took me half way into the first book to get into it but after that I spent 2 full days just listening . There was grim bits , very funny and a lot of detail. I loved it , wish there was more after college story’s