Crazy Little Thing

By: Tracy Brogan

Narrated by: Lori Reyes

Length: 9 hrs and 15 mins

Publisher's Summary

Bell Harbor is a one-million copy bestselling series.

If Sadie Turner is good at anything, it’s putting stuff in order. So when she finds her “perfect” life in disarray, she hopes a summer vacation at her aunt’s lake house will help her piece it back together. She wants to relax, reboot, and heal the wounds left by her cheating ex-husband. And that requires time away from men. All men. 

Or so she thinks. 

With two slobbering dogs and two cousins living there - one a flamboyant decorator intent on making over Sadie - it’s hard to get a moment’s peace at eccentric Aunt Dody’s house, especially with everyone so determined to set her up with Desmond, the sexy new neighbor.

Desmond is Sadie’s worst nightmare. Tall, tanned, muscular...and to top it off, he’s great with her kids. But he must have a flaw - he’s a man - so Sadie vows to keep her distance.

As summer blazes on, the life Sadie is trying so hard to simplify only becomes more complicated - a new career presents itself, her evil ex haunts her, and Aunt Dody reveals a tragic secret - but maybe a little chaos is just what Sadie needs to get her life back in order.

©2012 by Tracy Brogan. (P)2012 Brilliance Audio, all rights reserved.

Notes for the Narrator

Would you try another book from Tracy Brogan and/or Lori Reyes?

I might try another book by the author. The writing is predictable. When the main character would think something like "I'm acting stupid" I would find myself thinking, "Yes, you REALLY are-- in fact, too stupid for someone of that age." I would not try Lori Reyes again. I found myself switching to other books and not really caring if I finished this one.

Would you recommend Crazy Little Thing to your friends? Why or why not?

No. IMO, you should only recommend books that you think are great and worth reading.

What didn’t you like about Lori Reyes’s performance?

Ms. Reyes needs to work on her character voices. Her normal voice is -- well, normal for a woman. Soothing low tone which was great for the main character. But for every other female character, she raised her voice. For the great aunt (80-something year old woman) she went extremely high pitched -- higher than the 6 yr old girl. Plus, for every inflection she went a little screechy. I tried to ignore it but by chapter 8 I finally switched to the Kindle version of the book and used "Text-to-Speech" so the computer voice could read the book. It's a terrible reflection on the narrator when a computer does a better job. I strongly suggest she never uses that high pitched voice again. Also, for the gay man character she used a "swishy" voice that sounded like she had a slight lisp. In real life, they don't sound that way. I've known several flamboyant, "swishy" gay man and they only time they use that tone or inflection is when they are making fun of the stereotype. The only time I've heard a gay man use that tone was an actor on TV or a movie.

If this book were a movie would you go see it?

No. And they wouldn't make this into a movie. Not even a Lifetime movie. Too predictable and the character's behavior was annoyingly stupid.

Meh... avoid this Narrator at all costs

I needed a lighthearted story and this would certainly count as one. A nice distraction, nothing too gripping and missing a day here or there didn't stress me out like sometimes when I'm in the throes of a great listen. No pressure to grab a listen... stress free.

The narrator tanked it, however. If my elderly aunt spoke in the same screechy voice the narrator used when reading Aunt Dodie, I'd run for the hills, not spend a summer vacation with her! And the Scottish accent the narrator used for the love interest, sounded more like a muddled Dutch/Swedish accent... just miserable... this makes me wonder if the author auditions narrators before letting them read their books?
Anyway, I am just finishing and and it was a chore, let me tell you! Trade a credit at your own risk on this one!

I hate to say this, but....

the voices were awful. The narrator's voice is quite nice, but Aunt Dodie's voice was like nails on a chalkboard. The story was good enough to keep me hanging in there. Not great, but good working/driving story.

Squeaking awful narration

The voice of the aunt was horribly annoying. I could not listen with earbuds in. Eventually I gave up. Aren't these recorded in studios? Why doesn't someone say that voice is horrible, like nails on a chalkboard ? Ruined the entire book for me.

couldn't get past chapter 3

How could the performance have been better?

The voice of the narrator was just so grating and sing songy. The accents were stereotypical and so overdone

endless twaddle

the narration was great for just the main character. listening to the rest was difficult, especially the aunts voice. story kept repeating the same things endlessly and skipping over things that could have had some interest. didnt connect with any of the characters. very shallow characterizations. no depth.

Awful!

Any additional comments?

This was a waste of my time and credit. It was an awful story that in my opinion centered mostly around aunt Doodie. The romance was severely lacking! The narration of Aunt Doodie was utterly annoying making an already crappy story even crappier! Don't waste your credit on this one!

4 ½ stars. Very enjoyable first person narrative.

Don’t do the audiobook - terrible narrator. Read the paperback or ebook.

Story Brief:
Sadie and her children spend the summer with Aunt Dody and cousins. Sadie is recently divorced. She doesn’t want a new relationship, but she is attracted to Dody’s gorgeous neighbor Desmond.

Opinion:
I really enjoyed this. I smiled a lot. I liked being in Sadie’s head. I loved her interaction with her cousin Fontaine, a gay interior decorator. I enjoyed the developing relationship with Desmond. This was not a powerful wow story. It’s a pleasant, everyday people around you kind of story. There were several conflicts caused by Sadie making inaccurate assumptions and jumping to wrong conclusions. Those were nicely done. But one of them bothered me - toward the end Sadie was mad at Des for something that she should not have been mad about.

Sadie has some low self image problems and does some silly things. I was fine with that, but some readers might prefer a stronger heroine. This book has a chick lit feel, but it does have a romantic happy ending. Although I wish there were more romance and declaration of love at the end.

The narrator Lori Reyes was a huge problem. She had a terrible, high-pitched screechy voice for Dody and the children. It was like fingernails on a chalkboard. I cringed every time she used that voice. She would be a good narrator if she NEVER raised her voice to a higher pitch. Her natural voice and low voice for men was good.

Genre: contemporary romance, divorce

Awful Narrator

What did you like about this audiobook?

I just purchased the book today and I have already had to toss it out. The narrator is the worst. She is so annoying that I can not listen to the book. It is a shame because the story line sounded good.

What did you find wrong about the narrator's performance?

Awful. Annoying. Can not listen to book.

Underwhelming -bordering time wasting

Would you try another book from Tracy Brogan and/or Lori Reyes?

I can't tell if I didn't like the book or if I didn't like the preformer. I wouldn't be quick to try another book from this author. I really disliked the main character, so I might try another Tracy Brogan just to see if it was the character I didn't like and not her writing.

What do you think your next listen will be?

I just purchased Outlander by Diana Gabaldon, so I will be giving that a go next.

Would you be willing to try another one of Lori Reyes’s performances?

No, I am curious actually to see if it was her performance that I hated or the characters of the book that I didn't buy into. I think that her portrayal of all of the main characters ruined the book for me. I hated the overexaggerated flaymboyancey of the main characters cousin and the horrible high pitched portrayal of her wacky aunt. I love both of the characters, but the voices for them and the inntonation of 'their' voices I think really underminded the way they were written.

If you could play editor, what scene or scenes would you have cut from Crazy Little Thing?

The scene where Sadie runs off after their post dinner prelude on the first date. I thought the author may have been trying to portray how unsure she was about herself, or how uncomfertable Sadie is getting back into the dating scene, but I hated how it was done.

Any additional comments?

I had a real problem with the main character. For some reason I didn't find her relatable at all. Maybe I see some of her flaws a little to critically. I think the main piece I took issue with was how powerless she made herself. I get that after her divorce she would need to work on her empowerment and trust issues, but I found her "flaws" to be so dramatically portrayed that it almost seemed dishonest and unnatural.

lovely gentle story

performed well except for the dodgy Scottish accent. lovely romantic story with adorable characters especially Dodi

Poor

The story line is poor and so boringly predictable. The gays are predictably always nice and like all the other characters exaggerated and unatractive making it impossible to believe in any of them. To make it worse the accents are annoying. Where did the Scottish accent come from. If the novel had been any good this would have ruined it.