Fool Me Once

By: Fern Michaels

Narrated by: Laural Merlington

Length: 10 hrs and 19 mins

Publisher's summary

No other author plumbs the depths of the human heart - or portrays the joys of human redemption - quite like Fern Michaels. In Fool Me Once, she captures the fraught, yet richly satisfying story of one woman's search for the mother she never knew...and her discovery of the woman she's yet to become.

Olivia Lowell always believed her father's claim that her mother died in childbirth, until the shocking day a lawyer informs her that her mother has just passed away, leaving her a fortune. The money comes with a caveat - and a confession. In her will, Olivia's mother reveals that she and two college friends committed a crime long ago, and now she wants Olivia to track down her accomplices and convince them to come clean.

Feeling betrayed by her father, and unsure that she even wants her mother's tainted money, Olivia must decide if she can handle the secrets of the past. Fulfilling her mother's request won't be easy, nor will mending her relationship with her father. But with the help and affections of a handsome young lawyer, and the sweet companionship of her beloved terriers, Olivia will come to understand who her mother really was, and who she, herself, was meant to be...

Don't miss more from Fern Michaels.

©2006 Fern Michaels (P)2006 Brilliance Audio, Inc.

It's Typical Fern Michaels

Any additional comments?

This was typical Fern Michaels, I think it's the narrator that makes them sound alike. I have many Fern Michaels books and this one is my least favorite. The main charachter was such a brat, I wanted to smack her! I did listen to it though to hear the ending, so I guess that says something.

I hated her

This is the first book I simply had to stop listening to! I could not stand the heroine. Her actions were impossible to believe and she whined all the time.

At first I was horrified that I had bought two Fern Michaels books at once, but the other one turned out to be good.

Fool to Pick This Book

While I have enjoyed many of Ms. Michael's novels, this one made me feel like a fool for wasting my time. The plot wandered with no purpose or humor; the main character Olivia was incredibly whiney for a 34 year old woman with no real problems.

Sorry, but if a dead relative left me a huge fortune it would NOT be a tragedy, even if that person was selfish and cruel. Just imagine how much good Olivia could do with millions of dollars.

Instead she spent all her energy on a 40 year old non violent crime. WTF.

Mistakes abound

In the first few chapters, you'll notice a few obvious mistakes, like the fact that she knew her mother committed a crime before she actually finds out that her mother committed said crime. Those were clearly editing mistakes that I could overlook if other problems didn't pop up in the book.

She is thinking of committing her own crime (stealing a dog) when in her first attempt she happens to find an identical dog with identical markings in a Yorkie rescue of all places. What are the chances that out of the 6 dogs they had at the rescue, they found an identical-looking dog, same markings, same age and same-sex. REALLY? Beyond that, the dog worth over $150 million would no doubt be chipped. I can't even begin to add all the other huge plot holes in this part of the book.

The mc's father quit his lucrative accounting firm to study photography so he could work from home and be there for his daughter. Problem with this is that #1 you make WAYYYY more money as an accountant than you do as a wedding photographer in a very small town in the middle of nowhere.

And yes accounting it's something you can do from home. So why would he quit a job where he had a steady, secure income to work a job that is significantly less financially secure when either job could be done from home? This makes no sense. Seriously. Did the author not realize that an accountant could work from home and take on less clients to have more free time?

The book has more than a few of these error-filled plot holes. The author clearly didn't bother to do any real research.