Shiver

By: Karen Robards

Narrated by: Shannon McManus

Length: 10 hrs and 10 mins

Publisher's summary

If driving a piece-of-crap tow truck through the seediest part of town with a Smith & Wesson beside her means putting a roof over her son’s head, then Samantha Jones is going to be the best damn repo woman on the books. The streetwalkers, the drug pushers, the bands of looking-for-trouble punks haunting the mean streets at midnight don’t intimidate her. These are her people. The guy she finds bound and bloodied in the trunk of her latest conquest, a flashy new BMW, is a different breed entirely.

Daniel Panterro was certain he was going to die. Instead, by a stroke of luck, he was beaten to within an inch of his life and left for dead. But if he’s having a bad day, Sam’s day is about to get way worse. Danny knows he hasn’t seen the last of the vicious drug runners who kidnapped him from protective custody. His only recourse is to take his pretty savior hostage and force her to help him. There’s no going back for Sam and her four-year-old son, Tyler. They’re in way too deep.

With ruthless killers stalking their trail, Sam’s only choice is to trust this handsome, menacing stranger. But as she relinquishes control, Sam feels an unmistakable desire. Could she be tempted by Danny, who seems intent on protecting her and Tyler from even his own darkest secrets? And what is the price of falling in love with a man who operates on the edge of danger — her heart, her life... or both?

©2012 Karen Robards (P)2012 Brilliance Audio, Inc.

Loved it!

Any additional comments?

This was a great book. It does start off a tad bit slow but it picks up. The narrator was good,no complaints. All in all a very enjoyable book.

Couldn't stop listening!

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

Yes! Good intensity.

What did you like best about this story?

Characters are likable, but not cheesy.

Which scene was your favorite?

The bedroom.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

Yes!

Any additional comments?

Can't wait to read another Karen Robards book.

Iffy...

Would you recommend this book to a friend? Why or why not?

I would not recommend this book. It has a good story but it moves too slowly and has little substance.

Has Shiver turned you off from other books in this genre?

No

What three words best describe Shannon McManus’s voice?

Expressive but annoying

Do you think Shiver needs a follow-up book? Why or why not?

No. I couldn't bear to muddle through more tedious text to learn more about these characters. I also suspect that the author does not really understand 4-year old children.

Awesome

What did you love best about Shiver?

The story was very interesting, Narrated beautifully, stayed up way too late, just could not shut it off.

Who was your favorite character and why?

Sam, she was so brave and strong yet vulnerable.

Which scene was your favorite?

When they finally got together

Tight suspense

I found myself so involved in the narration and story that during a particularly suspenseful section, I was sweating!

Drags

What would have made Shiver better?

Storyline disjointed and rambling

What do you think your next listen will be?

Cry No More - Linda Howard

Did Shannon McManus do a good job differentiating all the characters? How?

The reader did a good job with voices - she had child, female, male, foreign, etc.

If you could play editor, what scene or scenes would you have cut from Shiver?

It really dragged during escape from initial capture and during the safe house.

Any additional comments?

I have really liked this author in the past and think this is just a fluke that this one dragged and was not the usual cliff hanger.

Thriller

Loved it, keep you on edge of your seat! Great great great great great great

Excellent

Narrator was great...Good story. It kept me on the edge of my seat the whole book

Lots of action.

This book has action, intrigue, love. Strong, sassy woman who saves the day. Almost. Ups downs, who can you trust? Dodging bullets, Dodging bad guys. The story was edge of your seat.
The narrator adds that bit extra that makes the book all the more an enjoyment to listen to.

More a Shake-up than a Shiver

My review of Shiver must begin with a disclaimer. I read only the first few lines of the summary before buying it. As a result, it wasn't until I was about 20% through it that I realized, to my dismay, that I was trapped in a ROMANCE NOVEL. However, I didn't stop listening and what follows are my reason/s why.

From the outset, Karen Robards does a skilled job of writing a piece of pulp fiction. The story sets its course solidly; twenty-three year old single mom, devoted to her child, mature beyond her years, works third shift driving a tow truck, repoing cars to support her child. The setting is the seamier side of East St. Louis, and the streets are mean streets. Sam is fearless and resourceful until the night she picks a late job. Easy enough, its a BMW and prime for the picking. UNtil the trunk pops open and inside is a guy, wounded and beaten. In the brief moment that Sam hesitates, the same hit man who plopped this guy in the trunk now adds Sam to his haul. Just like that, Sam and Danny are thrust together -no pun intended of course- and off goes the story.

I think what kept me going from this point on was the fact that each time the reader feels a romantic moment coming on -Sam oogling Danny's butt or muscles, or what not- the story explodes into some wild act of violence. A particularly taut scene is when Danny, on Sam's phone, listens to the torture of her son's babysitter by the cartel hitmen. In fact, the novel goes on like that until the conclusion.

The performance is also really excellent. The reader expertly captures the attitude, the savvy, of Sam's character. Never mind the proposterous storyline; Danny is not a former federal agent who went over to the cartel and has become a protected witness to save his butt. No, he is actually an FBI special agent pretending to be a protected witness while the real witness is providing the FBI with testimony. Its all a weird melodrama and romance that works because the author, helped immensely by the reader, has a flair and a sense of how pulp fiction (the style, not the film) works and uses that with a skilled hand.

I think having finished listening to Shiver, my only question for the author is who she and the publisher planned to market this to. Fans of Jack Reacher will turn this off about a third of the way through, though they shouldn't, and fans of romance are going to be a little unnerved by the level of violence. Actually, this story has its best chance when someone buys the option for the film. Can't miss. So, give it a chance, like me, you may not be able to turn it off.