Flying Changes

By: Sara Gruen

Narrated by: Catherine Gaffney

Length: 11 hrs and 28 mins

Publisher's summary

Anxiety rules Annemarie Zimmer's days - the fear that her relationship with the man she loves is growing stagnant; the fear that equestrian daughter Eva's dreams of Olympic glory will carry her far away from her mother . . . and into harm's way. For five months, Annemarie has struggled to make peace with her past. But if she cannot let go, the personal battles she has won and the heights she has achieved will have all been for naught.

It is a time of change at Maple Brook horse farm, when loves must be confronted head-on and fears must be saddled and broken. But it is an unanticipated tragedy that will most drastically alter the fragile world of one remarkable family even as it flings open gates that have long confined them, enabling them all to finally ride headlong and free.

©2005 Sara Gruen (P)2011 HarperCollins Publishers

Dreadful narration! Don't bother downloading!

I listened to Sara's first book and the narration was quite good, albeit annoying at times with the aggressive tone. However, this book's narrator doesn't even pronounce the names correctly and her tone is irritatingly Polyanna. I finally gave up and downloaded the written version. Don't waste your money on this one!

terrible production.

not sure I can get past chapter 1. terrible pronunciation. The performer is not the same as first book and clearly has never heard the German word for mother properly pronounced! It's driving me nuts!

Book-Good. Narrator-Needs work

What didn’t you like about Catherine Gaffney’s performance?

The narrator needs to learn how to properly pronounce the words. I've dealt with this in other audio books, also. The German word "Mutti" is NOT pronounced Mutt-ee. It's pronounced MooTee. Never having read the hard copy, it took me a couple of chapters to figure out who exactly this 'Mutt' person was. Very distracting, because every time she says it, I just want to scream at her.

Great book!

Enjoyed it and will listen again, to both this one as well as the first! Great story and good narrator.

I am so distracted by the mispronounced words. ugh

The narrator is just not the right person for this story. I wish they'd used the same person for this book as the first.

Horses, you gotta love 'em

This was a really good and sweet story about horses, teenage girl and her mom. It was well written and performed. I would encourage anyone who loves horses to read it.

If you can get past the narrator, it's a good read

The original narrator was incredible. But the one for this book left much to be desired. She has no idea how a german accent sounds, let alone how words are supposed to be pronounced. It's so aggravating to hear Moo-tee pronounced Mutt-ee over. And over. And over.
Plus she always sounds like she's smiling? Like even during tense moments it sounds like she's reading a story to her child lovingly... It's just overall not a good fit for this story.

The story itself though is one I've enjoyed in print for many, many years. Just bummed I won't be just as happy with the audio version.

Better than the first one

Before listening I was hesitant to start the sequel, because the main character is a totally self absorbed hot mess. I didn’t know if I could take more of her, however the writing is so good, it stayed with me and I was relieved to find this sequel even better. I know people complained about the first reader but I found this one way way more believable and much less annoying. This one is a pleasure 👏🏽

Sequel Story well told-Disappointing follow through

Pronunciation and Continuation from Riding Lessons was lacking.
Nickname was mispronounced.
Tone of voice was appropriately softer for Flying Changes, but still a bit to different from Riding Lessons.
Irritating details.
Enjoyable nonetheless, because, the story is just that good.
It would be really nice if Sara Gruen wrote another book!