Heartbreaker

By: Diana Palmer

Narrated by: Lauren Davis

Length: 5 hrs and 41 mins

Publisher's summary

J.B. Hammock played by his own rules, and rule number one was never settle down. He treated his women well, but with a no-strings detachment they all accepted. But sweet Tellie Maddox hovered about like a gossamer butterfly, always trying to take care of him, always caring about him. It was enough to make a confirmed bachelor take drastic measures.

Then Tellie lost part of her memory. She believed she was J.B.'s faithful sidekick. Even he couldn't be so heartless as to push Tellie aside, and so he played the role of friend...until friendship turned to something else, something so much deeper than a heartbreaker like J.B. ever intended. He was hooked.

Then Tellie's memory returned.

©2006 Diana Palmer (P)2006 Audible, Inc.

Honest

If you believe in emotional abuse this is the book for you. It is classic sick behavior. The author crafted the heroe to be unredeemable. He never took resposibility...it was her innocence and inexperience that forced him to be cruel and destructive to a vunerable, sad girl. There is no "they lived happily ever after" here. Pass this one by.

I feel cheated

I disliked this for different reasons than others perhaps. I went in knowing that the hero was going to be a prize d-bag (he was). That's partially why I read it, that and the amnesia trope. Cheesy and overdone yes, but I enjoy it.

The narrator needs to stick to YA/teen books. She sounded about 13 and there was zero attempt at a Texas accent (which was probably for the best). She also did not attempt to give different voices to different characters. Therefore, unless there were dialogue tags, it was often difficult to tell who was speaking. However, any attempt at a male voice may have been intolerable, so that may have been for the best as well.

It's weird. I've always played it rather safe in my personal love life. I have a good instinct as to who will be a safe bet and who will likely cause trouble of varying sorts. I'm not saying I've never had to deal with jerky behavior, but NEVER to such an extent as you see in these books. In real life, I could never emotionally deal with all the drama. I like things to be peaceful, quiet, stable... I'm an introvert, people wear me out and these volatile heroes would make me homicidal. However, I've found I love to vicariously and safely live some drama through media.

First of all, thumbs up to the shout out to Serenity/Firefly. They weren't mentioned by name, but if you were a fan there was no mistaking the reference.

The hero was a dbag of massive proportions and I still can't buy his reasoning. He was OTT in the verbal abuse category, which isn't my dramatic cuppa. I prefer the more ruthless type of dbag who resorts to blackmail, trickery, and perhaps some cruel accusations in jealous rage - but never someone who is so heavy handed on the belittling. He was just plain mean and hurtful to a young woman 10+ years his junior for no good reason.

Anyway, the heroine is in an accident on rainy roads after an argument with the hero which shouldn't have been an argument at all. Tellie was only there to inform him of his sister's illness, but he blew up at her when she accidentally caught him with his latest bimbo, called her ugly and basically a pathetic loser and she never even gets to tell him about his sister. So, she gets amnesia as a result of the wreck. J.B. sees this as his opportunity to make nice before she remembers. Okay, I'm game. Problem is ...

Spoilers below:
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My favorite part of the amnesia trope is when the heroine remembers and is horrified at the hero and his betrayal/deception. She often freaks the heck out due to the emotional shock of it all. The h is left in a pretty tough situation trying to convince the heroine that what went on while she had amnesia was a reflection of his true feelings for her and he wanted a clean slate, etc. etc. while she rages at him and refuses to listen. We're cheated of that here. She remembers when he's out of town. She leaves and he doesn't see her again until he tracks her down weeks later with a proposal. By that time the main shock/volatility of the situation has been defused. He really has to do very little beyond buy her a cup of coffee, say he's sorry and was so horrible because he loved her all along, but was afraid of losing another woman he loved (lost first love trope) and therefore tried to push her away. Basically, I felt there was all this buildup to a real blowout and the hero being forced to really make a grand gesture/prove his love and it just fizzled. I felt cheated. Woe is me.

Excellent

Very good book, good story line. Would have liked to have a different person to read the story.

Heartbreaker

Story is great narration is wrong the voice sounds like a little girl. April Goodman

Narrator

I realize I had read the paperback of this book. I would have listened to the book but can't stand listening to a child tell a romance story!While she reads well she is too immature for the subject.

disconcerting

Heartbreaker is definitely typical Diana Palmer, although I found the hero a bit less likeable than most. Truthfully his reasoning for treating the heroine so badly was lacking at best. All this for me could be overlooked if not for the fact that the narrator sounded like she was all of 12.
In comparison to some other books, this narrator doesn't even attempt to change voice or inflections to denote other characters so basically it sounded like Telly all through out. Also, I am sure the choice was made to enhance Palmer's heroine's innocence, but her childlike voice was a bit "icky" during the romance scenes especially the ones with sexual descriptions. In the future maybe the narration should be shared by a female and male or someone who is more adept at voices and doesn't sound like maybe she should be reading Harriet The Spy.

The narrator sucks.

It sounds like a 12 year old is reading the story. Find a new narrator

Narrator dislike

Narrator voice sounded like a teenager's. Voice way to young sounding for a Diana Palmer book.

not up to your usual standards

sounds like a child reading this book, not like an adult. why is the older books by this author abridged? sorry I bought this one.

I struggled with the review of this book.

I struggled with the review of this book. I love this story have read it many many times and will probably continue to read it many more times.

The biggest problem I had in leaving this review was the narrator. she sounds like a lovely person. But, her voice sounded like that of a child. I am sure that she would do well in Reading children's books but not books like this. She sounded like a kid not an adult. This was my greatest problem throughout the story. I kept thinking of an teen, not a matured adult.

Overall her performance was well-read. She did read well with no mistakes in Reading the words. But there were not really any inflections through the different characters.
Otherwise, this is a group book by an even greater Author. I love all of her books and own everyone of hers except for the last few ones because I of personal issues within our family.
I would definitely recommend buying her books and reading them all but I don't think I can recommend the Audible books unless they changed the narrator. No one wants to hear a romantic story in a child's voice.