Ino's Love

By: Marianne Sciucco

Narrated by: Terry Murphy

Length: 28 mins

Publisher's summary

Ino prepares a Christmas feast for her successful CEO son, but when he's too busy to spend the holiday with his mother, she shares her dinner and gifts with her home health aide. Sometimes, the people who love us best are not family.

©2013 Marianne Sciucco (P)2015 Marianne Sciucco

Beautiful Christmas Spirit

Looking back, I don’t regret that I didn’t spend enough “Christmas Days” with my parents. We chose a different day to celebrate it; when it wouldn’t be interrupted with ex’s visitations, etc.
My mom and dad knew how much I loved and appreciated them. And the time we spent together wasn’t nestled between the times we had to be “there, there, and there by X o’clock.”
Ino has a successful son who was going to be in town. His responsibilities pull him thin and he’s unable to see his mom, as was ‘last-minute-planned.’
Ino’s caregiver is too quick to judge, but Ino understands. And she teaches Ruby to understand the season is about love, understanding, and tolerance - and everything happens for a reason .... and you can’t help but wonder about the presents!

Terry Murphy did a wonderful job, portraying the various feelings of the short story.

I would recommend this audio to anyone who needs a gentle nudge to get into or stay in good spirits.

A sweet, tender short story!

This is a sweet and tender short story that turned out to be a wonderful listening experience for me. In the past, I have only listened to a couple of short stories and was a bit disappointed in them. What a nice surprise to listen to Ino's Love! Ino is a lovely older woman who shows her love in such a nice way to her son and her caregiver and left me with sweet memories of my grandmother.

I was given this audio book in exchange for and honest and unbiased review.

Heartwarming

This story is heartwarming. It’s a quick listen, but the author uses the time to pull at your heartstrings and makes you angry, frustrated, and then happy. The story starts off with Ino excited to see her son, and then learning that he won’t make time for her. Her home health care aid is there through this and it’s really through her that we feel the anger and frustration towards the son’s treatment of Ino. At the end of it though we are happy because we realize that though her son can’t make time for her, Ino does have at least one person who loves her and cares to spend time with her. As the blurb says, “sometimes the people who love us best are not family”

With short stories the author has to get you invested in the characters in a short amount of time. The narrator here helps that along by putting the emotions and getting across the moods of the characters perfectly. The narrator puts emotion so you feel Ino’s excitement and disappointment, as well as the frustration and anger Ruby has on behalf of Ino.

I listened to this during a rainy and dreary commute and cheered me up a bit. I’d say it’s one of those ‘captures a realistic snippet of the human experience and still gives you hope at the end’ type stories.

"This audiobook was provided by the author, narrator, or publisher at no cost in exchange for an unbiased review courtesy of AudiobookBlast dot com."

A Loving Heart

What did you love best about Ino's Love?

The message of love.

Who was your favorite character and why?

Ino, of course!

Have you listened to any of Terry Murphy’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

No, but I would like to.

Any additional comments?

Ino truly has a loving heart in the spirit of I Corinthians chapter 13. This is a short listen and gave my spirit a lift, a perfect listen while waiting for an appointment.

Heart touching

Would you consider the audio edition of Ino's Love to be better than the print version?

It is a book that can easily be listened to in the car on your way to work. So that makes the audio nice.

What did you like best about this story?

Ino what a sweet caring lady. I would love to find out that this story was based on a real lady the author had known. She unconditionally loved her son. Even though he had let his life become more important than spending time with his mother.

Which character – as performed by Terry Murphy – was your favorite?

Terry did a nice job with the short story. She helped make it a sweet story to listen to.

Who was the most memorable character of Ino's Love and why?

The care giver. It was nice to see that someone had cared so much and Ino.

Any additional comments?

I was provided this audio book at no charge by the author, publisher and/or narrator in exchange for an unbiased review via AudiobookBlast dot com

A short but emotion evoking audiobook.

Title: INO'S LOVE

Author: Marianne Sciucco

Type of Book: Audiobook- Unabridged

Narrator: Terry Murphy

Length: 28 minutes

Genre: Fiction, Short Stories

Release Date: September 21, 2015

Publisher: Bunky Press

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

DESCRIPTION FROM AUDIBLE:

"Into prepares a Christmas feast for her successful CEO son, but when he's too busy to spend the holiday with his mother, she shares her dinner and gifts with her home health aide. Sometimes, the people who love us best are not family."

MY REVIEW:

This audiobook was a very quick listen. The entire story only lasted 28 minutes, but within those twenty-eight minutes quite a lot took place.

Ino is an elderly widow living in an apartment in New York's Little Italy. She has lived there for most of her life and she has no intention of ever moving, despite the fact that she now has difficulty handling the stairs. As far as Ino is concerned, there is nothing or no one that could ever convince her move away from the place where she experienced so many happy moments in her life.

Ruby is a paid caregiver who visits Ino several times a week and spends a few hours with her each time. This service is paid for by Ino's son who is a bigshot corporate executive who makes a ton of money, but lives on the other side of the country.

When business brings him to New York a few days before Christmas he calls his mother and tells her that he is dropping by to visit her.

Ino is excited that her son is coming to see her and she cooks his favourite food. However, he calls and says he can't make it. Ino decides to ask Ruby to stay for dinner instead.

I have to admit that it made me quite angry that her son was so self-absorbed that he didn't even consider his mother's feelings when he cancelled. Sadly, this scenario is one that plays out way too often in households across the country.

There is a whole extra topic of conversation and discussion that arises when Ruby stays for dinner, but I won't go into detail here because I don't want to ruin the story for potential audiobook listeners. I will say that if this audiobook does not make you feel, then you are immune to normal human emotions.

The narrator for this audiobook was outstanding, perfectly capturing the mood and emotions of the characters in this story.

I rate the audiobook as 4 out of 5 stars. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

* I received a free copy of this audiobook through AudioBookBlast dot com in exchange for an honest review.

A Bittersweet Story by a Wonderful Author

I absolutely loved listening to "Ino's Love." There was a lot of love packed into this audiobook. I simply adored Ino and on some level can relate to her situation. She's older and in not so great health therefore she has Ruby, her home healthcare nurse who helps her with things and makes sure she takes her medicine. When Ruby shows up on December 23, to her surprise, Ino's been cooking for her son who's planning to visit.

I especially enjoyed Marianne Sciucco's writing style and I loved Ino. I hope to listen to more books by Marianne in the future.

Terry Murphy did an outstanding job narrating this story. She had a nice tone with unmistakable personalities for the characters. I hope to hear more from her in the future as well. She and the author made this audiobook a real treat. It's great when author and reader are a perfect match.

"This audiobook was provided by the author, narrator, or publisher at no cost in exchange for an unbiased review courtesy of AudiobookBlast dot com."

Heartwarming Story

A disappointing afternoon for Ino was turned around by her generosity. She my have not been happy, but she more than brightened the day for her caregiver.