Make Me Exist

Lost in Time, Book 1

By: Brittany Ziegler

Narrated by: Claire Glover

Length: 13 hrs and 8 mins

Publisher's Summary

Valerie isn't who she thinks she is. She isn't even human. Hunted by an alien race, can she discover the truth before it's too late?

Valerie's daughter, Charlotte, is celebrating her sixth birthday, and she's loving it. Presents, games, and cake! For Valerie, it's not that simple. Being with her ex-husband and his new wife is always a strain, but not as hard as finding out that you're not who you think you are.

When a group of mysterious men unexpectedly show up at the party, suddenly Valerie's whole life feels like a lie. Why do they look so familiar? Why do they act like they know her? Stranger yet, why do they have the same startling green eyes as Charlotte?

Catapulted into a world she doesn't remember, Valerie needs to trust these strangers to help save her daughter and herself from a terrible fate. She and Charlotte are pure-bloods, the only chance for an alien race on the brink of extinction.

On the run and hunted, her enemies will not rest until they have them in their clutches. But as her memories return, can Valerie tap into the powers she didn't even know she possessed and save their lives?

Make Me Exist is a heart-pounding sci-fi adventure that will keep you riveted to your seat in a journey of mind-twisting awakenings. Buy your copy now, and join our heroine in her quest for freedom.

©2020 Brittany Ziegler (P)2020 Brittany Ziegler

Might be upsetting for some

First Impression:
After reading the summary of this novel I thought of Amy Bartol's Kricket series, and I do see some similarities. I've read that this reads like a YA novel even though the main character is probably in her late twenties and has a six-year-old daughter. When I listened to the preview of this book I noticed that the narrator had a jarring voice when she introduced the chapter but then fell into a more normal cadence as she read the content. I will say that the beginning of this book was hard to listen to because of the narrator's over-emphasis and mispronunciation of several words. (As an aside, I was absolutely convinced that disorientated was not a word until I read that it is common in British English). This seems to improve as we progress through the novel. This story really doesn't give you any downtime and jumps right into the action. That is both a positive and a negative in that it hooks you right away but doesn't give you enough time to get to know the characters. A few chapters in I still found myself trying to remember who was who and trying to form a connection with the main character.

Review:
This is a hard review for me to write. I actually had to look this author up to see if she has children, and she does have two young children. In light of that, I understand that some parents may not have an issue with this book...but I am not one of those parents. I'm always a little wary of books that involve young children and I honestly think that this one could have been done without her. I had to stop listening at several points to regain my composure. No six-year-old should be in the company of family members that constantly drop the F-bomb, are extremely violent toward each other, and who put the child in danger to rouse the mother's anger and improve her performance. To make matters worse, the other family members think it's okay not to intervene. After listening to that, I could not relate to or cheer on any of the main characters. The narrator improves as the book goes on and I realize that she may have a bit of an accent that makes some words she says sound a little different. Overall, I can't say that I recommend this book. It seems that this could have been a decent YA novel with maybe 17-year-old lead and without the addition of a young child.
(I received this book at my request for free in exchange for an honest review).

Fun, exciting read

I was shocked to read this is a first time author after reading the story!
It was a very fun, addictive read with a great plot/storyline! :)
The story is focused on Vallerie/Cyran who finds out that she isn’t all human and had an entire past and life that she had gotten erased! The book follows her and she rediscovers who she is, with a plethora of interesting characters that are her family!
I absolutely loved the lead, Cyran, as the independent women that is just addictive to follow and see how she handles this new situation!

If you’re looking for an exciting adventure with some romance and action thrown in, I’d definitely recommend this book :)

The narrator started off a little bumpy in the first few chapters but actually seemed to improve a ton a few chapters in! Her voices for the different characters were wonderful and easy to tell a part :)

Sci fi, YA style with adult themes

Super fast-paced sci fi story. The adventure is quite original, about a woman discovering she isn't really human and the lengths she'll go through to protect her child. The story is definitely interesting, but it does have some triggers, violence in front of children, sexual assault.
I did stop listening several times in the beginning because of the over-emphasis and forced performance by the narrator. But if you can get through the first few chapters, it does improve.
I was provided this audiobook in exchange for an honest review.

Not for me

I’m so sorry to say this book was just not for me.
There are 2 things that are most important for me to even begin to enjoy a story. I need to feel some sort of connection to the main character and I need to feel like he/she is a real believable person.
I listened for several hours, and the feeling of engagement, connection or interest just didn’t come.
Valerie doesn’t feel like a real person to me, and because of that I also don’t feel any connection to her. This goes for side characters too.
Inner dialog, situations and conversations just didn’t feel believable/genuine to me.
If you don’t feel anything for the main character (or anyone else in the story), romance is not romantic, tense situations are not tense, it’s just words.
I re-started the book from the beginning to see if with a bit of effort I could try to connect to Valerie, but it didn’t make a difference alas.

My problem with not connecting to any character and the story feeling non-genuine is also due to the narration.
The narrator has a nice voice, and I can tell she really tried to give a good performance.
But to me it came across very strained/ forced and non-genuine, especially in the beginning.
The emotions felt too exaggerated, a bit like a performance in a play, with too much emphasis on too many words.
The narration does get better/ more natural as the book progresses.
Keep in mind the sample is from chapter 16. If I had heard a sample from chapter 1, I might have decided not to review this book.

I got this Audio Book for free (thanks!). I'm voluntarily leaving this review.
Opinions and ratings are my own and not influenced by how I got the Audio Book.

Not for me

Valerie is a thirty-year-old divorced mother that has forgotten everything about her past life, until some strange people make an appearance at her little girl’s birthday party.

I loved the title of this book, and I wanted to like it so much, but it wasn’t for me for several reasons. First, it was presented as a science-fiction novel, but the book felt more like fantasy. Using some made-up words to give it a sci-fi feel was just not enough and it didn’t help to make it believable. Aliens flying to show up their powers didn’t help to take the story seriously either.

The characters are one-dimensional and almost caricaturesque, and this was one of the main things why this book didn’t work for me. I wasn’t able to relate to Valerie or any of the other characters. In fact, I wasn’t even able to distinguish between some of them due to a lack of background information and descriptions. To be able to enjoy a book I need, at least, well fleshed out characters, but this was not the case, and I couldn’t get invested in the story. As the book is written in first person from Valerie’s point of view, Ziegler made Valerie to inspect her image on a mirror to get a description for the reader. This clumsy technique is often used in books by novel authors written in first person. It’s just not very good writing,

Even though the main character is thirty and has a six-year-old child, this book reads like a YA novel. Valerie behaves and talks more like a teenager, which made the whole story just not believable. If Valerie were a 17-year-old girl, this book would have worked for YA, but as it is, I don’t see it working for this type of public nor for thirty-something women with or without children.

There is some romance in it, as it corresponds to almost every YA novel. It was also not my cup of tea but I didn’t expect this book to feel so much like YA to begin with. I see this is Brittany Ziegler’s first book, so it’s just normal that

Claire Glover’s narration was okay, with a pleasant voice to the ear, but it just sounded too forced, like a bad actor in a play. It was also like she was trying too hard to enunciate words, and dialogs sounded too cheerful at times, making them sound artificial. All this was more patent at the beginning of the book, and it gets progressively better as the story unfolds. I’ve just checked Glover’s books on Audible, and it seems this is only her third audiobook, so this explains it. I’m sure she will get much better over time. The audio production was correct.

I received this book for free in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

Interesting Start to the Series

This was my first Brittany Ziegler's book. I love the cover. This is the first of a four part Saga in the Lost in Time Series, a Sci-Fi Fantasy Adventure. The story is action packed, filled with drama, and twists and turns. The characters are well developed, and intriguing. Cyran is strong, and independent. Charlotte, her daughter, is cute. The cast of supporting characters is impressive: Adriem, Rogue, Ronan, Dev, Alex, and Gin are fantastic supporting characters. Some scenes are unexpectedly dark, and the relationship between the characters is surprisingly unconventional. The storyline is original, dark, steamy, complex, and unpredictable. There is a lot going on in this story. Claire Glover is a new narrator to me. Her narrative voice was a little too energetic, but she did a great job with the dialogues. She has a great range of voices, easy to distinguish. Looking forward to listen to Second Star to the Right, the next installment in the Series, to know what happens next.

Good Listen

This was a good listen. The story was interesting with lots of action and steamy sex scenes. The narration was ok but the narrator's voice was a bit too cheery. I think she would be perfect for YA or children's books.
I was given this free audiobook copy at my request and have voluntarily left this review.

EXCELLENT READ!

I absolutely loved it! This book caught my attention from the very beginning and held it throughout the entire book. This book was full of action, drama, romance and suspense! The narration was outstanding and kept me entertained! The author did an amazing job with the character builds and plot! This was my first book by this author but definitely not my last! I can't wait to read the next book in this series! I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.

Worth a listen-

Great storyline. Reads like an...adult YA! Characters were interesting and looking for book two in the series! Narrator did a really good job

Awesome!

Loved the voice artist for this! Great writing and great acting! The storyline was really different & intriguing! More fantasy then science fiction I think!