Read and Gone

A Haunted Library Mystery, Book 2

By: Allison Brook

Narrated by: Mia Gaskin

Length: 9 hrs and 47 mins

Publisher's summary

Twenty million dollars' worth of missing gems bring Carrie Singleton's long-lost and larcenous dad back into her life, and it's up to Carrie to clear his name.

A devoted dad is as precious as diamonds, but Carrie Singleton wouldn't know since her dad Jim's been on the lam most of her life. In an unusual family reunion, she finds Jim breaking into her cottage in the middle of the night. The fun really starts when he begs her to help him recover his half of a 20-million-dollar gem heist he pulled off with the local jeweler, Benton Parr. When she refuses, Jim takes off again. 

Carrie finds her father again behind bars for the recent murder of Benton Parr. Who made the connection? Unbeknownst to her, Carrie's boyfriend, Dylan, an insurance investigator, has been searching for the gems. Determined to find the jewels herself, she starts examining every facet of Parr's life. She turns up a treasure trove of suspects, one of whom bashes her on the head as she's searching the victim's country cabin. 

Retreating to the quiet confines of the library where she works, Carrie watches as Smoky Joe, the resident cat, paws at a hole in the wall. Is he after the library's ghost, Evelyn, or something shinier?

©2018 Allison Brook (P)2018 Blackstone Audio, Inc.

I cannot care for the characters

I can’t stand Carrie. She is shallow, clueless and her naïveté is beyond annotations. It’s almost pathological. This is not a strong, independent woman. This is a woman who jumps to cliche conclusions, and fawns over unavailable men. Yuck. There’s a reason why her books are free.

The Lead character is the worst

The main character is annoying. She’s childish and hard to like. She is immature. It makes it hard to get through this story. I felt the same about the first book. I was hoping this one would be better. It wasn’t.

Carrie is lacking in judgement...over and over..

Carrie’s con man father breaks in to her cottage as he has come to find the jewels that he was screwed out of from another con man. Carrie, who calls her father Jim, is suddenly feeling sorry and/or protective of him. Why? I can’t fathom it. She gets mad at her boyfriend because he’s looking for her criminal father. She decides to “help” her father find the gems...Then she forms other stupid alliances... it’s more than I can take.

I’m fed up with Carrie. She makes stupid decisions and supports a man who abandons her over and over...

Really like this series....

I enjoyed the first in this series and was looking forward to the second. I wasn't disappointed. The mystery itself was well written, with enough twists and turns to keep it interesting. But I also enjoyed the character developments in the story. That is something that I enjoy about Cozy Mysteries in general - the fact that the characters and their personal lives are as important as the mystery. I like Carrie. She has grown more confident and comfortable in her life since the first book. The entrance of her estranged father threw her at first, but their relationship, and her relationship with Dillon, weathered the ups and downs. I like Carrie's aunt and uncle, and her library friends, who are always there to support her. And, of course, I like Smokey Joe and how he helps solve the mystery. Evelyn (and her friendship with Carrie's niece) is a sweet element in these books. This is a fun and entertaining series, and I hope there will be many more. I have listened to both books several times and I look forward to the next one.

Thirty going on Seventy

In general, NO THANKS. This series has some fun, escapist plots; it's quite suited to the Cozy Mystery genre. The problem for me is the main character's voice and general depiction. The enjoyment of the mystery was repeatedly interrupted with vernacular and sense of self supposedly experienced by a 30-year old female in the 21st century that screams this was written by someone MUCH older and out of touch with the generation depicted. I feel like my former-English-professor grandma was the voice of the antagonist. It was irritating and ruined suspension of disbelief.

Skip it

The best thing I can say is the crime is more prominently focused on than the first novel, but that's about all.
It sounds (both from the text and the narrator's portrayal) like something a young teenager or preteen would write; it's so overly descriptive with unnecessary detail (we really don't need to know exactly what every meal consists of), a ghost who's there for no reason, a middle school like approach to her "relationship" with Dillon, and the ever whiny and petulant main character. Even minor details (from what's on top of her Christmas tree to what her dad chose for breakfast) is inconsistent.
I listened as part of Audible's Member Benefit free listen and that's the only reason I listened-- don't waste your money or credit on this.

Interesting but....

I can’t stand the heroine! OMG she is the biggest baby ever! She acts like an 18 year old instead of a thirty year old woman. The story was good but I actually hate Carrie. If I knew her in real life I would avoid her whiney tantrums like the plague!

Annoying lead character

The lead character is annoying and silly. Her relationship with her father as well as with Dillon is unrealistic. The mystery aspect is ok, but, the romantic part ruins it.

Ugh

I’m not sure why I keep listening to this series. The lead is such a whiny person and she has no feelings for anyone but herself. It’s all about her and no ones else’s feelings or plans.

Whining lead character was too much

The story was interesting but, for my taste, the lead character was not and much of the text is her introspection.

Library and mystery! Perfect

I’m so glad I tried these. I needed a nice entertaining book and to have a series with great characters is perfect!

A very, very poor sequel. Don't waste your time.

This is an updated review. I initially gave it a 3-star review, but it gets so bad that I've reduced it to a 1-star review.
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First things first, was the author sponsored by Keurig? It gets mentioned enough.

I found the first book light but enjoyable. This is almost torture. You know how when TV shows change the actor playing a character and the personality changes as well? That's what we've got here. New book, new character. Carrie is almost a completely different person from the previous book. In particular, she is stupid. Not helped by the narrator's pathetic, whiny voicing of the character. As another reviewer pointed out, she's also emotionally stupid. She is just a difficult character to have any sympathy for.

I didn't find the other characters likeable in any way either.

The book has few redeeming qualities. And at times it's just absurd. Carrie and her friend are in an Indian restaurant. Carrie starts crying and the waiter runs over. Why? Surely he'd leave them in peace. Rather than say something like "man trouble", the friend says Carrie had eaten a particularly spicy piece of chicken. It was chicken tikka masala, one of the mildest dishes on an Indian restaurant's menu. And it's the second time the dish gets a mention. Clearly the author thinks that this mild, Western invention is an authentic (and spicy) taste of India. And of course, it's described as "delicious!" (with the exclamation mark). The author seems not to know any synonyms to describe tasty food.

As for the plot, I didn't like it. It's not at all original and it's poorly executed. And as I said in my review of the previous book, this goes off on meaningless tangents (dying man, choir, tree decorating, Secret Santa, mice, the cat) that just take up time. It could easily be a few hours shorter. And unlike the previous book, the ghost is definitely a secondary character here. She barely appears. And as with the previous book, there are many strands in the story. Too many (murders, jewels, father, library work, young romance, family problems - Carrie's and other characters'). One of the strands is a love interest. Although, to be honest, you'll be scratching your head wondering why he is interested in her. She has no redeeming qualities. None. She's dumb, complains a lot, cries a lot, and it's made all the worse by the narrator.

In summary, this is a poorly written story, poorly narrated.

Will I listen to another book in this series? Definitely not.
Will I listen to another book narrated by this Mia Gaskin? Definitely not.

I finished the book only because it was free with my subscription

I agree with previous reviews, this book is not as nice as the first one (and that was not a great book either).
It's all just too unbelievable, and not engaging enough for me, just like watching a “mystery” on the Hallmark Channel.
Even if the series is free with my subscription I’m not interested in the other books.

A stupid heroine

Quite good story but I got so frustrated with her alternate aggression and sickly sweetness, topped with childish lack of emotional intelligence.

a good story

a good story in the series. the performance was as good as before.
can't wait for the next one

not for me.

hard to cope with the moaning heroine
only finished it to see if it got better

Not as good as 1st book

This book isn’t as good as the 1st in this series but it’s a good book to listen too.
I wasn’t too sure about the narrator when I 1st started the series but I do like her now and the story moves along nicely without too many issues.

Not As Good As Book One

How has Carrie Singleton become so annoying, wet and yes, thick? I liked her in Book 1, but wanted to shake her by the shoulders in this one.
Why would Dylan be attracted to such a drip? Why would Jim be welcomed with such open arms? Why would the library ignore all H&Safety Regulations and allow a cat to wander about every day?
Too many improbables contained within.
I hung on until the second the gems were found then ended. Only hung on that long as I had hundreds of miles to drive....
Just in case this was the 'difficult follow up book', and Book 3 is Included, I'll give it a go but will additionally download something else just in case.
(PS Was continually wondering how on earth can they all afford to eat out or call in sandwiches all the time?)

repeats itself a lot and is fu of pointless waffle

It felt like every point had to be made many times over. I'm so happy with my job, the cat is so cute, etc. It just got tedious. I also struggled with the start, tons of names thrown at me with what felt like pointless back story but not enough that I could lock in who people were.

The overall story was ok, although some character actions were somewhat weird and felt out of place or just to setup a desired situation.

Nice.. but not awesome

i liked it and was happy to listen. not awesome, but I will listen to the next too.