• Beautiful Storm

  • Lightning Strikes, Book 1
  • By: Barbara Freethy
  • Narrated by: Eva Kaminsky
  • Length: 9 hrs and 21 mins
  • 4.4 out of 5 stars (313 ratings)

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Beautiful Storm  By  cover art

Beautiful Storm

By: Barbara Freethy
Narrated by: Eva Kaminsky
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Publisher's summary

From number-one New York Times best-selling author Barbara Freethy comes the first book in a new romantic suspense trilogy: Lightning Strikes. In these connected novels, a lightning strike leads to love, danger, and the unraveling of a family mystery that'll change the past and the future....

When her father's plane mysteriously disappeared in the middle of an electrical storm, Alicia Monroe became obsessed with lightning. Now a news photographer in Miami, Alicia covers local stories by day and chases storms at night. In a flash of lightning, she sees what appears to be a murder, but when she gets to the scene, there is no body - only a military tag belonging to Liliana Valdez, a woman who has been missing for over a year.

While the police use the tag to jump-start their stalled investigation, Alicia sets off on her own to find the missing woman. Her search takes her into the heart of Miami's Cuban American community where she meets the attractive but brooding Michael Cordero, who has his own demons to vanquish.

Soon Alicia and Michael are trying to save Liliana's life as well as their own, as someone will do anything to protect a dark secret....

©2015 Barbara Freethy (P)2015 Barbara Freethy

What listeners say about Beautiful Storm

Average customer ratings
Overall
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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Suspense + Romance = Lightning

Without any further reveals than have been given by the previous reviewers, my reasons for liking this book as much as I did.
1. An engaging story, right from the beginning

2. Twisted plot, many characters in the background but two primary, whose personas were well developed.

3. A bit of danger mixed with unexpected reveals

4. Romance? Subtle, appropriate, nothing raw or explicit rather, respectful and cautious.

5 Narration, Eva Kaminsky did a very good job with attitude and inflection. I think I noticed the way she was able to put hesitation and an undercurrent of bitterness in Alicia's voice, which perfectly imparted the mood living within an adult whose childhood had been damaged. The differences between characters was most noticeable in the conversation between Alicia and her mother. The male primary character was appropriately aged by her voice, strong and yet, gentle when the need arose.

I am a little obsessed with narration at this time because it makes or breaks a book for me. Ms. K did a nice job with this. She narrates the next book, which I will buy.

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3 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

nice surprise

I was not planning to read this book. I found a new author yea.

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2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

Boring

I ended up giving up on it. Got halfway through and still just not interesting me

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

Okay story, Great narration.

This story was okay. You really didn't know "who done it" until the very end, and I didn't guess who it was early on. So that is good. As or the romance portion I liked the characters individually well enough, but to me they didn't seem to make a great couple, it felt forced and not very genuine to me.

There was a lot of dialogue throughout and that was good. It wasn't full of filler nonsense and that was good. It just wasn't an exciting story or a page turner. The mystery portion was drug out with just small tidbits of clues until the very end.

Like I said it was an okay story but could have been better.

As for the narration, that was great. I really like Eva Kaminsky, she does a great job on the male voices and reads with emotion. She has a great reading voice too.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars

Not nearly as good as I expected

This is a bestselling author.. Maybe her other books are better, but this one is very disappointing. She "tells" the reader everything. What happened to trusting your reader and showing them? And even the love aspect is lame.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Great Mystery Murder series!

Any additional comments?

This was a great mystery. The questions always left behind when someone disappears can trigger the investigator within us all. If you saw two people fighting in a storm, heard a scream and in a flash they were gone-what would you do...just walk away,,,,I seriously doubt it! How about finding out the days preceding the disappearance leading you head first into an even bigger mystery....would you walk away....really?! I wouldn't! This was a fun ride trying to solve the disappearance, then another mystery with murder...found completely in another state! Good listen - and the mystery still isn't 100% solved....on to book 2!!

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Was a great book

Was it fate, what an amazing story. The mystery and romance between Alicia and Michael. I couldn't put this book down. Wondering what they would find next. Would they find Michaels friend dead or alive. The family rekindling. Then finally the news came, and along with it was more trouble. The fact that Alicia thought she could trust an old friend. Turned into trouble. Then again mystery. Lightning comes down from the sky to show you what you need to see! Was it fate, what an amazing story. The mystery and romance between Alicia and Michael. I couldn't put this book down. Wondering what they would find next. Would they find Michaels friend dead or alive. The family rekindling. Then finally the news came, and along with it was more trouble. The fact that Alicia thought she could trust an old friend. Turned into trouble. Then again mystery. Lightning comes down from the sky to show you what you need to see! Great book

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Great suspense novel

Enjoyed reading this book. Barbara Freethy writes a lot of good stories. Looking forward to next book in series.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

Just Ok

I felt the story had enough to keep me interested but I did not enjoy the narrator. Having a woman's voice fill in the male roles was not pleasant. It sounded bad and that detracted from the story for me.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Love this story

I don’t give many 5 star reviews but I love everything about this book. The narration was also good.

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