The Curse Keepers

By: Denise Grover Swank

Narrated by: Shannon McManus

Length: 10 hrs and 34 mins

Publisher's Summary

The wall between our world and that of vengeful spirits has protected humanity for more than 400 years. It's about to come crashing down.

Ellie Lancaster has lived her whole life by the site of the mysterious Lost Colony of Roanoke, the Virginia settlement that vanished without a trace around 1590. Ellie is a Curse Keeper, the direct descendant of one of the two men who banished the spirits of a warring tribe from the material realm. The story goes that if the two Curse Keepers ever meet again, the countdown to the death of the curse will begin, the gate will open, and the raging Native American spirits will be unleashed to seek their revenge.

Ellie has always taken the legend for a harmless fairy tale. Until she meets the darkly handsome, but downright infuriating, Collin Dailey and realizes that he is the other Curse Keeper. The prophecy is coming true. Now Ellie and Collin must battle supernatural forces and their loathing - and passion - for each other to set things right.

©2013 Denise Grover Swank (P)2013 Brilliance Audio, all rights reserved.

Loved the plot!

I felt like a lot of the curse words were unnecessary. To me, it took interest away from the story.

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

Good but..................

The story was very good and the preformance was great but way too many f _ _ _ s inserted. Would have been much better with out it.

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

wow. I wasn't not expecting this to be good.

I loved it. I first downloaded this book thinking it would be a good book to keep me entertained while I wait at the doctors office or before bed...but I was hooked! It had a few cheese moments but it's very fast moving. I couldn't put it down.

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

Trite and overdone despite interesting premise...

Any additional comments?

There are three things good about this book:

1. I got to listen to in through Kindle Unlimited for free, i.e. I didn't have to pay for this.

2. I listened to it rather than read it so I mostly avoided any grammatical errors that I might have focused on instead of the story.

3. The historical mythology.

This book had so much promise in the beginning. The introduction of the characters, the setting, the mythology are all the reasons why I picked up the book in the first place.


Then, the author seems to have given up and just gone through every romance and soft core erotica written since the seventies and used every single cliché in and out of the book.

The characters do not grow with the experience. They only wobble about in their contrived scenes. Ellie goes from responsible, boring, predictable to sexually driven waif in less than two chapters.

I skimmed through reviews on Amazon before listening, and got excited about the originality. After listening, I skimmed through the more discerning reviews on Goodreads, and found several mirroring my exact thoughts: good idea, bad execution.

You'll like it if you've never, ever read a romance before and everything is new and scintillating. You'll like it if all you read are old romances.

You'll like it if you skim through the contrived scenes and focus on the fictional mythology.

You won't like it if your tastes are a bit more demanding, if you understand that the changes in character come slowly as people learn, if at all.

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

rough start, awesome finish

Is there anything you would change about this book?

The beginning could of been stronger.

What did you like best about this story?

That it actually turned out good. I about gave up in the beginning because it seem like a young reader kind of book.

Any additional comments?

This book starts off seeming like a young teen read and grows into something way more than that. Stick with the book through the rough start because it gets much better. At times this book is heavy on the foal language. The story is actually pretty decent about to start the second book.

2 of 3 people found this review helpful

eh

The book started out promising but then got fairly predictable. Also, I didn't love the narrater's voice.

This book audience is for a young adult.

I enjoyed the concept of this story. The plot was a little undeveloped and slightly corney. If you want a quick easy read this book is for you.

Enthralling from start to finish

I picked up this book on a whim while searching for new-to-me authors. It’s outside my usual genre but had all the element I like. I loved it! It’s fast-paced, full of mystery, and a little bit sexy too. It’s the perfect mix and kept me up way past my bedtime. I’ll be reading/listening to the next two books as well. Do yourself a favor and grab this book today!

Very good read/listen

I really enjoyed the story, listening to it over two days. Denise Grover Swank did a good job on the narration. Definitely one I may re-listen to in the future.

Great Potential

Ellie Lancaster was just living her life in her small town. She had friends she loved and a family she would do anything for. That is until Colin Daily walked into the diner she worked at and her world got turned upside down. Everything she believed was a fairy tale just might be real. I wanted to start out by saying that even though this isn't one of my favorites and I will never read it again, I really did enjoy this story. It was great and had a lot of potential to be one of my all time favorites. There were just a lot of factors that drug it down. A lot of reasons why I'm disappointed that my expectations were completely shot down. There wasn't really a lot wrong with the story itself. A curse that could bring the end of the world may be used a lot, but at least they are unique for the most part. This had a very unique way of it happening. There were parts I felt were rushed over when they shouldn't be and parts that I felt got drawn out. There was a particular incident that I felt didn't even need to be in the book at all. I'm going to leave it at that to not spoil the book. My biggest issue with the story line was the sex. There was too much sex. I don't understand why sex had to play such a huge role. My biggest issue was with the characters. Most of the characters were blurred in the background. I get that the main two characters are the stars of the story, but the other characters should have had a bigger role than they did. There were characters referenced later in the story that I had forgotten all about and had to listen to the context surrounding what happened to remember who they were. The main characters were not very likeable either. Both were very selfish and immature. All in all, I still recommend this book. Despite all the problems with it, I still enjoyed it very much and will read the rest of the trilogy. Mainly because I'm curious on how it ends. I do want to point out that this book is highly sexually explicit and has many curse words thrown in. Sometimes a little too much. It's still a great story in the end and I'm glad I was given the chance to read it.

Addictive stuff

Great paranormal romance made even better by fantastic performance. I loved the Roanoke setting and the laid back small town vibe. In typical fashion the two protagonists fight against their mutual attraction with lots of wise cracks before finally coming to their senses. The twist in the ending means I have to get the rest of the series to find out what happens next.

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

Amazing book and awesome narrator!

Where does The Curse Keepers rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

It's my first audible experience and this was just amazing! I've read the book and because it's one of my favorites I wanted to listen to it on audible as well. I'm glad I did it!

What did you like best about this story?

The story line with so many twists and characters written well I love them!

What does Shannon McManus bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you had only read the book?

Shannon McMannus is amazing! I love her voice! She brings all to story even more alive than I could imagine. Perfect addition! Now I can't imagine this book without her voice! LOVE!

If you made a film of this book, what would be the tag line be?

I'm so not fan about films after I've read a book because no film compares the book, most of them are 10 times worse than book because they change even story lines...

Disappointing recording

Would you recommend this book to a friend? Why or why not?

I'd recommend the story, but not this recording

What didn’t you like about Shannon McManus’s performance?

Recording was tinny throughout & ruined the enjoyment of the story. The voice she used for Ellie sounded bored throughout.

1 of 2 people found this review helpful

Okay.

Couldn't really decide if I liked this or not. It's okay but not brilliant. The main character is big on self-pity which got annoying very quickly, and the main male character isn't particularly likeable either. The narrator wasn't great. Her voice is quite monotone, and she doesn't put much expression into her reading.

Overall this was a something of nothing book. I might get the next one to see if the story or characters improve, but I won't hold my breath.

0 of 1 people found this review helpful