Unleashed

A Solo Female Traveler's Journey of Discovery

By: Desiree A. Brown

Narrated by: Millicent Chimonyo - Ntubi

Length: 4 hrs and 25 mins

Publisher's summary

“Unleashed: A Solo Female Traveler's Journey of Discovery" is a powerful and inspiring book that will ignite your spirit of adventure and leave you with a burning desire to see the world.

Through her captivating storytelling, the author takes readers on a journey of self-discovery and empowerment, demonstrating how travel can unlock new possibilities and opportunities in life. She shares her own personal experiences of overcoming fear and hesitation to explore the world, and encourages readers to do the same.

"Unleashed" is not just a travel book, but a book about courage, vulnerability, and the human spirit. The author reminds us that there is goodness in humanity, and that most people in the world are kind, helpful, and welcoming. She challenges us to look beyond our fears and to embrace new experiences and cultures with an open heart.

With its inspiring message and beautiful prose, "Unlocking the World" is a book that will leave you feeling inspired and empowered to pursue your dreams, whatever they may be. It is a reminder that life is an adventure, and that the world is waiting for you to explore it.

"After reading 'Unleashed,' my perspective on life and travel has completely shifted. I've always dreamed of seeing the world, but fear and hesitation held me back. This book has inspired me to take the leap and embrace new experiences with an open heart. The author's storytelling is so vivid and captivating, it's like you're right there with her on her adventures. Her message of courage, vulnerability, and embracing the unknown is so powerful and inspiring. I feel like I've gained a newfound sense of confidence and a thirst for adventure. 'Unleashed”' is not just a book about travel, it's a book about living life to the fullest and embracing the beauty and diversity of the world. I would recommend this book to anyone who wants to break free from their fears and experience the magic of the world in a whole new way."- Andrea

Unlock the world, unlock your soul: A solo female traveler's journey of self-discovery and empowerment.

©2023 Desiree A. Brown (P)2023 Desiree A. Brown

A great insight into Africa

I wasn't originally going to give this audiobook 5 stars as the narrator starts by reading out all the copywriting information...which is boring! However, this audiobook gets better and better as we follow Desiree's travels through African countries. This woman is brave and trusting and keeps traveling and meeting new people and dealing with difficulties with faith and courage. The reason I give 5 stars is because I enjoyed more and more her descriptions of her experiences in Africa. She finds a way of bringing things to life and goes into about the right amount of detail.

Informative and Entertaining

I found Unleashed to be very educational. There is a lot of good and useful information within these pages. I am in total awe that as a single woman, she was able to accomplish traveling alone to foreign countries. The stories/chapters are short but very intriguing and dare I say a little steamy. The book is well written and definitely worth a listen and a review. I really enjoyed going on her adventures if only through her very descriptive storytelling it was very exciting. I highly recommend this book to anyone who likes adventure, travel, knowledge, and a little steam.
I received this book upon my request, and I am glad I did. I am voluntarily leaving my honest and unbiased review here of my own free will.

Not Quite as Inspirational As Promised

In the last year or so, I've become more interested in audiobooks, so when I saw this particular book at a book review site, I was intrigued by its description, that it would explore empowerment and self-discovery in a courageous yet vulnerable way. I didn't really feel like it lived up to the promises of the book description. In fact, I felt like I listened to a very different book. Some may like this author's random storytelling and the behind-closed-doors view of her life, but unfortunately, it didn't do anything for me. I felt like the book was in search of an identity, as it didn't seem to have much direction or organization. The chapters didn’t flow easily from one to the next with either time or space. Each chapter is random and doesn’t relate to the one before or after it. Oddly, parts of it sounded like it was written for a particular country or destination’s travel brochure, not by somebody who visited or lived there. Many stories didn't have so much to do with the place but with the people she met, with many of the stories detailing her romantic adventures and misadventures. Some got way too personal, like the discovery of an old tampon string during intimacy. Ewww, didn't need to know that! The author, too, comes across as rather judgmental and shallow. I doubt that's her intent, but that's how she came across to me. Certainly not someone I would admire or ever desire to emulate, which seems to be at least part of the thrust of the book's description.

Perhaps some of this is a generational thing, as I'm a decided Gen Xer. Perhaps this level of navel-gazing in our always-on-screen social media world is acceptable to Millennials and Gen Z, but it doesn't quite work for me!

I wasn't wild about the audiobooks narrator, as she had a very strong accent and quite often mispronounced words. I don't mind if narrators have accents so long as they still speak clearly and pronounce words correctly. One word she always pronounced wrong—and each utterance of it was like a nails-on-the-chalkboard moment for me—was Europeans. She pronounced it “yur-ROPE-ee-anz.” There were other mispronunciations as well, but that one really sticks out. She also used odd phrasing, taking pauses and little breaks at places that just didn't make sense and no native English speaker would do. In fact, she took them way too often, which broke the narrative flow.

As you may be able to tell, this book didn't work for me on several levels.