Tag Archives: audiobook

The Rest of Us Just Live Here (For a Good Reason) A Book Review

Posted on June 30, 2017 | Comments Off

The Rest of Us Just Live Here by Patrick Ness (Audiobook) If you like to read, you’d have to be under a rock for the past few years if you have not heard the praises of Patrick Ness.

I keep looking at his books, but knew from the descriptions that I would not like them. 23830990 So, when this book about super-hero kids came out, I was excited to finally read what everyone was talking about.

The premise of this book is awesome… that while some people are out there, saving the world, there are other people all around them living their everyday lives.

This book tells the story about those “other people”. But this is the thing… there is a reason that the story is about those special “indie kids” and not “the rest of us.”

The reason is simple.

The story about “the rest of us” is just plain boring. I tried. Really I did. Every once in a while, one of the cool things the “indie kids” were doing happened close to one of the “rest of us” kids, and the story would get interesting for a couple of paragraphs… but then we are thrown back into these other kids dull, boring lives.

After a while, I was so bored that I was doing pretty much anything other than listening to this book. I mean seriously… one time I listened to sports radio, which was infinitely more exciting.

Now, this is not to say that Ness is not a talented writer. He totally is. The writing it totally readable. But I was just totally bored. I know a lot of people like to read contemporary stories about every day, mundane things. That is not me. I like to be entertained, and I really could not find any entertainment value in this. I’m a little bummed about this, because I really wanted to understand what all the fuss was about.

Hello out there!

You can find Fire in the Woods and Ashes in the Sky at all these awesome bookish places!

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Tagged audiobook, Book, dull, jennifer eaton, jennifer M. Eaton, Patrick Ness, Review, THe rest of us just live here

Closing the doors: A review of United by Melissa Landers

Posted on June 9, 2017 | Comments Off

United by Melissa Landers (Audiobook) This is book three, and the end of the alienated series. 26180279 There is a lot going on in this book. The author introduces a new alien world and culture that not only threatens to destroy Earth, but L’air as well. (I may have misspelled L’air. Sorry)

Anyway, while I can’t say I enjoyed this book as much as the first two, It was a satisfying ending. There is a decent amount of action an adventure, and maybe a touch too much politics for my liking, but necessary for the plot. This book closes all the open doors on every character, letting you know how things pan out (good or bad) for everyone mentioned in every book (including the bad guys)

I was definitely satisfied with the ending, and I also noted that a few side characters were sent off on a little adventure of their own – Hello opportunity for a spinoff! All in all, I recommend this series. It’s good alien-induced fun.

Hello out there!

You can find Fire in the Woods and Ashes in the Sky at all these awesome bookish places!

Catch up with me on social media!

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Tagged Alienated, audiobook, Book, invaded, jennier m. eaton, jennifer eaton, melissa landers, Review, United

And then their was a soldier – A review of SOLDIER by Julie Kagawa

Posted on June 2, 2017 | Comments Off

Soldier by Julie Kagawa (Audiobook)

Arghhhh! I thought this was the last book in the series but nope, I was wrong. 17342750 I thought for a moment at the end that it was going to have a surprise ending, but then BOOM!– Epilogue to open up the new conflict.

While I don’t think this is my favorite book in the series, I really loved how the author flashes back to give us glimpses of the characters previous lives. I think knowing the past, especially for side characters, made this story really rich.

I’m looking forward to the next book, but now I have to wait! Waaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhh!

Hello out there!

You can find Fire in the Woods and Ashes in the Sky at all these awesome bookish places!

Catch up with me on social media!

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Tagged audiobook, Book, jennier eaton, jennifer M. Eaton, julie kagawa, Review, soldier, Talon

Do NOT look lout the window! A review of GIRL ON A TRAIN by Paula Hawkins

Posted on December 17, 2016 | 2 comments

Girl on a Train by Paula Hawkins (Audiobook) This is a contemporary missing person mystery with an unreliable narrator. Rebecca is a drunk, but she thinks she has seen a crime while riding on a train. The book deals with her personal issues and her own quest to find out the truth, which leads her to getting involved in the lives of people she’s watched every day from the train.

This book is a little creepy and stalker-ish at times. I had trouble connecting to the main character because of the drinking problem, but I guess her issues are real and timely. I love the way the author wove little bits and pieces of the stories of three women involved… letting us in on just enough information to make us THINK we know what’s going on, while sometimes leading us in the totally wrong direction.

This book is one of those crazy breakout best-sellers. I can see why. It is really well written. Still, there was a part in the middle, and it is a very BIG part, when I was getting bored with this drunk woman and her meddling in other people’s lives. It got slow for me, and while all those scenes we leading up to something great, I really wish that the author could have condensed it a bit.

HOWEVER- I am willing to admit that this is a mystery, and the typical reader of this genre is looking for a slower pace to figure out all the clues. So I don’t really think this is a problem with the book. Rather, it is a problem with a poorly matched book and reader. Anyway, the ending was worth the wait, but I would suggest NOT WATCHING the movie trailer while reading this book, because the trailer, believe it or not, gave the ending away for me.

Hello out there!

You can find Fire in the Woods and Ashes in the Sky at all these awesome bookish places!

Catch up with me on social media!

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Tagged audiobook, Book, Girl on a Train, jennier m. eaton, jennifer eaton, paula hawkins, Review

The Tooth Fairy? Well, Kind Of: A Review Of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor

Posted on August 19, 2016 | 1 comment

Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor (Audiobook) This was a very bizarre book. It deals with angels and demons. Well, sort of.

The main character is a girl that is raised by a family of demon-like people, and her job is to collect teeth for one of them.

NOW WAIT! Stay with me a minute.

When I read the “teeth” thing I almost didn’t read this book, because, yeah, it’s weird, but it works in the context of the story.

And no, she is not the tooth fairy. She collects teeth from dead things…

Anyway, she uses these portals to get all over the world collecting teeth. Little does she know there is a huge war going on, and that cute angel that almost killed her knows who she really is (or used to be).

This book is wildly imaginative. It is not told in sequential order, which confused me at first, but after a while I got used to it. It flip flops back and forth from past to present, so you are, in effect, reading two books at the same time. On a few occasions, this tripped me up and confused me, but it worked for the most part. I’d definitely recommend this one, and I will probably be reading the next book some time soon.

Definitely one of my top three reads this quarter.

You can find Fire in the Woods and Ashes in the Sky at all these awesome bookish places!

Catch up with me on social media!

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Tagged audiobook, Book, jennifer eaton, jennifer M. Eaton, Laini Taylor, Review, smoke and bone

The narrator of an audio book can make or break the novel.

Posted on August 14, 2015 | 3 comments

The joy of audio books …

Game of Thrones has been out for quite a while now, and despite being a fantasy lover, I haven’t picked it up because hey, these things are HUGE, and I’d been warned that they were so detailed that the story moved slow at times.

But when I saw the audio book at the library, I figured that would be a great way to experience the book without cutting into my reading time. So I prepared to make Game of Thrones a part of my commute for the next few months (There were 28 disks in the set).

At first I enjoyed the narrator, who’s British accent really added flavor to this medieval fantasy tale. The problem was, though, that his voice sounded like an older man. Now, this was fine when voicing Ned Stark, or the King …but most of the characters in Game of Thrones are kids 14 years old and younger.

I’ve listened to many talented actors voice novels this year, and each and every character sounded different. The female narrators had a knack for sounding like boys, and the male narrators had no problem sounding like girls.

No matter who’s part this narrator read, though, sounded like an old man.

That made it really hard for me to get absorbed in the story when we were in the points of view of characters that were young, or even worse… GIRLS.

No matter how hard I tried, I envisioned an old man playing all the characters. It kinda ruined it for me.

Yesterday I got a ping from the library that my audio book was due back. I was only on disk 4 of twenty eight. Since someone else had requested it, I could not renew, so I returned the discs figuring I could take them out again at a later date.

Butttt…

But the more I think about it, I probably won’t. The sad truth is that I really wasn’t enjoying it, and I don’t want to get a bad taste for the book just because the narrator didn’t spark my imagination.

This will be my first DNF of 2015. Bummer.

If you’re interested in listening to narrators who were great, consider the audiobooks of Cinder, Scarlet, and Cress (All the Lunar chronicles) or the audio book of “14” by Peter Clines. Those narrators totally rocked a distinct voice for every character, be they male or female.