Category Archives: Audiobooks

Book Review: Poison Study

Posted in Audiobooks, Books by

Poison Study CoverBook: Poison Study by Maria V. Snyder|Narrated by Gabra Zackman

Published November 2005|Published by Harlequin Enterprises, Ltd|Run Time: 10 hours, 26 minutes

Source: Audio Book from Audible

Series: Study #1

Genre: YA/Fantasy

Goodreads|Maria V Snyder’s Website

Summary: Choose: A quick death…or slow poison.

About to be executed for murder, Yelena is offered an extraordinary reprieve.  She’ll eat the best meals, have rooms in the palace, and risk assassination by anyone trying to kill the Commander of Ixia.

And so Yelena chooses to become a food taster.  But the chief of security, leaving nothing to chance, deliberately feeds her Butterfly’s Dust and only by appearing for her daily antidote will she delay an agonizing death from the poison.

As Yelena tries to escape her new dilemma, disasters keep mounting.  Rebels plot to seize Ixia and Yelena develops magical powers she can’t control. Her life is threatened again and choices must be made.  But this time the outcomes aren’t so clear.

Maria V. Snyder is one of my new-to-me favorite authors.  After reading Inside Out and Storm Glass, I knew I wanted to read Poison Study, especially after learning that the Storm Glass series was a spin-off of this one.

The concept of a food taster is nothing new, but I really liked Yelena and how she learned to be a food taster.  What made it more interesting was Butterfly’s Dust, which is what keeps Yelena rooted in her position as food taster.  SPOILER ALERT: She was never actually poisoned- it was just a way to make sure she didn’t escape.  Quite honestly, I should have seen that one coming, and I really wasn’t surprised by THAT particular revelation, but still a good move on Valek’s part.  Otherwise, there’d be no incentive for the food tasters to stay or do their job.

I liked that we got bits and pieces of Yelena’s past.  We learned about how she ended up in jail, and how she was brought to Ixia as a child because of the potential for magical abilities.  Learning everything in bits and pieces was a great move on Snyder’s part, because I was drawn in and wanted to know everything I could about Yelena’s past.  I was pulled into this world where the king was overthrown and how magic is illegal and plots that threaten Ixia and Yelena.

I really liked seeing Yelena navigate the world she’s now a part of of, while trying to deal with her abilities in secret, because that would definitely get her killed.  Yelena is definitely an interesting character who wants to do the right thing.

There are all sorts of interesting characters, like the also interesting Valek.  I was intrigued by the commander, and sort of swooned over Ari and Janco.  There are a lot of interesting relationships between the different characters, and everyone was (surprisingly) not cliche.  Okay, maybe Janco and Ari were, just a little.  But for the most part, I didn’t feel like I was reading about your stereotypical fantasy characters.

Romance!  I was surprised to see that Harlequin published Poison Study, because it was pretty light on the romance.  I like Valek and Yelena together, but they certainly have their work cut out for them.  Them together is slightly predictable but they do make a great couple.

I felt like I got a pretty good sense of the castle and what it looked like, but I couldn’t tell much of what Ixia looked like because we don’t get to see a whole lot of Ixia.  What we do get isn’t memorable, because I couldn’t really tell you much about the rest of Ixia.  However, Snyder does a great job of creating a very vivid world that I want to know more about.

I liked Poison Study as an audiobook and Zackman did a great job with the different voices and accents.  Overall, she was just okay as a narrator but I would have no problem listening to the other books in the series.

Final Thoughts:

I really enjoyed listening to Poison Study, and I can’t wait to see what’s in store for Yelena as she learns more about her magical abilities and goes back home to Sitia.  I’m looking forward to reading the next book.  Poison Study gets 4 stars.

Books I Couldn’t Finish: The Classics Edition

Posted in Audiobooks, Books, Books I Couldn't Finish by

Remember last month, when I did that one Top 10 Tuesday about my bookish goals for the year?  Well, I’m (sort of) talking about how that’s going!

Some things I wanted to do: read more classics/vary my reading and listen to more audiobooks, while using the library more.  I’m doing well with using the library more.  I’m doing okay with the varying of the reading material and the listening of more audiobooks- not as much as I’d like, but better than I expected.  And classics…well…that’s not really happening.

However, the only classic I’ve actually read this year has been The Outsiders…and while I have oodles of time to read more classics, I’m in this weird needing to read classics kind of mood.  I figured that listening would work out better on the classics front, because, more often than not, reading them is a big struggle.

What has brought this post on?  Well, last week, I tried AND FAILED MISERABLY to listen to some classics.  So tonight, I am sharing those classics, and why they ended up in my DNF-pile.

Book One: Brave New World by Aldous Huxley

Brave New World

Why I Wanted To Read It: It’s obviously a classic, but it’s also a dystopic novel, and I love dystopic novels.  I was definitely intrigued by the genetics and creating people to fit the roles that particular society needed.

Why I Couldn’t Finish: I was bored 5 minutes in, and decided to wait a day to see if it was just me not being in the right mood for it.  That didn’t happen, and after a very torturous hour of listening, I knew I had to give up on it.  I was hoping that listening to it would make it easier to get through the book but…considering I could barely listen to 5 minutes, I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t last very long reading it.

Book Two: Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy

Anna Karenina Cover

Why I Wanted To Read It: I haven’t seen the movie, but since I knew it was a movie, I thought I would give the audiobook a try.  Really, the only thing I know about this book (besides it being a movie, of course) is that it was mentioned on Gilmore Girls and that Anna throws herself under a train or something.

Why I Could Finish: I didn’t even make it to an hour!  I gave up after 20 minutes because of sheer boredom.  Plus, the dang book is 33 hours long, so the length is/was intimidating.  Probably less so because I tried to listen, and didn’t have to look at how long of a book it is.  Again, my attempt to listen to a classic because it would be easier to get through completely failed.  I think I’ll stick with the movie…assuming I get around to watching it, of course.

Book Three: The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald

The Great Gatsby

Why I Wanted To Read It: I read it in high school, and figured that listening to it would fulfill pretty much half of the goals I set for myself.  And…since the movie is coming out sometime this year, I knew this would be the perfect opportunity to re-read a book I HAD to read for school, and actually liked.

Why I Couldn’t Finish: To be fair, it’s not the story itself.  It’s just…20 or 30 minutes in, I realized I didn’t like the narrator.  I’ll probably give it another try, but will stick to a physical or digital copy.

Here’s a freebie: Les Misérables by Victor Hugo

Les Miserables Cover

Why I Wanted To Read It: Well, my reasons for wanting to read it are really similar to my reasons for wanting to read Anna Karenina-  a classic turned into a movie I have yet to see.  And like Anna Karenina and Brave New World, I ACTUALLY THOUGHT LISTENING TO IT would make it easier to take in.  But I decided to cancel the request because I figured it was another book that would bore me to tears, and because my previous attempts to listen to classics didn’t work out so well.  I might give it a try sometime in the future.

So while I couldn’t make it through Anna Karenina or Brave New World, and while I decided I didn’t even want to try with Les Miserables, it wasn’t a complete loss.  Here’s why:

  • I did try, which is super-important.  Because you don’t know if you’ll like something unless you try.
  • I’m not going to like every book read, especially with how much I read.  These classics didn’t happen to work.
  • I am willing to read The Great Gatsby, because I would like to read it again.  Listening isn’t always going to work for me, just like holding the book in my hands isn’t always going to work.

I have to admit, it was kind of fun to talk about the books that I couldn’t finish, so I may do it again should I come across a book I can’t finish.

Book Review: Beautiful Creatures

Posted in Audiobooks, Books by

Beautiful Creatures CoverBook: Beautiful Creatures by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl|Narrated by Kevin Collins

Published December 2009|Published by Hachette Audiobooks

Audio Book|Borrowed from the library|Run time: 17 hours, 33 minutes

Series: Caster Chronicles #1

Genre: YA: Paranormal

Goodreads|Barnes And Noble|Amazon|Kami Garcia’s Website|Margaret Stohl’s Website|Series Website

Summary: Lena Duchannes is unlike anyone the small Southern town of Gatlin has ever seen, and she’s struggling to conceal her power and a curse that has haunted her family for generations. But even within the overgrown gardens, murky swamps, and crumbling graveyards of the forgotten South, a secret cannot stay hidden forever.

Ethan Wate, who has been counting the months until he can escape from Gatlin, is haunted by dreams of a beautiful girl he has never met. When Lena moves into the town’s oldest and most infamous plantation, Ethan is inexplicably drawn to her and determined to uncover the connection between them.

In a town with no surprises, one secret could change everything….

OMG!

So…I TOTALLY loved Beautiful Creatures.  Like, acting like an idiot fangirl, jumping up and down squeeing…that is how much I loved Beautiful Creatures.  I’ve been thinking about reading for a while, so when I saw the movie was coming out I knew reading it as soon as I could get it would be a good idea.  And I’m definitely glad I saw the movie first, because otherwise…I would probably have complained a lot more had I read the book first.

I LOVED that it was narrated by Ethan.  One, he loves to read.  Two, he has a map of the places he wants to visit and adds to it whenever he comes across a place in a book he reads.  And three, he’s all snarky, and I love snark!

Actually, there’s four- I couldn’t help but swoon!  Seriously, I think he’s now one of my new fictional boyfriends!

Anyway, I loved how drawn he was to Lena, and how they have that whole forbidden romance/star-crossed lovers thing going on.  One great thing about their relationship is that he’s convinced she’s not going dark and how she tries to pull away because she doesn’t want him to get hurt when she’s claimed but he won’t let her because he cares about her and wants to protect her.  I also loved Lena and how important it was for her to feel like a normal kid, even though she’s a caster and has a lot going on in her life.

I want to talk about Gatlin for a minute.  South Carolina- especially a small town where there’s a lot of history- is such a great setting for something paranormal.  Something about the south and forbidden romance and magic and good vs evil…it just all works so well.  There is a part of me that thought New Orleans would be a FANTASTIC setting for this book, but given the connection to the civil war, South Carolina makes perfect sense.

I loved the connection between Lena and Ethan and their ancestors.  You see history repeat itself and how differently things turned out.  It just made it a lot more interesting seeing them work everything out and having to learn things on their own, with very little help.  One of the great things about them living in a small town is how Ethan would ask his great-aunts about their family tree and Macon Ravenwood and the history of the town as a way to figure out what was going on.

And the other characters!  I kind of knew what to expect villain-wise (having seen the movie) but I was surprised to learn that one of the characters in the movie was actually two in the book.  So, I really like that Marion- head librarian of the public library and the best friend of Ethan’s mom- was the librarian of the caster library.  I like that someone who neutral with no magical abilities is the keeper of the books.  I like that she doesn’t get involved, but still helps when asked.  At the same time, though, I liked that Amma- a seer who checks up on Ethan- was the Caster librarian in the movie, and it’s because of her connection to the magical world.

The characters are all really different but I don’t think I could pick a favorite.  There was a moment when I was all worried about Boo Radley possibly dying- thankfully, he recovered…and even though he’s just in the background, keeping an eye on things, he’s a great character.  Besides, who would suspect a dog as being Macon’s eyes and ears in town?

Lena’s family is really intriguing, and I want to see more of them!  I’m intrigued that they all have different abilities and the whole magical world Stohl and Garcia created.  I liked that we learned things as Ethan learned them, which is another reason why I’m glad we had Ethan as a narrator.

I loved listening to it, and Kevin Collins did a great job narrating.  I was pleasantly surprised by the part narrated by Lena, and how they actually got a female to narrate that part of the book.

Final Thoughts:

I absolutely loved Beautiful Creatures and can’t wait to read Beautiful Darkness.  There are so many interesting things about the magical world in this book, and I know we’ve only scratched the surface with it.  I love the relationship that Lena and Ethan have, and how his feelings for her give her strength and power.  Beautiful Creatures gets 5 stars!

Book Review: The Outsiders

Posted in Audiobooks, Books by

The Outsiders CoverBook: The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton|Narrated by Jim Fyfe

Published June 2006|Originally Published 1967|Published by Listening Library

Audio Book|From the library|Run Time: 5 hours, 27 minutes

Series: No

Genre: YA/Classics

Goodreads|Barnes And Noble|Amazon|S.E. Hinton’s Website

Summary: According to Ponyboy, there are two kinds of people in the world: greasers and socs. A soc (short for “social”) has money, can get away with just about anything, and has an attitude longer than a limousine. A greaser, on the other hand, always lives on the outside and needs to watch his back. Ponyboy is a greaser, and he’s always been proud of it, even willing to rumble against a gang of socs for the sake of his fellow greasers–until one terrible night when his friend Johnny kills a soc. The murder gets under Ponyboy’s skin, causing his bifurcated world to crumble and teaching him that pain feels the same whether a soc or a greaser.

The Outsiders is one of those books that never made it onto the required reading lists for school…but I’m pretty sure we watched the movie, because parts of it seemed really familiar when I was listening to it.

Honestly though?  It was okay.  I mean, it is a classic, and as far as YA goes, it’s pretty important.

Here’s what I liked: the relationships between all the greasers and how nobody’s what they seem.  I kind of liked the “them vs us” part of it, and that family isn’t necessarily made up of people you’re related to.  For something written by a teen, I was impressed by how well-written it was.  Not that things written by teen are automatically horribly-written or anything, but I think it being written by a teen is why it’s gone over so well.

But…I really couldn’t connect with it.  While I appreciated The Outsiders, I also just…feel sort of meh about it.   It was easy to listen to, but I’m trying to rack my brain for reasons why it’s just okay, and I’m coming up with nothing.  I can’t quite put my finger on it, but I just couldn’t get into it.

I sort of hate to say this, but there were several times when the book sounded like a 16-year-old girl wrote it.  She did describe everything really well, and I could picture everything so clearly!  And while it felt really realistic…there was also something unrealistic about it too.  I know absolutely nothing about the time in which the book was set or anything like that, but there were times when it was hard to believe that the characters really acted the way they did.

Hinton really brought things to life, and it definitely came through in the audio book.  Fyfe did a great job narrating, and brought the characters to life.  He also did a great job making all of the characters sound different- you knew who was who, and no one sounded similar.

Final Thoughts:

The Outsiders is a book I don’t really have strong feelings about.  It was just okay for me, and while I appreciate it as a classic and as a book written for teens in a time when there didn’t seem to be a lot of books for teens, I just couldn’t get into it.  There are things I liked but overall…it’s just not my cup of tea.  It’s still worth reading, though.  It gets 2 stars.

Book Review: 13 Little Blue Envelopes

Posted in Audiobooks, Books by

13 Little Blue EnvelopesBook: 13 Little Blue Envelopes by Maureen Johnson|Narrated by Emily Durante

Published December 2010|Published by HarperCollins|6 hours 51 minutes|Audio Book via the library

Series? 13 Little Blue Envelopes #1

Genre: YA/Contemporary

Find out more: Goodreads|Barnes And Noble|Amazon|Maureen Johnson’s Website

Goodreads.com Summary: When Ginny receives thirteen little blue envelopes and instructions to buy a plane ticket to London, she knows something exciting is going to happen. What Ginny doesn’t know is that she will have the adventure of her life and it will change her in more ways than one. Life and love are waiting for her across the Atlantic, and the thirteen little blue envelopes are the key to finding them in this funny, romantic, heartbreaking novel.

I have mixed feelings about 13 Little Blue Envelopes.  I like the idea of 13 envelopes that taking Ginny on this interesting adventure through Europe, but the book didn’t quite work for me.  I mean, Ginny has the chance for a lot of adventure but it felt like she was just going through the motions.  Seriously, it felt like she didn’t care about having fun or exploring Europe or getting to know some of the people her aunt became friends with or admired.  She was just so disinterested in her trip that it was hard to care about her journey.

Ginny really zipped through those envelopes, which took her to a lot of different places.  As a result, she never really got to spend a lot of time in each place.  Overall, it was hard to connect with Ginny and her taking the same trip through Europe that her aunt took.  And I honestly couldn’t tell you anything about Ginny, who was pretty lackluster, and didn’t seem to have a personality.  Actually, lackluster describes pretty much every single character in the book.

And the rules surrounding this trip through Europe.  No maps, no guidebooks, all of her belongings have to fit into a huge back-pack…only the money her aunt has set up for her, and Ginny has no idea how much that is until she can get to an ATM.  Oh, and no cell phone, no contacting her family and friends, unless it’s a hand-written letter or postcard…and of course, no way for them to contact 17-year-old Ginny.  I’m willing to overlook a lot in YA, but who lets their 17-year-old traipse around Europe with not a lot of money and no way of keeping in contact?

And the narration?  It was okay.  Not amazing, but not completely horrible.  It did work fairly well as an audio book, but the narration itself doesn’t really stand out.

Final Thoughts:

Overall, 13 Little Blue Envelopes was pretty uninspiring.  It could have been a lot of fun, but unfortunately, I felt like Ginny was just going through the motions.  I liked the concept of the novel, but it just didn’t work for me.  It gets 2 stars.

Book Review: Beauty Queens

Posted in Audiobooks, Books by

Beauty Queens CoverBook: Beauty Queens by Libba Bray|Narrated by Libba Bray

Published May 2011|Published by Scholatic Audio|Run  time: 14 hours, 33 minutes|Audiobook via the library

Series Or Stand-Alone: Stand-Alone

Genre: YA/Contemporary

Find out more: Goodreads|Barnes And Noble|Amazon|Libba Bray’s Website

Goodreads.com Summary: From bestselling Printz award-winning author Libba Bray, the story of a plane of beauty contestants that crashes on a desert island. 

Teen beauty queens. A “Lost”-like island. Mysteries and dangers. No access to e-mail. And the spirit of fierce, feral competition that lives underground in girls, a savage brutality that can only be revealed by a journey into the heart of non-exfoliated darkness. Oh, the horror, the horror! Only funnier. With evening gowns. And a body count.

SPARKLE PONIES!!!!!

I ABSOLUTELY LOVED Beauty Queens!  It’s hysterically funny, and this one was the perfect book to listen to as an audio book!  Like, funny as in listening to it in public wasn’t the best idea, because I’d randomly start laughing.

The fictional pop culture references were great…and more than a few bore an uncanny resemblance to real life people and products.  I mean, Joey Testosterone reminded me of Mario Lopez, there was an evil corporation, the island was kind of like the one on Lost, Lady Bird Hope kind of reminded me of Sarah Palin…although I was never able to put my finger on who Mo-Mo, the hilarious dictator of The Rock reminded me.  Just the general stereotype of someone who publicly doesn’t like the U.S. but secretly like certain aspects of our culture.  Also great were the random footnotes and commercials.  They just fit with the book so well!

It was fun to listen to the 12 survivors survive on a deserted island.  You wouldn’t expect all of those 12 to survive as well as they did, but of course, they all survived, got off the island and went on to lead very productive lives, while remaining close friends.

The characters were definitely cliché, but for the most part, I wasn’t annoyed by it.  I mean, Miss Texas was the ultimate beauty queen, and it’s a shame we don’t really see more of her, especially after she goes off the deep end.  That’s one story I’d like to read!

Idina, by far, was the character who irritated me the most.  She’s the girl who’s only in the pageant because she wants to expose how evil and horrible pageants really are, and, at one point, complains about how stupid girls can get when they’re around guys (only to act that way herself).  She does have some great moments with Taylor (Miss Texas), who is her polar opposite in many ways.  I loved Tiara and Mo-Mo.  Tiara was just adorably random, and Mo-Mo was hysterical.

Narration!  Libba Bray (the author) also narrated, and she did a great job with all the voices, footnotes and commercials.  I already mentioned that this book worked well as an audio book, and I am so glad I did listen to the audio book.

Girl power and accepting others for who they really are did come through, but it just didn’t work for me.  It was kind of hard to take those messages seriously, mostly because it seemed a little too random.  I mean, I know they’re stranded on island, and it was easier to be themselves away from society and all, but…it was still a little too random.

Final thoughts:

Beauty Queens was great, especially in audio form.  I liked the characters, the book was hysterical, and the pop culture references keep me guessing.  Beauty Queens gets 5 stars.

Crank

Posted in Audiobooks, Books by

Book: Crank by Ellen Hopkins|Narrated by Laura Flanagan

Published August 2008|Published by Highbridge Audio|Run time: 4 hours, 31 minutes

Audiobook, via the public library

Genre: YA/Contemporary

Check it out at: Goodreads|Barnes And Noble|Amazon|Ellen Hopkins’ Website

Goodreads.com Summary: Kristina Georgia Snow is the perfect daughter: gifted high school junior, quiet, never any trouble. But on a trip to visit her absentee father, she meets a boy who introduces her to crank. At first she finds it freeing, but soon Kristina’s personality disappears inside the drug. What began as a wild, ecstatic ride turns into a struggle through hell for her mind, her soul, and her life.

I really liked Crank.  After listening to Identical, and having seen this one in the digital library, I decided to give it a listen.

There’s something very poetic about Crank, and it was a very interesting listen.  You really see what it does to Kristina, and how much she needs it by the end of the book.  Even her child can’t completely save her from it.  I liked seeing her life during this time, but unfortunately, you don’t see really see anything of her life before becoming addicted.  And you only see a little bit of her life after learning she’s pregnant.  I would have liked more of her life before, to see how much it really changed her.

I thought Kristina was interesting, but she wasn’t as interesting as I expected.  I think having a little bit more of her life before crank would have helped with that.  I mean, you get a really good look how someone gets addicted, but with Kristina, you don’t really get the why, which is something that’s sort of intriguing.  You see how ugly addiction is, and how hard it is to overcome.  Even at the end, with a newborn, Kristina still struggles with her meth addiction.  I like that she doesn’t sugarcoat it.  I like that you see it in all it’s ugliness.  I like that even at the end of the book, things aren’t completely wrapped up or resolved.  You really get a sense that addiction is something you always struggle with, no matter what else is going on.

It was a little hard to connect with Kristina, because I felt like I only knew the Kristina who was addicted to crank.

I thought Kristina calling crank “the monster” as interesting at first, but it got tiresome by the end.  I get why she calls it the monster, but it was still got old pretty fast.

It’s a pretty gritty, dark book, and Flanagan did a great job at showing Kristina’s downward spiral.  This is the second book I’ve listened to that’s been narrated by Flanagan, and she’s a great narrator who really brought Kristina to life.

Final thoughts: I’m slowly becoming a fan of Ellen Hopkins and I like how dark, gritty and real Crank is.  A little more of her life in Reno before becoming addicted to crank would have been nice, but overall, it is a really good read.  It gets a 4 out of 5.

Drowning Instinct

Posted in Audiobooks, Books by

Book: Drowning Instinct by Ilsa Bick|Narrated by Kathleen Mcinerney

Published February 2012|Published by Brilliance Audio|Run time: 9 hours, 46 minutes

Audiobook, via audible.com

Genre: YA/Contemporary

Check it out at: Goodreads|Barnes And Noble|Amazon|Ilsa Bick’s Website

Goodreads.com Summary: There are stories where the girl gets her prince, and they live happily ever after. (This is not one of those stories.)

Jenna Lord’s first sixteen years were not exactly a fairytale. Her father is a controlling psycho and her mother is a drunk. She used to count on her older brother—until he shipped off to Afghanistan. And then, of course, there was the time she almost died in a fire. 

There are stories where the monster gets the girl, and we all shed tears for his innocent victim. (This is not one of those stories either.)

Mitch Anderson is many things: A dedicated teacher and coach. A caring husband. A man with a certain… magnetism. 

And there are stories where it’s hard to be sure who’s a prince and who’s a monster, who is a victim and who should live happily ever after. (These are the most interesting stories of all.)

Drowning Instinct is a novel of pain, deception, desperation, and love against the odds—and the rules.

Holy shit.

That describes how I feel after finishing Drowning Instinct.  I just…I don’t even know where to start with this.

There is so much going on in Drowning Instinct- there are so many issues that each one could be their own novel.  But Bick handles all of them well, and weaves them together so well.

Jenna is so damaged, and such an unreliable character.  But it works, and I like that she’s talking about her truth.  She really is an interesting character, as are all of the other characters, who are all fucked up in their own way.  Jenna was so easy to relate to.  A lot of the characters were, and I liked that I could relate to so many of them.  I even liked Mitch..even if I’m not sure we were supposed to.

This is definitely a dark story, with alcoholism, cutting, a student-teacher relationship (with the teacher being married) and other issues.  Even though my heart broke for Jenna at times, I couldn’t cry for her.  Things are definitely shades of grey in this book, and I like that Drowning Instinct is about those shades of grey, instead of looking at things in black and white.

We really have to talk about Drowning Instinct as an audiobook.  It was fantastic as an audiobook, because of the way the book is written.  We first meet Jenna in the emergency, where she is given a recorder by a detective.  She uses the recorder to tell her story- namely, what lead her to this time in the emergency room.  Mcinerney did a wonderful job with narrating, and she really captured the essence of Jenna.  Drowning Instinct works so well as an audiobook, so I’d highly recommend going for the audiobook version if at all possible.

Because Jenna’s telling her story into the recorder, we only get one side- which is Jenna’s, and one that is unreliable and biased.  But I think that’s the beauty of this novel.  It’s definitely dark and it’s definitely twisted, so by having Jenna’s perspective, you see that everything is not what it seems.

I liked going in and not knowing what was going to happen- the summary doesn’t give a lot away, which is nice.  I did figure out pretty early on that she’d end up with her teacher, but other than that, you didn’t know how it was going to turn out.  I wasn’t expecting the plot twist with her brother at all, although it is something I probably should have expected.  Mostly because…why would her parents have a problem with a girl talking to her brother just because he’s in the military?

The only problem I have with the book?  Jenna’s parents.  How is that her parents don’t want her to have a cell phone, be able to drive, or having locks on her doors, yet they have no problem leaving her at home, alone, for a week?  And Jenna calling her dad “psycho dad?”  More back story on that would have been nice.  All we see is a guy who likes to be in control, so knowing why she calls him psycho dad would have been helpful.

And the ending!  Jenna ends up erasing the entire recording, so the reader has no idea how things work out for any of the characters.  It just seems to fit with the novel.

Final thought: I loved Drowning Instinct!  It’s wonderfully narrated, works well as an audiobook, and is a twisted novel that was interesting to listen to.  There are so many interesting characters, and life is full of shades of grey.  I give it a 5 out of 5.

Anna And The French Kiss

Posted in Audiobooks, Books by

Book: Anna And The French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins, narrated by Kim Guest

Published December 2010 by Listening Library|Run Time: 10 hours, 29 minutes

How I Got It: audiobook via the library

Genre: YA/Contemporary

Find out more: Goodreads|Barnes And Noble|Amazon|Stephanie Perkins 

Goodreads.com Summary: Anna was looking forward to her senior year in Atlanta, where she has a great job, a loyal best friend, and a crush on the verge of becoming more. So she’s less than thrilled about being shipped off to boarding school in Paris—until she meets Étienne St. Clair. Smart, charming, beautiful, perfect, Étienne has it all … including a serious girlfriend.

But in the City of Light, wishes have a way of coming true. Will a year of romantic near-misses end with their long-awaited French kiss?

I absolutely LOVED Anna And The French Kiss.

Etienne!  I wish he were real…I’ll totally admit to swooning over him.  He’s definitely my favorite character in the whole book.  The whole book, I was rooting for him and Anna to end up together, and I was so glad they did in the end!  They are such an adorable couple, and I liked seeing them go from friends to boyfriend/girlfriend.

Speaking of Anna, I liked seeing her grow.  She arrived in Paris not knowing any French and thinking she knew who she was, to leaving France understanding some French and knowing that her 9 months in Paris changed her for the better.  Plus, she explored France (a little) and while she didn’t stray too far from school, I liked her exploration of Paris and how she got more comfortable leaving her boarding school and going off to a city where she didn’t know the language.  I really liked that she loved movies, and visited different movie theaters in Paris.

It really is a cute, fun, feel-good read.  There was a lot of squee-ing at the end.  Actually, it happened a lot throughout the book.  I have to say that Anna’s dad kind of reminded me of Nicholas Sparks.  In the sense that Anna’s dad totally writes books that Nicholas Sparks would write.

The characters were great (except for the ones that were supposed to not-great), and they were all so distinct.  They definitely had their flaws and quirks and their own personalities.

Have I mentioned how much I love Etienne St. Clair?  Because I love him!  Please excuse me while I act like a fan-girl.

Anyway, Anna And The French Kiss was predictable and full of cliches…but in a good way.  I didn’t care that Anna and Etienne wouldn’t get together until the end.  I didn’t care if it took them the whole book to admit they liked each other.  I didn’t care if there were a ton of obstacles in their way.

It was predictable and it didn’t matter, because I could not listen to it fast enough.  And speaking of listening to it, I did enjoy it as an audiobook.  Guest did a great job narrating, and she did a pretty good job with making the characters distinct.  She also captured Anna really well.

Final thoughts: I LOVED, LOVED, LOVED Anna And The French Kiss!  Great characters, great setting, and an all-around fun read.

A Thousand Lives

Posted in Audiobooks, Books by

Book: A Thousand Lives by Julia Scheeres

Narrated By: Robin Miles

Run Time: 10 hours, 53 minutes

How I Got It: Audiobook, via Audible

Genre: Non-fiction: Sociology, Psychology

Find out more: Goodreads|Barnes And Noble|Amazon|Julia Scheeres

Goodreads.com Summary: They left America for the jungles of Guyana to start a better life. Yet what started as a Utopian dream soon devolved into a terrifying work camp run by a madman, ending in the mass murder-suicide of 914 members in November 1978. 

In A Thousand Lives, the New York Times best-selling memoirist Julia Scheeres traces the fates of five individuals who followed Jim Jones to South America as they struggled to first build their paradise, and then survive it. Each went for different reasons – some were drawn to Jones for his progressive attitudes towards racial equality, others were dazzled by his claims to be a faith healer. But once in Guyana, Jones’ drug addiction, mental decay, and sexual depredations quickly eroded the idealistic community. 

For this groundbreaking book, Scheeres examined more than 50,000 pages of newly released documents that the FBI collected from the camp after the massacre – including diaries, crop reports, and letters that were never sent home – as well as hundreds of audiotapes of Jones addressing his group. 

Scheeres’s own experience at a religious boot camp in the Dominican Republic, detailed in her unforgettable debut memoir Jesus Land, gives her unique insight into this chilling tale. 

Haunting and vividly written, A Thousand Lives is a story of blind loyalty and daring escapes, of corrupted ideals and senseless, searing loss.

A Thousand Lives was really interesting.  I had a general idea of what happened at Jonestown, but this was a really interesting and personal look at what it was like for some of the people who survived Jonestown.  You get a great look at the kind of people who were drawn to Jim Jones, and how he went from a charismatic guy on a corner, to someone who was addicted to drugs and seemed paranoid.

You see people who were so full of hope at the beginning, and so full of despair at the end.  I liked that you see how long it took for People’s Temple to go from one end of the spectrum to the other.  You see why they stayed loyal to him, even when they didn’t want to, and that the signs of his own instability were there long before the group committed mass suicide. You see everyone from well-educated people to people who were in prison who would follow him to the ends of the earth.

I definitely got the sense that Scheeres really identified with the members of People’s Temple.  You really feel for them at times, and she does do a great job with showing why people didn’t try to leave.  At the same time, though, it focused more on the people in Jonestown and not enough on Jim Jones.  I would have liked more background on him.  It definitely leans towards portraying him in a negative light.  I get why, but more of his childhood, and more about him would have been nice.

It does jump around a lot in terms of timeline, and keeping track of people was somewhat difficult, which made it a little harder to keep track of what was going on.

As far as the narration goes, Robin Miles did a great job narrating.

Final thoughts: I liked it, and thought it was an interesting look at Jonestown.  It gets a 3 out of 5.