D.G. ~Shameless Reader~

I can understand why this book was groundbreaking - lots of interesting musings on the future of men, evolution and why we are how we are - but I found it a bit slow and boring, maybe because it was one person's narrative with very little conversation. Thankfully, it was a short book, otherwise I doubt I would have finished it. I'm glad I did because I liked how it ended.

I read the audiobook narrated by Ralph Cosham. I'm not a great fan of his - I find him a bit monotone - but as this was mostly from one person's perspective, it wasn't as bad.

Die Trying followed almost the same pattern as the Killing Floor, the first book in the series. (spoilers hidden by spoiler tag.)

- Reacher arrives to a new place and gets in the middle of a life and death situation involving tons of bad guys.

- Nobody knows who Reacher is so they don't take him very seriously. Reacher starts kicking ass left and right - body count usually in the double digits.

- There's a woman who Reacher admires because of her looks, smarts, toughness, etc. He behaves towards her as if she could be the love of his life. They hook up (no matter how improbable it might seem) but at the end, he let's her go.

- At the end, Reacher is let go by the authorities without them asking him nary a question even though he has been involved up to his ears in the action. This is specially puzzling given the body count.

I didn't like Georgina in the first book but I liked Seth well enough that I wanted to give it another try. In a sense, I'm glad I did because now I definitely know Georgina is not the kind of heroine I'd ever get behind. To paraphrase Dickens, these pages didn't show Georgina as the hero of her own life, in fact, they showed her as the villain.

You see, Georgina is how imagine people like Bernie Maddoff must be like. Not the kind that makes one big mistake and learns from it, but the weak, selfish and self-serving type that does bad things every day but keeps justifying it. They don't stand for anything and prefer to harm millions of others with their actions. They think that doing evil deeds doesn't make them bad people, that filling guilty or having rare pangs of conscience makes up for their behavior. IT DOESN'T. They are pieces of shit who always take the easy way out.

I got this as an Audible freebie. The story was nothing special - very pedestrian and not as sexy as the title or cover implies but it was pleasant enough. The best part was discovering the narrator, who has a GREAT voice for male characters. I'm definitely looking forward to listening to another romance narrated by Savannah Richards.

I had several problems with this book but my main issue was that I couldn't suspend disbelief. So the head of Homeland Security gets a note warning that something will happen to the President and he lets himself be convinced to do nothing? Worse, nobody takes the note seriously even after an assassination attempt? Please!

I liked DeMarco very much but I didn't like that he couldn't take care of business. Kicking ass wasn't his superpower (like Reacher, John Rain or Jason Bourne) so when he was confronted with really bad guys, he was horribly outmatched. When I read thrillers, I like to know the bad guys will be getting their comeuppance and the hero will be the one delivering it, not that he will be constantly praying, hoping to get out their clutches.

What a bounty of cheesy goodness!

Everybody and their dog knows I listen to this series because I like the narration. As usual, Robert Petkoff was all out and I love him for it! I just wish the plot would make the narration justice.

The plot in this book differed from the rest of the series - instead of him chasing her, SHE wanted the relationship while he wasn't very crazy about the fated mates business. But after a while, their relationship devolved into a lot of fighting and I didn't see how they fell in love. This story seemed more of an excuse to rehash what happened in the series and introduce new characters (that Jodian (sp?) has 'future hero!' written all over him.)

I laughed a lot with the love scenes - I know I'm not supposed to, but some of them were super cheesy and that epilogue was so sugary!

Even if the romance wasn't satisfactory, I still got a lot of enjoyment out of this audio. Hopefully the next book is better plot wise.

If I had read this book instead of listening to the audio, I would have enjoyed it more. The narration seemed appropriate at the beginning but as I got to the know the characters and understand the world, I realized the narrator was too over the top. You see, the writing in this book is very lavish so I think it needed a more understated approach so the words would shine. As it was, it sounded like a person eating chocolate and going 'mmmmm' with every bite (understandable at the beginning but totally grating by the end.)

Ellysetta's apologetic tone almost made me want to kill her. EVERYTHING she said sounded as if she was wringing her hands and apologizing - I know she was young and had a lot of misgivings but sometimes the words she said didn't match the narrator's tone. Also, the villains all sounded too casual, as if they were having a pint at the pub.

I remember really liking this book the first time I read it, but listening to it this time around, the murderer seemed so obvious! I was amazed that Miss Marple took so long to figure it out. Definitely not among the best in Mrs. Christie's arsenal even if the hook Want to see a picture of a murderer?' definitely catches the eye.Narration was well done even if the American accents are over the top.Still looking forward to the next book in the series.

My main problem with Good Girls Don't is that the conflicts are based in social mores that are not relevant in 21st century America. Who cares if an adult single woman is pregnant? What kind of brothers 'warn' away a guy from their 27 year old sister? These things would have made sense in the 50s or in a country with very conservative values but not in today's setting.

I also didn't care for the heroine at all. She has this idea that they were a close knit family but she's constantly lying to her brothers, running interference like they were 10-year olds. I only finished it because I wanted to get to the part when the heroine realized what a dope she was.

Lauren Fortgang did an OK job with the narration but I didn't care for the voice of the hero. He was so soft-spoken that he sounded weak at times - not at all like he was described in the book.

Not sure if I'll continue the series in audio...maybe in print because I'm more interested in the brothers.

Forged in Fire is a messy mix of PNR and Romantic Suspense that needed the reader to suspend disbelief way too much for it to work out. Am I to believe that post 9/11, some villains will resort to hijacking a plane to get their hands on some people? What happened to old fashioned kidnapping?

Sadly for the villains, their "fool-proof" plan was foiled by the psychic dreams/visions of our hero and heroine who happened to be fated mates. Even though their assertions are pretty crazy, they are believed enough that the plane is grounded. But that doesn't deter our handy villains. Oh no! Almost immediately, they resort to a plan B that revolves around leveraging some hostages. Again I ask myself, if you don't mind kidnapping people, why not kidnap the people you really want to get your hands on? (The excuse given for this was totally crazy.)

This is probably the most unromantic book I've read this year. There was just so much fighting between the characters and through most of the book, the heroine treated the hero like she didn't give a flying f*ck about him, trampling on his feelings when the guy obviously felt a deep connection with her. Not that I blame her, because being kidnapped and taken into a horrible world with very strict laws for the purpose of feeding people with her energy would have made me batty as well. I understand why she was so bitter and angry but it didn't make for a great romance.

The Crown Tower is the first book in the Riyria Chronicles, a prequel to the Riyria Revelations trilogy. I haven’t read the latter so I struggled as to what to read first: order of publication or chronologically? The author made it clear it could be read either way so I decided to start chronologically. I think this was a mistake.

Simply put, The Crown Tower is just an OK book. Hadrian and Royce weren’t very appealing or captivating to those of us who are meeting them for the first time. Hadrian in particular was unbelievable as a former captain because he didn’t seem suited to lead a group of soldiers. He seemed to have no head for strategy and zero awareness of his surroundings. Instead of a man who traveled the world, he was so naive that he seemed almost dumb. Royce makes more sense but his penchant for stabbing first and asking questions later made him seem a bit of a psycho. He was believable at least.

Hot Finish was well...really hot but that's the best thing about the book. I really didn't understand the relationship between the leads and why they broke up so at the end I couldn't understand how they got back together. The worst part though was how contemptuous everybody was of a character, just because she was dumb. It was distasteful how she became the butt of so many jokes.

*The Cuckoo’s Calling is an excellent mystery with intense characters, beautiful imagery and an intricate plot that expertly melds the consequences of fame, psychological issues and questions of race. Before you continue reading, I’ll point out that this is a MYSTERY. If you don’t like the genre, you will probably not like it even if you are a great fan of Harry Potter. As the description points out, this is a mystery in the classic vein so there are no serial killers. Most of the book is about Strike reconstructing events, interviewing witnesses and dealing with the fallout of his failed relationship and his new life. The book is not boring by any means but it won’t appeal to people who don’t like the genre or are offended by cursing – this is an adult book with tons of f-bombs.

NOTE TO SELF: Do NOT continue this series. No matter how much you are tempted when you want to listen to some PNR in audio, please learn your lesson. After 4 books, it's the same bland plot over and over. It will NOT improve so please get it in your head.

Like the previous book, this one was bland, with a couple that fell in love out of nowhere. Worse, Rio got over the betrayal of his previous mate too easily. I would have thought that it would take him years for him to trust another woman again.

The heroine was interchangeable with all the heroines from this series. I really saw nothing special about her.

I hope I'll remember to check this review if in a year or so I feel like trying this series again.