Now this is the second book where my experience with Audiobook was much much better than the content of the book.
Now this one had promising premise, it gave me Edgar Allan Poe's mask of the red death vibes coz that was the damn plot and it really felt like I was gonna love this book. But there's hardly exciting that happens in the book. Talon calling Odyssa little wolf from the very first meeting made no sense at all. Then Odyssa was having so many accidents that it was just repetitive and annoying. Lot of things made no sense in the book. Till about 60 % of the book nothing happened but her accidents.
Odyssa wasn't powerful nor did she did anything extravagant. Her cribbing over her mother's death and horrible brothers was overly done. If she was in the castle and that was coz of her brothers, how was she responsible for looking after them. I mean come one use the brain sometimes.
She infuriated me, there was hardly any chemistry between her and Talon. Overall this book disappointed me big time. Coz this could have been such a hit book.
Thank you Netgalley and dreamscape media for the audiobook ARC in exchange of an honest review....more
I wasn't liking it at first, thought it boring but then started liking it, towards end kind of loved it.
The Dragon King by Penelope Barsetti Narrated byI wasn't liking it at first, thought it boring but then started liking it, towards end kind of loved it.
The Dragon King by Penelope Barsetti Narrated by Ramona Master; Michael Ferraiuolo
Both the narrators has done a fantastic job especially male narrator as his Dragon's voice and Talon's voice were so different that it felt like two different people has voiced it over.
This is the third book in the series and I didn't notice it when I requested it, nevertheless I liked to listen to the audiobook. I'm definitely going to read the first two books because I really want to know what happened between Callista and Talon.
Now to be honest, there's hardly anything that's going on in the book, there was a moment when I thought of DNFing the book but I carried on coz narrators really kept me engaged. There is few action here in this book but somehow I was invested in the characters. Especially the character of the Queen Eldinar is my favourite.
I liked what was overall going on in the book. The dragons and other dark stuff. I just wish it had more action or more thrill to it but now that I'm already invested, I'm gonna request and get my hands on the next book.
See ya on the other side.
Thank you Netgalley and dreamscape media for this audiobook ARC in exchange of an honest review....more
Merlin's Tour of the Universe, Revised and Updated for the Twenty-First Century by Neil deGrasse Tyson Narrated by Neil deGrasse Tyson
So informative. AnMerlin's Tour of the Universe, Revised and Updated for the Twenty-First Century by Neil deGrasse Tyson Narrated by Neil deGrasse Tyson
So informative. And in fun way.
This was such a fun book. I really enjoyed it a lot, although few things I still can't understand but it's not at the fault of Tyson but at the incapability of my brain to process it beyond a point. The narration was really good and kept me hooked. I was able to finish this in my two gym workouts. I laughed out loud several times which made other people in the gym wonder what I was listening to.
Overall really good book and audiobook too and definitely gonna recommend it to every science and astrophysics loving guy.
Thank you Netgalley and Blackstone publishing for the amazing ARC in exchange of an honest review....more
The narration was really good, and that's what kept me hooked in the story otherwise it was surely a dnf for me.
So this is second book of "Mud sawpole mystery"buy you can read it as a standalone. This is a well written book but the mystery and characters didn't really matter to me. There was no character development. Maybe first book will give more but as mystery didn't matter much to me so I doubt I will pick up any book by the author in near future.
It was just a big miss for me. The cover is delicious and that's what made me request the book. At some points mystery to was good but it was slow paced. Also I didn't care who killed who, or who is killed so there's that.
Thank you Netgalley and dreamscape media for the ARC in exchange of an honest review....more
The narration was not that good, the narrators voice was sometimes so heavy that no matter how I listened to it I couldn't understand what he said. This was the first time that I couldn't enjoy narration although I was thoroughly into the beautiful writing.
His narration was so monotonous that even after doing nothing but listening to audiobook didn't help me understand lot many words. I'm going to buy this book and search for other books by the author coz she can definitely write quite well. This book is a treat for those who like Murakami. It reminded me so much of his writing. The whole book is full of beautiful prose and quotes I wanted to underline. Such books shouldn't be read for plot but for the writing. Even then I loved reading about Shuichi and Kenta.
Set in city of Kamakura, two lonely souls meet: Shuichi, a 40-year-old illustrator, who returns to his hometown to fix up the house of his recently deceased mother, and eight-year-old Kenta, a child who wanders like a shadow around Shuichi’s house. As time passes they both start trusting each other but their bond is beyond that, something else holds them in a bond that would be forever.
This was a heartwarming story of a friendship which exists between two unexpected people. But sometimes these friendships are special and beyond comparison.
Thank you RB media and Netgalley for this wonderful Audiobook.
Medusa of the Roses by Navid Sinaki Narrated by Michael Crouch
Book rating : 4 stars Audiobook rating : 4.5 stars
Seldom this happens that a book feels beMedusa of the Roses by Navid Sinaki Narrated by Michael Crouch
Book rating : 4 stars Audiobook rating : 4.5 stars
Seldom this happens that a book feels better to read than listening to audiobook and it in no way reflects that audiobook was bad or narrator did not do the justice to the book. This was the prime example of the situation I'm explaining over here. This book I wish to read, holding a copy in my hand, keeping annotations tabs alongside. I'm sure this book is going to be full of annotation tabs coz what a book. What a prose.
The prose is so lyrical, so gorgeous and so poetic that I'm sure Navid Sinaki gonna make his mark in the world soon enough. Also he is going to be my instant buy author in the future.
As you can see , I have actually rated audiobook higher than the book and yet I want to read it with my eyes coz I know it will be an unforgettable experience when I could engage my other senses.
The narration is perfect and Michael Crouch's voice was perfectly fitting to the prize, it had a melancholic tone which suited the book well. The pace , the voice and intonations are done so well.
Now coming to the book, I would have rated it more, even perfect 5, had it not been for some lines that bothered me. The sexual scenes felt rather raw and overdone but I feel they could have been subtler. Second person narration never worked for me, but here in Navid Sinaki's narration it worked quite well, rather I will say that nothing else would have worked as wonderfully as it did in second narration. It felt tender, raw and beautiful to the core.
Ajir and zal's relationship was nothing like I have ever read in any book so far. This book is set in a country where lot of things are taboo so it felt even more heartbreaking that they might never end up together and never find a way back to each other. I won't give any spoilers here because the ending was what made me raise the stars to 4 if I had not considered some parts which made me go a bit of ughhh.
The parts which bothered me can be easily digested by other readers, so I highly recommend this book to everyone who is into lyrical prose. Coz this book is definitely a treat for prose lovers.
Thank you so much Netgalley and RB media and Navid Sinaki and Michael Crouch of course for this amazing audiobook which I will always cherish....more
I think I was murdered by Colleen coble and Rick Acker Narrated by Karen Peakes The narration was good, so I will definitely recommend the audiobook butI think I was murdered by Colleen coble and Rick Acker Narrated by Karen Peakes The narration was good, so I will definitely recommend the audiobook but I was disappointed with the mystery part of the book.
When I read the glossary of this book, I was quite intrigued. I have read a book before where AI was involved in the lives of main characters. As there are many uses of AI in our lives, its too much use is going to cost us and yet we are definitely headed that way.
Everything was going well in Katrina Berg's life when her husband suddenly died in an accident. It's been a year since then but she isn't yet over him. But that's not it. Now her CEO is indicted and, as the company's legal counsel, Katrina faces tough questions as the Feds take over and lock her out of her office. She starts using company's best asset and prototype which lets her talk to her husband "Jason" through his data saved. To be honest, it felt weird but I can understand how grief can make you do things so I will let it slide.
Then one day "Jason" tells her he thinks he was murdered and that leads to a chain of reactions which is explosive, combustive and unstoppable. When her grandma dies and leaves her restaurant to look after, she has to come back to her town and family and it leads to further complications.
Seb has always had feelings for Katrina and is ready to help but he too has past he can't seem to get rid of. Together they are on a quest to find out if Jason was murdered.
This mystery definitely had potential but writing just didn't click for me. It didn't have that adrenaline pumping or tension building quality. I did not care for any character or even the love angle felt dull to me. It didn't feel like falling in love but situational thing. Again the characters are not well developed and thriller did not give me any thrill.
I had somehow figured out who might be the killer in the very first few pages, coz that person was always there but nobody ever suspected. That person was very close to the story the whole time so when reveal came I wasn't surprised at all. It was too easy and lacked the shocking factor. I will say it is good to read once but frankly I was disappointed big time.
Thank you Thomas Nelson fiction and Harper Collins Christian publishing and Netgalley for the ARC in exchange of an honest review....more
Dearest by Jacquie Walters Narrated by author herself Audiobook rating : 4.5 stars Book rating : 2.5 stars Overall rating :3.5 stars
The narration was defiDearest by Jacquie Walters Narrated by author herself Audiobook rating : 4.5 stars Book rating : 2.5 stars Overall rating :3.5 stars
The narration was definitely good. The voice of author and her narration was perfect for the setting. She was able to give a spooky and claustrophobic feeling throughout the book. I think that's why it is almost always a hit when an author decides to narrate their own book as they know what they are aiming at.
This book started out great and I was enjoying it quite well or to say I was trying not to be too frightened until towards the end. The ending was too simplistic and dull for the whole book which was full of scary energy.
I was quite sure that I was going to enjoy it but it went totally South towards the end and it left me feeling disappointed because it had so much potential and then it just went in exactly different direction and it lost my interest.
In Dearest, we follow Flora and her story, she has just delivered baby girl, Iris, 6 weeks ago and struggling to keep her sleepless tired mind sane. Being alone, as her husband is still deployed, she is trying to manage her motherhood single handedly. I liked how the book did not glorify motherhood and was kind of point blank and clear about horrors of postpartum.
Some gory details I just couldn't deal with being a mom myself and it was hard for me to continue reading it after a particularly disturbing scene that takes place in the book. I feel it was overdone as it just made me feel cringe. After that particular incident, I just couldn't enjoy the book. So it was my personal experience with the book and others might not feel same as I did but it was definitely off-putting for me.
If ending had been different I might have given it more stars but I was hugely disappointed with it.
Thank you Netgalley and Hachette audio and author Jacquie Walters for the audiobook ARC in exchange of an honest review....more
“Love dies in different ways. For most, it is a slow, agonizing death. Meche, however, cut her love the same way the executioner might chop a head: wi“Love dies in different ways. For most, it is a slow, agonizing death. Meche, however, cut her love the same way the executioner might chop a head: with a single, accurate swing.”
Audiobook - Narrated by Kyla Garcia Kyla Garcia has done a wonderful job narrating this beautiful hypnotic novel by Silvia Moreno Garcia.
I have read almost all books by Silvia Moreno Garcia. I love her writing style. Although I haven't loved all her books, yet they have left a distinct mark on my mind for being well written and having an unique storyline. Another thing that I like about Silvia's writing is she subtly introduces magic in between her world and it never takes over the theme of the book. It is kept at bare minimum level which makes her books easily palatable too because they feel very real.
Signal to noise is Silvia's debut novel republished and given an audiobook format by Spotify audiobooks, I came to know after I finished it. While reading, I had this feeling that this did not feel like a polished work or her recent work and so on point my intuition was because it turned out to be her debut novel.
This storyline jumps between two timelines, one in 1988 Mexico City where Meche was a headstrong teenager and living with her parents her grandma and her two best friends, Sebastian and Daniella. Another is set in 2009 where Meche has come back to Mexico City for her father's funeral.
I loved the bond between the three friends even though it wasn't best of friendships depicted in books it still made me feel for each one of them. To be honest, Meche is a terrible person and even more terrible friend to her friends, yet a part of me cared for her and wanted good things for her in the end.
The coming of age story had me hooked from the very start and the subtle inclusion of magic in between gave it a nostalgic and lyrical tone.
Worst Case Scenario by T.J. Newman Narrated by Joe Morton Duration : 8 hours 13 min
Audiobook rating : 4.5 stars Book rating : 4 stars
None of it, none of Worst Case Scenario by T.J. Newman Narrated by Joe Morton Duration : 8 hours 13 min
Audiobook rating : 4.5 stars Book rating : 4 stars
None of it, none of us, matter. And once you see it, once you get it, once you’re free from the false belief that you think you have time, you can just enjoy it for what it is. And it is all so, so beautiful.”
I listened to worst case scenario last month and although the whole idea intrigued me, I wasn't in the set of mind to enjoy the audiobook. I finished it, had to force myself to listen to it and rated it 3 stars and moved on.
But it left me with a nagging feeling that I was doing it wrong, I normally don't force myself to finish a book and for the right reasons. The starting was really a bang on, and I was quite invested in the book so what went wrong? I had to give it another chance because this book had the most interesting starting i have ever encountered. It has gripped my attention from the very first line. And how could I just ignore the gut feeling of a reader.
The reason for giving it 3 stars before was although book is quite well written and gripped me yet it introduced lot many characters in a very short span which made the story confusing for me. No matter how much I tried I couldn't understand who's who. So even though it was a good book I found it clustered. My mind wasn't able to make any sense. Too many stories happening gave me a claustrophobic feeling.
I'm so glad that I did listen to the audiobook again because this book made it easily to my favorite list. Even when I tried before I was quite intrigued till about 30-40 % of the book, I just had to try to listen to rest of the book with more patience and I was amazed at in my daze I had missed so much.
I ugly cried throughout the book but mostly in last 30 % of the book was heart breaking. It felt like reading a Hollywood movie. With characters you did not know or care just a few minutes back and now prayed for their dear lives and in some cases the book disappointed and their loss was something I could not get over. This book definitely made me look for other books by author and I came to know that she had first hand experience being a flight attendant and that all her books are this high, adrenaline pumping and heart thumpingly good.
Thank you so much Netgalley and Hachette audio for this wonderful Audiobook ARC. I would also like to say thanks to my unsteady brain for making it look boring at first but making me listen to it again because this thrilling experience I would have missed otherwise....more
The Diver by Samsun Knight Narrated by Scott Merriman; Dara Brown; Pavi Proczko
The narration was okay, even with narration this book was not something The Diver by Samsun Knight Narrated by Scott Merriman; Dara Brown; Pavi Proczko
The narration was okay, even with narration this book was not something i could enjoy listening to.
I loved the beginning of the diver, but as I dived farther and deeper into the book it just didn't hold my attention. I had push myself to finish it. The characters felt one dimensional and the story and writing felt dry.
Overall, it might be a one time read, but I did not enjoy it reading even once.
Thank you Netgalley and brilliance audio | brilliance publishing for ARC in exchange of an honest review....more
Shadowheart by Meg Gardiner Narrated by Hillary Huber
The audiobook was good, Hillary Huber's narration was on point.
This was my first book by Meg GardiShadowheart by Meg Gardiner Narrated by Hillary Huber
The audiobook was good, Hillary Huber's narration was on point.
This was my first book by Meg Gardiner and I was quite intrigued in initial 30-40 % of the book, I was hooked with the writing and overall narration as well but slowly I started losing the interest. There was too much filler information and I wasn't interested in it but something shocking happening.
The scene where Goode is first introduced to us was definitely chilling and he had an impact which lost the charm along the way. Also the chasing scene at metro station was done really good. If that tone had been maintained throughout the book, this was surely be a 4/5 star read for me. Alas, I just lost my interest and finished the book somehow.
One thing is I found names to be a weird a bit, coz I was confused even towards end of the part about characters. Finch sounded like a male character, maybe it is my problem but it bothered me throughout the book.
Thank you Netgalley and Blackstone publishing audiobook for the audiobook ARC in exchange of an honest review.
Tanya Eby's narration was good, it kept me engaged till the end but I would have loved some different type of narration for everyNarrated by Tanya Eby
Tanya Eby's narration was good, it kept me engaged till the end but I would have loved some different type of narration for every character. That was the only issue I had with audiobook.
It's all relative by Rachel Magee is a rom-com that felt like watching a movie on the screen. There are good things and bad things, and oh I like a cosy rom com for sure, sometimes cheesy but this was too sweet truth be told. It's a modern retelling of Shakespearean drama midnight summer's dream.
Helena and Amelia are daughters of the bride and groom and the thing that first put me off was Helena had a crush on Amelia's fiancee. Whatever anyone had to say, I dislike it very much. It's not boyfriend ffs, it's fiancee. Also it was weird that Landon had never asked Helena anything at all about the family her mom was getting married into. That was too unrealistic given that they worked together and in this era with tech we are surrounded with. As story continued, it was getting clearer who was going to end up with whom but I couldn't just digest it. You can't be okay with a long relationship ending in a day. The awkwardness will be too much in reality. It was too far fetched.
The female characters were okay but make characters were almost non existent non influential, expendable, just to show support to the female characters. They had no rage, only love for the respective female characters. That not how real men are.
So as I said it was too sugered up to be real. Apart from that, if you keep all that aside this story was good. A fluffy story to begin with till the end. Good for one time read, also if they ever make movie based on it, I'm definitely gonna watch it because they are my comfort ones.
Thank you Netgalley and Thomas Nelson fiction , Harper Collins Christian publishing for the ARC in exchange of an honest review.
Book rating : 3.5 stars Audiobook rating : 4 stars...more
Thank you dreamscape media and Netgalley for the audiobook ARC in exchange of an honest review.
The narration by Frances Butt wNarrated by Frances Butt
Thank you dreamscape media and Netgalley for the audiobook ARC in exchange of an honest review.
The narration by Frances Butt was good.
I would like to start this review with the mention that I'm huge mythology fan, I was looking forward to listening to it. It was good but the book could have been better as well as the narration
The heir of Venus is Greek mythological retelling of lesser known characters. The part of it is set after the famous (or infamous) Trojan war with flashbacks of what led to Trojan war in brief..the story says feminist take on Lavinia, but frankly there wasn't much scope in the story for that.
In Roman mythology, Lavinia is the daughter of King Latinus, the king of Latium in Italy, and the ultimate destination of Aeneas and the Aeneid's narrative. Aeneas, son of Goddess Aphrodite has always been in love of Creusa, daughter of Priam and Hecuba, and the first wife of Aeneas dies in Trojan war leaving behind Ascenius, their son. Even when Aeneas has an affair with Dido he never promises her any future. Because according to a prophecy, he is supposed to create another Troy from trojan people who survived war.
Lavinia finds herself amidst the war which is waged by Tartus, her supposed betrothed from childhood and her father's promise to marry her to Aeneas.
Overall the story was good but there were parts where I just wished that it will move on faster. I also did not like the ending. It felt abrupt and haphazard. And as the title said I was expecting it to be more of feminist tone but that wasn't the case as to be honest, women never had that kind of power even in mythology.
Audiobook rating : 4 stars Book rating : 2.5 stars Average : 3 stars
Never fall for a dragon by Lola Glass Narrated by Nick Mondelli; Renee Thorn
Thank you Dreamscape media and Netgalley for the audiobook ARC in exchange Never fall for a dragon by Lola Glass Narrated by Nick Mondelli; Renee Thorn
Thank you Dreamscape media and Netgalley for the audiobook ARC in exchange of an honest review.
As I read the premises of this book, I found myself intrigued. A dragon shapeshifter? Wonderful. As much as I enjoyed listening to it, I rolled my eyes even more than that. Some tropes irks me and it was full of those ones.
It is kind of cliched. Too cliched for my tastes. In my personal opinion, I feel that character development and world building would have saved this book for me. There was almost no information on dragon pack or how it works. Also mating/ bond too had no much information. Another thing that I like to point out is there's almost no plot in the book, nothing exciting really happens in the book. It felt mundane and boring at points except for the exchange between the characters which kept me entertained till last.
Audiobook rating : 3 stars Book rating : 2.5 stars...more
The Frostbound Queen by Amy Pennza Narrated by Benjamin D. Walker; Ellis Evans; Mollie Stark
First of all, what a narration.... I loved it, a lot many tThe Frostbound Queen by Amy Pennza Narrated by Benjamin D. Walker; Ellis Evans; Mollie Stark
First of all, what a narration.... I loved it, a lot many times I had goosebumps while listening to this audiobook... All the three narrators has done a good job but I will specifically mention that I loved female narration the most... she did male voices really good. So many many thanks to dreamscape media and Netgalley for the amazing audiobook ARC in exchange of an honest review.
Now coming to the story, I didn't expect the level of smut this book had. It started off really good. I was quite intrigued with the whole scenario where the queen is dying and king is so sorrowful that he wouldn't pay any attention to his only living child - Princess Lyria or even to his kingdom... Ronan, king's best friend takes over the kingdom as well as princess as his ward. There's no inappropriate relations here as Lyria is adult but yet the relationship between Ronan and Lyria felt like grooming.
Then enters the human King Sigurn, at the start it made sense that Sigurn was attracted to Lyria but it felt off on Lyria's part. And from there the story became unidimensional . The plot almost diminished as we get page long descriptions of sexual tension, actual sex scenes and complexity of their love triangle. I would have loved more world building, the bond, the magic it wasn't explained at all. Some readers might find it a big turn-off. For me too it was to an extent but I did enjoy their trio...
Another thing that was not to my liking was Insta love or love at first sight. It just doesn't sit well with me . The character development isn't done well, they are pretty flat and after the sex scenes they mostly care about each other and nothing else. They are mostly reduced to their sexuality. MMF felt forced, I was trying to understand how it is possible on the emotional level and I'm still clueless.
Overall it was enjoyable and from the overall story it was a stand-alone book as the end was done like "happily ever after" way...
Audiobook rating : 4.5 stars Book rating : 3 stars
Thank you again Netgalley and dreamscape media for the ARC in exchange of an honest review....more
“Human beings aren’t naturally good, but neither are we irrationally evil. It’s just that our hearts house evil and selfNarrated by Saskia Maarleveld
“Human beings aren’t naturally good, but neither are we irrationally evil. It’s just that our hearts house evil and selfishness. I’ve heard some say that the Nazis are cruel because they aren’t human. But turning them into wild animals or beasts doesn’t help undo the horror they cause. That’s what the Nazis have done against the Jews: attributed to one nation the ills of the entire world. The truth is that all of us are prisoners of egocentrism and all of us are capable of horrible wickedness.”
The Forgotten Names is the story of a heroic act without precedent in Nazi-occupied Europe. A network of institutions and people of different ideologies and beliefs came together to carry out one of the largest rescue operations organized during World War II.
In Mario Escobar's own words —Writing a historical novel implies describing a part of the world that no longer exists, a part that has disappeared little by little and given way to something else. Someday the impetuous winds of time will buffet us until we, too, are history. The images engraved on our pupils, the sum of emotions and experiences that we all represent, will disappear forever. That futility of life makes us simultaneously giants and pygmies, believing the only way to prolong our existence is to perch atop the shoulders of the next generation and whisper a few phrases into their ears.
Today, some four thousand French men and women are recognized by the international community as Righteous Among the Nations. Thanks to these Righteous, three-fourths of the Jews in occupied France did not die. The majority of these were children.
At the peak of world war II , Germany had ordered France to hand over all the Jews which counted to about 60000 people including kids in that group too. When it didn't feel right, a group of people came together to rescue these kids, because rescuing others was not an option but they had found an exemption that could help them save these kids.
The danger was constant, death was around every corner, and it was enough to know that the primary interest of the other was survival. Yet no one could pull it off without other people’s help. The individualism from before the war—that sense that a person’s life mattered to only the one who lived it—was a daydream from the past. The only way to survive in the world they now lived in was, simply, to trust others.
At the age of twenty-three, Valérie began her riveting research into the rescue of the children of Vénissieux. After discovering a box with the children’s files, her research became a twenty-five-year journey to find those lost children and give them back their true identities.
The story of the forgotten names alternates between the main story of how a group of people saved 108 children from the clutches of death and Valerie's journey of finding out how did it happen and who these children were.
The hundreds of exemption requests on the table were much more than paper forms for him. They were people’s lives, families who would disappear forever if they crossed the Rhine and reached Germany.
What Hitler did to jews is unfathomable... No matter how many books I have read about holocaust, every time I read a new one I experience the horrors again. Jews were like rats. They could outlast almost anything. So they had to be treated like the infectious animals that they were. There could be no mercy or compassion. Though the Nazis’ victims at times could look like innocent women, children, and older people, in actuality they were a dangerous plague that corrupted entire nations.
Genocidal tyrants like Adolf Hitler had always existed, but they only triumphed when an entire people became willing accomplices to their crimes. The world I grew up in was kinder than this one. We fought in the Great War and faced crises and plagues, but human beings still had souls. I’ve seen so much, madame. I wish I could drive it all out of my mind and heart. These people don’t know the hell they’re about to be taken to. The Nazis are devils with no souls.”
The forgotten names had my attention from the first page and it didn't let it waver till the end. The narration is too good, enjoyed every bit of it.
Thank you Harper Muse| HarperCollins and Netgalley for this wonderful Audiobook which I highly recommend to everyone.
This book is sure gonna stay with me for a very long time.
Bitter house by Kiersten Modglin Narrated by Lauren Ezzo; Melanie Carey
This is my second book by KM and although the first one did not impress me much,Bitter house by Kiersten Modglin Narrated by Lauren Ezzo; Melanie Carey
This is my second book by KM and although the first one did not impress me much, I liked the writing. That made me request for another book by KM and I'm glad I did give another chance to the author because this one did not disappoint.
I'm confused as to where to put this book because it has so many tropes. Close proximity against wish, enemies to lover, lived in the same house in the past., unequal social status, etc etc. It was part romance and part mystery thriller. The romance part had kind of turned me off but still the book is really engaging. I did not care for the characters much, I think that's what author wanted us to feel for them Well, most of them. This gave me the seven husbands of Evelyn Hugo vibes.
Overall I was hooked from the start till end. I wouldn't say there's anything special about this book but it's quite well written and engaging. It is slow paced at times but it did not bother me.
Narration is good, at the start it was overdramatic but in later parts I liked the narration by both narrators.
Thank you Netgalley and dreamscape media for the ARC in exchange of an honest review.
Quotes that made me love the book even more
In public, women are often invisible, harmless, unless they’re drawing attention from the male gaze.
Secrets are the most powerful thing a woman owns.
I was tired, honestly. Tired of seeing women being torn down by men. Tired of seeing men walking around like that thing between their legs means they can control the world and no one will ever stand up to them. I got tired of being the woman who didn’t stand up.
Jane, Lily, Cate, and I—we are determined to make the world a better place in the only way we can: by getting rid of the men who make it worse. I wish I could say you’d be surprised at how many there are, but I don’t think anyone would.
Women who have no other options. It’s easy to assume they do have other options—that they must—but until you’ve lived it, you couldn’t possibly understand. What sort of life is it to look over your shoulder constantly? To worry and stress, even if you get away, over when he’ll find you? How much longer you have until he comes back? The law doesn’t protect us. Not fast enough, not strongly enough. So we have to do it ourselves.
Women still aren’t protected like we should be. Men are given pass after pass, and women are given slips of paper for protection that mean nothing. Women have to prove everything while men are given the benefit of the doubt. If we speak up, it could ruin their lives, and they’re such nice guys, so why would we do that?
Instead, we hold our keys between our fingers, walk faster or take another way home, send our location to friends from the back of a rideshare, or grit our teeth and bear it while another sexist remark is made by our boss or another scene of senseless cruelty is shown on television. Because if we don’t, we’re part of the problem. We’re uptight. We can’t take a joke. It’s not all men, I know, but it is all women. A collective of shared experience, of intuition, of whispered warnings and knowing looks.
There was beauty in the process, the way a living, breathing chicken came clucking out of one of those modular bins and then—less than five minutes l There was beauty in the process, the way a living, breathing chicken came clucking out of one of those modular bins and then—less than five minutes later—was reduced to drumsticks and thighs, ready-to-be cooked-and-eaten parts of the original whole.
Broiler by Eli cranor
Narrated by Victoria Villarreal
Thank you Netgalley and RB media for the wonderful Audiobook ARC in exchange of an honest review.
Gabriela Menchaca and Edwin Saucedo are hardworking, undocumented employees at the Detmer Foods chicken plant in Springdale, Arkansas. The conditions of the workers is very poor, with no payment for extra work hours they are asked to put in, not even getting a bathroom break. Imagine working for 10 hours, imagine having to wear adult diapers because you are not allowed to have bathroom breaks. In the same plant, there's a manager Luke Jackson who is as brutal as they come. When Edwin is fired by luke to set an example, Edwin tries to take a revenge. Edwin’s impulsive action sets in motion a devastating chain of events that illuminates the deeply entrenched power dynamics between those who revel at the top and those who toil at the bottom.
This book is well written and narration is really good. If you ask me what I liked about the book, I wouldn't be able to pinpoint what was it that made it so special but this book had me hooked from the start. Maybe it was the narration or the writing style, or maybe the plot even.
I'm gonna grab Eli cranor's previously published book for sure.
Quotes worth mentioning
Misery loves company, right? Wasn’t that what motherhood was? Misery. It wasn’t all sunshine and rainbows. Of that much, Mimi was certain. Being a mom was the hardest job on the planet, but nobody had ever told her that. Had the other women been warned?
Said she’d do anything, not realizing that there was a limit to what a person could do.
A new job meant change, and for those who lived month to month, day to day, change was never easy. Change meant paperwork and sideways glances. Change was scarier than hard work. In the plant, at least, Gabby knew what to expect. The same way a prisoner grows accustomed to his wretched routine.
There was beauty in the simplicity of their lives, a certain kind of sweetness that sours over time, the same way the knives at the plant went dull after the first couple of hours.
He didn’t know any better, didn’t realize he was falling victim to the same trap that had ensnared his mother.
All children crave power; a child with nothing craves it even more.
for every American Dream there is a corresponding nightmare. Every fortune, even a small one, is built on the back of some great sin.
she had learned long ago how to ignore the pain. The dead man beneath the car had taught her that much. ...more
We carry the sea in our hands Narrated by Michelle H. Lee
In the interstitial space between topsoil and far-away sky, a space inhabited by dreams and, We carry the sea in our hands Narrated by Michelle H. Lee
In the interstitial space between topsoil and far-away sky, a space inhabited by dreams and, briefly, by balloons that have escaped children’s hands, we can sometimes hide out, hang out, and be okay, I suppose.
In this sweet little moment, a knot inside me tightens. Not a plum is discarded, I think. As I move past them, I find myself thinking, If a plum is so valuable so as not to be discarded, then what is a baby to its parents?
This book has my heart, whole. I requested it for the title and the cover. I had read synopsis but what I did not expect was the extraordinarily beautiful prose. The writing is so elegant and beautiful that I just kept on going.
This book shouldn't be read for the story, even though story is also a good one but prose makes it an amazing experience.
The narrator has done a tremendously good jobs at narration. Like the prose of the book, the narration is too soothing and left an everlasting effect on me.
I would not suggest this book to everyone, only to those who enjoy the lyrical prose that leaves reader mesmerized by it. It is not for everyone.
Let me come back to this review again when I'm about to collect all my quotes from the book.
Book rating : 4.5 stars Audiobook rating : 5 stars
One of my favourite audiobooks for sure.
Thank you Netgally and dreamscape media for the beautiful ALC in exchange of an honest review.
My favourite quotes
If there were organs responsible for human attributes, the one that allows people to hope must share space with the one conferring the capacity for delusion. It’s self-deceit in a socially acceptable wrapping, and is something not rooted in logic or vigorous empirical evidence or intense scrutiny, the stanchions of modern science. There’s a waffling air to it, like a tree rooted in clouds. I like my trees rooted in soil.
It unsettles me to think that there are some things in the world that work on the sheer basis of belief. But some nights like these, as I stare up at the blackness above with Iseul beside me, I wonder about unrelenting belief and stubborn hope. Not everything can be driven by my own hands, all gung-ho. Not everything can be anchored to the Earth.
It’s a cruel twist of fate, to find something so close and yet so foreign.
She is silent; perhaps because it is early morning, but more likely because the sound of the sea fills the air already and leaves no space for human words. It’s a glass-like music. I wouldn’t want to break it.
Every night I sit by the glass jar and try to remember as much as I can, because if I don’t, the memories will slip away like retreating ocean waves through open fingers. It’s a cruel thing, the protean nature of memories.
How can you bundle up the span of twenty-four unmoored years of a person’s life in nine words? It is like reducing the moon outside of my window—which is still loitering in the pinkened early sky—to a two-dimensional photograph, a flattening into a glassy-smooth likeness stripped of all its accumulated pockmarks and abrasions.
I got into the habit of thinking thrice before saying anything: the second time to make sure it wasn’t stupid, the third time to make sure it was nothing but spotless English. And then I realized a year in that this was stupid. The way I speak has no bearing on the quality of my science.
I can’t decide if I want to solve this puzzle or not. Maybe some stories should be left unspoken, unwritten, unthought.
Scary stories come from all sorts of places, far and near. Very near, even.
He does science because it’s an intellectual game for him, both his lifelong playground and the obsessive love of his life, the only thing that satiates his sweet tooth for brain candy. I do science out of a frantic desperation, a disarray of wanting to understand the origins of something else because I cannot understand my own. Deluded, perhaps, but I often think, if I can just understand the origins of life itself, the most fundamental pieces, then that will surely be the gateway to understanding mine.
It’s always the eyes that never change, years down the line. A person’s skin sags as they age, or they develop a slight hunch, or their step becomes arthritis-slow, but the eyes are always the same.
I’m an embodiment of the reality that many worldviews are constructed from flight and fright, but whether those pieces are layered into something other than a wall is a matter of the individual.
Iseul’s love for Ha-joon, for me, for her family, is a blinkered kind of love—that being all she can see, feel, know, in times like this. That terrifying clarity of purpose that comes with this kind of love during the murkiest of critical junctures … I saw that in her today, her eyes entirely clouded over with it.
People often hallucinate the faces of their blood relatives, except they are fun-house-distorted all monster-like. I am not afraid of many things, but I avoid looking at mirrors. Even more than seeing gnarled caricatures of people I can’t recognize, I can’t bear the thought of seeing nothing. A cold emptiness where something, someone, should have been.
It’s the kind of hurt that easily pierces through eleven years’ time, and I still long for a sign that she’d cared, that she thought of me as she left.
This has become manifesto, and I can’t decide how to feel about it, this piece of my adoptive mother still lodged in me, embedded so deep that it has become part of my identity. Even as my lot in life changed from my first adoptive parents to the Yoons, to Umma and Appa, even as I learned to love, as I felt for the first time that special kind of sadness that can only be borne from love—when Ha-joon grew ill, when the family moved away—I still think about this.
I find that any words I had wither away on my tongue. Funny, how even in death he continues to steal words away from people’s mouths.
It is an otherworldly time. At four in the morning, it is okay to just sit in bed with arms wrapped around folded knees and to look outside the window and say nothing and appreciate the quiet darkness. It is okay to wade into dream logic, where I can glimpse streaky dream-things in passing, idea trails that dip between science and irrational thought.
I still think about what she told me that night. It’s hard to shake it off, even all these years later—it’s as though a part of me is still lost somewhere within those few minutes, and I don’t think it is the kind of lost that is retrievable.
So that was how I learned that biology can be so exquisitely, unrelentingly precise. That science had answers for things that people would not tell. ...more
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