Audiobook Reviews 4/5 stars: The Romantic Ruse by Barbara Goss

May 8, 2020April 24, 2020 Julie Gilbert Audiobooks, Christian, historical, romance, Western Ann M. Thompson, Barbara Goss, Christian inspirational, historical fiction

Narrated by Ann M. Thompson

Run Time: 4 hrs and 46 min

Summary:

Lily Brewer flees an unwanted courtship by using a train ticket intended for her friend, Emma. Before she can come clean to Gus about the deception, she’s kidnapped.

Additional Comments:

The romance in the story is of the instant variety.
The villain’s pretty clear-cut.
I had a little trouble figuring out the sibling and married pairs in here. (Emma and James; Lily and Charles) Emma is Lily’s friend and Charles’s wife.
Barbara Goss usually has happy endings as dictated by the romance genre, but these two had a bit of a rougher journey to get there than most.
It’s almost a comedy of errors with the missed near chances and sheer number of misunderstandings. I confess to doing a fair amount of yelling at these characters. (Get it together and talk it out, people. No, don’t tell her that, you moron. That’s the worst advice you could possibly give her.) I suppose that makes them more realistic as well as infuriating.
Ann M. Thompson’s performance was fine.

Conclusion:

If you like slightly clueless but nevertheless lovable characters and clean western romance, give it a go.

Audiobook Promotions:

33 of my 34 audible titles are listed on Audiobooks Unleashed.
Whether you’re looking for mystery or suspense or fantasy, I’ve got a title for you. Never Again (mystery, suspense) and Reshner’s Royal Ranger (epic sci-fi) just made it there.
Note: Filter by US if you’re looking for those codes as many titles are out.
Ones I think may still have US codes: Reshner’s Royal Ranger, Never Again, Innova, The Golden City Captives, The Holy War, Reclaim the Darklands, Eagle Eyes, Treachery Makes it Tense, Ashlynn’s Dreams Shorts, The Dark Side of Science, Ashlynn’s Dreams, Nadia’s Tears, Malia’s Miracles, and Varick’s Quest

Devya’s Children Series Links:

Ashlynn’s Dreams Shorts – short stories featuring Jillian.
The Dark Side of Science – official prequel to Devya’s Children; Genetically altered kids fight for the right to live.
Ashlynn’s Dreams – Genetically altered Dream Shaper learns her gift.
Nadia’s Tears – Jillian tries to awaken her sister, Nadia, from a coma.
Malia’s Miracles – Jillian and her siblings try to save a friend’s mother.
Varick’s Quest – Jillian and Danielle get kidnapped. Nadia’s also in trouble.

3.5/5 The Handfasters: Lowland Romance by Helen Susan Swift

April 14, 2020April 5, 2020 Julie Gilbert Audiobooks, historical, romance, women's fiction clean romance, Helen Susan Swift, Seylan Baxter

Narrated by Seylan Baxter

Run Time: 6 hrs and 18 min

Summary:

As an old lady, Alison tells her love story to her grandchildren.

Additional Comments:

Predictable but decent. I enjoyed the end twist.
The story moved pretty slowly. Not one bit of action happened until about the last hour of the audiobook.
Since it’s written as if Alison is telling the story, there’s quite a bit of breaking the 4^th wall as she directly addresses her granddaughters. Most of the side comments were amusing, but it kind of dragged out a tedious tale.
I’ll be the first to admit romance isn’t my first genre choice. Guess I’m just used to there being more danger than her cousin running off with the first handsome fellow to look her way.
It’s got a lot of reviews, so there’s certainly a market for this sort of thing.
Content warning: A few awkward scenes where one or the other character walks in on the other naked.
I liked the narrator’s accent.

Conclusion:

Relatively clean romance. If you can get around the proper lady this and proper lady that stuff, go for it.

Audiobook Promotions:

25 of my 34 audible titles are listed on Audiobooks Unleashed.
Whether you’re looking for mystery or suspense or fantasy, I’ve got a title for you.
The newest aren’t yet listed on AU. Never Again (mystery, suspense) and Reshner’s Royal Ranger (epic sci-fi). You’d have to email me for those codes.

Spirit’s Bane (Guardian Angel Files Book 1) – fantasy
Kindred Spirits (Guardian Angel Files Book 2) – fantasy
Violence in Vegas (Eagle Eyes Book 1) – not relisted yet; mystery
Rescue in Reno (Eagle Eyes Book 2)
Danger in Dallas (Eagle Eyes Book 3)

Devya’s Children Series Links:

Check out my other titles available on Audiobooks Unleashed:

Beyond Broken Pencils – contemporary, literary
Shadow Council Combo (Books 1-4) – mystery; no more US codes
The Individual titles are available but not yet listed on an ad site
SC 1: Money Makes it Deadlier
SC 2: Revenge Makes it Sweeter
SC 3: Christmas Makes it Chaos
SC 4: Treachery Makes it Tense
Short stuff:
Innova – Christian Dystopia
The Golden City Captives – short fantasy
Fatal Interest – short mystery/thriller

Eagle Eyes – mystery thriller

Scratched Off – mystery, thriller; FBI agent vs serial killer, more intense than Shadow Council/Eagle Eyes

Awakening – Redeemer Chronicles Book 1, MG fantasy
The Holy War – Redeemer Chronicles Book 2, MG fantasy
Reclaim the Darklands – Redeemer Chronicles Book 3, MG fantasy

The Collins Case – Heartfelt Cases Book 1, Christian mystery
The Kiverson Case – Heartfelt Cases Book 2, Christian mystery
The Davidson Case – Heartfelt Cases Book 3, Christian mystery

Other titles:
5 Steps to Better Blurbs – for authors
5 Steps to Better Audiobooks – for authors and narrators
5 Steps to Surviving Chemistry – for chem students

4.45/5 Midnight Reckoning by Rebecca Deel

March 24, 2020March 18, 2020 Julie Gilbert Audiobooks, contemporary, romance, suspense Kristina Fuller Yuen, Rebecca Deel, romance, suspense

Narrated by Kristina Fuller Yuen

Run Time: 8 hrs 58 mins

Summary:

Sophie Valero doesn’t quite fit in with the Valero clan, but she is a retired cat burglar. Her sister stole something and now Sophie needs to find it to get the bad guys to back off. Micah Winter is a secret service agent who blames Sophie’s family for his brother’s death. Now he has to protect her from the mysterious people after her and the known enemies after him.

Additional Comments:

If you read the official blurb, you have essentially read the entire book.
It’s very much a typical romance book plot (ridiculous and far-fetched) but still fun.
The baby’s origin is storybook bizarre.
The switch from “I don’t like you” to “I can’t live without you” is super quick.
Clean romance. Pretty sure it sticks to foot massages and deep kisses. Though I will say a few of those foot massages have very awkward timing and locations…. middle of an investigation in a stranger’s office, not the right time.
Well performed. Characters were distinguishable and likeable.
The setup part and investigation unfolded in a meandering fashion.
The dialogue sounded realistic but repetitive, very very repetitive.

Conclusion:

If you are a fan of either the author or the narrator, you will probably like this. If you enjoy clean romance or romantic suspense you may also enjoy this.

Audiobook Promotions …

Were on Audiobookcrave.com (which just went under). Ones with links are relisted at Audiobooksunleashed.com.
5 Steps to Surviving Chemistry
Spirit’s Bane (Guardian Angel Files Book 1)
Kindred Spirits (Guardian Angel Files Book 2)
Violence in Vegas (Eagle Eyes Book 1) – not relisted yet
Rescue in Reno (Eagle Eyes Book 2)
Danger in Dallas (Eagle Eyes Book 3)

Devya’s Children Series Links:

Check out my other titles available on Audiobooks Unleashed:

Beyond Broken Pencils – contemporary, literary
Shadow Council Combo (Books 1-4)
The Individual titles are available but not yet listed on an ad site
SC 1: Money Makes it Deadlier
SC 2: Revenge Makes it Sweeter
SC 3: Christmas Makes it Chaos
SC 4: Treachery Makes it Tense)

Eagle Eyes – mystery thriller

Scratched Off – mystery, thriller; FBI agent vs serial killer, more intense than Shadow Council/Eagle Eyes

Awakening – Redeemer Chronicles Book 1, MG fantasy
The Holy War – Redeemer Chronicles Book 2, MG fantasy
Reclaim the Darklands – Redeemer Chronicles Book 3, MG fantasy

The Collins Case – Heartfelt Cases Book 1, Christian mystery
The Kiverson Case – Heartfelt Cases Book 2, Christian mystery
The Davidson Case – Heartfelt Cases Book 3, Christian mystery

Other titles:
5 Steps to Better Blurbs – for authors
Innova – Christian Dystopia
The Golden City Captives – short fantasy
Fatal Interest – short mystery/thriller

Audiobook Reviews 4.45/5 Love Built to Last by Lisa Ricard Claro

March 15, 2020March 7, 2020 Julie Gilbert Audiobooks, contemporary, romance, women's fiction Lisa Ricard Claro, Pam Dougherty, women's fiction

Narrated by Pam Dougherty

Run Time: 10 hrs and 6 min

Genre: Romance

Summary:

Four years after her husband’s death, Maddie Kincaid is still reeling, but she moves on enough to hire a carpenter. Enter perfect male specimen who’s sweet, good with his hands, and available.

Additional Comments:

Content Warnings: Contains some casual cursing, some scenes that go a hair beyond sweet kissing but not quite to describing the deed, and at least one scene that semi-glorifies getting drunk to the point of senselessness. (That didn’t make sense to me given the characters past and more recent history with drunks…) All that said, it’s a relatively clean romance book.
Contained some great bits of humor.
Narration worked very well. Narrator had a great voice and distinguished the characters well.
Main Characters 4/5: Maddie kind of ticked me off sometimes, just because of stupid assumptions she makes and conclusions she jumps to. My very limited time in the romance genre tells me that’s a normal trope though. Caleb’s perfect, so unrealistic but nice.
Side Characters 4/5: TJ’s adorable but also perfect. The dog pirate is carefully flawed, ugly but lovable. Rena (or was it Brena – sorry, I couldn’t quite get spelling from the narrator’s rendition of the name) is by far my favorite side character. At the point where I was wanting to slap the main character, she had some very choice words for her that satisfied that need. Jack’s lingering ghost (not literally; it’s not that kind of story; his presence) got tedious.
Dialogue sounded realistic!
Side characters had plenty of character to add flavor to the mix.
Jack’s last message which I shall not reveal fit the story well, but is also unlikely to have happened. People might keep notes around, but they don’t obsess to this degree over a stranger.
From the numerous references to the Braves, I’m guessing this is set in Georgia. So, I suppose the misguided baseball adoration can be forgiven.

Conclusion:

Highly recommended if you enjoy romance stories. Even if you don’t, you may like this sometimes overly sweet Southern tale of love.

Audiobook Promotions …

If any of the links are broken (not sure what’s up with Audiobook Crave as of 3/7/20), please email me your interest in the book, I’ll see what codes are left.

Feb Promos on Audiobook Crave.com (requires email sign in):
5 Steps to Surviving Chemistry
Spirit’s Bane (Guardian Angel Files Book 1)
Kindred Spirits (Guardian Angel Files Book 2)
Violence in Vegas (Eagle Eyes Book 1)
Rescue in Reno (Eagle Eyes Book 2)
Danger in Dallas (Eagle Eyes Book 3)

Devya’s Children Series Links:

Check out my other titles available on Audiobooks Unleashed:

Beyond Broken Pencils – contemporary, literary
Shadow Council Combo (Books 1-4)
(Alternately, the individual titles can be found on Audiobook Crave
SC 1: Money Makes it Deadlier
SC 2: Revenge Makes it Sweeter
SC 3: Christmas Makes it Chaos
SC 4: Treachery Makes it Tense)

Eagle Eyes – mystery thriller

Scratched Off – mystery, thriller; FBI agent vs serial killer, more intense than Shadow Council/Eagle Eyes

Awakening – Redeemer Chronicles Book 1, MG fantasy
The Holy War – Redeemer Chronicles Book 2, MG fantasy
Reclaim the Darklands – Redeemer Chronicles Book 3, MG fantasy

The Collins Case – Heartfelt Cases Book 1, Christian mystery
The Kiverson Case – Heartfelt Cases Book 2, Christian mystery
The Davidson Case – Heartfelt Cases Book 3, Christian mystery

Other titles on Audiobook Crave (but buried deep):
5 Steps to Better Blurbs – for authors
Innova – Christian Dystopia
The Golden City Captives – short fantasy
Fatal Interest – short mystery/thriller

2/5 Sins of Summer by Linda Heavner Gerald

March 12, 2020February 23, 2020 Julie Gilbert Audiobooks, contemporary, romance, women's fiction Kathleen Li, Linda Heavner Gerald

Narrated by Kathleen Li

Run Time: 6 hrs and 2 min

Summary:

(Narration was fine, story had some serious sense issues.)

A rather complicated, convoluted tale of a woman who was abused as a teenager, grows up to marry a cheater, and finally finds the strength to stand on her own (with a friend, of course).

Additional Comments:

Plot 2.5/5: The series of events falls in the average range. There’s a twist at the end that simply tells you the scatter-brained omniscient narrator has been unreliable this whole time.
Dialogue 2/5: Highly stilted and overly formal. Didn’t sound realistic at all.
Writing Mechanics and Word Choice 2/5: Awkward and bizarre. As a friend put it, you’d almost have to listen twice to get heads and tails of what the heck is happening. Part of the confusion might just be the medium. This may not have been a great book choice for the audio format because there’s no indication of section breaks. Consequently, you get random characters doing their thing then end up hearing a completely different set of characters in a new situation quite regularly.
Characters 2.5/5: Nobody’s likeable. Everybody has an excuse for their bad behavior. Most of the husbands beat on their wives or cheat because that’s all they know or that’s just the way life works. (Their fathers must have been a poor example.) Their behavior is bizarre too. This woman barely meets a guy and is throwing herself at him with abandon because he’s so sweet. (Maybe there are women that stupid, but after being mentally and physically abused by her husband to the point where she basically goes into the equivalent of witness protection … I would hope the character earned a few bits of sense from her horrific experiences.)
Side commentary: Not sure I can get behind the subtle messages in here either. When things are going well, the young women are put together and skinny and attractive. When things spiral out of control, they let themselves go becoming fat and unattractive. Part of getting on the right track is working their way back to attractive bodies.
The last fifth of the book takes a weird Christian turn. Let me be clear, I’m a Christian. I have zero issues with such themes being included in a book, but it was odd to have most of the book have not one hint of Christian themes and then boom everybody’s getting right with God.
Kathleen Li does a decent job with the narration, but as usual, I had to speed it up to reach a comfortable listening pace.
Content Warnings: a lot of talk of violence and rape. Nothing’s described in great detail, but there are quite a few really disturbing scenes, including one where a character dang near gets beaten to death on top of sexual abuse. Some language.

Conclusion:

If you like complicated tales of revenge and redemption, this is a candidate for you.

Audiobook Promotions …

Devya’s Children Series Links:

Check out my other titles available on Audiobooks Unleashed:

Eagle Eyes – mystery thriller

Scratched Off – mystery, thriller; FBI agent vs serial killer, more intense than Shadow Council/Eagle Eyes

Awakening – Redeemer Chronicles Book 1, MG fantasy
The Holy War – Redeemer Chronicles Book 2, MG fantasy
Reclaim the Darklands – Redeemer Chronicles Book 3, MG fantasy

The Collins Case – Heartfelt Cases Book 1, Christian mystery
The Kiverson Case – Heartfelt Cases Book 2, Christian mystery
The Davidson Case – Heartfelt Cases Book 3, Christian mystery

Choices Stories Review: 4.5/5 Stars Big Sky Country

February 11, 2020January 26, 2020 Julie Gilbert Choices Stories, drama, romance, Western big sky country series, Choices Stories

Genre: Modern Drama/Romance

*Will attempt to keep spoiler free

Summary:

Having your car break down in the middle of nowhere turns out to be the best thing that could happen to you. A cowboy comes along and takes you home to his ranch, where you meet his family and all the small-town intrigue you could ever want.

Additional Comments:

The Oakley clan is heartwarmingly disfunctional. There’s the older brother who wants to get with the new world by selling the ranch, the younger brother who wants to save the ranch and keep it going, the grumpy father, and the niece who’s just kind of along for the ride. To be honest, it’s been a while and I don’t really remember their names, except Brooke.
I sometimes take a long time naming my characters based on their looks. This one didn’t take me long. I went with Danielle. She seemed the trusting, naïve but hard-working sort.
The book features country fairs as well as natural and unnatural disasters and hardships.
This story might have one of the most satisfying ends of the Choices stories to date.
Sometimes, I surprise myself by liking stuff I wouldn’t normally read as a traditional book. Guess it helps that these aren’t quite traditional. So many pretty pictures.
Don’t judge on the cover. The cover they made reads “trashy romance” but it was a good story regardless.

Conclusion:

I’m usually fairly good at avoiding spending a lot of diamonds during the play throughs, but sometimes, one must spring for the extra satisfying ending. Its not my favorite Choices story, but the small town flavor added a lot of charm.

Associate links to follow…

Note: I’m starting to use a few ad sites for audiobooks, so codes are disappearing quickly.

Available Audiobooks: I have free codes for almost everything. That will change very soon.

New Release: The Shadow Council Series 1: Money Makes it Deadlier – An FBI agent gets caught up in a robbery gone wrong.

Shadow Council Book 2: Revenge Makes it Sweeter – A midnight summons calls FBI Special Agent Megan Luchek into a fight for a young girl’s life.

Shadow Council Book 3: Christmas Makes it Chaos – The FBI agent gets a strange ally in the quest to prevent chaos from rocking a lot of people’s holiday season.

Shadow Council Book 4: Treachery Makes it Tense – The agent and the assassin have to team up if they want to survive.

Shadow Council is also available as a ~13 hr bundle.

The Collins Case – 2 FBI agents track down a kidnapped family. Kid friendly.

If fantasy’s more your thing, go Redeemer Chronicles. The first, Awakening, is available as an audiobook.

Ashlynn’s Dreams Shorts – a kid deals with her parents’ divorce, bullies, and the wonder of discovery.

Try The Dark Side of Science – Genetically altered kids fight for the right to live.

Beyond Broken Pencils – Contemporary literary tale of a school shooting. Ian unleashes his inner demons on his classmates and teachers…

Scratched Off – FBI agent vs a serial killer. When Sam Kerman sets out to hunt a serial killer, he has no idea how personal the case will become.

Audiobook Reviews 3.5/5 Stars: Traces of Guilt by Dee Henderson

January 24, 2020January 11, 2020 Julie Gilbert Audiobooks, Christian, contemporary, mystery, romance Cold Cases, Dee Henderson, Evie Blackwell

*Will attempt to keep spoiler free

Summary:

Lieutenant Evie Blackwell, a state cop, investigates a cold case as part of her working vacation. Her friend Ann Falcon is angling to get her an invite to a task force specifically meant to look into such cases.

Additional Comments:

I’m guessing Ann Falcon’s a main character in a different series. I’m a little out of the loop when it comes to Dee Henderson books.
Evie’s a cool character. The Thane family’s sweet, like deep South sweet tea sweet. But it’s cool.
Plot’s kind of ambitious as each of the Thane brothers (Josh, Will, and Gabriel) has a lady of interest and the subplot surrounding her. Gabriel’s the sheriff. Of Josh and Will, I’m not sure which was the combat medic (I think it’s Will) and which was the farmer (Josh?), but anyway, one’s trying to woo a chef named Karen with a scary past. The other is trying to help his childhood friend heal from her traumas. Meanwhile, Evie’s helping Gabriel with a cold case about a deputy who went missing with his family 12 years ago.
The Karen plotline kinda got dropped, but that’s not surprising with so much going on. I get the feeling it’s supposed to be a thread that will carry through several books and eventually wrap up, sort of a whole series subplot.
I really like Ann but the first portion of the book where she has a few infuriating conversations with Gabriel almost made me quit. Pretty sure she stays cryptic for about 10 minutes straight and the entire conversation boils down to: will ask for a big favor from your brother, encourage him to do it.
It’s not a typical mystery, closer to a cozy mystery. It’s not even really about the mystery, that’s a subplot. The book centers on the large cast of characters and their personal lives. It’s compelling as a character piece, but not necessarily as a plot piece.
Having it be about cold cases removes some of the immediacy and danger, which threatens the suspense. It’s still a good book, but it’s just not as fast-paced as I’ve come to expect from mysteries.
Audio performance was okay. Heard better. Heard worse. The men sounded mostly the same to me, but I was listening to it on a faster clip than normal speech, which might have contributed to that. Ann’s dialogue tended to end on a higher pitch. It helped distinguish, but the tendency to have sentences end high got distracting.

Conclusion:

If I’m comparing to other Dee Henderson books, I’d say it fits in somewhere in the middle. It’s not her best work. It’s not her worst work. She’s always had a knack for creating awesome characters. This story demonstrates that skill. Where it fell short for me was the level of satisfaction with the mystery’s conclusion.

Associate links to follow…

Note: I’m starting to use a few ad sites for audiobooks, so codes are disappearing quickly.

Available Audiobooks: I have free codes for almost everything. That will change very soon.

New Release: The Shadow Council Series 1: Money Makes it Deadlier – An FBI agent gets caught up in a robbery gone wrong.

Shadow Council Book 2: Revenge Makes it Sweeter – A midnight summons calls FBI Special Agent Megan Luchek into a fight for a young girl’s life.

Shadow Council Book 3: Christmas Makes it Chaos – The FBI agent gets a strange ally in the quest to prevent chaos from rocking a lot of people’s holiday season.

Shadow Council Book 4: Treachery Makes it Tense – The agent and the assassin have to team up if they want to survive.

Shadow Council is also available as a ~13 hr bundle.

The Collins Case – 2 FBI agents track down a kidnapped family. Kid friendly.

If fantasy’s more your thing, go Redeemer Chronicles. The first, Awakening, is available as an audiobook.

Ashlynn’s Dreams Shorts – a kid deals with her parents’ divorce, bullies, and the wonder of discovery.

Try The Dark Side of Science – Genetically altered kids fight for the right to live.

Beyond Broken Pencils – Contemporary literary tale of a school shooting. Ian unleashes his inner demons on his classmates and teachers…

Scratched Off – FBI agent vs a serial killer. When Sam Kerman sets out to hunt a serial killer, he has no idea how personal the case will become.

Choices Stories Reviews 3/5 Stars: Home for the Holidays

December 25, 2019December 22, 2019 Julie Gilbert Choices Stories, drama, Family, romance Christmas, romance, writer

*Mild Spoilers possible

Summary:

You’re an overworked, underpaid young editor at a publishing house. Your boss is cute but kind of abrasive. There’s also the best friend romance option.

Additional Comments:

If I remember correctly, this is a fairly short book, like 10 chapters instead of the normal 16-18 chapters.
I’m not sure when this story was made, but I gather it was earlier. Most of the recent books have been longer.
As a writer, I enjoyed the publisher angle. I also liked the side romance options didn’t all revolve around the MC. Her little brother and mother also had options.
You’re headed home for the holidays, and somehow your boss end up stranded in your hometown. Your best friend has a great book, but your boss isn’t that jazzed about you taking it on. Your main quest is to change the boss’s mind and help him regain his humanity (of sorts).

Conclusion:

It falls in the okay category. Not my favorite story and not my least favorite either. I’ll be the first to admit that romantic drama isn’t really my go-to genre. I’m better suited for murder mysteries and fantasy wars and scifi conflicts.

Associate links to follow…

Available Audiobooks: I have free codes for almost everything.

New Release: The Shadow Council Series 1: Money Makes it Deadlier – An FBI agent gets caught up in a robbery gone wrong.