I. King

Loved It!

Revisado: 12-06-23

Since I was born and raised in Philadelphia, I'm probably a little on the biased side, but I'll deal with it. I haven't lived in Philadelphia for many decades, but some of the descriptions took me back. I love the characters and the performances were top-notch. It was a fun "read" and with a suitable happy ending. I liked the snippets of reviews in between chapters.

Good job, and worth a second listen!

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Good and eye-rolling

Revisado: 05-20-22

I liked the female narrator, but I didn’t expect the male narrator to be a black man, lol.

The things that bothered me was the mispronunciation of “Yakuza.” Emphasis was on the wrong syllable. (I have Japanese in-laws.) The other was never using the word “nodding” for yes or agreement. The writer always used shaking the head for that, and I found it annoying. But I liked the story and the characters.

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I Liked it!

Revisado: 06-29-21

I enjoy reading a book that is focused toward readers over the sixth grade level. I liked the characters, I liked the story, and I enjoyed the way the authors brain worked and putting the story together.

Wow there are a few things that I would have changed – and those are the spots where I yelled at somebody - I still enjoyed the story. As an older black woman who spent time in the south, I could definitely relate.

And, of course, there’s the narration. I thought the narrator did an excellent job, even if some of the characters sounded kinda the same. It didn’t matter. She made the story easy to follow. I hope the author writes some more stuff. I really like her style.

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Almost.

Revisado: 11-24-20

It is essentially a good story, but there are a couple of items in it that absolutely messed it up.

Both mothers were psychotic. Period. They just seemed way too nuts and their children seem to be too spineless to stand up to them.

One of the biggest parts that had a huge defect was the fact that during most of the story, very big deals were made of her virginity even at her age. However, at the end of the book when I expected a romantic loss of her virginity to the man that she loved, it felt barely like an afterthought. It was really disappointing and just subtracted from what could have otherwise been a very whirlwind, romantic finish.

All of that being said, kudos to the author for putting herself out there. The story was good, but there were definitely a couple of places that could have been tweaked just a little bit better.

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Story, check. Performance? Needs work.

Revisado: 07-18-20

This was a very cute short story that has everything I like in a story of this nature. There was a question or two that I had about a couple of scenarios. For instance, why did a poor Italian kid have a surname of "Sterling"? That made no sense to me, and it could have been easily explained.

The performance, on the other hand, needs serious work. First, it's important to understand that I like Eli Walker's voice, so that wasn't the problem. Her voice is neutral enough where she can sound like an educated American girl of any race. And, I think she's pretty good with emotions.

But the pacing! I believe with a little work, she could have taken a breath from time to time and not have nearly everything sound like a run-on sentence. There were several places in the story when there were conversations, but the responses were so close that it sounded like one long sentence. Taking some time to appreciate the punctuation was all that was needed.

The first time she had to do Luca didn't work out too well because she has a very feminine voice. Her trying to give voice to a man who's very tall, masculine, and Italian just didn't pan out. Afterward, she simply did her own voice, only slightly gruffer, but with no discernable accent. Maybe having an actual man with experience with accents would have worked better.

Pronunciations! I don't know how vetting of narrators works, but surely someone had to go over the way things are pronounced, particularly long or short vowels, syllables, or correct Italian pronunciation.

Adonis
Gnocchi
Gondola
Vestiges

While I think there were a couple of others, these are the ones that made me cringe.

This could have easily been a longer story. I would have liked to have known a little more about David, for instance, and why he showed up in an emotional state. I already mentioned Luca's surname. More about Maria because she added some juicy drama to the story.

My verdict? Good, but needs work.

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Umbrella Review!

Revisado: 07-18-20

I've read the entire Men of Whiskey Row Series, but am leaving just one review here.

I like stories that display a lot of work, especially in the details of the story and in character development. Ms. Young does an outstanding job, and although you more or less need a programme to keep track of the people and plot twists (especially in the later books), the attention to detail is amazing to me. She does an awesome job and I found all of the stories well written and riveting.

How can you not love the Sullivan boys and their families? And I know, as does Ms. Young, that southern white boys have *always* liked black girls. But that's a subject for another discussion. :-)

The performances, on the other hand, are 50/50. Sean Crisden is breathtakingly perfect in his narration. While his voice is a little too deep to adequately pull off the high-pitched voices of children, other than that, no complaints. In fact, I went searching for more books that he narrates because it feels like he's really into the story and wants to share it with listeners.

While Ms. Brehon is a decent enough narrator, I felt that her voices were a little too "precious" and seemed to have angst in each one no matter the emotion. I felt that she was single-note and not reflecting the characters' emotions and complexities.

And that is my only complaint. I hope that if Ms. Young does another series, (I've read Baymore already), that she uses the talents of Mr. Crisden again and consider pairing him with Clementine Dove, who, in my opinion, is a nearly perfect female narrator, especially in this genre.

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Problem with Bi Hero

Revisado: 04-24-20

I don't know why the H being bisexual was even in the story or why it was important, but it pushed the story from better than good to problematic for me. I like thoroughly masculine, heterosexual men in my fantasy love life (which, let's face it, is what romance novels are), and this made me lose respect for the H. I don't even care about the kink, He was passionate about Xeni, but real life says that if a man sleeps with other men and considers himself bisexual, there will be problems in the future. A big dose of reality in the middle of fantasy. No bueno. I don't see an HEA there.

Otherwise, even with her you-need-a-programme-to-follow-the-characters family life, the story was pretty interesting. As far as the h being a witch, well, that was a little eye-rolling but it fit in the story okay.

I make no apologies for preferring men (even fantasy men) with an exit-only back door.

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Fairgoods!

Revisado: 10-15-19

I am loving this series!

It has always been my thought – from personal as well as historical experience – that southern white boys have always liked women of color – I know enough people that white men in Texas like Mexican women, but for the rest of the south a lot of white men like black women. And if my DNA profile is any indication to go by, because I am light skinned with “good“ hair and have no white women in my family tree, that’s always been the case. And because I am a “woman of a certain age,” we are talking about a lot of history!

The Fairgoods show that things have not changed much over the course of the centuries. I love that they are truly themselves and that they aren’t ashamed or afraid to feel what they feel. Dixon a.k.a. John Doe, is one of the best. The two of them have a hot and beautiful romance that, happily, ends with a happily ever after.

And what can I say about Clementine Dove? Hands-down one of the best narrators on Audible that I’ve ever heard. I have at least 100 audible books and there are two people – Clementine Dove and Scott Brick – who are two of my favorites. Everybody else ranges from nearly as good as they are to “oh my god what were they thinking?”

I really wish that Clementine Dove did more narration for other authors’ works as well. She really gets the characters, does a fabulous job with the voices, and is very enjoyable to listen to. In fact, there are several cases where I know that she is eventually going to do the narration for the eventual audible book, but I have to read the book while waiting. It’s crazy, I know.

This has been a wonderful set up, and I hope that this series continues.

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Arrested Development of What Could be a Good Story

Revisado: 10-04-19

I liked the concept of the story, and to tell the truth, this short form wasn't enough for the potential. There were too many characters for such a short story and I felt that if it had been longer, these characters could have been fleshed out. There were questions hanging that I felt could have been developed in a longer format, such as the brothers and possibly the ex-girlfriend. It seemed to end rather abruptly, and I continued to try to listen and was surprised that it was over.

The narrator was good but would have been well-served to find out the correct pronunciation of some words. I had several smh moments.

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So Very Enjoyable

Revisado: 08-25-19

This is not a book so much as it feels like a multi part NPR miniseries. The author’s voice is soothing throughout, and the stories of many of the “chili heads“ range from entertaining to tragic.

As someone who thinks that jalapeños are the work of Satan, it’s hard to relate to those who will eat peppers so hot as to make them vomit and suffer real pain. But, that said, I understand the obsession.

I can’t recommend this highly enough! Just a few hours listen and I know that I will revisit it again. And who knows, I might actually use an entire jalapeño one day.

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