Jhirst

Cara Bastone.... romcom...yes!

Reviewed: 05-11-24

It's probably not wise to review this after only one listen. With each of Cara's romcoms I think "This was great but not quite as good as the last one" but then I'll read it again (and again) and realize it is just as good.
Ms Bastone's Love Line series is virtually perfect. Ditto Love At First Psych. I say this with no uncertainty, easily better than movie romcom classics Sleepless In Seattle and You've Got Mail. She is the master. Plus she either has pull over who narrates her books or she has been incredibly lucky because they are all very well narrated.
Maybe This Time is also well narrated, though I'm still not sold on full cast productions. There is an element of the paranormal in this one... time travel... and though necessary for the plot it's not my normal thing.
Trust me....I will read this again. Reading Cara just makes me feel happy regardless of what might be happening in my life. If you haven't listened to her other romcoms do yourself a favor and get ready to feel happy.

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Horrible narration

Reviewed: 09-25-23

I'm not close to the end of this book... seven hours remain... assuming I'm able to finish it. The story is still developing so I'll reserve judgement on that part until I finish, but I couldn't listen to another word until I reviewed the narration.
For some reason I find it more personally painful to say negative things about a narrator than I do about a writer.
I've read... listened to... other books from this writer and I like them. And I liked the narration. I'm sorry to whoever the narrator is in this book but she is just awful. It's bad enough that several of her characters' voices are sickeningly over acted and annoyingly badly acted, but throughout the book the acting of the narrator doesn't appear to match the content of the writing.
So, yeah, such bad narration that I'm not positive I'll be able to finish. If I can slog through I'll update this review to include the actual story.

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Another great romcom from Ms Bastone

Reviewed: 03-05-23

All of Cara's Love Lines books are wonderful. True, this title is not part of that series but it has the same feel. They are all funny and feel good. And the narration matches with the story perfectly. There really is zero wrong with any of them. (I haven't read her non romcoms so I can't speak to those.) In this book there is just one minor complaint and it doesn't have anything to do with the story. There are some noticable problems with editing. In multiple places you have someone reacting just slightly before they have something to react to. Someone will laugh, say, before the other person has finished what they were saying. Like I said, it's minor and just don't let it bother you but it is there

One final thought...if Cara or her agent reads reviews, how about a Christmas romcom from Cara.

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A Fantasy Must Read

Reviewed: 03-04-23

The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant are must read fantasies, right up there with Lord Of The Rings and Wheel Of Time. You must read them in order.
Thomas Covenant is not warm and fuzzy. You will not like him. You are supposed to not like him. But you will like the Land, you will like the people, you will like the language, you will like the excitement.
Since they were originally released in print version in the 70's, I've read them several times but because they were old it took Audible a long time to make them available in audio, and a big thanks goes out to the narrator, Scott Brick, for making that happen. on his own and with a deal with the author he narrated them and sold them on his own site, but being old and not understanding technology, I waited until Audible finally purchased them.
The series start a little slow, a little angry, in our world instead of in The Land. Just hang with it. Soon after getting to the Land, Covenant does a horrible, unforgivable thing. He spends about six meaty books trying to make amends for it.
I can't review the final four books of the series because I have not read them yet. I only listen to audiobooks now and so I had to wait to re-read the first six once they became available before I would listen to the final four.
Read them. Read The Chronicles. You'll thank me.

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5 people found this helpful

Finally over

Reviewed: 10-18-22

First, I've never seen any of the movies this series is based on.
Second, I chose to read these because the first three were written by Nancy Naigle and she has written some of my favorite Christmas romance books, written them from her original ideas I suspect as opposed to turning a movie into a book. None of the Christmas In Evergreen will ever be on my favorite list, but the first three are least had some merit. This last one was tedious.
I did look online to try and see where Barbara from Barbara's Country Inn has disappeared to, and in so doing I saw the cast of the movies. Good on the movies for having several key roles with Black actors. The race of the characters never came across in the books, or at least not in the first three. And maybe that's okay, I don't know. But in the fourth book, it was pointed out, which to me felt a bit forced. In book two the male mayor is leaving the town and we've elected a woman mayor and we mention more than once over a couple of books how she is the first female mayor, but we never mentioned she was the first Black female mayor until the fourth book. The ex mayor is leaving town to follow up on a romance in the big city, which is finally mentioned as a gay romance... not a problem, except for the guy he is pursuing had a bit role in an earlier book where for a minute he was perceived as a possible rival of the male lead for the female leads heart, and when it was finally cleared up by saying he's my bestie and business partner but nothing else, seems to me it might have been normal to also point out that he was gay too.
It just seems like the fourth book was pushed. I don't necessarily blame the book author... maybe the movie was crap.
I believe book one is free, so worth a listen. Book two and three are okay and you get to stay in a small christmasy town with characters you're comfortable with. Book four is tiring, which is sad because you do still like the town and the people.

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Not a Christmas Book

Reviewed: 10-08-22

That's the first thing you need to know... this book has almost zero to do with Christmas... very misleading title and cover design. And though there is some romance, that also really isn't what the book is. It's mainly about a woman trying to become a better version of herself, and the new friends she develops along the way. It's rural, and ultimately uplifting.
I liked it. Makes me want to read more from this author. I am glad I read it in October instead of December when finding out it wasn't a Christmas book didn't particularly disappoint me.
Narrator was great.
And it was free. I'm a credit hoarder. I don't mind at all using a credit for a book I like and very well might listen to again, but I hate wasting credits. I explore the free options and have found some very good reads that way. (Cara Bastone's Love Line series is on my top shelf of favorite reads.) I wouldn't put this book on the top shelf but it was good, engaging, and I am thoroughly glad I read it.

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Pass

Reviewed: 10-01-22

Really, the only good thing to be said about this title is that it was short. It was also free and even at that I still feel it was overpriced. The female lead narrator did okay. This makes two short books I've listened to by this author in the last week and neither was worth the time. Keep looking. If you want suggestions of good, free romcoms, listen to Cara Bastone's Love Line series...all three of those titles are excellent.

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Romance?

Reviewed: 09-30-22

There's nothing really wrong with this very short novella, just, not much there. There was almost no romance.
That said, the performance of the male lead was good, and Amanda Ronconi could read me the phone book and I'd be captivated.

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No romance

Reviewed: 09-28-22

Even though this title was free, and short, I wouldn't recommend it. I mean, it's relatively harmless, unless you don't want any sex scenes which there is one of, and a bit of cussing. More importantly, it just doesn't have anything going for it. I'm retired and I don't begrudge the two hour loss, but I'll certainly never read it again, which I do with books I like. And the narration was feeling less, especially from the male narrator.
If you want a good romcom, read Cara Bastone's Call Me Maybe, and the next two books in her Love Line series. Now those I do listen to over and over again.

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Good book, bad narrator

Reviewed: 08-07-22

The Guy who narrated the first three/four books wasn't wonderful, but he was so much better than this man. As everyone else has said, at the very least, pronounce the names of the main characters the same as they have been pronounced in earlier books. I guess we should be happy that Pug is still Pug and not Poog.
As for the actual book, it is a pretty big jump from Darkness at Sethenon... twenty years... and made to seem bigger by the change of narrators, but it is still a Feist fantasy, still part of the series, still well worth listening to.

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