AUDIOBOOKING WITH LEAH: addiction

Showing posts with label addiction. Show all posts

Wednesday, May 6, 2020

AUDIOBOOK REVIEW⇢ LONG BRIGHT RIVER

BY LIZ MOORE

NARRATED BY ALLYSON RYAN

SYNOPSIS FROM AUTHORS WEBSITE⇣

Two sisters travel the same streets, though their lives couldn’t be more different.

Then one of them goes missing.

In a Philadelphia neighborhood rocked by the opioid crisis, two once-inseparable sisters find themselves at odds. One, Kacey, lives on the streets in the vise of addiction. The other, Mickey, walks those same blocks on her police beat. They don’t speak anymore, but Mickey never stops worrying about her sibling.

Then Kacey disappears, suddenly, at the same time that a mysterious string of murders begins in Mickey’s district, and Mickey becomes dangerously obsessed with finding the culprit—and her sister—before it’s too late.

Alternating its present-day mystery with the story of the sisters' childhood and adolescence, Long Bright River is at once heart-pounding and heart-wrenching: a gripping suspense novel that is also a moving story of sisters, addiction, and the formidable ties that persist between place, family, and fate.

BOOK TAGS⇣

⤏ ONE SISTER IS A COP

⤏ ONE SISTER IS ADDICTED TO HEROIN/OPIOIDS

⤏ MURDER MYSTERY

⤏ A TOWN GRIPPED IN AN OPIOID CRISIS

⤏ LENGTH OF AUDIO - 13 HOURS, 20 MINUTES

⤏ I LISTENED ON LIBBY THROUGH MY LIBRARY

MY THOUGHTS⇣

This book deserves the high praise that it's getting...for how it deals with the struggles of loving someone who is addicted to drugs and the bond of sisters. Also, how a town can be suppressed by the weight of addiction. The mystery and reveals were done perfectly...they didn't feel forced or made up just for the o-shit factor. Added to that, the narration is performed atmospherically by Allyson Ryan.

The only reason that I didn't give it five stars was to do with the overwhelmingly heavy feeling of melancholy it left me with. Blame it on the plot, blame it on the depressing main character, blame it on the covid-19...hell, blame it on the anxiety I get from having to try and wear a mask for eight hours. I really wanted to just get through it, so I could listen to something else.

BREAKDOWN⇣

Narration⇢ 4.5/5
Plot⇢ 4.5/5

Characters⇢ 3.8/5

The Feels⇢ 3.8/5

Pacing⇢ 3.8/5

Addictiveness⇢ 3.5/5

Theme, Tone or Intensity⇢ 4.5/5
Originality/Believability⇢ 5/5

Flow (Writing Style)⇢ 5/5

Twisty-ness/Mystery⇢ 4/5

Ending⇢ 4.5/5

Tuesday, January 21, 2020

BY KATEY TAYLOR

SYNOPSIS FROM AUTHORS WEBSITE⇣
Barely seventeen and as pretty as can be: the summer is their playground. Cait and her best friends Steph and Allie take on San Francisco's party scene with fake IDs and short dresses.
When Cait meets Adrien Cross, the charismatic lead singer of her favorite indie band, she's introduced to a hedonistic world of liquor and lust that she never wants to leave.
But then that world spirals out of control and the harsh realities of reckless living take a toll on Cait and the ones she loves.
What will be left when the makeup masks wash off, the bottles are empty, and Cait begins to lose her grip on everything?
Katey Taylor's heart-wrenching debut novel will have you strapped into the intense rollercoaster ride of Cait's life and one chaotic summer that will change it all.

BOOK TAGS⇣

⁝ GRIT-YA ⁝ CONTEMPORARY (MOSTLY) REALISTIC FICTION ⁝ TEEN SEX AND DRINKING ⁝

BOOK DETAILS⇣

BOOK COVER⇢ AMAZING...LOVE THE MINIMALIST DESIGN GOING HERE. SADLY, IT'S THE BEST THING ABOUT THIS BOOK.

SETTING⇢ SAN FRANCISCO, CA

SOURCE⇢ I OWN KINDLE EBOOK

eBOOK LENGTH⇢ 231 PAGES

MY THOUGHTS⇣

I thought this was going to be different than it was. I thought it would focus on addiction and then working to break the addiction. But it wasn't, not really. It was really just a booze-fest for teens, heavily laden with bad decisions, and overly clueless parents. If nothing else, you could use this book to teach your teen what not to do. I guess someone young might like this sort of train-wreck of a story, but it wasn't really a good fit for me.

MY RATING⇢ 2¼ ✰STARS✰

BREAKDOWN⇣

Plot⇢ 2.8/5

Characters⇢ 3/5

The Feels⇢ 2/5

Pacing⇢ 3/5

Addictiveness⇢ 3.5/5

Theme or Tone⇢ 2/5

Flow (Writing Style)⇢ 2.5/5

Backdrop (World Building)⇢ 3/5

Originality⇢ 3/5

Ending⇢ 1/5

Tuesday, April 30, 2019

๏ ๏ ๏ Highlights ๏ ๏ ๏

The Slippery Slope of Addiction

High School Athlete
Graphic Drug Use
Bring on the Tears

๏ ๏ ๏ Links ๏ ๏ ๏

Goodreads | Booklikes | BookDigits

Amazon | Kobo | Scribd

GooglePlay | IndieBound

With Audio Performed by Brittany Pressley

๏ ๏ ๏ My Thoughts ๏ ๏ ๏

This isn't my first book about heroin addiction. I've read a couple others, this one is just as hard-hitting and unflinching as those others, possibly more so, because it involves a girl not yet out of high school. An athlete, with everything going for her. Her downward spiral starts with a car accident and a horrible injury where she is prescribed Oxy, and so from there, her wretched descent begins...

I believe the purpose of this book is to make people, not only kids but adults too, aware of how easy it is to become dependent on these types of drugs, and almost anyone is susceptible to them, and to also make them aware of the signs that someone could be using. This is fiction but it's based on real-life issues so it can be very blunt, which can make it really difficult to read/listen to at times...but ultimately, I believe it's worth it.