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Showing posts with label chic-lit. Show all posts
Showing posts with label chic-lit. Show all posts

Saturday, May 9, 2020

AUDIOBOOK REVIEW⇢ PROBLEM CHILD

BY VICTORIA HELEN STONE
NARRATED BY NICOL ZANZARELLA


After a brutal childhood, Jane Doe has been permanently wired to look after herself and only herself. Now, looking next to normal, Jane has a lover and a job. But she hasn’t lost her edge. It sharpens when she hears from her estranged family.

Jane’s deeply troubled sixteen-year-old niece, Kayla, has vanished, and no one seems to care. Neither does Jane. Until she sees a picture of Kayla and recognizes herself in the young girl’s eyes. It’s the empty stare of a sociopath.

Jane knows what vengeful and desperate things Kayla is capable of. Only Jane can help her—by being drawn into Kayla’s dark world. And no one’s more aware than Jane just how dangerous that can be.



BOOK TAGS

 JANE DOE #2
 THE SOCIOPATH IS BACK...WELL, SORT OF
 OOH...A MINI ME JANE DOE, EXCEPT SHE IS A BRAT
 A LITTLE WIND TURBINE OBSESSION
⤏ A LITTLE BIT OF REVENGE/SABOTAGE
⤏ AND A LITTLE BIT MYSTERY
⤏ LENGTH OF AUDIO - 8 HOURS, 24 MINUTES
⤏ I LISTENED ON AUDIO READ AND LISTEN





MY THOUGHTS⇣


On one hand, I missed the revenge theme that Book #1 had going because it set up for what made for a highly satisfying ending...but on the other hand, if this had gone in the same vein, it would have lacked originality and basically would have felt like Jane was a one-trick pony.  Although, the need was quenched with a little side plot of revenge, which was more along the lines of sabotage on a man that she worked with.  It was also good to see Jane explore life, love (although she thinks she's incapable of the emotion), loyalty, and family on her quest to find her niece.  Narration by Nicol Zanzarella was really good...she embodies Jane perfectly.

Aside from all that...I do have to say that she does take the whole sociopath thing a little to far, it felt like she said that word (sociopath) constantly throughout the story.  I searched on kindle, and it comes up 18 times, but it felt like it was twice that.  This made it feel more like a study in sociopathy more than an actual story at times.

Overall the laugh-out-loud moments were plenty and had a way of moving the story along and not letting it get bogged down too much.  The obsession with the wind turbines was both enlightening and a bit odd...and the ending ties things up quite tidily...but also set the stage for a possible third book.


BREAKDOWN⇣

Narration 4.5/5 
Plot 4.2/5
Characters 4.3/5
The Feels 3.7/5
Pacing 4.5/5
Addictiveness 4.5/5
Theme, Tone or Intensity 4/5
Originality/Believability 4/5
Flow (Writing Style) 4.3/5
Twisty-ness/Mystery 3.5/5
Ending 3.5/5




Wednesday, February 5, 2020

REVIEW⤏ SOCIAL CREATURE

BY TARA ISABELLA BURTON




    SYNOPSIS FROM AUTHORS WEBSITE
    They go through both bottles of champagne right there on the High Line, with nothing but the stars over them... They drink and Lavinia tells Louise about all the places they will go together when they finish their stories when they are both great writers-to Paris and to Rome and to Trieste...Lavinia will never go. She is going to die soon.
    Louise has nothing. Lavinia has everything. After a chance encounter, the two spiral into an intimate, intense, and possibly toxic friendship. A Talented Mr. Ripley for the digital age, this seductive story takes a classic tale of obsession and makes it irresistibly new


    BOOK TAGS


     A TOXIC RELATIONSHIP
     SOMEONE DIES
     CHIC-LIT-ISH
     A TALENTED MR RIPLEY FOR THE DIGITAL AGE 
     ANNOYING CHARACTERS
     I WANTED THEM ALL TO DIE IN THE END

      BOOK DETAILS⇣


      AUDIO PERFORMED BY SASKIA MAARLEVELD
      NARRATION RATING 3*/5
      BOOK COVER I'M NOT FEELING IT SO MUCH
      SETTING NEW YORK CITY
      SOURCE LIBBY AUDIOBOOK (LIBRARY)
      AUDIOBOOK LENGTH 8 HOURS, 43 MINUTES


      MY THOUGHTS⇣


      *This was difficult to rate the narration on.  Normally I like Saskia Maarleveld, and I'm not saying she was bad, only that the characters were so monumentally annoying to me and if the portrayal of them is done well, it could only end up being absolutely dreadful.  And she did actually play them to perfection.  Which means she was actually really good.  But...seriously, the narration just about did me in.  Since it was both good and bad in its own way; I rated it 3 Stars. 

      At 278 pages, this is a short book...and yet it felt like it dragged on and on.  Since I despised every character in this book, they were all so overly dramatic and pompous that no matter how much I tried I couldn't get into the story...I think I only finished it...in hopes that they would all die in the end.


      MY RATING ✰STARS✰


      BREAKDOWN⇣

      Plot 2/5
      Characters 1/5
      The Feels 2/5
      Pacing 2/5
      Addictiveness 2/5
      Theme or Tone 2/5
      Flow (Writing Style) 2/5
      Twisty-ness 1/5
      Originality 1/5
      Ending 1.5/5



      Friday, November 6, 2015

      eBOOK REVIEW: FATAL BEAUTY



      "There is no drug quite like worship, no high as addictive as adoration."





      Book Title: Fatal Beauty
      Author: Nazarea Andrews
      Series: Stand Alone
      Genre: Adult, Mystery Thriller, Crazy Ass Chic-Lit
      Publisher: A & A Literary
      Source: Own on Kindle








      Overall Rating 3.3/5 Stars


      ✧Breakdown of Rating✧


      Plot: 3.8/5 As a whole it was interesting, raw, and unfettered, it just wasn't well executed. The twist at the end, I didn't see coming at all. I really can't go into it much more than that without giving too much away.

      Characters: 4/5 Rich girls run amok…These girls are naughty and they don't apologize for it. Seriously damaged. Reminded me somewhat of Dangerous Girls.

      The Feels: 3/5 It's hard to feel sorry for rich spoiled girls…

      Theme: 2/5 

      Flow: 5/5 Needs a ton more editing, from misused to misspelled words to missing altogether.
      Originality: 5/5 ...maybe it has been done before, but I don't think quite like this.

      Book Cover: 5/5

      Sex Factor: Lots of explicit sex, including some bi-sexual healing of the F/F kind.

      Ending: 3.8/5 To quote Disturbed "And get stupefied." Sort of explains my feelings at the end of this book. Stupify could be this book's theme song. Cliffhanger: No


      My Thoughts:


      This book is twisted and seriously has some WTF moments that blew my mind, especially that ending. But, the lack of editing really held it back for me. Ultimately, I did find it memorable.

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