Lights All Night Long by Lydia Fitzpatrick

FEATURING⇢

Russian Exchange Student in America

A Coming of Age Story
Literary 

Murder Mystery
The Anguish of Addiction


With Audio Performed by Michael Crouch

LINK TO SYNOPSIS (AUTHOR'S WEBSITE)

MY RATING⇢ 4 STARS | GRADE B+

MY THOUGHTS⇢

The synopsis sets up this story wonderfully, so I suggest reading that.  A thoughtfully told, heartbreaking narrative with alternating timelines, between the past in Russia leading up to Ilya's exchange trip to America and from present tense in Louisiana where he is determined to prove his brother's, Vladimir's, innocence. While the slow pace of the story left me wanting to rush this...I kept waiting for something thrilling to happen and once it finally did, I kind of missed the mark with me.  It may have also touched on religion a tad more than I'm comfortable with.

Ultimately, this packs more of a literary punch than action-packed punch, with themes of familial bonds, addiction, and dreaming of something better, this is overall, a genuinely heartfelt story and one that is not to be missed.

The Audio performance is well performed by Michael Crouch, as usual, he even pulled off all those Russian words with finesse...I think...since I don't speak Russian.

THE BREAKDOWN⇢  

Plot⇢ 4/5

Narration Performance⇢ 4.5/5

Characters⇢ 4/5

The Feels⇢ 3.7/5

Pacing⇢ 3.2/5

Addictiveness⇢ 4/5

Theme or Tone⇢ 4.2/5

Flow (Writing Style)⇢ 4/5

Backdrop (World Building)⇢ 4.5/5

Originality⇢ 5/5

Ending⇢ 4.5/5

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Book Cover⇢ Love it!

Setting⇢ Berlozhniki, Russia & Effie, Louisianna 

Source⇢ Libby Audiobook (Library)

Length⇢ 12 hours, 3 minutes

My Sister, the Serial Killer by Oyinkan Braithwaite

FEATURING⇢

Novella Length
Dead Bodies

Familial/Sister Bonds

Is Blood Thicker Than Water?
Nigeria Setting
With Audio Performed by Adepero Oduye

LINK TO SYNOPSIS (AUTHOR'S WEBSITE)

MY RATING⇢ 3 STARS | GRADE C

MY THOUGHTS⇢

Dubbed as darkly funny...I don't know if I laughed even one time...wait...I might have laughed a little at the very beginning.  I didn't find it funny, not even darkly so.  While I wasn't completely hooked, I still believe this was a well-written story about the things we do for family, even when we shouldn't.  Seriously, Korede's sister didn't deserve that kind of loyalty from her.  Overall, this wasn't really for me...but it wasn't awful...either.  The narration was decent, too.

Sadly, though, sad because my local library switched to CloudLibrary over Overdrive, the reason I possibly couldn't get into it is that I listened to this on the CloudLibrary App.  I just kept getting 'Playback Error' continuously throughout the entire book...so thank goodness it was only a little over 4 hours.  I just have one question, why can't all Audiobook player apps be like Libby?

THE BREAKDOWN⇢  

Plot⇢ 3.5/5

Narration Performance⇢ 4/5

Characters⇢ 2.8/5

The Feels⇢ 2.5/5

Pacing⇢ 4/5

Addictiveness⇢ 3/5

Theme or Tone⇢ 3/5

Flow (Writing Style)⇢ 2.7/5

Backdrop (World Building)⇢ 3/5

Originality⇢ 4/5

Ending⇢ 3/5 Cliffhanger⇢ 

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Book Cover⇢ It's okay.

Setting⇢ Lagos, Nigeria

Source⇢ Audiobook (Library)

Length⇢ 4 hours, 15 minutes