FRAMED IN DEATH

Framed In Death by JD Robb
Book 61 in the In Death series
Narrated by Susan Ericksen
Genre: sci-fi crime fiction
Format: ebook & audiobook

About Framed In Death:

Manhattan is filled with galleries and deep-pocketed collectors who can make an artist's career with a wave of a hand. But one man toils in obscurity, his brilliance unrecognized while lesser talents bask in the glory he believes should be his. Come tomorrow, he vows, the city will be buzzing about his work.

Indeed, before dawn, Lt. Eve Dallas is speeding toward the home of the two gallery owners whose doorway has been turned into a horrifying crime scene overnight. A lifeless young woman has been elaborately costumed and precisely posed to resemble the model of a long-ago Dutch master. Can Eve unravel the twisted mind of a serial killer before he strikes again...

Source: Info in the "About Framed In Death" was taken from amazon on 26/12/2024.

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My Thoughts:

After 61 books down the line... by now I think JD Robb has covered all angles in a crime fiction that there is... havin' said that, it is a credit to her story telling quality that this series' staying power...

I got reminded in this one why I am not a crime fiction fan. In crime fiction, of course you have a crime! But I did not want Leesa to die! Nor any of them! In my head I begin imagining alternative stories where they all live...

This is the first time ever that I can remember that an arrested unsub got away by using the loops in the justice system. Kudos for a first in a long-time series!

This is a JD Robb book, of course I enjoyed it!

Quantitative Evaluation:

Story telling quality = 4.5
Character development = 4.5
Story itself = 4
Writing Style = 4
Ending = 4.5
World building = 5
Cover art = 4
Pace = (13 hrs and 11 mins listening time)
Plot = 4
Narration = 5

Overall Rating: 4.5 out of 5 cherries

Books In The In Death Series:

 

Meet The Author

About JD Robb:

J.D. Robb is the author of the #1 New York Times bestselling In Death series and the pseudonym for #1 New York Times bestselling author Nora Roberts. The futuristic suspense series stars Eve Dallas, a New York City police lieutenant with a dark past. Initially conceived as a trilogy, readers clamored for more of Eve and the mysterious Roarke. Forgotten in Death (St. Martin's Press, September 2021) is the 53rd entry in the series.

jdrobb.com | facebook | instagram | amazon | goodreads

The Narrator

About Susan Ericksen:

Susan Ericksen is a Renaissance woman. In addition to being an Earphones-winning audiobook narrator and director — she's a writer, an amateur linguist, an actress, a mother, and a wife. In the 1980s she joined former classmate David Colacci in western Michigan, where he was artistic director for the Hope Summer Repertory Theater. Twenty miles away, a fledgling audiobook publisher called Brilliance was looking for narrators.

Susan has recorded around two hundred audiobooks for Brilliance, BBC Audiobooks, Tantor, and Hachette. "It was a natural step. As repertory theater actors, the whole point is to be able to do Shakespeare one night, a musical the next night, and Noel Coward the next. So you have multiple personalities and multiple character voices and physicalities. These are such valuable skills for doing audiobooks."

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FTC Disclosure:
The ebook and audiobook were purchased with private funds.
No money received for this review.

CURSED DEMON

Cursed Demon by Brogan Thomas
Book 2 in the Creatures of the Otherworld series
Narrated by Poppy Royana
Genre: urban fantasy
Format: ebook & audiobook

About Cursed Demon:

She enjoyed life as a demon’s pet. Until the cries of an innocent tore her world asunder…

Emma Case is freaking out. Being surrounded by monsters is risky enough without breaking the rules, but when the soft-hearted girl hears a pup in distress, she can’t resist trespassing on forbidden ground. And after discovering the unfortunate creature is a wolf-shifter, she’s stunned when the child’s pack accuses her of the crime and abducts her for interrogation.

Tortured for information she doesn’t have, Emma pleads desperately for her handsome tormenter to believe her. Yet as the naïve young woman tumbles deeper into the realm of supernatural intrigue, she unexpectedly manifests frightening powers she has no idea how to control.

Will Emma’s hidden heritage prove a blessing or a bane?

Source: Info in the "About Cursed Demon" was taken from GoodReads at https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/56970075-cursed-demon on 26/06/2021.

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My Thoughts:

Most of what I am going to say about this book, I have already said in my review of the first book, Cursed Wolf. Both books have great story telling quality, wonderful world building, and characters to love! In this book the author has fully embraced the angels and demons theme but it looks like she is going to spin it slightly differently from the religious tropes which is an interesting twist!

My question is, why is the Big Ben in the cover when they were nowhere near London at all!?

The plot is a bit formulaic, but I don't care! I got a wonderful reading time out of this book!

I still like Poppy Royana's narration though this time her voice has morphed into Emma's. I also agree with her interpretation of the book and best of all, her sassy narration!

Empirical Evaluation:

Story telling quality = 5
Character development = 4.5
Story itself = 4.5
Writing Style = 5
Ending = 4
World building = 5
Cover art = 4.5
Pace = 4.5
Plot = 4
Narration = 5

Overall Rating: 5 out of 5 cherries

Books In The Creatures of the Otherworld Series:

 

Books In The Rebel of the Otherworld Series:

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Books In The Bitten Chronicles Series:

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Meet The Author

About Brogan Thomas:

Brogan lives in Ireland with her husband and their eleven furry children: five furry minions of darkness (aka the cats), four hellhounds (the dogs), and two traditional unicorns (fat, hairy Irish cobs).

In 2019 she decided to embrace her craziness by writing about the imaginary people that live in her head. Her first love is her number-one favourite furry child Bob the cob, then reading. When not reading or writing, she can be found knee-deep in horse poo and fur while blissfully ignoring all adult responsibilities.

broganthomas.com | twitter | facebook | instagram | bookbub | pinterest | youtube | amazon | goodreads

The Narrator

About Poppy Royana:

Born and raised in the South East but finding her home in the North, Poppy is a bi British Narrator based in not too sunny Manchester. With experience in musical theatre, Poppy is both a singer and a book lover and teaches singing when she’s not found narrating in her booth.

Poppy’s voice could possibly be mistaken at times for Olivia Colman’s so we’d like to think that, in our opinion, Poppy has an award-winning voice. She sounds warm and uplifting whilst being articulate and crisp; and not only that but she can nail sarcasm to a T. There’s really not much Poppy can’t do!

www.poppyroyanaaudio.com | twitter | facebook | instagram | linkedin | goodreads

FTC Disclosure:
The ebook and audiobook copies of the book were purchased with private funds.
No money received for this review.

Review: HUNTER

Hunter by Mercedes Lackey
Book 1 of the Hunter series
Narrated by Amy Landon
Genre: dystopian fantasy YA
Format: hardback, ebook, & audiobook

About Hunter:

They came after the Diseray. Some were terrors ripped from our collective imaginations, remnants of every mythology across the world. And some were like nothing anyone had ever dreamed up, even in their worst nightmares. Monsters. Long ago, the barriers between our world and the Otherworld were ripped open, and it’s taken centuries to bring back civilization in the wake of the catastrophe. Now, the luckiest Cits live in enclosed communities, behind walls that keep them safe from the hideous creatures fighting to break through. Others are not so lucky.

To Joyeaux Charmand, who has been a Hunter in her tight-knit mountain community since she was a child, every Cit without magic deserves her protection from dangerous Othersiders. Then she is called to Apex City, where the best Hunters are kept to protect the most important people.

Joy soon realizes that the city’s powerful leaders care more about luring Cits into a false sense of security than protecting them. More and more monsters are getting through the barriers, and the close calls are becoming too frequent to ignore. Yet the Cits have no sense of how much danger they’re in — to them, Joy and her corps of fellow Hunters are just action stars they watch on TV.

When an act of sabotage against Joy takes an unbearable toll, she uncovers a terrifying conspiracy in the city. There is something much worse than the usual monsters infiltrating Apex. And it may be too late to stop them…

Source: Info in the About Hunter was taken from GoodReads at https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/24397041-hunter on 28/09/2015.

Buy Link(s):

My Thoughts:

It took me a while to get into the post-apocalyptic dystopian world. I don't know, it just feels like somehow it lacks reality in fantasy. Gives off the "too surreal" to be real vibes. I was having a difficult time suspending disbelief. This made the pace considerably slower than I expected for a Mercedes Lackey book, even with the convenience of the audiobook format. This brought the rating of this book a notch or two down. But I soldiered on because I am an old fan of this author. I usually like her story telling quality even if it doesn't seem to be so apparent in this book.

The ending is a cliffhanger. Does not even end a dilemma that would justify an ending of a book. This is just a chapter of a bigger book.

There isn't a plot. Just a beginning of a plot.

Amy Landon's voice sounds young and fits the teen protagonist like a glove. She reminds me very strongly of Jenna Lamia. They have the same style of reading. Automaton-like.

Empirical Evaluation:
Story telling quality = 3
Character development = 3
Story itself = 3
Writing Style = 3
Ending = 1
World building = 5
Cover art = 4
Pace = 2
Plot = 1
Narration = 4.5

Overall Rating: 3 out of 5 cherries

Books In The Hunter Series:

 

Meet The Author

About Mercedes Lackey:

Mercedes entered this world on June 24, 1950, in Chicago, had a normal childhood and graduated from Purdue University in 1972. During the late 70's she worked as an artist's model and then went into the computer programming field, ending up with American Airlines in Tulsa, Oklahoma. In addition to her fantasy writing, she has written lyrics for and recorded nearly fifty songs for Firebird Arts & Music, a small recording company specializing in science fiction folk music.

"I'm a storyteller; that's what I see as `my job.' My stories come out of my characters; how those characters would react to the given situation. Maybe that's why I get letters from readers as young as thirteen and as old as sixty-odd. One of the reasons I write song lyrics is because I see songs as a kind of `story pill' -- they reduce a story to the barest essentials or encapsulate a particular crucial moment in time. I frequently will write a lyric when I am attempting to get to the heart of a crucial scene; I find that when I have done so, the scene has become absolutely clear in my mind, and I can write exactly what I wanted to say. Another reason is because of the kind of novels I am writing: that is, fantasy, set in an other-world semi-medieval atmosphere. Music is very important to medieval peoples; bards are the chief newsbringers. When I write the `folk music' of these peoples, I am enriching my whole world, whether I actually use the song in the text or not.

"I began writing out of boredom; I continue out of addiction. I can't `not' write, and as a result I have no social life! I began writing fantasy because I love it, but I try to construct my fantasy worlds with all the care of a `high-tech' science fiction writer. I apply the principle of TANSTAAFL [`There ain't no such thing as free lunch', credited to Robert Heinlein) to magic, for instance; in my worlds, magic is paid for, and the cost to the magician is frequently a high one. I try to keep my world as solid and real as possible; people deal with stubborn pumps, bugs in the porridge, and love-lives that refuse to become untangled, right along with invading armies and evil magicians. And I try to make all of my characters, even the `evil magicians,' something more than flat stereotypes. Even evil magicians get up in the night and look for cookies, sometimes.

"I suppose that in everything I write I try to expound the creed I gave my character Diana Tregarde in Burning Water:

"There's no such thing as `one, true way'; the only answers worth having are the ones you find for yourself; leave the world better than you found it. Love, freedom, and the chance to do some good -- they're the things worth living and dying for, and if you aren't willing to die for the things worth living for, you might as well turn in your membership in the human race."

Also known as Misty Lackey

www.mercedeslackey.com | facebook | twitter | goodreads

The Narrator

About Amy Landon:

Amy Landon is a classically trained actress with numerous off-Broadway, film, and television credits. Her voice can also be heard on many television and radio commercials. She has an easy facility with dialects, which she also coaches and teaches, and she is happy to find her lifelong obsession with books is matching up with her acting and vocal work.

www.landonamy.com | twitter | facebook | instagram | goodreads