Rhiana Bermingham

Great Book, Hit and Miss Audio

Reviewed: 15-02-2021

4.5 stars for the story. The more Christina Lee I read the more I love. This is about as good as it gets for a romance I reckon. Good background characters, some angst and dark backgrounds, no stupid miscommunication.

Audiobook only gets 3 stars though which drags it down. I know a lot of other have said this, but Tristan James really isn’t great. I actually love his gruff manly tone, which a lot of reviewers seem to think makes him sound old. I disagree with that and think his voice is great for characters like Vaughn- although if he spoke maybe 10% faster I think he would sound more youthful. My bigger issue is that he puts pauses in the wrong places. Adding commas that don’t exist can completely change a sentence and ruin the flow. The sex scenes that he narrated were as exciting as reading the dictionary. To the point of making me feel a little uncomfortable. The biggest saving grace is that Iggy Toma had more chapters I think. His were a joy to listen to. And this might be the first time I would ever say this, I actually think it would have been better if Iggy had done both POVs. Iggy has a great vocal range and could have easily pulled off two different POVs.

Really Lovely

Reviewed: 02-04-2020

I wish every MM romance could be written and narrated like this. It was lovely, memorable and the narration was perfect.

I loved this one a little less, but still great.

Reviewed: 07-02-2020

I liked this one, but a few of the stories were a bit of a drag. Not to be an unsympathetic cow, but the story about the Boxing Day Tsunami dragged on and I kept waiting for the hysteria part of it. I thought it was a bit of a depressing way of explaining that sometimes we like to hear loved ones voices after they die. Still interesting, just not as much as the last two episodes.

Great Second Showing

Reviewed: 07-02-2020

I really enjoyed this one, I watered the garden for longer than necessary to listen to the whole thing. This is quickly becoming one of my fave podcasts. It’s quick and to the point and packed full of cool stories and explanations. I also love the sardonic tone of Alice at certain points, she cracks me up.

Great Intro to Series

Reviewed: 07-02-2020

This was a great intro, I like the narrator and how it is structured. This was the first episode, so a little light on info, but intros often are.

Horrible Female Character

Reviewed: 31-01-2020

The characterisation in this book, especially of the females was cringeworthy. The first couple of chapters are actually painful to listen to. The scene where she launches herself at a guy in the middle of a party even though she expects him to struggle to catch her and then he actually comments to himself that she is pretty heavy is the stuff nightmares are made of. There is nothing funny about it.

Additionally, for some reason she loves to tell us that she pees a little after two drinks. WTF?

The treatment of Sadie is disgusting too. It is clear that she is struggling and depressed, but Bryn just ignores her problems every time she brings them up and goes back to talking about their own petty rubbish.

Also, the female narrators voice is so shrill and whiney I had to turn down the volume.

Whilst the book does improve marginally after the first few chapters, I definitely won’t be checking out the sequels.

Book Was Ok. Narrator was awful.

Reviewed: 17-12-2019

The book was an ok story, cute and likeable, but not very exciting. I kept waiting for something to happen. The narrator however was awful. Especially when he was doing Ashton’s voice. He sounded really nasally, it was horrible to listen to.

1 person found this helpful

Not a fan of this one.

Reviewed: 25-11-2019

Let me begin by saying that I usually like most of Annabeth Albert's books and I really enjoyed the first book in this series: Arctic Heat.

However, this was a big yawn. It started out with so much potential, but rapidly went downhill. Horrible injuries, a demanding child, and annoying family are the least sexy things imaginable, this book deployed all three. I felt like this was more of a recovery drama than a romance, and I honestly struggled to get through it. I didn't even finish the last chapter as I kept falling asleep or losing interest through the last half of the book.

Additionally I felt that too many supporting characters were introduced but not fleshed out, and that the main characters weren't likeable or consistent in their characterisation. My favourite parts were the mentions of Griff and River from book 1.

I also didn't love the narration.

Albert has a lot of great books, and I will still give the third book in this series a go. But in my opinion, this one can be skipped.