a lovely sequel!

There were a lot of negative reviews for this and it made me wary of listening to this, but I had a wonderful experience. Is the storyline as good as the first book? Nah, but for me, it didn't need to be. This isn't SERIOUS LITERATURE. This is quirky, fun, zany, sweet fiction. I love the characters, Taylor's writing, and the world of this book so much, I didn't mind that the plot wasn't thick and complicated. I would truly listen to the mundane everyday lives of these characters and this world because I love it so much. Maybe keep your expectations low to enjoy this book? Or don't expect it to be identical to the first book? Anyway, I loved. it!

17 people found this helpful

Book Two is not for someone looking for a story

The second book is for people who just cant let go and just want to hear about the general day to day grind of the characters at Frogmorton. It annoyed me to no end that so much of this book was about reminding me of people, places and things that were covered in book 1, for the benefit of those who might not have listened to book 1, and the author wanted them to know everything about book 1.
This is not a well written book at all, in my opinion, and aside from being reminded of so many things in book 1 and getting a little (and I do mean little) bit more character development, and a minor situation involving the "threatening parties from book 1, when it left off", you'll get nothing out of this. I would not buy this book again, nor will I ever listen to it or recommend it to another person.

7 people found this helpful

Satisfying sequel to The Nothing Girl --

I'm glad Jodi wrote a sequel so we could see how Jenny's life changed. It was amusing, tender, mysterious, with a bit of supernatural thrown in. I empathized with Jack the donkey and am pleased with the resolution there. Thomas the golden horse makes a reappearance. On one hand I'm glad Jenny doesn't miraculously become a non-stuttering superwoman. On the other, she is tiresome with her wimpy-ness. Generally an easy listen, but again, Jodi tends tor repeat points instead of moving on.

6 people found this helpful

Absolute garbage

I don't write a lot of reviews, but I really love this author and I'm extremely frustrated. This is a HORRIBLE book. I read the first book as well as the short stories in this series and this book made me activity root against the main characters. I'm glad they're fictional, because they are too stupid to live.

3 people found this helpful

weird laughs and interesting

We picked this book trying to find something for the drives throughout our summer vacation. The hardest part is keeping everyone interested, but listened with hubby and 12 y.o daughter. This is the second book of the series, the first being "The Nothing Girl". Both books are peculiar and have some laughs from awkward statements and weird situations from Jenny being in different situations. We lived the coming into her own story line and the overcoming challenge Jenny went through, while still being realistic. almost like Liminy Snicket for an older crowd. if there is a third book we will definitely listen!

3 people found this helpful

NOT as good as the first one Really quite terrible

Any additional comments?

Oh, where to start! The first book in this series, the Nothing Girl, is just beautiful. A magical story full of wonderful characters. This second book in the series is almost crap. I can't even believe Jodi Taylor wrote this herself. And I will never believe she edited it in any way. I'm not sure if it would be such a wrenching betrayal if book numberr one hadn't been so great, but it was, so...

Only the laziest of authors relies on the trope of having your main character not want to tell information, maybe it's not important, maybe the first time I was imagining it, well I guess I'll tell someone, but later, well not quite yet, how about tomorrow I promise, blah, blah, blah. It's only Massively Important, and there is absolutely no reason Whatsoever that it shouldn't be told, but then you couldn't drag one simple thing out for almost an entire book.

Even the Big Thing that happens in the book, never could have happened if a person used any common sense whatsoever, as in, not putting themselves in harms way, when they know someone wants to harm them.

A scene at the end is supposed to be Thomas' big magical moment of good hearted wonderfullness or whatever, yet the wonderfullness was telegraphed in full Many chapters earlier, could have and should have just been resolved right then, and not used as a suppossed beautiful moment that was Not Earned

The continuity errors and lack of editing are horrifying. It's so difficult to review a book without spoilers, so I know this review is scorching without really saying why, but I'm trying not to give specifics. But some examples are, in one chapter, we are told a past incident was told to the police, and a certain person may even be on a small town most wanted list. In another chapter said incident is referred to as something that was hushed up / not reported. In one scene Thomas says "I think they're trying to x y z", then something occurs, then Jenny says "What's happening? Do you think they're trying to x y z?" In another scene Jenny tells us how she and Daniel love it when Russell and Francesca argue, then about two seconds later, Jenny tells us that she and Daniel love it when Russell and Francesca argue. Wtf? I don't take hallucinogens then listen to books, but maybe Jodi Taylor does. At this point anything is possible.

But the worst part is that the beautiful world full of real people and magical animals, all with a tiny bit of quirk but lots of heart, was turned into a slapstick type nothing, played for laughs, with all the feeling sucked right out of it. The Frogmorton Farm characters were a bit not even eccentric but maybe unconventional. Now they form into huge groups of nonsensical type people acting in ways people would never act, there are situations that have no lead in, and Thomas, magical, unique, beautiful Thomas is also played for laughs, and actually kind of annoying, almost a hindrance, and it all comes from this bizarre need to make everyone and everything in the book a farce. She ruined Thomas!

I've never had such an experience where an author created such a lovely place, then totally ruined it in the next book. I'm flabbergasted, and also angry. Like I literally want her to take this book out of print, rewrite it completely, then publish it again. Cannot believe this came out of such an accomplished author.

Ps - poor Tanya only gets two speaking lines, and the narrator flubs them both. The first is read in Russel's voice, and the second is read in a sort of 90% British, 10% German accent, that is nothing like Tanya.
Really just a shoddy enterprise from first draft to recording. I wish we knew why Jodi Taylor seemingly hates us so much to have created such a travesty.

15 people found this helpful

Painfully uninteresting

I liked the first book in the series particularly because of how good the narrow is, but this book was just a poor repetition of everything that happened in the nothing girl. there was nothing fresh about it and the heroine's self pity and insecurities became unbearable after a point. The only redeeming quality was the flawless narration by Lucy Price-Lewis.

5 people found this helpful

It wasn’t bad but wasn’t as good as the first book

I read Little Donkey before this so it was extremely repetitive, like the same sentences for summaries of past events. I get how books need to remind the reader of what happened but I wish it was worded differently than a simple copy and paste.

It was still enjoyable and a decent plot but fairly anticlimactic until the end…ish? I don’t know, it was not as interesting as Nothing Girl and didn’t pull at my heartstrings like the first book did.

Narration was great. Usually my complaint is the performance. Overall, I don’t think you shouldn’t read the book but just don’t have high expectations for it and you still might enjoy it

1 person found this helpful

Love Jodi Taylor, this one goes on a bit

There were some really long descriptive sequences that began to drag a bit in the middle. But overall, a fun and interesting story. Not her best but still worth it

1 person found this helpful

Pathetic protagonist

Oh dear. I had high hopes for this. The first 2 were so good. But then Jenny goes to pieces over a simple mistake with absolutely no consequences and loses all personality and respect. Too bad.

1 person found this helpful