Tag Archive: Fiction



Slayers (Buffyverse)Slayers by Amber Benson
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I don’t know how this non-vampire person ended up reading/listening to so many books about vampires lately, but here we are. I must say most of them don’t include blood-sucking types. This one, though, did.

Any fan of the Buffy series will find this fun. So many of our actors from the show are in this Audible “show.” I say, show as I could picture all that was happening in my head. The sound quality was fun with sounds that made me think I was keeping my husband awake. But when I removed the headset, I found the sound was just on the headset.

I hope there are ways for those without Audible to enjoy this. Grant it, this was a little more gruesome than my more recent reads, but not more so than the Buffy show. As serious as the plot seems these characters have a good sense of humor to keep it light.

This was more like a radio show with music and sound effects. I don’t even know how this would work out as a book. So I hope you can find it. It was fun!

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Chapter and Curse (Vampire Book Club #2)Chapter and Curse by Nancy Warren
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This is another fun book club book with vampires, witches, and ghosts who are both witches and ghosts. Again, there are murders not caused by the paranormal but by grudge-holding humans. I’m almost finished with book three and trying to remember book two. I can’t stop. I love these as my bedtime stories! This was quite the adventure between Nancy Warren’s writing and Hollis McCarthy’s narration.

Again, I must mention my only aversion is the actual need for murder. Can’t mysteries be less lethal? I find the mystery of where I left my brush as exciting, especially when you have a large family.

Still, the fun of a bookstore and now a new house to look at with unknown antiques is fun. I love the cats, witches, and vampires, the non-bitey types.

Now, on to the next review.

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The Vampire Book Club (Vampire Book Club, #1)The Vampire Book Club by Nancy Warren
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Oh, boy. Do I need a 12-step program for Nancy Warren’s books? I can’t stop! I’m already two books out from this one and haven’t written the review for this one yet.

May I stop for a moment? EVERYTHING about these books is fun, except the murder parts. And don’t blame the witches (at least the good ones) or the vampires. It is always a human with a grudge or two.

Reading is one of my favorite hobbies. In the olden days, I wouldn’t be caught without a book in my purse. A purse should always be big enough to carry a book or two. That way, I could read while sitting and waiting in the car for kids or long lights or even in an unmoving traffic jam. Standing in line at the DMV or at the Theater, out came the book, even if I merely got a paragraph.

Now, I have a different book on old cell phones tucked away in the bathroom or next to my bed; two different Fires hold different books or types of books. One Fire has games that don’t require much thought while listening to a book on the other Fire. The audiobook is my favorite venue now, but I do read the occasional paper book or Kindle on the phones.

I have books that require a lot of thought. I save those for daytime or waiting times. At nighttime, fantasy and lighter Sci-fi play with me.

So you know these are my nighttime pleasures. The dream of the last series was a yarn story in my house, where the knitting club met. This series, though having the occasional visit from the knitting vampires, is in the home above the bookstore the main character owns. This is my other dream life.

My husband and I met, dreaming of owning the noisiest bookstore ever. I planned to have a music area. If you want quiet, you go somewhere else. I wonder if the vampires bookclub would still meet in my imaginary bookstore?

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The Vampire Knitting Club: Cornwall (Vampire Knitting Club: Cornwall, #1)The Vampire Knitting Club: Cornwall by Nancy Warren
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

After reading the Vampire Knitting Club series, I couldn’t stop. I ordered and started immediately on this one.

Whoa! Wait! New narrator. What a shock. I got used to the other one. But after I got used to her, Piper Goodeve (Narrator) is a good choice for a new witch. Best friends with our former series star, Lucy, Jennifer proves to be a fun character to hang out with. And she can hold her own.

This new place gives that bit of travel I like in a good book. And more knitting, more competent knitting.

I haven’t mentioned this in any of the series’ reviews, but I wish we could do a cozy mystery without a murder. But that seems to be how it is. Oh, well. It is still fun.

And guess what! I’ve already started and finished the next book. On to my next review.

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Leave the World BehindLeave the World Behind by Rumaan Alam
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I saw the movie a while ago. It did the book justice. I will have to watch it again now that I read the book. Well, I listened to the audiobook through Libby, the library app. I highly recommend both ways to enjoy this thrilling story.

Here is the first part of the blurb about this book:

“A magnetic novel about two families, strangers to each other, who are forced together on a long weekend gone terribly wrong.”

I think that says it all!

Add to that the wonderful voice acting by Marin Ireland. Wow! Make sure your nails are long enough to bite.

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Shogun, Part 2Shogun, Part 2 by James Clavell
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Finally, I finished reading (listening) to part 2 of the tome. However, I couldn’t find the actual Audible version on which to write the review.

Ralph Lister was the narrator. Sorry. I think he may be the worst. Or maybe this would have been better with a cast of actors. The problem with Mr. Lister is it is hard to tell the characters apart. And his women sound demeaning to all women. Well, the whole book, and that time in history, was degrading to women, but there were positive things stated in the book, such as how wives took care of the money the men made, which may have been their only power. The next level from wife is Geisha, a step up from prostitute. So, to hear that demeaning voice just continued to make me angry.

My review for the first part can be found here: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show…. There is a lot to this book, which includes my history of reading and watching this series.

Anyway, I am looking forward to watching the new series and will rewatch the old one. We don’t need to hide from past mistakes; we certainly can learn from all of them. Meanwhile, learning more about Japanese culture and beginning steps in the language was fun for me.

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Shลgun (Asian Saga: Chronological Order, #1)Shลgun by James Clavell
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I read this way back in the 80s. It was a big, thick paperback. I loved it. Then I watched the movie (or was it a series?) with Richard Chamberlain. Then I was blown away. I was already crazy about Mr. Chamberlainโ€”so much so that, as an early teen, I’d sneak a mirror into the bookshelf in the hall at just the right angle so that even though it was past my bedtime, I could watch Dr. Kildare. I still think I got away with it.

What I loved about every iteration of Shลgun was the passion, history, culture, and language presented. Richard Chamberlain is going to be hard to beat in his portrayal of Anjin-san, especially in the scene where he is committing Seppuku. But in this Audible edition, I felt that passion through the reading by narrator Ralph Lister.

I have gotten used to Mr. Lister’s reading, but I think this book needs separate actors. I absolutely hate hearing a man do a female voice. It always sounds demeaning to women. And all the men sound similar to each other.

Still, since I am taking Japanese on Duolingo I feel I understand more than the last time I read the book. I’m looking forward to book II and the new streaming series.

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The Plains of Passage: Earth's Children, Book 4The Plains of Passage: Earth’s Children, Book 4 by Jean M. Auel
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I read this a few years ago. Below is my last review. I am having a hard time separating the books. I have already started The Shelters of Stone. I love Sandra Burr’s narration, that is until Shelters. Why did she change how Ayla’s accent in Shelters? But aside from that, I enjoyed the Plains and the adventure of hiking the glaciers. Ayla’s growth and the growth of Jondalar as they move between societies and bigotries and Earth’s growing and evolving made a story I don’t want to stop. I know it ends, but I may love it more than I loved the last read.

~~~
June 23, 2016
This was probably my favorite of the series, both for the writing/research and also for the narration of Sandra Burr. I think Ms. Burr finally hit her Cave-womyn height with this one. I more often pulled away from the Kindle version and let Sandra tell me the story. In the Audible version, the characterizations were seamless. When it was a man talking, I pictured the man. I often forgot a woman was narrating. She kept each female voice different and consistent enough that I wouldn’t have needed to look to see who was talking. Amazing!

Another reason I enjoyed the Audible more than the Kindle (written) form because there were so many passages (no pun intended) with descriptions. I’m sure a lot of the research Jean M. Auel did was represented here. But if you follow Discovery or other science channels, you would have covered much of it. Ms. Burr kept those flowing and interesting. And her ability to pull the very essence of a sexual scene without making it raunchy was amazing (and sexy!)

I am writing this after starting the next book. I couldn’t leave Ayla out there in the ether!

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Exit Strategy (The Murderbot Diaries, #4)Exit Strategy by Martha Wells
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The story continues. Again, it is fast. I hardly started reading, and suddenly, it was over.

Kevin R. Free (Narrator) makes the story come to life. And though the actual robot isn’t male or female, his voice makes me think the robot is male. I have to keep readjusting my visuals.

I love how the robot, programmed to kill, is finding ways to reprogram itself to save people and care for ideas and other robots.

I was lucky to pick this up on Libby and can’t wait until the next book is available.

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Pet Psychic Magical Mysteries (Pet Psychic Series #1-8)Pet Psychic Magical Mysteries by Erin Johnson
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This eight-book series was good in some ways. It was great for reading before sleep. I did like the main character’s attitude, but I hated the voice given to the dog by Hannah Somerville (narrator). It wasn’t bad enough to stop reading. That and the scoff sound before saying they scoffed, and that happened a lot. It’s still not enough to quit reading (listening). There was enough mystery involved that I wanted to see it all through. Not the murders, but how the main character would fix all the problems, or if she even could. Murder for the police is commonplace, so it was a vehicle to show off Jolene’s skills as a person who could hear animals speak. She pretends to be a pet psychic, but that cover brings her in to help solve the cases. It keeps the curious at bay. However, she has to hide her growls or tweets as she chats with the animals.

I don’t want you to think it is childish, but it is rather a fantasy, cozy mystery in every book. A fun book that doesn’t take itself too seriously. Well worth putting off other books while wading through all eight in a row.

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