#audiobookreviewer – Page 14 – Rosepoint Publishing

The Comfort of Ghosts: Maisie Dobbs Book 18 by Jacqueline Winspear #AudiobookReview #HistoricalMysteries

in Historical Mysteries

Book Blurb:

A MILESTONE IN HISTORICAL MYSTERY FICTION AS MAISIE DOBBS TAKES HER FINAL BOW

London, 1945: Four adolescent orphans with a dark wartime history are squatting in a vacant Belgravia mansion—the owners having fled London under heavy Luftwaffe bombing. Psychologist and Investigator Maisie Dobbs visits the mansion on behalf of the owners and discovers that a demobilized soldier, gravely ill and reeling from his experiences overseas, has taken shelter with the group.

aisie’s quest to bring comfort to the youngsters and the ailing soldier brings to light a decades-old mystery concerning Maisie’s first husband, James Compton, who was killed while piloting an experimental fighter aircraft. As Maisie unravels the threads of her dead husband’s life, she is forced to examine her own painful past and question beliefs she has always accepted as true.

The award-winning Maisie Dobbs series has garnered hundreds of thousands of followers, audiences drawn to a woman who is of her time, yet familiar in ours—and who inspires with her resilience and capacity for endurance. This final assignment of her own choosing not only opens a new future for Maisie and her family, but serves as a fascinating portrayal of the challenges facing the people of Britain at the close of the Second World War.

My Review:

The eighteenth in the series and I didn’t realize when I got it, intended to be the last. As I read it, however, it seemed an obvious goodbye; farewell.

This is one of those series where the protagonist actually ages with the years, beginning in 2003 as a teen in the early twentieth century and ending in 2024 having lived through two world wars. This book ends with the end of WWII in 1945, post-war UK.

The author does a beautiful job of molding a young woman through her service as a young maid to becoming a nurse during the war and extending her expertise to becoming a private investigator, psychologist. She has endured love and lost it, experienced the death of both husband and child but she never turned inward, instead becoming a compassionate support for post-war individuals and their stories.

This story is about the discovery of children who, like many post-war individuals, discovered empty or abandoned homes in which to squat. The children eventually tell a harrowing story of the service to their country they were to execute should there have been an invasion of the English shores. It’s a shocking story now becoming familiar. A sad testament to the use of one last desperate commodity.

Maisie also begins to uncover secrets tied to her own past when yet another revelation is made that has her digging into the death of her first husband. The dual plot line leads to doors that will open to a peaceful future and quell heartaches she’s failed to conquer. A lovely conclusion pulling together threads not closed prior to Book 18.

Back in February 2022, I read To Die But Once and greatly enjoyed it, vowed to read more in the series. It’s a great historical novel with the mystery well drawn and satisfying then in the conclusion. I can recommend to any who enjoys a detective story authentically mixed with WWII wartime drama.

This installment signals the end of an era, sad to say of a lovely series that draws you in and invests in the characters so you might very well wish to begin with Book 1. The narrator does an emotional job of it, conveying her own goodbye.

I downloaded a copy of this audiobook from my local well-stocked library. These are my honest opinions.

Rosepoint Publishing: Four point Five Stars

Book Details:

Genre: Historical Mysteries, Women Sleuth Mysteries
Publisher: Recorded Books
ASIN: B0CQZ3TJG1
Listening Length: 10 hrs 6 mins
Narrator: Orlagh Cassidy
Publication Date: June 4, 2024
Source: Local Library (Audiobook Selections)
Title Link: The Comfort of Ghosts [Amazon-US]
Amazon-UK
Barnes & Noble
Kobo

The Author:

Jacqueline Winspear is the author of eighteen novels in the award-winning, New York Times, National and International bestselling series featuring psychologist-investigator Maisie Dobbs. In addition, Jacqueline’s 2023 non-series novel, The White Lady was a New York Times and National bestseller, and her 2014 WW1 novel, The Care and Management of Lies, was again a New York Times and National bestseller, as well as a Dayton Literary Peace Prize finalist. Jacqueline has also published two non-fiction books, What Would Maisie Do? and an Edgar-nominated memoir, This Time Next Year We’ll Be Laughing. Jacqueline’s work encompasses essays and journalism covering a wide range of subjects, from women working in wildfire management to articles on international education and social history. [Amazon]

Jacqueline Winspear was born and raised in the county of Kent, England. Following higher education at the University of London’s Institute of Education, Jacqueline worked in academic publishing, in higher education and in marketing communications in the UK.

She emigrated to the United States in 1990, and while working in business and as a personal / professional coach, Jacqueline embarked upon a life-long dream to be a writer.

A regular contributor to journals covering international education, Jacqueline has published articles in women’s magazines and has also recorded her essays for KQED radio in San Francisco. She currently divides her time between Ojai and the San Francisco Bay Area and is a regular visitor to the United Kingdom and Europe.

Jacqueline is the author of the New York Times bestsellers A Lesson in Secrets, The Mapping of Love and Death, Among the Mad, and An Incomplete Revenge, and other nationally bestselling Maisie Dobbs novels. She has won numerous awards for her work, including the Agatha, Alex, and Macavity awards for the first book in the series, Maisie Dobbs, which was also nominated for the Edgar Award for best novel and was a New York Times Notable Book. [Goodreads]

The Narrator: Orlagh Cassidy is an American actress, both parents from Dublin, Ireland. She works in Theatre, Television and Film and has recorded numerous award winning audiobooks and commercials. She can be seen in ‘St. Vincent’ with Bill Murray as well many guest starring roles on ‘Homeland’, ‘Billions’, ‘Good Wife’, ‘Elementary’ and ‘The Mysteries Of Laura’. She has worked in New York theatre at MTC, The Public Theatre, MCC, Origin Theatre Company and The Irish Rep where she received a Drama Desk nomination for the role of ‘Mamie’ in the ‘The Field’ in 2007. She is a recipient of The Princess Grace Foundation Award and has a BFA from SUNY Purchase.

Daughter of Mine: A Novel by Megan Miranda – #AudiobookReview – #psychologicalthrillers

AN INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER

A USA TODAY BESTSELLER

Book Blurb:

When Hazel Sharp, daughter of Mirror Lake’s longtime local detective, unexpectedly inherits her childhood home, she’s warily drawn back to the town—and people—she left behind almost a decade earlier. But Hazel’s not the only relic of the past to return: a drought has descended on the region, and as the water level in the lake drops, long-hidden secrets begin to emerge…including evidence that may help finally explain the mystery of her mother’s disappearance.

Riveting and suspenseful, Daughter of Mine is Megan Miranda’s best novel yet, filled with “delicious twists, dark secrets, and a deadly past” (Ashley Elston, New York Times bestselling author of First Lie Wins) that will keep you listening late into the night.

My Review:

Not my first dance with Megan Miranda and her style of writing–slow burn dark family secrets held tightly to the chest with closed fists and set determined jaw. I found much the same in The Last to Vanish.

The first and most obvious twist in this novel is the way the author sets out the timeline and chapters, fusing Hazel Sharp’s story with an area-wide ongoing drought and beginning each chapter with the number of days without rain. Indeed, it’s changing the landscape of her childhood home and Mirror Lake is now revealing secrets that directly impact her.

Hazel has returned after her father dies to discover, and to her brother’s shock, that he left his home and property to her—not them. She is bewildered; they are disgusted. It’s not as if they were ever close as step-siblings.

Her father was a respected law enforcement officer of the community when her mother up and left—never to return. The devastation and feelings of abandonment have never really left. But the cars being exposed by receding waters have opened a shocking new twist to the story—what really happened to her mother?

Clever, the way the chapters add atmospheric tension to the plot as Hazel grapples with her brothers over the home and now whether or not her dad might have had something to do with her mother’s disappearance. The heat causes rise to short tempers; everyone is on edge.

While there was interest in the storyline, I could not fully engage with Hazel nor wrap my head around the backstories of her brothers…(I don’t remember them ever being designated as “step”). So many family secrets, not much of a bond. She and her mother came rather late in their family story.

Lose attention until the next little twist, then re-engage. It’s a weird family dynamic. Once the rain begins the pace rushes into denouement and it’s over. Eh, okay. If you are an MM fan, then you may find this of interest with the way she’s noted chapter headings or you appreciate her build of tension. I just needed it to move a little faster, I guess.

I downloaded a copy of this audiobook from my local well-stocked library. These are my honest thoughts.

Rosepoint Publishing: Three point Five Stars

Book Details:

Genre: Psychological Thrillers, Suspense
Publisher: Simon & Schuster Audio
ASIN: B0C7YD57GS
Listening Length: 10 hrs 27 mins
Narrator: Inés del Castillo
Publication Date: April 9, 2024
Source: Local Library (Audiobook Selections)
Title Link: Daughter of Mine [Amazon-US]
Amazon-UK
Barnes & Noble
Kobo

The Author: Megan Miranda is the New York Times bestselling author of All the Missing Girls; The Perfect Stranger; The Last House Guest, a Reese Witherspoon Book Club pick; The Girl from Widow Hills; Such a Quiet Place; and The Last to Vanish. She has also written several books for young adults. She grew up in New Jersey, graduated from MIT, and lives in North Carolina with her husband and two children.

Her next book, The Only Survivors, will be published on April 11th, 2023.

Follow @MeganLMiranda on Instagram, @AuthorMeganMiranda on Facebook, or visit http://www.meganmiranda.com

Audiobook Review

Headphones courtesy Racool Studio

Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer #AudiobookReview #Botony&Plants

Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge and the Teachings of Plants

in Native American Demographic Studies

Book Blurb:

As a botanist and professor of plant ecology, Robin Wall Kimmerer has spent a career learning how to ask questions of nature using the tools of science. As a Potawatomi woman, she learned from elders, family, and history that the Potawatomi, as well as a majority of other cultures indigenous to this land, consider plants and animals to be our oldest teachers.

In Braiding Sweetgrass, Kimmerer brings these two lenses of knowing together to reveal what it means to see humans as “the younger brothers of creation”. As she explores these themes, she circles toward a central argument: The awakening of a wider ecological consciousness requires the acknowledgement and celebration of our reciprocal relationship with the world. Once we begin to listen for the languages of other beings, we can begin to understand the innumerable life-giving gifts the world provides us and learn to offer our thanks, our care, and our own gifts in return.

My Review:

Okay, another non-fiction for the year, but one beautifully and eloquently told by an esteemed professor. As a botanist and daughter of indigenous peoples, her heart and mind are very closely associated with the earth and all her gifts. Indeed, a central theme of the book is reciprocity, second only to gratitude, in which much time and celebration is given to Mother Earth and her abundant gifts acknowledged.

Beautifully written, filled with prose, the novel reflects her deeply rooted love of nature and the tools mankind uses and/or continues to overlook or squander.

So many interesting chapters, so much to learn, so many mysteries exposed in a book that carefully folds together the science and spirit of how and why everything we see has a reason.

I’ve often heard the old adage that a natural remedy is often and miraculously found near a poisonous one. I was told to beware of the poison ivy in my fairy garden, but I don’t have any Jewelweed down there, nor have I been in contact with the nasty ivy.

I loved the chapter on the “Three Sisters”, the combination of beans, squash, and corn, but really that is just one example of symbiotic plants and a whole study in itself. I also loved learning all about the maple trees of the Great Lakes region as we are still fairly new to the area and so much to learn. The cycle of the trees is a fascination as well.

Of course, the indigenous sensibilities permeate throughout the book, adding an aesthetic or ethereal quality to the prose. If there was some duplication or overly extended explanation of something that might have been mentioned before, that was okay with me. At my age, it doesn’t hurt to hear or read it more than once.

The author narrated the audiobook and, I thought, did a lovely job of it. I downloaded a copy of this audiobook from my local well-stocked library. These are my own opinions.

Rosepoint Publishing: Four point Five Stars

Book Details:

Genre: Indigenous Demographic Studies, Native American Demographic Studies, Botany & Plants
Publisher: Tantor Audio
ASIN: B01H4772CU
Listening Length: 16 hrs 44 mins
Narrator: Robin Wall Kimmerer
Publication Date: December 27, 2015
Source: Local Library (Audiobook Selections)
Title Link: Braiding Sweetgrass [Amazon]

The Author: Robin Wall Kimmerer is a mother, scientist, decorated professor, and enrolled member of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation. She is the author of the New York Times bestselling collection of essays Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge and the Teachings of Plants as well as Gathering Moss: A Natural and Cultural History of Mosses. Kimmerer is a 2022 MacArthur Fellow. She lives in Syracuse, New York, where she is a SUNY Distinguished Teaching Professor of Environmental Biology, and the founder and director of the Center for Native Peoples and the Environment. [Amazon]

As a botanist, Robin Wall Kimmerer has been trained to ask questions of nature with the tools of science. As a member of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation, she embraces the notion that plants and animals are our oldest teachers. In Braiding Sweetgrass, Kimmerer brings these lenses of knowledge together to show that the awakening of a wider ecological consciousness requires the acknowledgment and celebration of our reciprocal relationship with the rest of the living world. For only when we can hear the languages of other beings are we capable of understanding the generosity of the earth, and learning to give our own gifts in return. [Goodreads]

Have a good week!

First Lie Wins: A Novel by Ashley Elston #AudiobookReview #psychologicalthrillers

#19 this week

Book Blurb:

Evie Porter has everything a nice Southern girl could want: a doting boyfriend, a house with a with a white picket fence, a tight group of friends. The only catch: Evie Porter doesn’t exist.

The identity comes first: Evie Porter. Once she’s given a name and location by her mysterious boss, Mr. Smith, she learns everything there is to know about the town and the people in it. Then the mark: Ryan Sumner. The last piece of the puzzle is the job.

Evie isn’t privy to Mr. Smith’s real identity, but she knows this job isn’t like the others. Ryan has gotten under her skin, and she’s starting to envision a different sort of life for herself. But Evie can’t make any mistakes—especially after what happened last time.

Evie Porter must stay one step ahead of her past while making sure there’s still a future in front of her. The stakes couldn’t be higher—but then, Evie has always liked a challenge. .

My Review:

ARGH! I’m fence sitting on this one! If I had to give it definitive stars, I guess I’d have to point to my confusion mainly with Devon. The book does have a hook at the beginning and does a nice job of steering you straight into a well-plotted storyline about a girl who evolved as she must to survive, given her lack of support. Her mother was dying. Slowly. And needed a lot of meds. Evie found a way.

Well, NOW she’s Evie. It wasn’t always thus. She’s smart, however, evolving as she must always take it to the next level until she is noticed by Mr. Smith. And Mr. Smith has specific jobs that she may be tailored for—a profitable experience for them both—until she gets a little cocky.

But Evie is tough, dangerous even, and she’s learned to be observant. She’s successful.

Until her next mark is Ryan.

Lots of twists and turns here, Evie playing games with Mr. Smith. But is she smarter than him or being played herself? And where, how did I miss the entry of Devon? Once revealed, he continues to show up like a bad penny—although admittedly—just in time.

The timeline has a habit of switching up or back as well, filling in a lot of voids, but unraveling my investment in the current storyline. The pacing is interesting. The characters are engaging and I must admit I did enjoy the reveal, the conclusion as unbelievable as it was.

This is one of those that had me scratching my head. I just read…what? You may love it if a fan of psychological thrillers with an unusual plot. Just be prepared to suspend some disbelief.

Narrated by one of my favorite narrators–as always an incredible job. I downloaded a copy of this audiobook from my local well-stocked library. These are my honest thoughts.

Rosepoint Publishing: Four Stars

Book Details:

Genre: Psychological Thrillers, Suspense, Suspense Thrillers
Publisher: Penguin Audio
ASIN: B0C4BHDZGM
Listening Length: 9 hrs 16 mins
Narrator: Saskia Maarleveld
Publication Date: January 2, 2024
Source: Local Library (Audiobook Selections)
Title Link: First Lie Wins [Amazon]

The Author: Ashley Elston lives in North Louisiana with her husband and three sons. She was a wedding and portrait photographer for ten years so most of her Saturday nights included eating cake, realizing no shoe is comfortable after standing for more than six hours and inevitably watching some groomsman do the alligator across the dance floor. Now, Ashley helps her husband run their small business and she writes as often as possible.

Website
http://ashleyelston.com

Twitter
http://twitter.com/ashley_elston

URL
https://www.goodreads.com/ashleyelston

Happy 4th!

Rosepoint Reviews – June Recap – Boo to Century July Temps!

The rabbits and deer have won the fairy garden. It’s official. I’ve given up on live plants and planted plastic instead. Animals 1 – farmer 0. It’s a tie on the veggie bed with chicken wire and mesh around my tender plants. They did manage to penetrate to a vigorous bean plant and that plant won’t be going anywhere now. Love the animals, but…

Punkin the Pom is carefully beginning to enjoy her walks.* The CE, having a closer bond, is trusting her more and she’s taking advantage. Otherwise, still accepting few treats, no toys, no offers of companionship, and housetraining is a throw of the dice.

June was a struggle, once again, with the CE’s attention divided and my spending more time in the kitchen. It didn’t help that I decided my next personal challenge was to make a sourdough starter and produce a loaf of sourdough bread. I’m currently on the third try which is not looking good right now at Day 4 of a 6-7 day cycle of starter. Of course, it’s also that time of the year when the gardens and outdoor activities take precedence.

I’m thinking, if not a sabbatical, then a greatly reduced schedule through July and probably August. Most of my reading now includes audiobooks as time for reading has been greatly reduced. Of the twelve books, half were audiobooks!

As always, links on titles are to our reviews that include purchase or source information.

The Curse of King Midas by Colleen M Story (CE review)
Lockdown by Sara Driscoll
The Cyanide Canary by Robert Dugoni and Joseph Hilldorfer (audiobook)
The Wild Road Home by Melissa Payne
If Something Happens to Me by Alex Finlay (audiobook)
The 6:20 Man by David Baldacci (audiobook)
The Woman in Me by Britney Spears (audiobook)
Best House on the Block by T R Ragan
The Husbands by Holly Gramazio (audiobook)
Prevailing Wind by Thomas Dolby (CE review)
Breach by Holly S Roberts (blog tour)
Beach Town by Mary Kay Andrews (audiobook)

Favorite Book of the Month

I really loved The Wild Road Home—it was addictive, kept me reading, and I was thoroughly invested in the well-developed characters. It fell just one-half star short of five, however, and the CE easily gave his book, Prevailing Wind, five stars even with a rather slow start. It’s a toss up, but I’ll have to give the nod to his book.

Favorite for June – Prevailing Wind by Thomas Dolby

My Reading Challenges page…Reading Challenges page—well, you know the score. Life is scattered and chaotic right now. The Goodreads Challenge is now six books behind schedule at 68 of 150. I make no promises.

Welcome as always to my new subscribers! My blog hopping time has seriously suffered having apparently landed somewhere underneath getting a review out. I apologize for the slow response to your great posts, but I’m trying. Honest.

Loggin' off

*Apologize for the poor GIF, apparently I’m not allowed to upload an MP4 even when I get it down to 11 MGs.

Beach Town: A Novel by Mary Kay Andrews #AudiobookReview #ThrowbackThursday

Beach Town #1

Book Blurb:

Greer Hennessy needs palm trees.

As a movie location scout, picture-perfect is the name of the game. But her last project literally went up in flames, and her career is on the verge of flaming out. Greer has been given one more chance, if she can find the perfect undiscovered beach hideaway for a big-budget movie. She zeroes in on a sleepy Florida town called Cypress Key.

But Eben Thibadeaux, the town’s mayor, objects to Greer’s plan. A lifelong resident of Cypress Key, Eben wants the town to be revitalized, not commercialized. Greer has a way of making things happen, regardless of obstacles. And Greer and Eb are way too attracted to one another for either of them to see reason.

Between an ambitious director and his entourage―including a spoiled “It Boy” lead actor―who parachute into town, a conniving local ex-socialite, and a cast of local fangirls and opportunists who catch the movie bug, nothing is going to be the same in Cypress Key. Now Greer is forced to make some hard choices: about the people and the town she’s come to care about, and about her own life. True love is only for the movies, right? Can Greer find a way to be the heroine in her own life story? Told with inimitable heart and humor, Mary Kay Andrews’ Beach Town is the perfect summer destination.

My Review:

Ah, the ole hate-to-love trope apparently working well a decade ago and a favorite of the romance genre. Yes, it must be getting mighty cold down below if I’m reading a romance novel.

I like the unique concept of a movie location scout for a big picture production searching for the perfect location of a small sea coastal town setting. In this case, the MC stumbles upon Cypress Key, a seedy little town past its heyday in the Florida Keys.

Greer Hennessy discovers the romance of Florida comes with heat, humidity, and bugs—the giant, flying-at-you palmettos who look like monster cockroaches. Nasty things. They have little barbs on their feet so when they land on you, they can latch on. Yeah, been there, done that.

But the location turns out to supply just about everything on their must-have list, including an old building to blow up for the climax. The problem, of course, is Eben Thibadeaux, the town mayor and engineer who doesn’t want anything blown up. He wants to fix up. The owner has other ideas.

I loved the cast and crew, CJ is a hoot, and the enthusiastic director is so authentic you can see him yelling directions through a megaphone. The main character is a damaged soul, childhood and all that, and Eben (since I was listening to the audiobook) sounded like Ed every time it was his dialogue or referred to and, again, did not wholly engage with him.

It’s a fun little book, getting into the nitty gritty of what it takes to be a location manager, the constant calls of problems, not the least of which is the spoiled and entitled young male star, full of himself.

I thought it was engaging, entertaining, and I enjoyed the sense of humor, but just couldn’t buy into the conclusion and resolution. Fanciful, it went overboard into disbelief. Other than that, I’d recommend the audiobook ably narrated by Kathleen McInerney.

I downloaded a copy of this audiobook from my local well-stocked library. These are my honest thoughts.

Rosepoint Publishing: Four Stars

Book Details:

Genre: Small Town & Rural Fiction, Women’s Fiction
Publisher: Macmillan Audio
ASIN: B00UM2PW3Q
Listening Length: 14 hrs 8 mins
Narrator: Kathleen McInerney
Publication Date: May 19, 2015
Source: Local Library (Audiobook Selections)
Title Link: Beach Town [Amazon]

The Author: MARY KAY ANDREWS is the New York Times bestselling author of more than 30 novels (including Bright Lights, Big Christmas; The Homewreckers; The Santa Suit; The Newcomer; Hello, Summer; Sunset Beach; The High Tide Club; The Weekenders; Beach Town; Save the Date; Christmas Bliss; Ladies’ Night; Spring Fever; and Summer Rental, all from St. Martin’s Press, as well as The Fixer Upper; Deep Dish; Savannah Breeze; Blue Christmas; Hissy Fit; Little Bitty Lies; and Savannah Blues, all Harper Collins), and one cookbook, The Beach House Cookbook.

A native of St. Petersburg, Florida, she earned a B.A. in journalism from The University of Georgia (go Dawgs!). After a 14-year career working as a reporter at newspapers including The Savannah Morning News, The Marietta Journal, and The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, where she spent the final ten years of her career, she left journalism in 1991 to write fiction.

Her first novel, Every Crooked Nanny, was published in 1992 by HarperCollins. She went on to write ten critically acclaimed mysteries, including the Callahan Garrity mystery series, under her real name, Kathy Hogan Trocheck. In 2002, she assumed the pen name Mary Kay Andrews with the publication of Savannah Blues. In 2006, Hissy Fit became her first New York Times bestseller, followed by dozens more New York Times, USA Today and Publisher’s Weekly bestsellers. To date, her novels have been published in German, Italian, Polish, Slovenian, Hungarian, Dutch, Czech and Japanese.

She and her family divide their time between Atlanta and Tybee Island, GA, where they cook up new recipes in their restored beach homes, The Breeze Inn and Ebbtide—both named after fictional places in Mary Kay’s novels, and both available to rent through Tybee Vacation Rentals. In between cooking, spoiling her grandkids, and plotting her next novel, Mary Kay is an intrepid treasure hunter whose favorite pastime is junking and fixing up old houses.

#ThrowbackThursday

The Husbands: A Novel by Holly Gramazio #AudiobookReview #HumorousFiction&Satire

Best Books of the Year So Far 2024

Book Blurb:

When Lauren returns home to her flat in London late one night, she is greeted at the door by her husband, Michael. There’s only one problem—she’s not married. She’s never seen this man before in her life. But according to her friends, her much-improved decor, and the photos on her phone, they’ve been together for years.

As Lauren tries to puzzle out how she could be married to someone she can’t remember meeting, Michael goes to the attic to change a lightbulb and abruptly disappears. In his place, a new man emerges, and a new, slightly altered life re-forms around her. Realizing that her attic is creating an infinite supply of husbands, Lauren confronts the question: If swapping lives is as easy as changing a lightbulb, how do you know you’ve taken the right path? When do you stop trying to do better and start actually living?

My Review:

When was the last time you willingly accepted a debut novel and actually enjoyed it? Well, okay, maybe not that rare, but this is one I think you might.

First, this is a unique plot device and one that has you nodding your head and grinning. Definitely light satire, humorous and chuckle worthy moments begin when Lauren discovers a husband in her flat in London that was a real surprise. She wasn’t married.

Her friends, and there are several constants, confirm they’ve been married for a little while. Just look at the photos. Decoŕ definitely looks different.

Well, the good news: She hasn’t gone crazy but when he changes a lightbulb in the attic, Michael is replaced by a new husband. Maybe she needs to reconsider the crazy part.

And then, OMG, she runs the gamut! Right age and education but dense. Bore you to tears but the body of Adonis. Health nut, gamer, sports nut, gambler, drinker, wondering eye. What if she found the one she wanted to keep? Could she keep him out of the attic?

It’s light-hearted and not to be taken seriously although there are a few interesting philosophical questions to ponder. The MC is not fully developed, the reader doesn’t get the depth and certainly of none of the husbands. The attic is apparently “magic.” We don’t know why. There is a solid twist later in the novel but at a reasonable length of time you’ll demand a point to it all.

Of course, I greatly enjoyed the narration of the audiobook—done very well, accents and all. Does Lauren finally pick a husband, warts and all, and stick with him? Do you still care? How does this ring road ever end? You’ll have to read it.

I downloaded a copy of this audiobook from my local well-stocked library. These are my honest thoughts.

Rosepoint Publishing: Four Stars

Book Details:

Genre: Humorous Fiction & Satire, Humorous Fiction, Family Life Fiction
Publisher: Random House Audio
ASIN: B0CDCP4FCT
Listening Length: 10 hrs 30 mins
Narrator: Miranda Raison
Publication Date: April 2, 2024
Source: Local Library (Audiobook Selections)
Title Links: The Husbands [Amazon-US]
Amazon-UK
Barnes & Noble
Kobo

The Author: HOLLY GRAMAZIO is a writer, game designer and curator from Adelaide, currently based in London. She founded the experimental games festival Now Play This, and wrote the script for the award-winning indie videogame Dicey Dungeons. She’s particularly interested in rules, play, cities, gardens, games that get people acting creatively, and art that gets people interacting with their surroundings in new ways. The Husbands is her first novel.

Happy Thursday!

The Woman in Me by Britney Spears #AudiobookReview #ThrowbackThursday

Best Books of the Year 2023

Book Blurb:

The Woman in Me is a brave and astonishingly moving story about freedom, fame, motherhood, survival, faith, and hope.

In June 2021, the whole world was listening as Britney Spears spoke in open court. The impact of sharing her voice—her truth—was undeniable, and it changed the course of her life and the lives of countless others. The Woman in Me reveals for the first time her incredible journey—and the strength at the core of one of the greatest performers in pop music history.

Written with remarkable candor and humor, Spears’s groundbreaking book illuminates the enduring power of music and love—and the importance of a woman telling her own story, on her own terms, at last.

My Review:

I admit to the curiosity as well as the accolades by reviewers that drove me to listen to the audiobook that Britney Spears wrote (with, I assume, help from a ghostwriter). I’ve read memoirs of other famous singers and actors and many were twice as long and certainly exhibited more depth.

I also admit that I’ve not one of her songs in my favorites list and couldn’t name one that made it big. So, yes, I might have gone into this slightly prejudiced, only seeing another young, pretty blonde exploiting her body for a short fall in talent.

Okay, okay! Sorry! Just not my generation but really my question is: Was this book a complete account of the evolution of the singer, her talent growth, the origin of her songs, personal life and creative assistants, or the horrendous chronicle of the family financially spoiled by excess into literally locking her up for thirteen years.

Thirteen years! How does that happen? Yes, I was aware of the news regarding the lawsuit. It’s an indictment of the system, the lack of proper legal representation, and the loss of financial power. But I’m not sure the memoir was meant to be the story of her rise to fame or an exposé of the family’s attempt to keep her under their total physical, financial, and media control.

Britney takes the opportunity to defend a lot of her actions, but it seems like she more than once pushed the envelope when it would have been in her larger interest to back off, particularly when she wanted so desperately to keep her boys. This would also be a condemnation of sexism in the media world (many admittedly of her choice–check the book cover) as well as conservatorships, mental health, exploitation, and (again) the paparazzi.

In the audiobook, she bubbles over with her love for Hesam (Sam) Asghari, but that was strike three as of May 2024 and fourteen months of marriage.

The memoir told a little flatly, there is always more to the story than is revealed.

Michelle Williams narrated and did a great job. I downloaded a copy of this audiobook from my local well-stocked library. These are my honest thoughts.

Rosepoint Publishing: Three point Five Stars

Book Details:

Genre: Composer & Musician Biographies, Actor & Entertainer Biographies, Biographies of Celebrities & Entertainment Professionals
Publisher: Simon & Schuster Audio
ASIN: B0BRBPSXCW
Listening Length: 5 hrs 31 mins
Narrator: Michelle Williams, Britney Spears – introduction
Publication Date: October 24, 2023
Source: Local Library (Audiobook Selections)
Title Links: The Woman in Me [Amazon-US]
Amazon-UK
Barnes & Noble
Kobo

The Author: Multi-platinum, Grammy Award–winning pop icon Britney Spears is one of the most successful and celebrated entertainers in music history, with more than 100 million records sold worldwide. In 2021, she was named one of Time magazine’s 100 Most Influential People. Spears’s album Blackout was added to the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame’s Library & Archives in 2012. She lives in Los Angeles, California. [Amazon]

Britney Jean Spears (born December 2, 1981) is an American singer, dancer, songwriter, actress and author. She has sold over 83 million records worldwide according to Zomba Label Group. The RIAA ranks her as the eighth best-selling female artist in American music history, having sold 32 million albums in the U.S. Her success as a recording artist has allowed her to work in other media; she has acted in film and television, has written two books, and has been contracted to endorse several products, including her own perfume line.

Spears released her debut album …Baby One More Time in 1999, propelling her to international stardom. It spawned the Billboard topping single “…Baby One More Time”. She released her second studio album Oops!… I Did It Again in 2000 with continued success. A third album Britney was released in 2001, followed by the release of her fourth album In the Zone in 2003. The album’s breakout single “Toxic” won Spears her first Grammy Award. After the release of a remix album/greatest hits collection, she released her fifth album Blackout in 2007.

As a result of her fame, Spears’s personal life has received much media attention. This only escalated after her marriage to Kevin Federline in 2004. She gave birth to her first child, Sean Preston, in 2005 and to her second child, Jayden James, in 2006. The couple’s divorce in November of the same year was highly publicized, followed by an ongoing custody battle over their sons. [Goodreads]