Audiobook Reviews!

Since discovering Peter May early last year, I have become more of a fan with each book I read of his. I think this one might be my favorite, or at least top five. This one was so captivating with all of its twists and turns, that I could barely put it down. His descriptions of life on the isolated islands of Scotland are magnificent and really make me want to visit them again.

The action is non stop from the very first page and both narrators do a fantastic job of portraying the characters emotions and difficulties as they move through the story. Peter Forbes tackles the present day part of the story, the murder and the fall out. Anna Murray narrates the chapters that are about Niamh’s past starting in her childhood and her long romance with her husband. As well as their life growing a successful company. Both of these narrators complimented each others narration which is always something I look for in an audiobook.

The plot was fast paced and full of twists and turns that I did not see coming. This is typical with Peter May books, but I must say the final twist in this one blew me away. Looking back at the story though, I had to admit that it all made sense. I really enjoyed and liked all of the characters in the book as well, which is sometimes hard to do in a murder mystery.

If you enjoy mysteries with a lot of heart and characters that are totally believable, and the plots are very twisty with surprise endings, then I highly recommend that you give one of Peter May’s books a chance. Especially this one.

I had only read one other book by Lisa Lutz before listening to this audiobook, and the two were total opposites. The Accomplice was dark and had lots of twists and characters that were not very likable. The Spellman Files was light and funny and made me laugh which was exactly what I needed at the time. 

Christina Moore does an excellent job of portraying Izzy Spellman, the oldest daughter of the Spellman family. I liked Izzy a lot, even though she is a very hard person to like. She has a lot going on in her life, living and working with her parents who run a private investigation firm. The family is hilariously dysfunctional. You think you have issues with privacy, try living with this family. 

There is a mystery involved in this story, although it certainly takes a back seat to all of the other shenanigans. But even though it takes almost the whole book to get there it does get solved. The plot does meander a bit between past and present, but I never felt lost. And it all eventually leads up to Izzy finding her ‘lost’ little sister. 

If you are looking for something light and funny to listen to then I can’t recommend this one enough. It is a little dated with the tech, as it was published in 2007, but otherwise it has held up with its age. 

I enjoyed this second book in this romance fantasy series almost as much as the first one. I did find it a little less predictable than Fourth Wing, which was nice but I still pretty much knew how it was going to end way before we got there. But this time there were a few nice twists that I didn’t see coming.

Rebecca Solar does a really good job with the narration for the most part. She does tend to get a little shouty and over excited during the fight scenes which was a little annoying. Teddy Hamilton only had one chapter to narrate, but I loved his voice and he did an excellent job with it. He is someone I will keep in mind when looking for an audiobook with a good narrator.

Even though I enjoyed the narrators, I really think this book was way too long. I also found the romance a lot more annoying this time around. Violet’s constant thoughts and desires for Xaden went over the top sometimes. But I have mixed feelings about romance and fantasy anyways, so that might just be me. The sex was also a bit excessive and I found myself skipping most of those, just not having the patience for them. 

Other than the romance I found the plot of the story interesting and well done. I enjoyed learning more about the griffin riders and about the magic that rules this world. I would have liked a little more interaction with the dragons though. They didn’t seem to be around as much in this book as the first. There were a couple of storylines that I didn’t quite get, like Jack’s whole deal. What is up with that? And also the rivalry between Kat and Violet just didn’t work for me. 

Except for the length and the romance I thought this was a pretty well done story. I am looking forward to the next book, which I think is the conclusion (hopefully), supposedly coming out late this year. I’m not sure yet if I will choose to listen to it or read it though. It might depend on how much time I have to devote to the book at that time.