rave review, not here

This is another author’s view that, since “sex sells,” writing talent is secondary and sex talk is sufficient for being a successfully writer. And my falling for all of the positive reviews of this story and then purchasing this tale supports that idea, unfortunately. But, unlike the positive reviewers, I strongly regret my purchase of this book. My expectations were not met in this novel. Within 30 minutes of listening, I began to questions this purchase and the great reviews I read. And, by the end of the story, my concerns were thoroughly and horribly justified.

Within that brief time, there was a phone sex episode between Taryn, the h, and Errol, the H and her fiancé, that hit all of the right buttons, for what is suppose to be said and done to produce sexual heat, and none of the actual heat. It was actually bland. In it, the author seemed to be working too hard to make it “hot” without any knowledge and understanding that using the “right” words and going through the “right” actions are not sufficient to actually create sexual heat. It was a very inept attempt. By 1hr 20min into the story, there had been 3 sex scenes, not full intercourse, but still too much. Though it happened between a committed couple, it was still a bit gratuitous, and much more attention was given to the sex scenes than developing the rest of the story. And the sex scenes were not done well. The least you can do—if sex scenes are going to be the crux of a story—is make them great. And it continued with that, with 4 sex scenes w/in an hour-and-a-half of the start of the story.

The story was based on Taryn’s insecurities about Errol’s infidelity. Taryn initially handled her doubles about his infidelity by playing immature games and not facing the problem head-on, making assumptions and being too afraid to confront the issue and get answers from Errol. Then, after he Errol chased her, she faced it. Taryn handled her doubts about Errol’s fidelity like a 7th grader, including what she said when she DID finally confront Errol. Once again, it seemed like there was only one adult in that dialogue, and it wasn’t Taryn. Having a man chase a stupid, childish, insecure woman when the main hasn’t done anything wrong does not make for a good story IMO. Too much of the story was watching Taryn go through a “woe is me,” “I’m just not strong enough,” “I’m not the one for you,” yada, yada, yada, please chase me and chase me again storyline. I’m cringing just writing it down b/c I’m reminded of this crap and how horrible it was experiencing it. And, of course, Taryn was portrayed as a trauma victim who has flashbacks where she whines and Errol has to come to her rescue; yes, another needy, child-like woman.

The characters in the story were one-dimensional, over-simplistic cut-outs. And their dialogue matched. The dialogue was utterly juvenile even though it’s a very adult story, with adult scenes. But the characters were extremely immature and, again, simplistic. It didn’t help that the narrator also portrayed Taryn with a little-girl’s voice. It was very disconcerting when Taryn was dialoguing with Errol b/c it sounded like a 12-yr-old girl talking about very adult things with a 50-yr-old man.

The narrator often sounded like she was reading a fairy-tale for children, with over-the-top portrayals, 1 of a little girl, the adult Taryn in this story, and the varying Frenchmen, with clichéd accents and experiences. The narrator’s French accent for Sean Pierre, who works with Errol in France, was deplorable. It was described as a “strong” French accent, but the narrator sounded like a person trying to sound French, not a French person. It sounded like a caricature from Sesame Street or something. And, actually, the narrator did a poor job with Errol’s French accent too. That accent is not her forte’. The narrator made Errol’s voice worse by making a kind of breathing sound at the end of sentences that was an attempt to make him sound sexy. It’s hard for me to explain in words, the kind of breathy hold to an ending word, but you’ve heard people do it before. And the outcome of this breath punctuation makes the person sound creepy instead of sexy. Also there were times that it sounded like the narrator moved her voice away from the recording tool, the mike, or whatever. So it was weird and detracted from the listen. I assume she was trying to make it sound like it came from a distance or something, though I’m not sure b/c it didn’t always occur when a distancing voice would’ve fit the scene. So I don’t know. Altogether, the whole listening experience, the story and the narrator, made for a disappointing experience. This was my first book from this author, and it will most certainly be my last. All I wanted was for it to end. The only good thing I can say about it is that it’s relatively short.

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