Crispens Point

The Blackberry County Chronicles, Book 1

By: JoHannah Reardon

Narrated by: Crystal Sershen

Charlotte is a successful romance novelist who escapes city life and moves to the small town of Crispens Point in Blackberry County. She immediately connects with some of the quirky but friendly residents and begins to feel at home right away. When a friend invites her to attend a local community church, Charlotte is attracted to the pastor, but refuses to acknowledge that attraction because of some dark things in her past.

What is the mysterious thing in Charlotte's past that seems to dominate everything? Is it enough to keep her from ever finding a lasting relationship?

©2012 JoHannah Reardon (P)2013 JoHannah Reardon

Gentle, Refreshing Tale of the GOOD Kind of Love

Although this is the FIRST in The BlackBerry County Chronicles, it's the second one I've listened to . . . and I thoroughly enjoyed it . . . the gentle spirit of God's love shines through in these books . . . not the "beat you over the head" kind of Christianity . . . but the grace and kindness of the "come along side you" and "share your burden" love that Christ himself taught and practiced. The folks of Crispens Cove are funny, close, and quirky. . . and they accept Charlotte, their new resident writer with genuine neighborly love. As in all small towns, everyone knows everyone else's business and the news that Charlotte writes "romance" novels, spreads like wild fire . . . and the pastor soon takes that to mean that Charlotte writes some steamy stuff!!! That little knot takes quite some time to get untangled . . . I found the first book in the series to be just as good as the second one . . . and I'm looking forward to listening to Book Three!

A Really Enjoyable Story

Where does Crispens Point rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

I would rank it highly. It is a book I would re-listen to.

What did you like best about this story?

I felt like the story took place in a culture that I understand. It is not the super-charged naughty romance stories that seem to be popular. This is the sort of story that could have happened to someone I know. On another note, its also the sort of story I could play for our whole family to listen to without feeling like it was silly like so many Christian romance stories seem to be these days.

Did Crystal Sershen do a good job differentiating all the characters? How?

I was not as impressed with this narrator as I was with the person who read for the second book. This reader was slightly sing-songy at times. However, as I thought about it by giving each book a different narrator perhaps the thought was to give each book its own voice.

If you could take any character from Crispens Point out to dinner, who would it be and why?

Charlotte. I feel that she and I could have been friends if I knew her in real life.

Any additional comments?

I listened to the 2nd book before listening to this, the first book in a series. First off, I can say that though they have characters in common, I think they each stand alone rather well. From the very beginning of the book, I liked and understood the Character of Charlotte. I also liked the secondary characters, I thought they were written with real flaws and brought humor without being ridiculous in their descriptions, words and/or actions. Thinking back to myself as a single woman (almost 10 years ago) in a Christian environment, I remember the struggle in my attraction to a Young man. In such a culture, you feel as though everyone is not only watching you, but judging you as well. The way the Author wrote of this struggle felt very real to me. I think that perhaps if you do not live in a Christian culture you might not understand that bit in the book. I have to say that I would recommend not only this book, but this author has very much pleased me. I definitely believe that this book has the quality in it that would have me re-reading or in this case re-listening to it all over again!

What a GREAT Story!!

Where does Crispens Point rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

This ranks right up there with the best. I enjoy all kinds of books, but sweet ones like Crispens Point are the most refreshing. It is reassuring to be reminded their are good people out there living good lives.

Any additional comments?

I bought the kindle version and the audio version. My wife and I listened to it all the way from Denver to Aberdeen.
We both loved every minute of it!!

Need a different reader.

I really liked the story but the reader voices drove me crazy. She kept but emphasis on the most un- i mportant things..Her voice was a distraction.

Disappointing

What disappointed you about Crispens Point?

The story itself was flat and an uninteresting.

Would you ever listen to anything by JoHannah Reardon again?

I will probably not choose this author again.

What didn’t you like about Crystal Sershen’s performance?

The narration can be compared to scratching a chalk board; to many variances in pitch. Almost sing song.

You didn’t love this book... but did it have any redeeming qualities?

I may recommend this book to a younger generation. I needed more depth and mystery.

computer voice...no matter how fast or slow.

I tried to adjust the voice on this book. it soundwd ao much like a computer was reading it that it ruined the whole experience. there are others in the series but after hearing the small part of the next book...I won't purchase it because of that. sad too good storyline.

I don’t think the person reading this has ever heard people talk before.

This was painful.
Whoever read this has clearly never heard the spoken word. There was a lot of inflection in every single word. Also, every sentence, no matter how dramatic was spoken with a weird song songish quality.
The story was not great. It’s one of those stories that the two characters are magically obsessed with each other without so much as a conversation. There is also a bunch of other super undeveloped sub plots. These include cancer, bulimia, step-parent issues, unwed mother, homeless unwed mother, and prejudice against romance writers. There are others but I just can’t go on. If the author would have spent more time developing a relationship between the characters it would have been much better. Also, the fact that the heroine even had a mysterious and “horrific” past was not brought up until the last couple chapters is a real problem.