Rejected

By: R.M. Demeester

Narrated by: Katherine Weber

Echo Paisley has been on her own since her fiancé, Nash, died three years ago. She soon discovered that she didn’t know the man she was going to marry. He had cheated on her with the one person she thought had her back. But that wasn’t the only secret.

Echo is about to leave her past behind when she discovers one last secret Nash left behind, which threatens to turn her life upside down. Echo is forced to seek help from her estranged mother with no one else to turn to.

©2022 R.M. Demeester (P)2024 R.M. Demeester

Didn't See That Coming

I enjoyed this audiobook very much. The story was well written and Echo was so easy to connect with. She is a strong woman for sure. You would think that her fiance dying was awful enough, but the things that she was hit with afterwards would have broken many women.

I don't want to give anything away, there is so much happening it's a bit difficult to review and not spoil anything. It's a mystery, a story about a dysfunctional family and love.

The only thing I had a problem with was the narrator. I found her a bit flat but grew used to her as the book went on. Go ahead and pick this book up if you are a suspense lover.

Don’t believe everything until you have facts, and even then, question it.

This was such a good listen. Echo was a woman engaged to be married to a man named Nash. Nash was killed but after he’s died, some circumstances come to light that has Echo questioning everything she knew about Nash. I didn’t see the twist coming. I was all in that he was a bad man. It was a little hard to keep me entertained in the beginning but by midway, I was intrigued enough to stick it out and I’m glad I did.

Scandalous

The scandal and betrayal!!!! I didn’t see that coming. I do find myself thinking are these people for real? The characters did annoy me, they seemed very immature. The narrator talked too slow, but when I used a faster speed it was much better and she did a good job at putting emotion into her reading. The plot and twists were great! Overall the story was good.

A story of rejections leading to skewed perceptions

~ I read this book in audio format and am reviewing it as such~

☆I really wanted to love this book due to loving some of the other works by this author along with holding similar life events. This book unfortunately felt limited in depth, and I walked away hoping for a more polished ending. I liked the book and felt it to be a quick read.

☆The intro audio would not have been a selling point for me in initially picking up this book, but I am glad I continued on. That initial scene, though, is a heartbreak I'm all too familiar with. A mother I've known my whole life, but at times, I feel like a complete stranger. The conflicting thoughts roll inside the mind as you cross paths in person. That is what captivated a soul from a busted up life.

☆The first chapter has me annoyed at the character/fiance as she makes every excuse in the book, brushes things off, and holds such naivety that I want to scream at her to realize instantly---
Then the news comes... and more news. The suffocating weight, grief, and rage seething through.

♡It's easy to judge Echo.. dead-end roads and bank robberies... a family filled with rejection (her mom) seemingly associated with a bad crowd. I'd say luck just purely rejects Echo at this point. Multiple eye rolls were had by this reader.

☆The emotions I felt for Echo were intense, unexpected, and heartbreaking. That urge to get an apology after such life altering hurt. The helplessness in not knowing what would be a "solution" to repairing the mother daughter relationship. Wanting so badly to hold onto the beliefs you have of those you love. But, it doesn't change the lies and danger that lurked in the background.

♡ A mother and daughter putting their differences aside shows how having one person is better than nobody at all. The sad reality in question of wondering how much we actually know people. You want to desperately believe and hold onto "the good,... but that's never what reality has in mind.

My main critique was the voices used for the characters in this book. It was hard to decipher who was Echo and who were the others at times. The childhood flashbacks were also a struggle to decipher which sister was the focus. The scene of Echo's parents arguing and Evie leaving was also difficult to follow in the audio, but it eventually made sense.
The second thing I struggled with was Raya and her voice in this book... it was too childlike but detached from the emotional potential. The desired "vengeance" against Echo didn't come through emotionally.
Lastly, I felt the "big news" was a bit repetitive and underwhelming as it dragged out in a way that didn't match the maturity of Echo and her mom. Echo continued on the scene with an anxious ridden chaos that felt like "it was already answered." Maybe I'm just too picky, but I expected to feel what was being felt, and instead, I remained emotionally limited

Interesting

Loved the way the narrator brought the story to life. The story was interesting to follow and try to piece together. I did enjoy listening to it.

Interesting premise. Weird sound quality.

From the blurb, this sounded like it could be interesting, unfortunately, that’s about as interesting as it got. Possibly, it could’ve been more intriguing with a stronger writer?
There was all ‘telling’, which does make for a very dull experience. But then there was the mis-use of words and the cheesy dialogue and the slow pace … so it was very hard to get through.

Examples:
Steamy scenes just sounded textbook, lacked passion of any kind and weren’t always plausible (positioning, etc.)
Misused word: ‘...Before I could intervene…’ referring to a bruise that already exists on a person walking away from her.

Perhaps a stronger team could help with some of these things, maybe a dev-editor and/or even beta readers or a critique partner. This could pass as an interesting first draft maybe, but shouldn’t have gone to press in this state.

No stars.

Audio:
Poor overall sound quality. I’m surprised the author or publisher found this acceptable, it seems like whoever produced this might’ve taken them for a ride, sadly. And the narration itself was poor, no performance-style narrating at all, more just dictating. If I didn’t mind the virtual-voice sound, I could just have Siri or Alexa read my (much cheaper) eBooks to me, so it’s always disappointing when a narrator sounds like a bot. 0 stars.