The Alienation of Courtney Hoffman

A Novel

By: Brady Stefani

Narrated by: Gwendolyn Druyor

Fifteen-year-old Courtney wants to be normal like her friends. But there's something frighteningly different about her - and it's not just the mysterious tattoo her conspiracy-obsessed grandfather marked her with when she was a child. Courtney is being in visited in her bedroom at night by alien creatures claiming to have shared an alliance with her grandfather. And either she's going crazy, or they're trying to recruit her and take over her mind.

The last thing Courtney wants to do is end up crazy and dead like her grandfather, but what about the strange tattoo he left her? And the mystery surrounding his disappearance? And Courtney's once imaginary friend Agatha Kirlich and her apocalyptic visions?

With Agatha's help, Courtney begins to connect the dots between her past, present, and future, of her alien bloodline and the ancient history that surrounds it, her strange visitors, and the impeding apocalypse.

So is she going insane, like her family claimed her grandfather did, or is she actually a chosen one, with ancestral connections to another world? Either way, Courtney has a mission: untangle her past, discover the truth, and close the alien wormhole before her world is destroyed.

©2016 Brady Stefani (P)2016 Brady Stefani

Loved the Narrator

Any additional comments?

I was given the opportunity to listen to the audio book for The Alienation of Courtney Hoffman for an honest review.

I have tried other audio books before, and they were just not my thing. I never could get into them or pay enough attention to the narrator to actually understand the plots. However; I listened to a sample of this book and wanted to give it a try.

The narrator did an amazing job with this. I liked the voice changes and the emotions she brought to different scenes.

I was very interested in the plot of this story in the first half of the book. This starts off with Courtney facing past memories of her grandfather trying to drowned her in a bathtub. All of these memories lead to a mystery involving aliens. Courtney goes on a hunt for clues in regards to her family's past and the truth about her grandfather and the aliens. The initial build up was really fun and suspenseful.

The second half of the book is where I started to lose interest. Bloodliners, secret societies, badges, and magical helmets all come into play. I feel there was just too many different elements thrown in to the story. Since I was listening to this, I started to get a little lost and a little bored. I wanted to know more about the actual aliens and what was going to happen. It does pick up a little towards the end, but I did not like the ending. It definitely ended with a Book 2 in mind.

Overall, I liked the story even with some faults. I will be looking into some other audio books with this narrator, as I think she brought the story alive.

Stefani. Is. Brilliant.

This is the best book I've read/listened to all day!! Seriously. Who could better capture the genius of madness other than a madman himself. Masterfully crafted and poignantly demonstrative of the terribly beautiful power of the subconscious.

This book left me questioning what is sanity

There are no such things as aliens, except I have no doubt that was what Courtney was dealing with, or was it? Hereditary mental illness? Or something in the bloodline that makes them able to communicate with aliens?

The story is so well written you can see each as a possibility and the book sucks you down the rabbit hole where you question all you know about mental health. Is Courtney saving the world, or is the worm hole just a delusion? You can tell in reading this book that the author has some background knowledge of mental illness especially in the alien abduction phenomenon and his description of lucid dreaming was so real it brought back memories. I have not been so throughly immersed in a book in a while.

Thank you to the author for the gift of the book in exchange for an fair review. I look forward to future books you write.

Different and exciting!

Courtney is visited by aliens. It's been happening since she was a child. Her mother doesn't believe her, not only that, her behavior towards Courtney and her alien visits is cruel. Every time Courtney mentions something to her, Courtney ends up a mental hospital. Her mother even tells her that her grandfather tries to drown her when she was a child. Courtney realizes this is lie when she visits her deceased grandfather's cottage. This is where the story really gets good and twists.

I enjoyed this story. The pace is fairly quick and there's mystery and suspense as Courtney delves into the mystery of the aliens and her deceased grandfather learning there's far more to the whole story than she ever imagined.

Definitely worth listening to. In fact, I'm sure at some point I'll listen again.

I recieved a copy free from the author through Audiobook Boom.

Creative, unusual and very entertaining

Any additional comments?

"Once in a while you get shown the light in the strangest of places if you look at it right." Lyrics from Scarlet Begonias by The Grateful Dead.

As soon as I heard the lyrics to Scarlet Begonias, I thought hmm….this is going to be interesting. I haven't come across many books that quote Grateful Dead song lyrics, let alone one that quotes one of my favorites.

How do you prove your not crazy when everyone around you thinks you are?

The story pulls you immediately with the events surrounding Courtney and her grandfather. The mystery, intrigue and suspense continue to build from there.
Your sucked into this journey right along with Courtney trying to figure out what is real and not real. Is she really mentally ill and hallucinating or is she the only one in who really knows that there is something else going on. The story is written in such a way that you are never quite sure until the very end exactly which way it will turn out. It could have gone either way.

Courtney is helped in her search for the truth about her grandfather, aliens, her past and her mental health by Agatha her childhood imaginary friend. As the truth is uncovered Courtney will discover the lies and manipulation go much deeper than she ever thought.

It's a well written,creative, entertaining, interesting and engaging story. Any story that can keep you guessing until the very end is a well written story.

To say much more would spoil the story for those who haven't read it yet.

Gwendolyn Druyor did a great job with the narration. Pleasant voice. Easy to listen to for long periods of time. Clearly spoken with a smooth even pace. Great character voices. She was the perfect narrator for this book. She was able to bring the characters and story to life through her narration.Very enjoyable.

I was voluntarily provided this free review copy audiobook by the author, narrator or publisher.