Posted on

Book Review – Dead End Girl, by L.T. Vargus and Tim McBain

Dead End Girl (Violet Darger #1)Dead End Girl by L.T. Vargus
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This is a quotidian account of a hunt for a serial killer, who dismembers his female victims, by two FBI agents and a host of police officers in rural Ohio. By and large, the writing was good, but the major flaw in the book was that it was much, much too long. Every minute of every day of the investigation is chronicled, sometimes from multiple POVs, and, as in real life, much of it is unnecessary or fruitless. It seems like the authors forgot the first principle of storytelling-leave out the uninteresting parts. For example, a memorial for one of the victims, conducted to lure the killer, was described in excruciating detail over several chapters. He didn’t show. There is a difference between suspense and reader frustration. The authors also left some plot points unresolved, notably, a romantic liaison between the main character and one of the police officers. Ultimately, I had to struggle to finish the book.

View all my reviews
Posted on

One Door Closes, Another Door Opens

In my mind, one of the most important characteristics of Natalie McMasters is her exuberance and unbridled optimism (true, it often gets her in trouble, but that only makes for a good story). So when the narrator for the audiobook of Stripper! quit last week in the middle of the project, I had to channel Nattie to summon the optimism to deal with adversity.

I went back on the ACX website and started hunting narrators again. I contacted over a hundred to find the first one, and I was sure that I’d have to do the same thing again. Only this time, I had a release date and I was already scheduling a blog tour.

Luckily, it only took a few days to receive an audition from Lisa Ware, of Voices from LSWARE. (Check out her website https://lswareonline.com/) Listening to her narration, it was like I was sitting in the 3M office with Amos, Danny and Nattie! I immediately contacted her to propose that she narrate Stripper!, and she accepted!

Ms. Lisa S. Ware – Storyteller Extraordinaire

So the audiobook project is back on track. When it’s released in November, I will have have codes for listeners to get a free copy in exchange for a review on Audible. The number of codes is limited, so sign up early to make sure you get one. I’ll soon be making an audiobook page for the website with the sales info and other material–watch for it.

Posted on

Book Review – Midnight Torment, by L. Ann

Midnight Torment (Midnight Pack, #3)Midnight Torment by L. Ann
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Each of the books in the Midnight Pack series is the story of one of the brother who rule the pack. First came Shaun, then Deacon, and finally, the Alpha, Cormac, gets his own tale. Midnight Torment ties up all of the threads that the author has strewn in the first two books in a most satisfactory manner. And the best part of all is just watching the Alpha be alpha! The author also leaves enough loose ends that you just know that this excellent series will continue. Maybe she can feature the distaff side of the pack next…

View all my reviews