Heading Out to Wonderful by Robert Goolrick narrated by, Norman Dietz

Heading Out to Wonderful by Robert Goolrick narrated by, Norman Dietz

Produced by: Highbridge Audio

Time: 9 Hrs 30 Min.

Synopsis: An attractive an engimatic stranger -- Charlie Beale, a longer recently home from the war in Europe -- wanders into the town of Brownsburg, a sleepy village of only a few hundred people nestled in the Valley of Virginia. He brings with him two suitcases: one contains all his worldly possessions, including a set of butcher knives; the other is full of money.

Charlie quickly finds a job at the local butcher shop and through his work there meets all the townspeople, most notably Sam Haislett, the five-year-old son of the shop's owner, and Sylvan Glass, the beautiful, eccentric teenage bridge of the town's richest man. What no one anticipates is how the interaction of these three people will alter the town forever, and how the passion that flares between Charlie and Sylvan will mark young Sam for life.

Told through the eyes of Sam, now an older man looking back on that time, this much-anticipated second novel from Robert Goolrick is an exciting, erotically charged, and altogether unforgettable story of love gone terrible wrong in a place where once upon a time such things could happen.

My review:

Robert Goolrick is a great writer he knows how to turn a phrase and his descriptions are always lush. I read the Reliable Wife when it first came out it was an odd story but well written and a book that stuck with me much longer than I expected it to and I actually liked The Reliable Wife the longer I was away from it and I think this one may end up the same way. So, I had high hopes for this book expecting and getting Goolricks fantastic writing but the story was a much slower simmer than I expected it to be,  it made me sit on the edge of my seat not from the story really, but in the waiting for the other shoe to drop, you just know something bad is coming.

I am not sure how I felt about Charlie dragging this little boy along with him on his trysts, I don’t understand why he took him along it’s not like it was his child.  I think what he put the little boy through was worse than anything else Charlie did. Another story from this author that I think will stick with me awhile and probably will end up liking more the farther away I am from it. But I think that is the genius of Goolrick he is an amazing writer but his books are never easy but they will touch you and stay with you even if you didn’t totally love the book.

Norman Dietz is the narrator of this one and I’m just not sure what I thought of him; all of his voices sounded like old men, including the little boy and the women. But he fit the book well, so I am not saying he was awful it was just his variations on voices weren’t that different. I hope that makes sense.

If you haven’t read Goolrick’s biography – “The End of the World as we Know It” you won’t see how biographical Goolrick’s work is. I think to really “get” his fiction you should read his biography.

3 ½ Stars

I received this book from Audiojukebox Solid Gold Reviewer Program for a fair and honest review.

The Roots of the Olive Tree by, Courtney Miller Santo narrated by, Karen White

The Roots of the Olive Tree by, Courtney Miller Santo narrated by, Karen White

This is a story of family, resentments, age and secrets. It shows how resentments affect generation after generation and in this family there are 5 generations of first born women with a 6^th generation on the way, the oldest being Anna who is 112  and strives to become the oldest living human being, especially since she still has her mind and her body is still pretty spry too. Then there is Dr. Amrit who is on a mission to find out more about super-agers and thinks he has hit pay dirt with the The Keller women but with his research secrets are uncovered that the women would all rather stayed buried.

I really liked this story even though the ending was a bit rushed and not as satisfying as I had hoped.  The Keller women are not always likable but you still can’t help falling in love with them, flaws and all. Every mother and daughter has had their share of troubles some more than others, however they all still live in the same house which has become tense as these women move about their days without ever really connecting with each other. The quote below summed up perfectly what it was like for them all to live together.

"I’d put more distance between us. Having us here, always together hasn’t allowed for any fondness to grow between us."

 But with the youngest coming back home with problems of her own and Dr. Amrit’s research dislodging lost (or best forgotten) memories these women are all doing some soul searching.

Karen White’s narration was fantastic all her different voices and accents were spot on; you always knew exactly who was talking.  Her voice took on so many different characteristics of each of the women as they told their story and her delivery held my interest all the way through.

I thought this was a great first novel it is set in California but has a southern fiction feel to it so I think if you are a fan of Southern Fiction I would suggest giving this one a try.

4 stars

Age of Miracles by, Karen Thompson Walker Narrated by, Emily Janice Card

Age of Miracles by, Karen Thompson Walker Narrated by, Emily Janice Card

This was an intriguing first novel; the authors imagination is pretty amazing, the way she describes the things that were happening to the world were frightening real. This story is beautifully written and is a slow boil with no running around trying to save the world, there is nothing to run from or run to, it is just living in a mixed up world where days and nights have become confused and the earth has slowed and is de-magnetizing/losing gravity. Just to go on trying to live your life when everything has changed but these changes are not seen and only sometimes felt. As she says it’s not that there are explosions or war or rioting in the streets, the world is not on fire it is just quietly changing.

“Later, I would come to think of those first days as the time when we learned as a species that we had worried over the wrong things: the hole in the ozone layer, the melting of the ice caps, West Nile and swine flu and killer bees. But I guess it never is what you worry over that comes to pass in the end. The real catastrophes are always different—unimagined, unprepared for, unknown.”

― Karen Thompson Walker, The Age of Miracles

This is such a different dystopian because it’s well, quiet, is the only word I can come up with, it is a quiet dystopian, yes that describes it. And even as that I was enthralled with this book I didn’t want to stop listening I wanted to know what happened next. It ended just as quietly and it was a satisfying ending.

I don’t know how old Julia was supposed to be (listening on audio must have missed it) but I thought Emily Janice Card did a good job at the narration she made her sound not too young or too old. Her narration was very well done.

4 Stars

These Things Hidden by Heather Gudenkauf narrated by, Ali Ahn, Angela Lin ,Angela Goethals

These Things Hidden by Heather Gudenkauf narrated by, Ali Ahn, Angela Lin ,Angela Goethals

This was my first book by Heather Gudenkauf and I like the way she writes. This book is told in alternating chapters by Alison who has just been released from prison for a heinous crime she committed as a teenager, her sister Brynn who has had to live with the shame of having Alison for a sister, Charm who is taking care of her dying stepfather and also holds a secret, and Claire owner of a local bookstore and adoptive mother to little Joshua. These 4 women’s lives collide in a way none of them saw coming as the things hidden don’t stay that way for long.

What a great psychological thriller it is slow to build as the story unfolds you get pieces of the story from different perspectives while trying to figure out how they all fit together and what really happened on that horrible night 5 years ago and the ending blew me away not at all what I expected to happen.

If you like good psychological thriller/mysteries and great writing I highly recommend this book!

This book is narrated by, Ali Ahn , Angela Lin, and Angela Goethals each telling the different perspectives I thought their narration was well done, however, their voices were all very similar and if you are going to have multiple narrators of the different women their voices should have been a bit more distinct.

4 stars

Yellow Crocus by Laila Ibrahim

Yellow Crocus by Laila Ibrahim

This is a beautifully written book about a young white girl Lisbeth or Miss Elizabeth as her parents want her known as who grows up on Fair Oaks Plantation in the 1800’s. When Lisbeth is born she is handed from her mother to slave/wet-nurse Mattie who has been taken from the Quarters and her newborn son to the Big House and Elizabeth’s mother thinks she should be so grateful to be living in the lap of luxury. As time goes on Lisbeth learns to love and depend on Mattie much more than her own mother but Lisbeth is young and naïve and doesn’t realize there is much more to life on the plantation than she is seeing.

This is a coming of age story as we watch Lisbeth from the time she is born till she is a grown woman, we watch as innocence is replaced with knowledge and knowledge is not always a happy thing. This realization is a slow building and at times Lisbeth doesn’t want to see but when the time comes she has to make a choice- “ Decisions to make, she thought to herself. She was too tired to make any more decisions.”

These characters were so real to me I could hear their voices in my head; I could see what they saw. This author gave voice to these people in such a beautiful way I can’t even come close to finding the correct words to explain it. This is a debut novel and I am amazed by that and hope this author writes many. Many more books because I plan on reading them all!

Beautiful southern historical fiction I highly recommend!

5 Stars

I received this book from netgalley and have purchased the print version 

Crossposted on Eddy-New Rockford Library blog

Stories: All-New Tales edited by, Neil Gaiman & Al Sarrantonio and written by various authors narrated by, Euan Morton, Katherine Kellgren, Jonathan Davis, Anne Bobby, & Peter Francis James

Stories: All-New Tales edited by, Neil Gaiman & Al Sarrantonio and written by various authors narrated by, Euan Morton, Katherine Kellgren, Jonathan Davis, Anne Bobby, & Peter Francis James

These stories weren’t really connected they had no common theme except life. I tried my best to figure out who narrated each story and I may be wrong on some if anyone can correct me I would be happy to change the narrator so I can give credit where credit is due. Some of these stories were very odd and most didn’t have a pat ending, some I enjoyed way more than others and I tried to say a little something about each of them.

About the narration-

I am now a fan of Euan Morton and I believe her will be added to my “Will listen to them read the phonebook list” so I think I will finally be listening to some Christopher Moore!

Katherine Kellgren was as always great, I just wish she had narrated more stories.

Anne Bobby showed her range in these stories and I enjoyed her narration and would listen to her again.

The two I had a hard time figuring out who narrated which were Jonathan Davis and Peter Francis James because they both have voices like butter I have been a fan of Jonathan since listening to Shadow of the Wind but Peter was a new to me narrator and in the one story Juvenal Nyx he sounded like Dion Graham and that is never a bad comparison I will look for more from this narrator.

The introduction by Neil Gaiman was a great story all on its own and of course it’s narrated by Neil so what else can I say.

Blood by, Roddy Doyle narrated by, Euan Morton Really liked the narrator of this one but it was a very odd story.

Fossil Figures by, Joyce Carol Oates narrated by, Ann Bobby was a creepy but interesting story I liked it

Wildfire in Manhattan- by, Joanne Harris narrated by, Jonathan Davis this was a story about gods/elements living in Manhattan it was interesting

The Truth is a Cave in the Black Mountain by, Neil Gaiman narrated by, Euan Morton was wonderful! And great narration even after I was a little disappointed it wasn’t Neil himself.

Unbelief  by, Michael Marshall Smith narrated by, Peter Francis James it was just ok still trying to figure out if he was with his family at the end or if he was dead/a ghost

The Stars are Falling by Joe R. Lansdale maybe narrated by, Jonathan Davis…was a really good story I liked it a lot this was one of my favorite stories

Juvenal Nyx by, Walter Mosley was a very different story, not what I expected from this author narrated by, Peter Francis James who I thought sounded a lot like Dion Graham and did a very good job at the narration

The Knife by, Richard Adams narrated by Euen Morton Was a very short odd story that really made no sense

Weights and Measurements by, Jodi Picoult narrated by, Anne Bobby odd story about losing a child I think it was a metaphor about how you lose a part of yourself but done very oddly.

Goblin Lake by, Michael Swanwick narrated by, Jonathan Davis Was a very interesting story that I liked very much begs the question does a character in a book know they are a character?

Mallon the Guru by, Peter Straub narrated by, Peter Francis James was another odd story about life and death

Catch and Release by, Lawrence Block narrated by, Jonathan Davis was a really superb story very suspenseful and I could see an entire mystery novel written about this character.

Polka dots and moonbeams by, Jeffery Ford narrated by, Peter Francis James? Didn’t really make much sense to me just meh

Loser by, Chuck Palahniuk narrated by, Jonathan Davis? Was just meh didn’t really seem to have a point

Samantha’s Diary by, Diana Wynne Jones narrated by, Katherine Kellgren of course I didn’t have to look this one up to try to figure out who the narrator was and really with these two names could the story go wrong? A futuristic take on the 12 days of Christmas that was very funny!

Land of the Lost by, Stewart O’Nan narrated by, Anne Bobby Wish there would have been more of this one

Leif in the Wind by, Gene Wolf narrated by, Katherine Kellgren good Sci-Fi story, Would have liked more of this one too

Unwell by, Carolyn Parkhurst narrated by, Anne Bobby crazy old lady and her sister kind of funny kind of sad

A Life in Fiction by, Kat Howard narrated by, Katherine Kellgren  if someone writes a character slightly based on you are you real or do you become the fiction… interesting story

Let the past begin by, Jonathan Carroll narrated by, Jonathan Davis very odd story that I didn’t quite get

The Therapist by, Jeffery Deaver narrated by, Peter Francis James kind of a murder mystery, psychological thriller, with a touch of the supernatural, and conspiracy a good story… well it is Deaver after all 

Parallel Lines by, Tim Powers narrated by, Anne Bobby didn’t really get this story

The Cult of the Nose by, Al Sarrantonio narrated by, Peter Francis James just plain weird

Human Intelligence by, Kurt Anderson narrated by, Katy Kellgren an alien story with a heck of twist haha this was a good one!

Stories by, Michael Moorlock narrated by, Euan Morton A look at the life of a group of writers interesting story

The Maiden Flight of McCauley’s by, Elizabeth Hand narrated by, Jonathan Davis sort of sci fi another kind of odd one that lost me

The Devil on the Staircase by, Joe Hill narrated by, Peter Francis James kind of a Daniel Webster story

3 ½ stars

The Second Empress: A Novel of Napoleon's Court by, Michelle Moran

The Second Empress: A Novel of Napoleon's Court by, Michelle Moran

Before I started this one I knew nothing about Marie Louise or honestly that much about Napoleon (I thought he was still married to Josephine when he was exiled), I recently started reading more about French history including Michelle Moran’s last book Madame Tussaud and the confessions of Catherine de Medici plus one about the Hapsburgs (The Last Queen) by, CW Gortner. So I am slowly learning more about these two timelines & royalty. As with any Historical Fiction an author is going to take some liberties and I for one don’t mind this at all, I want to read a historical fiction that will make me want to research the facts for myself and this one did that.

I felt sorry for Marie as I’ve said before, these poor princesses just can’t catch a break, trotted off to marry an ogre who just wants you as birthing mare, but as Marie said the sooner she got pregnant the less she had to deal with Napoleon.  I was glad Marie’s life turned out for the best; I think the best thing that ever happened to her was when Napoleon was overthrown and exiled.

I was a bit freaked out and disgusted with Napoleon’s sister Pauline she had a very unhealthy relationship with her brother and she seemed to be a nymphomaniac and was a very selfish, just not a nice person at all. But her story was fascinating as she flounced from man to man, and used old women as footstools but one has to wonder how many men she gave the clap to??

And Paul let us not forget poor put-upon chamberlain Paul, his love for Pauline was all he could think of even as she took lover after lover but I also loved his ending *no spoilers* all I could think was it’s about time!

I really like the authenticity added by the actual letters written by Napoleon & Josephine that showed they still cared very much for each other right to the end.  Napoleon was a piece of work, talk about an egomaniac but you have to give it to him he came from the bottom of the barrel and made to Emperor so I suppose he had a right to be proud of himself but he took it way over the line with how he talked to people and what he thought was his “by right”.

I love Michelle Moran’s writing always takes you to a place and time where you can almost smell it and this book was no exception.  Can’t wait for more books by this author!

4 ½ stars

I received this book from the Librarything Early Reviewers Program