Restoration by Rose Tremain, narrated by, Paul Daneman

Restoration (Restoration #1) by Rose Tremain, narrated by, Paul Daneman

Published by, Blackstone Audio

Length 13 hours

Historical Fiction, about a physician, Robert Merivel, in the 17^th century who falls out of favor with the King and tries to rebuild his life, all the while pining to be close with the King again. It is very well written, sometimes humorous, and sometimes a bit sad. The medical facts are interesting and seem to be spot on with the time period. Merivel can be very self centered and doesn’t seem to care about anyone or anything except for the one person he can’t have. There were times Robert was such a cad that you wanted to smack him but he is a character in every sense of the word. However, he is an interesting character and I will continue on to the next book in the series, just to see if he ever learns from his mistakes. There is some gratuitous sex and it isn’t action packed in the least, more a day in the life, which does slog down a bit after the middle of the book, but well written historical fiction that I would recommend.

The narration by, Paul Daneman is at times absolutely brilliant and at other times cartoonish, and some people will be annoyed by some loud mouth clicks, they aren’t constant but are noticeable when they appear. I got over the mouth clicks , but some characters sounded like a parrot talking and his women could really use some work but there was just something great about the majority of his narration that I would listen to this narrator again because of the parts of the narration that are brilliant.

This was my first book by Tremain, and I would definitely read more from her, and I would also try this narrator again too.

3 Stars

Full disclosure I received a copy of this from the publisher for a fair and honest review .

Is This Tomorrow by, Caroline Leavitt narrated by, Xe Sands

Is This Tomorrow by, Caroline Leavitt narrated by, Xe Sands

PUBLISHER--HighBridge Company

LENGTH--11 hrs and 26 mins

This is such a unique tale, set in the 50’s divorced mother Ava and her son Lewis find it hard to fit into their Boston suburb because Ava is *Gasp* divorced so she must be a wanton woman after every man in town but that isn’t the case Ava is just trying her best for her and her son. Lewis has his own set of problems being the child of a divorcee’ but there are a brother and sister, Jimmy & Rose, that don’t have a father either and they bond and become best friends until the horrible day when Jimmy goes missing and everything changes.

This book is told from the perspective of an adult Lewis who has had his share of relationship problems with not only women he has dated but with his mom too. When the truth comes out about Jimmy’s disappearance things don’t become any easier for Lewis, Rose & Ava.

This was a complex story, filled with emotion, it is a family drama and a story of how friendships can change when something bad happens especially when you are young. I truly loved this book it is so well written that even though it isn’t an edge of your seat thriller type book it still grabbed me and I didn’t want to stop reading/listening. There were times when I thought if you people would just talk to each other maybe some of these long held misunderstandings could have been avoided but that is what made this book all the more real, these are real people dealing with huge events in the best way they know how and that isn’t always easy.

Who else but Xe Sands could pull off the raw emotion of this book, her narration was perfect she brought the emotions of every character to the forefront and I can’t imagine anyone else doing a better job at it. She was the perfect choice for this book!

This was the first book I have read by Leavitt but it will certainly not be the last!

4 ½ Stars

Full Disclosure—I received this book from the Audiobookjukebox.com and the publisher for a fair and honest review.

Whistling Past the Graveyard by Susan Crandall Narrated by, Amy Rubinate

Whistling Past the Graveyard by Susan Crandall Narrated by, Amy Rubinate

I truly enjoyed this book, my favorite character was Eula, there were times Starla would get on my nerves and you just wanted to shake her, but she was young & naïve, abandoned by her mother, raised by a grandmother who is much tougher on her than anyone realizes. She is a sassy little thing and has this idealized idea of her mother who she thinks is a big star in Nashville plus a father who works out on an oil rig and doesn’t come home very often. When Starla gets into trouble she runs away from her Grandmother Mamie’s home to be with her mother, but things don’t go as smoothly as Starla thinks, she is picked up by a black woman, Eula, who is traveling with of all things a white baby (remember this is 1963) Eula promises she will get her to Nashville but they need to stop at her house first and Eula’s husband is none too happy to have two white children in his home, this is when things get a might complicated for Starla & Eula.

The friendship between Eula & Starla is sweet and I loved how much they each learned from each other even when they didn’t realize it, Starla’s eyes were opened to what goes on in the world outside of her little Mississippi town where the only “coloreds” she knows are the help for the rich people in town, but what I liked was with Starla’s naïveté she doesn’t judge Eula on the color of her skin just by her deeds and the size of her heart.

This is a road trip book and these two are on a doozy, and it seems like what could go wrong did go wrong, plus they have a white baby named James along for the ride (again I remind you these 3 are traveling from Mississippi to Nashville in 1963) so you can guess what some of the trouble they run into is. I don’t want to give too much away but let’s just say Starla’s daddy hasn’t been all that honest with her about her mamma. As I said before there are times when Starla’s “red rage” (as she calls it) get her into more trouble than she needed to be in and there were times I just wanted to yell Starla NOOOO, but what fun would that book have been?

Amy Rubinate narrates this one and does a great job she sounds like a young girl when narrating Starla and when narrating Eula she is an African-American woman, it is almost like two different people are narrating but it is only the very talented Rubinate each character has their own voice and there was never any trouble knowing who was talking. Highly recommend reading this one on audio!

I highly recommend this book, if you are a fan of Saving CeeCee Honeycutt and/or Calling Me Home I would say get this book right now!

5 Stars