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I am still a big, big fan of audiobooks and pretty much always have at least one on the go – usually one fiction plus a couple of non-fiction that I come and go back to.
I have listened to a lot since my last audiobook post but I don’t always remember to write a review for them and then I can’t remember them clearly enough to write one later – it’s really annoying because I like to remember my thoughts about books, authors and narrators!
Anyway, I enjoy sharing my thoughts about the audiobooks I’ve listened to lately, so here they are!
This is the most recent book I listened to and overall I really enjoyed this. It is one of the first of this genre that I didn’t want to stop listening to in a long time. I usually prefer psychological thriller-type books now and find ‘chick lit’ a bit too soft and mundane for my tastes after reading so many over the years, but I did really like most of this, and that was helped a lot by the brilliant narrator, Nicky Diss. I love listening to her and always look for more audiobooks narrated by her as soon as I’ve finished one.
A few bits of the story annoyed me though. As mentioned in one of the reviews of the book on Amazon, the main character calls someone a slapper quite a few times as well as a slag and it felt pretty jarring and old fashioned. I get that she felt a certain way about the woman she talked about that way but it felt like too much and wrong, especially in more modern times. When I read the Amazon review saying that they stopped reading after she used that a couple of times I thought it wouldn’t particularly put me off but it actually did without any type of recompense for saying it.
Also, the bloody sudden male narrator towards the end was jarring too; it wasn’t that he was a bad narrator at all but I don’t think it worked that well having a different narrator so far into the book. His voice also didn’t seem to suit the character at all – he sounded too enthusiastic and not the laid back guy he had always appeared to be so it took you away from being absorbed in the story a bit.
I also felt a bit let down on Laura’s behalf with the way her family and friends dealt with everything that was going on and I huffed and puffed at them at least a couple of times!
Having said all of that, I did really enjoy The Longest Holiday and I’ll definitely check out more by Paige Toon when I’m ready for another of this genre.
Get it here: The Longest Holiday by Paige Toon
I’d listened to The Daughter-in-Law by Nina Manning right before this one and I really enjoyed that one, but this one was nowhere near as good and left me feeling confused and annoyed!
The narrator was great again but the parts about Instagram and all the hashtags were annoying to listen to and I found the use of ‘baby boy’ really irritating too and kept wondering why she wouldn’t just name her baby.
The overall story was quite interesting and I did want to keep listening but I felt like some parts were suddenly abandoned, like the housemates and Will, which were only very briefly included right at the end.
I didn’t find that the ending was really a ‘twist’ – it just made me confused and like the whole book had sort of been lying to me! It frustrated me as it felt like it didn’t really all come together at the end and I did actually pause the book and go and read some reviews about the ending as I was suddenly confused as hell! I agree with some other reviews that say it was like you were suddenly listening to a different book.
I enjoyed listening to it overall and I will read more from the author but I was disappointed with this one.
Get it here: The Housemate by Nina Manning
I got into this audiobook immediately and listened to it whenever I could over a few days, getting through it very quickly. I really enjoyed having different narrators so that it was like a production, although a couple of them I did find really annoying – luckily they only had small parts.
I liked the little twists, although I would have preferred to understand the motive behind a couple of things – the cat, for example – as they weren’t clear and I’m not sure I believed that this character would kill a cat just because she hates somebody. That was true with a few parts of the book and I also would have liked to find out if something was true or not at the end – I’m guessing not and that it was her past making her think that (see trigger warning below).
I had guessed who really ‘did it’ towards the end and I’d had my suspicions earlier on but I wasn’t absolutely sure and it kept me guessing, although I’m still not entirely sure of their motive either.
I hadn’t read anything by Tess Stimson before this, but I downloaded another of hers (Stolen) as soon as I finished One in Three so I clearly enjoyed it.
(Trigger warning – child sexual abuse.)
Get it here: One in Three by Tess Stimson
A nice easy listen made better by the (as usual) brilliant narration by Carrie Fletcher. I did get annoyed a number of times at the idiocy of the main character not knowing ‘where this was going’ or similar when it was blindingly obvious and made her seem a bit stupid.
But it was a nice love story and easy to listen to whilst doing something else – that’s not a criticism; I think we all need that sometimes and I enjoyed it overall. It was very predictable but I don’t always mind that.
I enjoyed the part in Australia the most – it made me want to go travelling again even more and I enjoyed listening to it at a time when we weren’t able to travel.
Get it here: The Lucky Escape by Laura Jane Williams
Thank you to Netgalley for an early audio copy of The Lucky Escape.
And a few very quick reviews from audiobooks I listened to a while ago…
His Other Lover by Lucy Dawson – really enjoyed this – great narrator (Georgia Maguire), really easy to listen to and wanted to keep listening.
What My Best Friend Did by Lucy Dawson – didn’t like as much, quite frustrating.
The Family Upstairs by Lisa Jewell – good, struggled with the male narrator for a while but got better.
The Flat Share by Beth O’Leary – great, lovely story but not totally traditional sappy rom-com. The narrators were brill. I found Carrie’s narration a bit fast at the very start and was worried I wouldn’t enjoy it but actually was brilliant and have bought another audiobook with her as narrator after this as I enjoyed it so much.
This is Going to Hurt by Adam Kay – really loved this, made me laugh a lot. I read the Christmas one afterwards and felt that was a bit rubbish – it was like it was all the edited out bits that didn’t make the first book because they weren’t good enough!
My Thoughts Exactly by Lily Allen – I read this a few years ago now but hugely enjoyed it and will probably listen to it again one day. Lily does sound a little disinterested and lacklustre reading her book at times but I got used to that and enjoyed listening to her.
Our House by Louise Candlish – boring, liked the premise but no I didn’t enjoy this.
If you would like a free trial of Audible then you can get a 30-day free trial which gives you one Audiobook of your choice: Audible Free Trial. You will need to unsubscribe from Audible afterwards if you want to, otherwise, you’ll pay £7.99 a month after the month is up, but it’s really easy to unsubscribe or pause your subscription and you still keep any books you’ve already downloaded.
Let me know what audiobook you download if you join and what is on your wishlist if you already subscribe to Audible!
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Welcome to Birds and Lilies! I'm Lou: mother, blogger and freelance writer. This is my lifestyle blog, where I talk about motherhood, infertility and IVF, beauty, my love for food and wine, as well as my thoughts about stuff, and our real-life and travel adventures.
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