DATING TERRORS

Dating Terrors by Patricia Briggs in the anthology Heroic Hearts
Book 18.5 in the Mercy Thompson series
Narrated by Holter Graham
Genre: urban fantasy
Format: ebook, paperback, & audiobook

About Dating Terrors:

The werewolf Asil finds a blind date might just turn into something more - if the woman can escape the dark magic binding her.

Source: Info in the "About Dating Terrors" was taken from the back cover of the book anthology Heroic Hearts edited by Jim Butcher and Kerrie L. Hughes.

Asil

My Thoughts:

Asil is an old, old wolf and just biding his time until the Marrok kills him and finally give him relief of this world. However, he also have pack mates who are mischievous who set him up with three blind dates with good intentions. The first blind date was a novella titled Asil and the Not-Date (book number 17.5 in the Mercy Thompson series) in the anthology Fantastic Hope. Asil, for the lack of nothing better to do, went along with it. And for the heck of it! This is the second blind date. For a very short story, this novella managed to have a tiny plot and gave a wonderful reading time! Too short a reading time!

Empirical Evaluation:
Story telling quality = 5
Character development = 5
Story itself = 4.5
Writing Style = 5
Ending = 4.5
World building = 5
Cover art = 5
Pace = 5
Plot = 5
Narration = 5

Overall Rating: 5 out of 5 cherries


Books In The Mercy Thompson Series:

Click on the cover image to go to my review or to the GoodReads page of the book for more info.
                         

 

About Patricia Briggs
	Patricia Briggs was born in Butte, Montana to a children’s librarian who passed on to her kids a love of reading and books. Patricia grew up reading fairy tales and books about horses, and later developed an interest in folklore and history. When she decided to write a book of her own, a fantasy book seemed a natural choice. Patricia graduated from Montana State University with degrees in history and German and she worked for a while as a substitute teacher. Currently, she lives in Montana with her husband, children and six horses and writes full-time, much to the delight of her fans.
www.patriciabriggs.com | facebook | twitter | goodreads | amazon

The Narrator

About Holter Graham:

Holter Graham, winner of AudioFile's 2008 Best Voice in Science Fiction & Fantasy for Sherrilyn Kenyon's Acheron, is a stage, television, and screen actor.

www.holtergraham.com | goodreads

FTC Disclosure:
The different formats of this book were purchased with private funds.
No money received for this review.

BURN BRIGHT

Burn Bright by Patricia Briggs
Narrated by Holter Graham
Book 5 of the Alpha & Omega series
Genre: urban fantasy
Format: ebook & audio

About Burn Bright:

They are the wild and the broken. The werewolves too damaged to live safely among their own kind. For their own good, they have been exiled to the outskirts of Aspen Creek, Montana. Close enough to the Marrok’s pack to have its support; far enough away to not cause any harm.

With their Alpha out of the country, Charles and Anna are on call when an SOS comes in from the fae mate of one such wildling. Heading into the mountainous wilderness, they interrupt the abduction of the wolf — but can’t stop blood from being shed. Now Charles and Anna must use their skills — his as enforcer, hers as peacemaker — to track down the attackers, reopening a painful chapter in the past that springs from the darkest magic of the witchborn…

Source: Info in the About Burn Bright was taken from GoodReads at https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/35294265-burn-bright on 03/02/2018.

My Thoughts:

I find Holter Graham's words are not very clear and distinct so I am so very glad of kindle's whisper sync feature where you can read the ebook and listen to the narration at the same time. Otherwise I would not have bought just the audiobook by this narrator. Having said that, I find Holter Graham's reading of this book is not as slurred as the previous book.

Patricia Briggs surprised me with the plotting with this book. I'm not really used to twists in urban fantasy. Most of the time they're formulaic. So kudos to the author for the story building!! Not to mention the masterful story telling quality and wonderful world building, as usual! Now its post-great-read-depression!

Empirical Evaluation:
Story telling quality = 5
Character development = 5
Story itself = 5
Writing Style = 5
Ending = 5
World building = 5
Cover art = 4.5 (US)
Pace = (9 hrs and 47 mins listening time)
Plot = 5
Narration = 4

Overall Rating: 5 out of 5 cherries


Books In The Alpha & Omega Series:

             

About Patricia Briggs
	Patricia Briggs was born in Butte, Montana to a children’s librarian who passed on to her kids a love of reading and books. Patricia grew up reading fairy tales and books about horses, and later developed an interest in folklore and history. When she decided to write a book of her own, a fantasy book seemed a natural choice. Patricia graduated from Montana State University with degrees in history and German and she worked for a while as a substitute teacher. Currently, she lives in Montana with her husband, children and six horses and writes full-time, much to the delight of her fans.
www.patriciabriggs.com | facebook | twitter | goodreads | Amazon

FTC Disclosure:
This book, in all it's purchased formats, was bought with private funds.
No money received for this review.

DEAD HEAT

Dead Heat by Patricia Briggs
Narrated by Holter Graham
Book 3 of the Alpha & Omega series
Genre: urban fantasy
Format: ebook & audiobook

About Dead Heat:

For once, mated werewolves Charles and Anna are not traveling because of Charles’s role as his father’s enforcer. This time, their trip to Arizona is purely personal — or at least it starts out that way...

Charles and Anna soon discover that a dangerous Fae being is on the loose, replacing human children with simulacrums. The Fae’s cold war with humanity is about to heat up — and Charles and Anna are in the cross fire.

Source: Info in the About Dead Heat was taken from GoodReads at https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/22571699-dead-heat on 03/02/2018.

My Thoughts:

I dove straight into this book right after Fair Game because by then I became a rabid fan of this series.

Why can't they keep Dan delos Santos' amazing cover art??! Somebody needs to clue in the UK art department that their cover art sucks!

This would be the second book I've listened to by Holter Graham. I have forgotten his halting way of reading. And he doesn't pause or give any indication that the scene has changed and suddenly the story lines does not make sense so I have to go read the ebook for that part to understand what is going on. That made the pace a whole lot longer than the 11 hours listening time that this book is supposed to be. And then there's the way he gives some characters a slurring way of talking, ala Al Capone or some such Italian mobsta. This made his words indistinct, and so not a desirable trait.

On the up side, this book has the same wonderful story telling quality and world building that this author is famous for! So needless to say that I enjoyed this book despite all my whining! The horse talk though, went right over my head.

Empirical Evaluation:
Story telling quality = 5
Character development = 4
Story itself = 4
Writing Style = 4.5
Ending = 4.5
World building = 5
Cover art = 4.5
Pace = (11 hours & 25 minutes)
Plot = 4
Narration = 3

Overall Rating: 4.5 out of 5 cherries


Books In The Alpha & Omega Series:

About Patricia Briggs
	Patricia Briggs was born in Butte, Montana to a children’s librarian who passed on to her kids a love of reading and books. Patricia grew up reading fairy tales and books about horses, and later developed an interest in folklore and history. When she decided to write a book of her own, a fantasy book seemed a natural choice. Patricia graduated from Montana State University with degrees in history and German and she worked for a while as a substitute teacher. Currently, she lives in Montana with her husband, children and six horses and writes full-time, much to the delight of her fans.
www.patriciabriggs.com | facebook | twitter | goodreads | Amazon

FTC Disclosure:
This book, in all it's purchased formats, was bought with private funds.
No money received for this review.