PHIL GIGANTE'S SEXY VOICE GIVES ME SHIVERS

What an all round great listen..... there's the chilling mystery and suspense of the sub plot, the beautiful sexy romance between Cal and Zoe who are both very likeable fun characters and they have such great chemistry and rapport. Then there's the teamwork of two awesome narrators who each stuck to their own gender's words making the book flow like a conversation. Finally, you get 11 hours of an entertaining and enjoyable listen for under $8 - so no need to use a credit therefore there's absolutely no dilemma here..... just add it to your cart now.

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16 people found this helpful

Reminds me of Linda Howard

The suspends and humor are reminiscent of early Linda Howard novels. I enjoy it immensely and hope to listen to more by this author

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11 people found this helpful

Fabulous Book Fantastic Narration All For $7.34

There is a lot to love about Carry Me Home (Paradise, Idaho #1) by Rosalind James and in short, I recommend this book to anyone who likes books about strong women, playful chemistry, suspense balanced by a romantic story, and/or stories set in smaller cities/rural towns.

Carry Me Home is about strong women and women getting stronger. This book is a thriller, but none of the women act helpless, and better still, there is a lot of women helping women in this story. Furthermore, there are a lot of real world problems addressed in the story, and I think women will find situations in which they identify.

The romance is a slow, hot build and worth every page and suspense is laced throughout the book with a good degree of scary, making the reader want to read on to see how things turn out! The characters are great and have wonderful chemistry. You want to see that with the romantic couple, but it really is true of the ensemble of characters in this book. If there is anything in this book that could go either way with me, depending on my mood, it is the feeling of male protectiveness that shows up in varying degrees throughout the book. I think it generally works as it is balanced by strong women who stand up for themselves.

I am always a big fan of how James describes and uses her setting throughout the book. She never just pays the story’s location cursory service, but seems to do the setting justice. She also has a tendency to make the reader fall in love with the location, and Paradise, Idaho is no exception.

Additionally, for those who struggle with motivation to work out, Carry Me Home often served as a gentle nudge from a friend to work out or be active. Dancing and snowshoeing are just two examples from this book.

The narration was outstanding just the way a dual narrator book should be delivered. The male reads the male dialogue and the female reads the female dialogue.
I hope there are more installments from Paradise.

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10 people found this helpful

Fantastic new to me author! Loved it!

This was a great listen ~ not only was the narration TOP notch, but the story was excellent...lots of romance, but enough suspense to keep me guessing all the way through. Likeable characters who totally sucked you into the story...I hope, HOPE there's more out there for me to discover!! I bought this one on a whim, for narration alone, and loved the story! I'm hooked!

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9 people found this helpful

Cliche

I listened to the whole thing, I'll give it that.

It wasn't horrible just very cliche. Nerdy girl doesn't realize how amazingly hot she is until her sorta trashy but really cool friend lets her rummage through her closet and forces her to go out in something that's cut above her ankles.
Hottest guy in town only has eyes for her even when she's still dressing nerdy.
She ends up changing everything about her life, even allowing him to dress her. But of course her giving up her career goals that she'd wanted her entire life was her decision because of course it was really what she'd wanted all along.

It bothered me that someone who is supposedly so smart and terrified of men makes the kind of mistakes that she does. I did like the parts with the shot gun and the baseball bat.

I could have done without the 30 minute it gets better speech. Really. I've never fast forwarded through a book before but I just couldn't take it. I get the point but the entire thing could have been summed up in one paragraph not an entire chapter.

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7 people found this helpful

Great 1st book in a new series that is outstanding

This is a book/series is departure from Rosalind James' previous "Escape to New Zealand" and "The Kincaids" series. It definitely fits in the romantic suspense category because there is a villain that creates a situation where you're not quite sure what's truly happening all the way around so you're kept waiting (in a good way) for things to cogamut of witty, sexy, exasperating, confusing, frustrating, intense, and tender. Sincntinue to unfold/be revealed and then, ultimately, be resolved. However, if you're looking for the espionage or "out there", darker portion of romantic suspense, this book may not be for you as that's not where the anticipation comes from. Without giving too much away . . . Zoe Santangelo has a PhD in geology (specializing in hydrogeology) that has come to the small town of Paradise, Idaho to start her journey to becoming a tenured professor at one of the predominant research universities in the field. Like many others with similar aspirations, Zoe starts at the bottom of ladder at a smaller institution, eager to work her way up. She loves her field, teaching at the university, and working with students but knows that she'll be moving on as soon as she can. Cal Jackson is a former NFL football player who has come home to run the family farm after his career is ended by an injury. He loves what he does, his family and the town but is possibly looking for more as well. The two meet and interact as a result of their relationship to the university. The story chronicles their struggles, both individually and as a couple, as well as a campus situation that has everyone concerned for the safety of students and Dr. Santangelo. Both characters have their own issues that results in sort of power struggle that they need to work through that ultimately affect their relationship. The pair are very likable and believable. Zoe is highly intelligent yet down to earth, and very independent, yet unsure of herself. Cal is self-assured, a bit of a control freak and almost cocky--but in a way that endears him to the reader. Their interactions run the gamut of witty, sexy, exasperating, confusing, frustrating, intense, and tender. Since this is also a romance, it doesn't hurt that things get a bit steamy occasionally. Overall, there is just the right balance the romance and suspense. Don't expect a wimpy heroine that needs rescuing--that's what gets Cal into trouble.

The performance? Sends a great story right into the stratosphere! I wasn't too sure of how I was going to like a male and female narrator interacting within same chapter. (I love Kristen Proby's "With Me" series that has a male and female narrator but they trade chapters because that's how the books are laid out--male vs. female perspective.) I have to say the narration TOTALLY WORKED and enhanced the performance. Natalie Ross was new to me and she does an outstanding job of getting Zoe "right". Tone, pace, inflection and emotion for each segment are spot on and really bring Zoe to life. Phil Gigante knocked it totally out of the park with Cal. He gets the "good ol' boy" persona right while making him real (as well as swoonworthy). Combined, the dual narration really works in all the different situations and brings out the emotions for each section. Can't wait for Hold Me Close to be released in print and audio. It'll be a great story and if it's narrated like Carry Me Home, it's already a winner.

I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. I was not compensated for my review, and I was not required to write a positive review. The opinion expressed here is my own.

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7 people found this helpful

Bad book.. Super narration..

Any additional comments?

I have to say that the first 50 or 60 pages were pretty damn boring and I was tempted to stop reading but I decided to push forward to see what was going to happen, wanted to see who the stalker was.

Another thing that really bothered me was that a couple reviewers mentioned the “hot sex.” What they neglected to tell you was that there was nothing that led up to it, except for about two or three innuendos on Cal’s part, over a period of time. There was no desire, no lust, no thoughts of wanting, nothing. They didn’t even kiss until page 216. So, as far as I’m concerned, that doesn’t make for hot sex. Hot sex starts at the first meeting with thoughts and desire and continues until they finally get at it. What really happened sounds like a publisher who wanted sex in the book so the author just threw in a few pages again and again during the last hundred or so pages.

There was so much going on AND not going on with Cal and Zoe. So much dragging it out. This could have been a 250 page book and it might have been good but, as it was, it was just too long. It was about a stalker but the stalker wasn’t in it near enough. I like romance/suspense but this was just too much romance that wasn’t really a romance, rather sex that wasn’t even interesting. Anyway, they had sex, with nothing leading up to it, at her house, then more boring stuff, then sex in her office. Now, I like dialogue in my books but he just kept talking about what he would do to her, just page after page after page of boring sex talk. Get to the story, already.

And Zoe’s father was really cray-cray. Geez, he wanted her to freeze her eggs so she could keep working and get somewhere in her career? Really? And she didn’t have the balls to ask him if he was out of his freaking mind? She had to listen to that kind of crap because she needed to borrow $300. When it came to her father she had no backbone whatsoever.

I did loved his brother Luke, his and Cal’s banter was amazing and funny. And I liked Deke a lot, too. I liked his Mom and Dad, Raylene and Stan. And I absolutely hated his cousin Greg, what a jerk. And I was only a little surprised at who the stalker/rapist was. Although he never really raped anyone cuz the girls kept beating the hell out of him or scaring him off with a shotgun.

As to the narration: I have to tell you that I think this new way of two narrators working together is just awesome. It's like they're having a conversation instead of first one reading a chapter or two then the other taking over. I mean, it's simply wonderful. And Phil Gigante and Natalie Ross are two of my favorite narrators, which made it even better. I think if it hadn't been for their narration I would have given up on this book instead of finishing it.

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7 people found this helpful

Favorite Narrators...Great Story

Phil Gigante and Natalie Ross. The Best! Excellent production values. Sweet and engaging story. Worth the credit...worth full price! All this and a big, ugly dog.

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7 people found this helpful

Great Romantic Suspense

I enjoyed this book. It is a definitely change from Rosalind James’ usual stories. I have read all of her Escape to New Zealand series and loved them. This book was different. What I love about Ms. James’ writing is that it is always fresh. She doesn’t get stuck reusing the same phrases over and over again.

I like that this audiobook had a male and female narrator which makes the story much nicer to listen to. She has created unique characters. Her male lead, Cal, is the guy most women want, kind, loving, masculinity that won’t quit. The narrator did a wonderful job with his voice. The female lead, Zoe, is a little less likeable to me but still the story worked.

This book was a romantic suspense –and she blended the two very well. I am looking forward to more in this series.

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6 people found this helpful

Not up to the standard of the New Zealand series

I really expected/wanted Rosalind James' "Paradise, Idaho" series to be as well written and entertaining as her "Escape to New Zealand" series, but I was sadly disappointed. The effort to interject a suspenseful, life and death drama into the novel may have been the element that resulted in characters with less richness and complexity, but I am afraid that the narration is what made the listening experience disappointing.

The characters in the NZ novels where deep, rich and compelling. The listener learned about each person's values and motivations. They became able to anticipate each character's reaction to each new element of the story. Several characters in each novel were self-possessed enough to speak directly and to be up front with their feelings. The novels were refreshing in that they did not rely on game playing and emotional dishonesty to sabotage romantic relationships and create drama. That in itself kept the stories moving and allowed the author to get to what really mattered.

In Paradise, Idaho - Zoe is anything but emotionally honest. Her urban habit of seeing danger in every stranger keeps her from opening herself up to any new friendships or human connections. And her habitat of guarding her true feelings from her parents foreshadows her inclination to withhold her real self and keeps her from being truly honest or up front with anyone, even with herself.

Now to narration. It is not fair to compare Natalie Ross to Clair Bocking because Clair Bocking has no equal. It is not only that Bocking can create a complete ensemble of distinctly different character voices of all ages and all genders, she also reads the story as if they are her words coming spontaneously out of her mouth in the moment that the action and/or conversation is taking place. Natalie Ross' narration is less "in the moment." Somehow she is not as engaged in the story - so it is hard for the listener to care as much about the outcomes.

Phil Gigante, however, is successful with the male characters. Cal is quite compelling and Luke seems quite fun. Gigante's reading is "in the moment" and draws the listener in, but that is unfortunately not enough to save the production.

I will listen to the second book, because I am really interested in Luke and I want to change my opinion about this series.

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5 people found this helpful