Put me out of my misery!

Would you try another book from Gregg Olsen and/or Kathleen Godwin?

Yes, I would read another Gregg Olsen book even though he tends to write too much, repeat, and generally tell the temperature of the puddles out front. He really needs to scale down his books. Being paid, like a lawyer, for each word?

Never, ever Kathleen Godwin. She reads with such speed and never-changing monotone, hat I kept adjusting to"slow speed." The pace was then much better the words got slurred. Never again.

Is there someone out there with the job of screening narrators?

What was most disappointing about Gregg Olsen’s story?

Too lengthy. Lots of useless details before the actual story starts. I gave up and erased the annoying "noise."

Would you be willing to try another one of Kathleen Godwin’s performances?

Never.

If you could play editor, what scene or scenes would you have cut from If Loving You Is Wrong?

Probably the first third of the book. It was unnecessary and boring. I knew the basic story and kept wondering if I had the wrong book. I'd go back and read the description and had to convince myself that I had the right story.

Any additional comments?

Nope. Don't recommend.

7 people found this helpful

Love Everlasting? I think not.

With the recent announcement of the breakdown of Mary Kay and Vili's marriage I decided to read Gregg Olsen's version of the original story. Out of all the crime writers I do feel that Gregg Olsen does give us the facts with less bias. And let us not get wrapped up with the fact that it was a CRIME and not some sweet romance.

Gregg Olsen gives us the story from day one. I found it a little convoluted however as his timeline skips from one decade then goes into a retrospective and back again. Can get a little confusing but that is what your fast forward and rewind is for I suppose.

Must admit that I did enjoy this book and Kathleen Godwin gave a great performance. Her gentle voice did, however lull me into feeling sorry for Mary Kay in so much that on a couple of occasions I had to tell myself to 'get a grip' and remind myself that Mary Kay was the perpetrator of a major crime!

An enjoyable read regardless of it's minor faults.

3 people found this helpful

Seriously Disappointing

What disappointed you about If Loving You Is Wrong?

I've never written a review of a book I did not love before. It is my position that on the whole, I can't play football, so I don't judge the players. I can't write a good story, so the same rule applies. This being said, from the title and the description it could be supposed that this book would give perhaps an insight into the minds of the two individuals most involved. At very least interviews of the players, something. This book reads like the most boring fiction novel I have ever encountered. I'm 7.5 hours in and I expect I will only be listening until this review is completed. At 7.5 hours we have not yet heard anything more than Mary Kay is a disorganized, lousy house keeper, her children loved her, and her husband may have been, but might not have been abusive. I think it took me a full 45 seconds to summarize that here. Why it took Olsen 7.5 hours to say I can't begin to guess.

What was most disappointing about Gregg Olsen’s story?

My biggest reason for indulging in true crime novels is to get insight into the psychology involved in atypical behaviors. This was not to be found here. I would have probably found more reading the news clippings of the offense.

How did the narrator detract from the book?

I can hardly blame the narrator. She sounds disinterested, but then, the material didn't help.

What reaction did this book spark in you? Anger, sadness, disappointment?

None. I had no reaction to any of the characters. Olsen turns them into nameless, faceless individuals with no relatable characteristics.

Any additional comments?

This is my second Gregg Olsen book. The first one I purchased was Abandoned Prayers. When I finish this review I believe I will go remove other's of his from my wish list.

3 people found this helpful

redundant

struggled to finish this book. Too many chapters made the story redundant. Skipping timeline made it hard to keep up. Ending was cut super short and awkward.

1 person found this helpful

Worst book I have read

The narrator was fine, however thr story never peaked.
Truly a waste of time and money.
I have read books from this author before and enjoyed them, but this was disappointing.

1 person found this helpful

Love Gregg Olsen but not the narrator

I'm a huge fan of Gregg Olsen..that said, the voice and performance of the narrator can ruin it for me : (

1 person found this helpful

Amazing Story

highly recommended lots of life lessons.....
well researched....
interesting to see how everything unfolded and where everyone wanted up at

1 person found this helpful

101 excuses for a pedophile!

The author was extremely sympathetic toward the pedophile subject/protaganist. He hould have done more "follow up" to update the book. Copyright is 1999; one update in 2004. Current audio production copyright 2013.

1 person found this helpful

If loving you is wrong

I read this book years ago and could not wait to listen to it (again) when it became available on audio! This is such a fascinating and crazy story, I just loved it and would highly recommend to anyone interested.

4 people found this helpful

I give this book 3 stars for performance and story

I feal the boy was to young and it was wrong the boy was not even 16 teen and even a boy at 16 is like a boy at 12 or 14 and a boy at 12 or 14 is like a boy at 10 there's no way a boy at that age is matured to the point where he knows what he's getting into. just because a kid can conceive a baby at that age does not mean he's mentally ready for that he's still growing physically and mentally so there's no way that a boy at that age will know exactly what he wants or what he will want later on. women are more mature than men so you can only imagine the difference in the mind and the body they both were when I was 16 years old guys at 16 acted like babies I couldn't even relate to them that's how kiddish they were and a grown woman can actually look at a boy younger than 16 and say he's a man she's out of her mind. I believe that they both had feelings for each other but there's no possible way that a boy at that age will be thinking the same when he's a grown adult I'm a grown woman and still learning things about myself . I really do believe they have feelings for each other but that does not mean you go for it people can have attraction towards each other some people could be so sexually attracted to one another but that doesn't mean because you feel that way you should all the time go for that some things are better left unsaid and some things are better left as a fantasy even though I really think it's disturbing that a grown woman would fantasize about a little boy but I feel she should have kept those feelings to herself and not have done anything about it until he was old enough to realize what he wanted. he has not even lived life yet so many things he hasn't even done she let her emotions take over her brain and this is the consequence of it I'm not here to judge or point fingers but she knows deep down inside what she did was wrong she could have waited a couple of more years if she really thinks that they were meant to be together . legally he could not even take care of himself he could not lease his own apartment buy a car even get a job I don't know how she thought that it would be right for a kid to raise a kid I really think that she put a lot of fantasy and dreams in her head so much that she believed what she wanted to even though she knew it was wrong if they wind up together years later and he's a grown man and they wind up getting married and having more kids then this was a really weird case and I'm happy for them as adults if that does happen but I would not recommend for any woman to be with a little kid the way she did if you really love someone like you say you do yo wait a couple more years to see if it's meant to be and if you can't do that then you're not meant to be with them anyway.