Great book but terrible narration..

I absolutely love Ms. Leigh’s murder mysteries and I hate when they end. I can never figure out who the bad guy is until the hero or heroine does, very near the end of the book. I like not being able to figure out who-dunnit early in the book.

Another thing I really, really like is the romance is without angst or misunderstandings. That’s awesome. I hate when a 300 to 400 page book is just full of that crap and nothing to go with it. This one was great in not having that kind of nonsense.

While Mac and Stella fell in love there was all kinds of mystery and murder going on. And they were a great twosome; Stella being a cop and Mac being trained by his insane father in the art of warfare. Geez, what he and his brothers and sister went through as children was totally crazy: their father throwing his paralyzed self into the pool and making Mac save him from drowning, AND Mac was 11 years old. Who does that? Ms. Leigh gave you more than the murderer to hate.

It was very nice that Grant, Ellie, Brody and Hannah were in this book. It’s always nice seeing old friends. I liked Lance, too, but he was kind of messed up. He did have enough smarts to quit the force when he realized it. And, Captain Horner was just an ass. All he cared about was how he looked on TV during a press conference. I didn’t like him at all.

There wasn’t really any sexual tension in this book but there was some nicely written sex. There was swearing and the F-bomb was released 24 times.

As to the narrator: Nothing personal but Ms. Dukehart sucks. She sucked on the and second book but I thought she’s do better on this one. I mean, I can see a narrator being lousy years ago, when all that was required was for someone to read a book. BUT with all the complaints about a female reader not trying to make their voice manly or reading like a robot, whatever, you’d think someone would get better. No so, for Ms. Dukehart. She still thinks that all she has to do is read the book. So, I’m done with Melinda Leigh’s books unless or until she finds a better narrator. If this is the best she can do when it comes to a narrator then I’ll find someone else to listen to. If the book says he spoke in a deep sexy voice and he actually sounds like a girl, then something is definitely wrong, and the hero, Mac, sounded just like a girl through the whole book. The best Ms. Dukehart did was make two old women sound like two old women. I guess she thought that was good enough.

7 people found this helpful

Great book under $8

Seconds to Live continues the story of the Barrett family, this time letting us into the life of the families youngest son, Mac. Mac thinks of himself as the black sheep of the family, mistakes made in his teen years have left him feeling he is a disappointment to his siblings. He has been avoiding his home town and trying in his own way to make up for his perceived mistakes. Mac returns home to be with his dying father and along with Stella Dane, a homicide detective he has history with, becomes embroiled in the search for a killer.
This was a well written and enjoyable story, but I did find it slightly more predictable than the authors other novels.
The book had very likable characters and the development of the romance between Mac and Stella was appealing but rather rapid in its professions of love., but then again they did have a past history. I really enjoyed the layers of Mac's personality and the complexity of his relationship with his siblings. Overall the story-line was an entertaining read with enough twists and intrigue to keep you hooked.

Cris Dukehart was very good with the delivery of the syory

14 people found this helpful

Scarlet Falls, Book 3

I've reviewed the two prior novels in the series. The protagonists are Stella Dane (cop and younger sister of Morgan Dane who has her own Melinda Leigh series) and DEA agent Mac Barrett who makes his first appearance. SECONDS TO LIVE is an excellent serial killer suspense mystery with very strong elements of a romance novel. Narration by Cris Dukehart is adequate.

8 people found this helpful

Horrid narrator--she will drive u insane

Monotone, no inflection, made the love scenes seem like 2 computers were going at it. Love this author but the narrator ruined it.

5 people found this helpful

Mac and Stella's story

A very interesting beginning to Mac and Stella's story with Mac having secrets that come to light. Family ties are what saves Mac when he tries to help Stella with her case.

1 person found this helpful

Scary Bad Guy, Brave Good Guys, & 1 Tough ladycop

Excellent characters and great location. The bad guy is really bad, although Leigh is good at slight of hand hiding the killer. As always, the hero and love interest is steaming, his love of detective heroine lady cop steamy, and all things are timed to a "T."

1 person found this helpful

Love the series

I love the twists and the great character development... and the audio is great and easy to understand

1 person found this helpful

Corny

The writing felt corny and cheap. The story was predictable. Hard to finish. I didn't care about these characters.

1 person found this helpful

Read this, don't listen

I'm not sure why other reviewers gave this narrator such high remarks - she's terrible. Her very audible intake of breath after each phrase or sentence makes everything she's saying sound either like a question, or like she just plain doesn't get the scene and situation. The series is great, but definitely a to-be-read-series, not a to-be-heard-series.

3 people found this helpful

Great series

I really enjoyed this series. This one may have been my favorite! I am enjoying all of these books by this new to me author!