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REVIEW OF AUDIOBOOK DNF'd; MAY 7, 2024
Joel Froomkin

I lasted 20 hours of this 24 hrs and 6 mins audiobook. I did go in psyching myself to try and go the distance and I can say I was happy with myself for the first ten hours. After that, however, fatigue set in because there wasn't anything to stir my senses and keep them engaged. No tension, no suspense. The romance was bland, too. Gideon was nice - IIRC all the author's male protagonists are nice guys - and Daisy was okay. She didn't do anything to irk me. What I was dissatisfied with was the lack of development. It was as if Rose's only objective was to stretch the book out to over 20 hours, confident that her diehard fans would love it.

By the time I hit the 20-hour mark I decided I couldn't waste anymore time. I no longer cared about the good guys apprehending the killer. The only thing I can say I have some interest in is how the whole killer-and-Sydney thread plays out. Does he kill her in the end?

Narration-wise, I have come to enjoy Joel Leslie, here performing as Joel Froomkin. Perhaps it's because my audiobook player has a feature to lower the pitch of the voices so Joel sounded much more masculine, plus his cadence suited the story. The one he uses when narrating gay MM romances makes him sound effeminate. So while some may think the choice of narrator is wrong, I was surprised to find myself enjoying it. Actually, the only thing I enjoyed about this book.

One more thing: those frequent datelines. I don't know about other listeners but I find them tedious and pointless because I can't remember what day and time it was by the time Rose slips another one in. I far prefer if she just told me, " the next day..." or "later that evening". But the author loves these datelines so I'm stuck with them as long as I decide to pick up one of her books, which isn't often.