Cute, short romance between an entrepreneur and the call center operator she is assigned to help fix the website that was messed up from being designeCute, short romance between an entrepreneur and the call center operator she is assigned to help fix the website that was messed up from being designed on a Squarespace-like platform.
As happens in (too) many romances, there's a misunderstanding between the characters regarding their current relationship status. Even more unconvincingly than usual, it's stretched out for a good portion of the story--despite the two having several different ways to communicate with each other--and it's cleared up in a rushed few sentences at the end. There's a suspense element, and a secret one of the characters is keeping, that are handled similarly.
Light themes such as how difficult it can be for an adult child to move out of their parents' shadows, and the tentative nature of building a relationship exclusively through the internet, add a teeny bit of heft, but this really is insubstantial fluff, well-situated as a bite-sized distraction, since it's about five hours long at 1.0x.
I liked Luci Christian's performance as Vera. She did well at portraying a character with a bubbly, chatty personality who also has some family and career situations to deal with. Neil Hellegers as Cal was somewhat less compelling, but his coming across as a rather bland, stodgy, "good listener" type character made him a decent contrast or counterpart for Vera.
Like a lot of Audible originals, it was worth a listen-through, but not something I'll include in my "permanent" audio collection....more
Yui, like all the humans of her world, has lived in the shadow of a recurring cycle of battle between the forces of the Demon King, and The Hero, who,Yui, like all the humans of her world, has lived in the shadow of a recurring cycle of battle between the forces of the Demon King, and The Hero, who, once a century, defeats the king to start the cycle anew. Early in the present century, the king's forces are making unusually fast headway in their conquest of the world, and Yui decides to take matters into her own hands and take on the role of The Hero, even though she doesn't have the character class that has historically accompanied it.
I DNF-ed this Audible Original a few months ago. A story with a single instance of breaking the fourth wall will make me roll my eyes and hope the author will move on to something else. This story was entirely that. There's a certain line where "satire" becomes "the exact same thing that is supposedly being satirized," and Ten Steps absolutely crosses it.
At heart it's an alt-universe fanfiction of the Legend of Zelda video games, featuring recurring motifs from that series such as: elemental temples; a disguised princess (named Fitzgerald here, har har); references to Link's iconic bow, boomerang, hookshot, hero's sword, etc.; not to mention the recurrent rise and fall of Ganon. Dragon Quest and Final Fantasy IV--and, I'm sure, other Japanese video games that I'm less familiar with--get winking references as well.
In any case, I'm going through some stuff right now, and fun, undemanding, predictable material like this seems to be the perfect thing to keep my mind off it for a little while. (there's only so much YouTube or twitch.tv I can gorge on.) Yui's rules-bending on her journey to the Demon King's lair is inventive and amusing, and the pacing is brisk and engaging, a couple of level-grinding sessions aside. Worth a few hours, if you're in a mood to pick up what it's putting down....more
This is, apparently, a prequel to a TV show, narrated by one of the show's stars. I haven't seen the show, so my responses are from that point of viewThis is, apparently, a prequel to a TV show, narrated by one of the show's stars. I haven't seen the show, so my responses are from that point of view.
I liked the writing style, which had some nice phrasing for something that I had imagined would be a throwaway tie-in. The setting feels like a WWII analog: occupying forces, potentially untrustworthy allies, and a beleaguered race in danger of exile or extinction. An analog, I think with irony, that wouldn't take a lot of research to write stories in, and would be able to soften the more horrific aspects of our own history. It does seem like the faerie mythology was given a good amount of attention. Unfortunately, that aspect feels more like window dressing than anything essential to the story.
The central character is a rather self-centered faerie named Tourmaline who starts off as an undergrad, and becomes a poet laureate before age 30. (Sure.) She and her college friends are salon-attending snobs.
Tourmaline's relationship with new girl Vignette, a faerie from the provinces, is poisoned by both herself, and her shitty "friends." The relationship takes up only about half of this very short production, and feels rushed. I didn't feel the love between these two at all. (view spoiler)[It doesn't end like a romance, which was somewhat of a relief. I wouldn't expect even a HFN with these two. (hide spoiler)]
The story ends with an enemy army invading the city Tourmaline lives in. Many of the faerie are killed, and many become refugees, including Vignette and Tourmaline. I am mildly interested in where the story goes from here--it seems ripe for a tale about scrappy rebellion against a terrible, oppressive force--so this audio did its job. :)...more
Cute, funny, predictable and almost identical to Even Tree Nymphs Get the Blues. It might have made a stronger impression if we hadn't listened to twoCute, funny, predictable and almost identical to Even Tree Nymphs Get the Blues. It might have made a stronger impression if we hadn't listened to two things by the same author in a row. This one had more of what I expect from PNR, i.e. death and explicit sex. ("Tree Nymphs" was more of a cozy.)...more
A sweet, funny UF about a wood nymph named Ingrid who retreats to a small town in Louisiana to start a creamery and ice cream shop. The UF and PNR I'vA sweet, funny UF about a wood nymph named Ingrid who retreats to a small town in Louisiana to start a creamery and ice cream shop. The UF and PNR I've read have had a decent amount of violence and death and/or sex, but this one has none of that. Ingrid even has female friends to have "girls' nights" with. What is this?! The worst thing that happens is a misunderstanding between Ingrid and Rob, and that's cleared up without a lot of heartbreak. A cozy story all around.
My partner and I listened to this on a car trip, and he immediately asked me to get How to Date Your Dragon after we were done with this one. Audible was smart to offer this one for free!...more
Loading...
