Audiobook Review | “Heartborn: No.1 of Heartborn (series)” by Terry Maggert, narrated by Julia Whelan

Posted Tuesday, 7 February, 2017 by jorielov , , , 0 Comments

Audiobook Review Badge made by Jorie in Canva.

Acquired Digital Audiobook by: I am a new blog tour hostess with Audiobookworm Promotions wherein I have the opportunity to receive audiobooks for review or adoption (reviews outside of organised blog tours) and host guest features on behalf of authors and narrators alike. I started hosting for Audiobookworm Promotions at the end of [2016] during “The Cryptic Lines” tour wherein I became quite happily surprised how much I am now keen on listening to books in lieu of reading them in print. My journey into audiobooks was prompted by a return of my chronic migraines wherein I want to offset my readings with listening to the audio versions.

I received a complimentary audiobook copy of “Heartborn” via the publicist at Audiobookworm Promotions (of whom was working directly with the author Terry Maggert) in exchange for an honest review. The difference with this complimentary copy I received is I had a 90 day window to listen and review the book whilst given a soft deadline where I could post my ruminative thoughts at an hour which worked for me on the day the review was due; this differs from a blog tour which has a more set schedule of posting. The audiobooks are offered to ‘adopt’ for review consideration and are given to readers to gauge their opinions, impressions and insight into how the audiobook is resonating with listeners. I did not receive compensation for my opinions or thoughts shared herein.

NOTE: I had fully intended to listen to Heartborn somewhere between mid-to-late December and mid-to-late January; both months proved to be quite intense, most of which I recently blogged about on my latest #StoriesOfJorie. I had conceived this idea to host a live-reading tweet fest whilst listening to the novel itself. I decided despite the chaos of my connectivity and tech issues, I could still do this on the day my review is due to post, as blessedly I have an open ‘deadline’ for the day. Ergo, whilst I coloured inside “Wonders of Mandalas” by Leisure Arts I happily tweeted out my first impressions of Heartborn! Except part of my impressions were cut-off abruptly during my ‘intermission’ for lunch as something unexpected arose (re: my Dad) and I had to step away for a few hours. I resumed two hours ahead of posting my review.

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What initially prompted me to listen to Heartborn & why I was tentatively unsure about it’s scope:

Around the time “Heartborn” was being marketed and released, I believe is when the author Mr Maggert originally found me via Twitter. I vaguely remember at the time clicking through his feeds and scouting out his website (of which has since been revamped by Jess @ The Audiobookworm; she did such a lovely job, as she designs inasmuch as she works in book publicity) and finding his stories were quite intriguing to me. They had the kind of originality I love to seek out with a curiously well-conceived world for which characters can reside and readers can thrive whilst visiting them. I was questioning the content of the stories – were they just outside where I could take darker Fantasy and harder core Upper YA? Were they instead somewhere on the bridge between where I regularly reside and a few paces outside my comfort zone?!

Since I couldn’t quite make up my mind on where I would ‘fit’ in his writerly style, I put it off for another day to decide and somewhere along that period of indecision, I believe he unfollowed me, but I wasn’t deterred. It simply wasn’t the right time for me to sort out ‘Heartborn’ and Mr Magget. This is why I try to get into the frequent habit of adding ‘authors who find me’ on  Twitter to a special folder earmarked as such, so I can have a longer period of time to vet their writerly styles, seek out their releases and get a proper understanding for what they are publishing. Life moves at such a fast clip at times, sometimes when someone finds you, it’s simply the wrong hour for you to discover them. This doesn’t mean your uninterested, its just bad timing.

Hence why when a few months later Jess (The Audiobookworm) approached me to be a reviewer of audiobooks through her touring company, I jumped at the chance! I didn’t want more authors who had audio releases to ‘slip’ past me, even if I had to turn down a few to re-discover lateron, at least I could keep a running list of authors I was keen on ‘listening’ too or reading in ‘print’. Uniquely enough, ‘Heartborn’ went on tour but as I was still on the fence about my thoughts on the story and how the story would resonate with me – I yielded to wait. I was pleasantly surprised when this audio went up for adoption and thereby, I asked some questions about the programme, esp in regards to ‘trying stories’ we’re uncertain if we’ll love or find to be neutral-positive or perhaps even neutral-negative as I write the whole gambit of a reader’s perspective on Jorie Loves A Story; not just focusing on the books which are my cuppa!

Having a ‘greenlight’, I was ready to tuck inside this story after having read another reader’s insightful review as she gave a hearty depth into why she loved the story and why the story resonated with her on a personal level. She gave a well-rounded opine and as these are the reviews I personally seek to write myself, it is one I personally appreciate in finding in the larger community of book world. You can read her review here.

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Audiobook Review | “Heartborn: No.1 of Heartborn (series)” by Terry Maggert, narrated by Julia WhelanHeartborn

Her guardian angel was pushed.

Keiron was never meant to be anything other than a hero. Born high above in a place of war and deception, he is Heartborn, a being of purity and goodness in a place where violence and deceit are just around every corner.

His disappearance will spark a war he cannot see, for Keiron has pierced the light of days to save a girl he has never met, for reasons he cannot understand. Livvy Foster is seventeen, brave, and broken. With half a heart, she bears the scars of a lifetime of pain and little hope of survival.

Until Keiron arrives.

In the middle of a brewing war and Livvy’s failing heart, Keiron will risk everything for Livvy, because a Heartborn’s life can only end in one way: Sacrifice.

Fall with Livvy and Keiron as they seek the truth about her heart, and his power, and what it means to love someone who will give their very life to save you.


Places to find the book:

Add to LibraryThing

on 3rd October, 2016

Length: 6 hours and 24 minutes

The second novel of the Heartborn series publishes in *March, 2017!* Titled: Moondiver!

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About Terry Maggert

Terry Maggert

Left-handed. Father of an apparent nudist. Husband to a half-Norwegian. Herder of cats and dogs. Lover of pie. I write books. I've had an unhealthy fascination with dragons since the age of-- well, for a while. Native Floridian. Current Tennessean. Location subject to change based on insurrection, upheaval, or availability of coffee. Nine books and counting, with no end in sight. You've been warned.

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angels & the backstory of Hearborn:

There is such an enriched history inside Heartborn’s world – you can sense it before it’s described and disclosed. Part of the allure of knowing the groundwork of how this world exists and runs was a bit lost through the narration as this was an issue I had throughout the novel: I connected with the characters but I did not connect with the narrator inasmuch as I would have preferred. This is a world closely tied to our own yet stands outside our reach unless there are the daring few who brave to bend time and the plausible circumstances to unite their kind with the humans they watch over.

There is a disproportionate disconnect by Keiron’s species to understand humanity; they seem to feel of themselves being rather elite and uniquely ‘higher bourne’ than their human counterparts, which leads of course to issues in regards to tolerance, acceptance and compassionate diplomacy. Keiron himself is a step outside of his race because he doesn’t view humans in a negative way but rather appreciates them with high respect. The two varying perspectives are almost eclipsed into a dual between the brothers as the story begins. In some ways, I think this might have foreshadowed by Keiron’s brother attacked him and why he took away from Keiron the one part of his being which made him Heartborn.

Keiron is a fallen angel to Earth, but his kind of angelic kin are not the guardians of known realms but rather a warrior race of angels who are living in a hierarchy of a society based on caste, family and bloodline. Oversight is by a council  whose affairs of state are more attune to their own wants and needs rather than the greater good of the whole is one main issue with Keiron’s kin. Exiled be as it were by his brother and forced to chose a fate of sacrifice or unfulfilled destiny, his is not a path for the weak of mind, heart or soul.

House Windhook:

Is a house of supreme importance in the world set around the Heartborne – of whom are one of four distinct species of people who live in this universe – each of whom are gifted with different attributes and designations of purpose. The Windbourne, Cloudbourne and Lightbourne are equally sufficient and are as uniquely different to their Heartbourne brotherhood as only the Heartbourne as given the chance to have the potential to step outside the tradition of their culture and tie together a tradition of honour and duty not given received by everyone else.

In this uniqueness, they are highly coveted and misunderstood; sanctioned and removed from their environs, those in their individual ‘houses’ (read: families) breed a jealousy of indifference to the point of terror, misguided anger and injustice. The saddness of these actions is that they are missing the beauty in front of them and of those bourne to a higher calling. They seek to redeem their actions in a self-justified manner of acceptance but there are those who see the truth even if such a truth is being marginalised from sight.

It is within the house of Windhook, Keiron hails and it is his parents who have a distinctive strength (and of power) to overcome the injustices befallen their son. They seek out those who like Keiron are given a plight of fate not becoming of their nature and of a harrowing evil which seeks to destroy what it does not yet understand. One of the interesting layers of their world is their use of Indigenous art techniques woven into clothes or armour; a distinction of primitive worlds set to a different standard of evolution in technology and commerce. They pride themselves in the ability to reuse what is naturally occurring in their ecosystem with a repurposeful approach of creating what they need in their everyday lives with limited waste. In this, Maggert’s trademark style for etching in conservation and preservation of natural resources remains intact.

my review of heartborn:

We are introduced to two brothers, separated by a year in age but a chasm of perspective as one is clearly more involved with his awareness of what is happening around them. In the very opening of Chapter One ‘moon divers’ are mentioned and coincidentally enough, this is the title of the sequel! This tipped my mind towards listening a bit more intuitively – there is a larger scope of the world Maggert has built within this dimension stemming out and away from the mere friction between two brothers; it was a common discourse, truly, as siblings have the tendency to disagree or at the very least, find themselves rankled if one outshines the other. In this case, it would appear one brother has a layer of purity within them to see things which are hidden from the other brother; to such a degree, it is almost as if Keiron’s brother cannot accept his own fate.

The sheer force of betrayal and brutal attack on Keiron by his brother was alarmingly frightful – to slay you own brother’s wings and ‘push’ him into free falling through time to prove a point only his insidious mind would entertain was when Maggert proved that sometimes there is more between worlds than we could ever imagine! This heartless attack and deformation of a brother reminded me of what happened to Maleficent (inside the film); as she too, lost her wings in a brutal attack on her person. Maggert holds back the gore here and highlights the personal angst of being separated from one’s wings on the same caliber as the film; for which I am thankful.

When we are first introduced to Keiron’s parents, I felt an instant liking towards them; they are the old souls you would expect to find inside a world such as this where they take outcasts and kindred souls into their wings to enfold them in security and protection. Theirs is a family of high importance but of whom chose to  live with a humbled grace and a grit of strength to seek justice out of the follies of those who wish to do only harm to the innocent. They have a great well of reserve for resources including an incredibly outfitted ‘house’ and an airship which gave me a warm pause of appreciation to see a bit of Steampunk merge into this Dark Fantasy!

We shift focus from Keiron to focus on his ‘heartkin’ Livvy of  whom he is bonded too, and yet, is not introduced too until he falls to her world. Livvy is introduced as a young girl (of seventeen) dealing with a heart condition which can only be helped by an organ donation and major surgery. She has issues drawing regular breath and just to function in her role at the library is a personal testament of faith and a fortitude of spirit to succeed even if the physicality of life is a bit hard on her spirit. She has a fond appreciation for reading and for books; but also has inside her an innate protective layer for people of whom are owning their own truth by living their lives through the pursuit of knowledge or intellectual curiosities they can seek at the public library. She comes to grow invested in the lives of the regular patrons – each of whom – has their own particular quirks and research topics of interest – all of whom were introduced to a forthright bloke named Dozer.

Dozer was bold and em-brazened to declare them ‘besties’ even before they knew each other properly; he took her as his charge of a person who needed guidance and a kind shoulder to lean on. Dozer knew the patrons and the lay of the land so to speak, and through their friendship, Livvy grew more bold in her own self-confidence. He distracted her mind from her medical condition and allowed her the freedom to simply ‘live a bit’ outside the shadow of doubts regarding her longevity. He simply wanted her to breathe in a bit of life and to effectively draw a steady interest in others if only to help her understand the layers of humanity and the imprint of how each person who crosses our paths can leave an impression. Impressions which may not even be understood at first but are a part of the greater dynamic of our experiences.

Kressa is an interesting sub-character in the realm of Keiron’s parents – a servant to the council and a messenger of ill-fated news, Kressa’s life was not one to envy as hers was a difficult one to accept once it’s fuller contents were known. Her kind were not as honourable as Keiron’s but she had respect for her own heritage even if in their manner, she was not only exiled but punished for things out of her control. She was hardened a bit by her circumstances, but by being around Keiron’s parents – to be touched by their empathy and their compassionate kindness, she started to soften to the idea of a life outside her suggested fate. They formed such a strong bond, their paths conjoined to seek a solution out of a decree with a limited window of time to overturn. This came to a boiling degree of importance whilst overshadowing the fate of Keiron as whilst he was on Earth, his world was spinning closer to a time of war and a torn unity amongst his people who no longer could agree even on the smallest levels of civility.

Livvy’s old soul understanding of heart disease and of her purpose in life was grounded through her medical history. She had to grow older faster than her peers but she also had learning lessons to endeavour to embrace whilst she lived as ordinary of a life as she could muster. Her realistic condition is etched out by Maggert ‘s sensitivity and understanding for her condition, whilst honouring her by giving her a layer of strength not everyone can possess with her disease.  She found renewed courage in stories – as the stories within books emboldened her against the raging war she was fighting against the fragility of her body. This was one of the arching undertones of guiding narrative where Maggert seeks to inspire his readers to find the hidden messages he’s living behind through the teaching power of realistic narrative set against a fantastical world spun out of mythology and lore.

Heartborn is a novel about the unique gift children give their parents and how the symbiosis relationship between parent and child is a recepter of knowledge, ancient wisdom and a telling sphere of purpose, identity and legacy. This is a story told over the arc of a world built around the simpler premise of how children renew our humanity and how humanity is renewed by the inspiration of the younger generations who each in turn, give the world new light and knowledge of things either unknown or forgotten. Children light the path towards the hope of tomorrow and re-ignite the light of days with the innocence of youth.

This is the truer poignancy of the story – even after you peel back the layers of Heartborn‘s internal core of a fantasy world spun adrift of power struggles and of civil rights being withheld. The ominous events increasingly drawing closer to  everyone involved is only one half of the novel’s strength. It’s the hidden layers which you find bursting out of the narrative and as a whole the story can be cross-illuminated through different takeaways per each reading you give it.

on the dark fantasy story-telling style of Mr maggert:

Mr Maggert has found a way to pierce his stories with an altruistic insight into a humanistic purpose of life, generosity of spirit and of the sociological behaviours of his societies. He writes with a foresight of what he wants to accomplish in each of his stories where his needle of words threads together against the strength of his characters and world-building. To seek out the small inspirations behind his worlds is simply to look towards the fuller scope of what he is trying to relate to his readers. You don’t have to look far to see what inspires his fiction or what motivates his mind to continue to seek out what can only be expressed through the dimensions of Fantasy Fiction.

He has maintained his cheeky humour in Heartborn which I found to be such a special treat in the Halfway Witchy series, including bringing into the mix a cheeky inclusive remark about cooking and the delights of food from a foodie heart’s perspective. These are part of his cardinal mix of fiction with purpose, of rounding out a story which appears to be straight-up Fantasy but in effect has a multi-layer vortex of insight into current events and the state of the biosphere which gives us a barometer of understanding how we are failing as guardians of the natural world.

There are parts of his stories which would be considered Cosy Horror – but not so much in the descriptive details but in the layering of psychological suspense. He doesn’t quite make that case known contextually but there is a strong presence of ‘suspense’ in how his stories play out. The reader isn’t always told the details the characters know themselves and thereby patience is needed to see how all the pieces fit together. He has found a way to cross-write two distinctive story arcs in Heartborn and I would contend as the series shifts forward this duality of focus might have a clever continuity to co-exist.

How Carli and Livvy are two of the same coin:

I picked up on a familiarity within Heartborn which was not of this world-buillding but rather of the story-crafting of the author; as there were moments where Livvy and Carli started to blur together. They are cut from the same cloth in many ways, as each of them have a similar history; where adversity and fierce strength walk hand in hand. Carli is singularly unique character whose voice is so very strong and familiar it was surprising for me to find part of her essence in Livvy; as I had thought the two worlds were not connected but rather completely separate.

Yet at the 5hr 30min mark (of what as leftover to listen) – I couldn’t help but notice the small nuances of what were uniting the two girls. They had the same spunky personality, which did surprise me as Livvy started off being quite introverted, shy and did not lead with her voice but was rather more observant of her surroundings and those around her until she made a new friend at the library.

However, the further I hugged into the text itself, the more I saw variables which separated Carli and Livvy; almost as if you could see the sketching of their characters directly. Perhaps it’s simply a truth that Carli inspired parts of Livvy; as when Maggert set to write Livvy’s life’s story, he heard echoes of Carli infusing into Livvy’s soul. It’s plausible because writers are never completely severed from their characters; we are each a catalyst of inspiration for where our characters and our worlds bring us into our imaginative muse. It is possible then what I saw as a  mirror image was in effect a inspiration for Livvy’s growth and the challenges she might have outside of Carli’s due to how the girls’ differ from one another.

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specifically in regards to the audiobook:

As I am relatively new to reviewing audiobooks and listening to them with a greater frequency than of the past, I am appreciative of Ms Jess providing a cursory outline of how best to articulate my listening hours on behalf of this audiobook and the others I shall be blogging about or reviewing in future. I’ve modified the suggestions to what I felt were pertinent to respond too on my own behalf as well as keeping to the questions I felt were relevant to share.

Listening Habit:

As disclosed on my first audiobook review of The Cryptic Lines (narrated by Jake Urry), I find colouring whilst I am listening to audiobooks to be a great benefit for being able to find the right catalyst of focus to soak inside the narrations.

As a bit of a New Year surprise – Mum found this wicked awesome boxed set of colouring books by Leisure Arts which happily included a box of coloured pencils, markers and a lovely enclosed pencil sharpener! (the stories I could tell you about using a rinky-dinky sharpener where everything just drops in place?) As I looked over the five new colouring books – the designs within “Wonders of Mandalas: Color Art for Everyone” is what struck a chord with me to ‘play’ with whilst listening to Hearborn!

Whilst I coloured, listened and blogged my ruminative thoughts – I was also live tweeting my readerly reactions starting with this tweet by which all the rest followed as I kept hitting the reply button to make an ‘entire thread’ of Heartborn become visible! A new Twitter innovation of continuous threading of your tweets I learnt from #booktube! You simply have to click on this tweet to ‘pop up’ the tweets threading underneath it! Any and all replies will also ‘thread’ inside the linked feed of my listening remarks!

Number of Times I’ve heard the Narrator(s):

Although this is my 3rd novel by Mr Maggert to listen too, this is the first time I’ve listened to this narrator as he used a different voice for Heartborn than he had for the Halfway Witchy series.

Regards to the Narrator’s Individual Character performances:

Livvy is distinctive past the opening chapters – where I first felt she was being a bit forced into view. As she moves into the heart of the novel itself, we start to see Livvy emerge and the narrator begins to take a backseat. Similar if you will, when an actor is first acquiring the feel of a character and if the actor is readily known to you, you do not see the character themself but the actor. It is a seasoning that comes out of time spent with said character and of embracing more of their essence the longer they are spent living inside their shoes. Livvy’s medical issues are expressed through vocalisations of her duress and her anxieties of feeling ‘left behind’ due to her limitations. The narrator also finds ways to hint towards how her ‘heart’ acts and behaves differently than others whilst never crossing that boundary line of being disrespectful. A credit to Maggert who composed those passages (true!) but a credit to the narrator to fuse the symmetry between thought, word and voice.

Dozer wasn’t quite the character I warmed too at first – mostly as I didn’t like the sound of his character’s voice. I didn’t warm to most of the men in the story at first because I felt conflicted by how they were being narrated. Yet, even despite this fact, Dozer had one of those very distinctive voices to where you ‘knew it was him’ simply by the way in which he sounded.

Livvy’s co-worker – the one with the accent? Her name eludes me – one thing I do wish audiobooks had was a ‘cast sheet’ for all the characters within the story-line. Both leading and supporting cast as it’s one thing to see how a character is spelt in print but when your listening to a story, I am finding my dyslexic mind is misunderstanding how to spell their names and to organise (at times) who they are in relation to each other. The reason she stood out to me is how she was articulated. She was one of the most well-voiced characters in the novel!

Keiron’s parents are truly my favourites – I wish I could spell their names for you – as they were creatively named but it’s how they were portrayed I felt might have even been two of the narrator’s favourites as well. Their age and their wise mannerisms were aptly visual but it’s how their soulful intuition and their will to rise above their circumstances that resonated with me the most. I even liked their familiar interplay as a married couple and how they intuitive understood each other as much as they understood others. They were two very well written and well voiced characters of distinction.

Kressa is quite the underdog in the novel – you start to root for her even before you fully understand why she behaves the way she does. She has the added advantage of being one of the catalyst to taking the story forward to where Keiron’s parents play an even greater role in the story than those of having a Heartborn in the family. Kressa’s own backstory is hard to process at first as it’s such a dire set of circumstances but it’s her internal resolve which carries you through it all and her willingness to never give up that grants the most hope towards her character finding peace at long last.

How the Novel sounded to me as it was being Read: (theatrical or narrative)

The novel was definitely narrative vs. theatrical – I took issue with the pacing of the opening bridge of chapters and of how the characters were being presented. It took more than halfway through the novel for me to resolve the narration and to find a leeway of interest into the narrator’s style but I never fully felt this was my favourite narration of the story-line. It was hard because I truly felt ‘connected’ to Heartborn but I felt so very indifferent toward the narrator. It’s similar to how you can appreciate a film but you take notice of issues in lighting, blocking (pacing), editing and sound. If all the components do not merge together in a way which feels cohesive and coherent – something will feel ‘off’ the entire time. Even if the writing is sound there are certain aspects which pull you ‘out’ and for me, it was the narrator’s approach.

Regards to Articulation & Performance of different sections of the novel:

What was most surprising to me is how rushed the first 5 or so chapters felt as the narrator barely paused for breath or what I would consider a narrator’s pause to allow the listener to hear the characters in the fullness of their essence. There is an art form to narrating stories and sometimes I find narrator’s are too inclined to rush the words to where they start to string themselves together in such a frenzy, you start to lose pieces of the story, the character’s personality and the context of those portions of narrative scope. I first found this true when I first started listening to Heather Henderson’s rendition of the Betty MacDonald memoirs but I have found it again here with Heartborn.

It was such a different take on how to narrate one of Maggert’s stories, as I was a bit spoilt on Erin Spencer’s version of Carli from the Halfway Witchy series. Right around the point where your about to enter into chapters 8 or 9, you find she’s starting to get the pace and rhythm right for Heartborn. It was nearly too late for me, as although I was getting attached to the story-line, feeling motivated to understand the characters better, what was a bit lost to me was how the narrator was presenting the novel.

For me, the articulation of this novel faltered quite a bit in certain places and started to excel in others.  A unique dance. Also, one thing that I noticed is there was a similarity to the Halfway Witchy series. I am unsure which novel was written first and which novel followed the other, but if you enter through Mr Maggert’s story-telling with the Halfway Witchy series reading at least two of them before you start Heartborn, you might pick up on a few things. Sometimes this is a good thing, when you see pieces of familiarity in the collective works of an author but as Ms Whelan was narrating, I nearly wondered – was Livvy written too closely to the heart of Carli?

Notes on the Quality of Sound & the Background Ambiance:

I didn’t find any issues with sound quality or ambiance as this was straight narration without the inclusive atmosphere of ambient special effects. The sound quality itself lends for the reader to hear the words but as foresaid I had issues with narrator dictation, pacing and the ‘feel’ of the novel in the beginning. Part of that carried through the novel but I tried to continuously overlook what I didn’t appreciate to keep rooted in the lives of the characters of whom I loved being connected too.

Preference after listening to re-Listen or pick up the book in Print?

Overall, I think I might have preferred reading this in print because I had a lot of issues listening to the story being read by the current narrator. There were moments of joy listening to her relate dialogue or a scene of a supporting or lesser important background character but when it came to articulating the lead characters, I only felt truly charmed by Livvy and Kieron’s parents. Her voices for men were slightly off from how I personally saw the men myself as I listened to their personalities and this difference in presentation vs how I imagined them was a bit ‘off’ putting to  truly feel attached to the story itself. I think if I had read the book in print, a lot of the story would not have felt rushed, forced or pushed but rather symbiotic to the core of the story.

In closing, would I seek out another Julia Whelan audiobook?

Oh dear. This is a hard question – as my first instinct is to say ‘no’. Then again, I don’t generally like to close a door on a narrator or an author; as even when I read a story by an author which isn’t my cuppa, I still reserve the hope of a new release to one day charm me to give the author a second reading and a chance to win me over.

Listener feedback on what would have made this more of an enjoyable listening experience?

I personally think the narrator should have been male – I think the choice to have a female read Heartborn might not have been the best fit for the novel. I kept returning to this thought as I listened to the story and there were key moments where I thought perhaps a male voice could have been stronger to assert the  dramatic bits but also with the softer edges of where the character’s journey would have been left to stand in fond repose. Just my two cents.

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{SOURCES: Whilst signing up for adopting audiobooks through Audiobookworm Promotions, I sought permission to use the cover art & the book synopsis of the audiobooks I would be adopting to use on my reviews. I was given permission by Audiobookworm Promotions to use these materials. Therefore, the cover art for “Hearborn” and the book synopsis are being used with permission. The author’s biography and photograph were previously given to me whilst participating on the Halfway Witchy blog tour series and are being reused with permission. Post dividers by Fun Stuff for Your Blog via Pure Imagination. Tweets embedded by codes provided by Twitter. Blog graphics created by Jorie via Canva: Audiobook Review Banner and the Comment Box Banner.}

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About jorielov

I am self-educated through local libraries and alternative education opportunities. I am a writer by trade and I cured a ten-year writer’s block by the discovery of Nanowrimo in November 2008. The event changed my life by re-establishing my muse and solidifying my path. Five years later whilst exploring the bookish blogosphere I decided to become a book blogger. I am a champion of wordsmiths who evoke a visceral experience in narrative. I write comprehensive book showcases electing to get into the heart of my reading observations. I dance through genres seeking literary enlightenment and enchantment. Starting in Autumn 2013 I became a blog book tour hostess featuring books and authors. I joined The Classics Club in January 2014 to seek out appreciators of the timeless works of literature whose breadth of scope and voice resonate with us all.

"I write my heart out and own my writing after it has spilt out of the pen." - self quote (Jorie of Jorie Loves A Story)

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Posted Tuesday, 7 February, 2017 by jorielov in #JorieLovesIndies, Alternative History, Angels, ArchAngels, ArchDemons or Demonic Entities, Audiobook, Audiobookworm Promotions, Author Found me On Twitter, Balance of Faith whilst Living, Bits & Bobbles of Jorie, Blog Tour Host, Clever Turns of Phrase, Cosy Horror, Cosy Horror Suspense, Dark Fantasy, Earthen Magic, Earthen Spirituality, Fallen Angels, Fantasy Fiction, Good vs. Evil, Gothic Literature, Gothic Mystery, Horror-Lite, Humour & Satire in Fiction / Non Fiction, Immortals, Indie Author, Light vs Dark, Parapsychological Gifts, Parapsychological Suspense, Philosophical Intuitiveness, Premonition-Precognitive Visions, Realistic Fiction, Shapeshifters, Speculative Fiction, Spirituality & Metaphysics, Supernatural Creatures & Beings, Suspense, Vulgarity in Literature




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