Acquired Digital Audiobook by: I am 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 “Lost in the Light” via the publicist at Audiobookworm Promotions in exchange for an honest review. This complimentary copy I received is part of the ‘Adopt an Audiobook’ programme where reviewers are given a 90 day window to listen and review the book. I received this audiobook in December, 2018 wherein I had planned to listen to this before the close of the year, however, with a five week virus I had to wait til I recovered my energies to hear the story this January, 2019. 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.
What drew me to listening to this particular audiobook:
I’ve been seeking out different kinds of Mysteries for most of [2018] – including at tailend of the year, wherein I scouted out such lovelies as Joy Avon’s In Peppermint Peril; David Rosenfelt’s Deck the Hounds; Maia Chance’s Naughty on Ice; as well as the latest Claire Chase Thriller Death on the River, M.B. Shaw’s Murder at the Mill and Vivian Conroy’s The Butterfly Conspiracy – of which I am still continuing to listen and/or read as I lost the hours to enjoy them fully due to being ill before, during and after Christmas!
I love Mysteries, Thrillers and novels of Suspense but what made each of these quite uniquely lovely is how uniquely individual they are as ‘stories within their own series’. I had hoped by January I could dig back inside my beloved #LoveINSPIRED Suspense novels – those lovely page-turners I share a passion of reading with my Mum but suffice it to say, most of January was either spent recovering my energy and stamina lost during the virus to end all viruses; transitioning through two migraines (blessedly one low grade and one slightly supernova) and at least three severe allergy attacks – to the brink that January just felt muddled.
I had such a lovely outline of what I wanted to accomplish via LibraryThing and I was adding to that revolving list of #nextreads with what I wanted to be listening too throughout the month as I am still attempting to offset what I read in print with what I listen to as an #AudioReads as I’m striving towards a spilt of 70/40 between both formats. I finally had to realise somewhere along the route of the month, resting and being offline was just a better course of action for my own self-care than to attempt to read the stories which were keenly interesting me to seek out. Thereby, it became one of the least read months I’ve had as a book blogger but the stories I was able to listen to or read were rather enjoyable.
Which brings me to this adopted audiobook – I was dearly curious about what I would inside as I do have a particular eye on serial fiction – especially when it comes to Crime Fiction as there is something intriguing about getting to re-visit a series vs reading a one-off. Since this one is a merger of the Paranormal with the Investigative – it was a story I was curiously happy to finally get a chance to settle inside and soak in the story-line!
Lost in the Light
by Mary Castillo
Source: Audiobook via Audiobookworm Promotions
Narrator: Mary Castillo
Genres: Amateur Detective, Cosy Mystery, Crime Fiction
Places to find the book:
ASIN: B01N37B8CH
Published by Reina Books
on 27th January, 2017
Format: Audiobook | Digital
Length: 8 hours, 52 minutes (unabridged)
Published By: Reina Books
Mary Castillo | Site | LibraryThing | GoodReads | @MCastilloWrites
my review of lost in the light:
I, admit, when I first started listening to this audiobook I struggled to find traction with the story and the lead character Dori. I barely remembered she recovering from trauma and was trying to re-transition back into her life as her grandmother sort of overtakes the opening sequences and scenes to where your focus isn’t quite on Dori herself. A sharp pistol of a woman her grandmother – not one to mince words or meaning, she steals the light off of Dori due to her personality and her blunt observations on Dori’s life. She’d prefer for her to carry-on and get on with living – both romantically and professionally rather than to stay stagnant in this phase of her recovery. Dori on the other hand appeared to simply be trying to get through the current hour and day without thinking too hard about the ‘future’ be as it may.
The longer I listened to this audiobook the more I felt distracted by its delivery – there was an anomaly of sound running under the narrator’s voice starting in Chapter 3 which was quite distracting but it was the pacing of the story which felt off-centre for me. The details of Dori’s life are being told to you at a very rapid pacing – all of her scenes and dialogue passages are at such a high level of disclosure, I simply couldn’t make my mind up about her at all. Did I like her? Hard to tell. Did I feel invested to know her better? Honestly, not really. Dori didn’t really stand out to me as a character and because I couldn’t make a connection to her to stick me inside the story-line, I felt myself pulling more and more out of the foundation being laid down by the author.
Part of me questioned if the choice in narrator might have been the reason why I felt disillusioned – as when it comes to authors narrating their own stories, in theory it is a wonderful idea but sometimes, I’ve found in the performance side of it, its a determent. Secondly, it was the story itself – it is a bare bones type of story which has blunted edges and some street vibes attached to it. Meaning its taking a hard look at the life Dori is leading and has a common way of explaining some of what she’s either faced in the past or is currently trying to transition through in the present. Despite that and the fact she’s emotionally and psychologically not recovered to a state of wellness past her traumatic injury — I just couldn’t find a reason to stay inside the audiobook.
Overall, this turnt out to be a bad fit for me because I did not feel anchoured to Dori – its hard when the lead character can’t draw your eye or your heart, as the rest of the story just becomes a bit of a blur without holding itself up against the bits that are running flat.
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.
Number of Times I’ve heard the Narrator(s):
This is my first time hearing the narration of Mary Castillo.
Regards to the Narrator’s Individual Character performances:
Dori: Her voice felt a bit rushed to me – almost at a rhythm of pacing that disallowed you to remember the facts being disclosed about her and forced you to focus more on the supporting cast as there was a lot of passages where her scenes were delivered a bit too quickly. Her voice wasn’t as developed as the rest of the characters which seemed odd as there was a part of listening to audiobook which felt a bit flatter in places than others, as it was straight-narration with odd random ‘under the voice’ noises affecting the sound quality.
Secondary Characters:
- Her grandmother
- Cleve
- Her colleagues on the force
The best characters are the ones where the author/narrator was able to flex her bilingual agility – as there was as Latino component to this story. In those instances, it feel like a layer of believable authenticity had been added to the delivery of the story.
How the Novel sounded to me as it was being Read: (theatrical or narrative)
Spoken narrative with a light stirring of theatrical performance.
How was the sound quality? Any special effects? or other notations?
There were a few sound effects at the beginning of the audiobook and the sound quality was quite good considering this was an audiobook narrated by the author. I presumed she wasn’t a seasoned performer or narrator, as there were some rough patches in the narration, however, it is when she stepped outside her lead character’s shoes she shined the most.
I thought I heard a few anomalies in Chapter 3 – little noises that weren’t supposed to be in the background but overall, despite those infrequent little frequencies behind the ‘voice’ I was able to stay with the narrator even if the story wasn’t working for me.
Preference after listening to re-Listen or pick up the book in Print?
I am uncertain if my impression of the story would have benefited the print edition in lieu of the audiobook as there were a few surprises in the context of the story and how it was delivered. It was told with a blunter edging to the story-line and the ways in which the characters were reflected. Thereby, it was a hard-start for me to feel invested in the story overall and became a slightly difficult listening experience.
In closing, would I seek out another Mary Castillo audiobook?
Unfortunately no, as for me, despite having a preference for the supporting cast and secondary characters who moved in and out of scene, I couldn’t get completely invested in the story as it was being told. There were portions of the story which felt flat to me – either due to how it was written or how it was performed, so for me, this is my first and last audiobook by Mary Castillo.
This audiobook review is courtesy of Audiobookworm Promotions:
Listening to this audiobook counted towards a few of my reading challenges for 2019:
#Lateathon | a concentration of reviewing in January
{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 “Lost in the Light” is being used with permission. Post dividers by Fun Stuff for Your Blog via Pure Imagination. Tweets embedded by codes provided by Twitter. Beat the Backlist banner provided by A Novel Knight and is used with permission. Blog graphics created by Jorie via Canva: Audiobook Review Banner, Historical Fiction Reading Challenge banner, 2019 Audiobook Challenge banner and the Comment Box Banner.}
Copyright © Jorie Loves A Story, 2019.
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Reading this book contributed to these challenges:
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