Audiobook Review: None of This is True by Lisa Jewell
None of This is True
Author: Lisa Jewell
Narrators: Full cast narration with music and sound design
Published: July 20, 2023
Audiobook: 10 hours 20 minutes
Reviewed By: Jessica
Dates Listened To: March 25-31, 2024
Jessica’s Rating: 3 stars
Audiobook Description:
Celebrating her forty-fifth birthday at her local pub, popular podcaster Alix Summers crosses paths with an unassuming woman called Josie Fair. Josie, it turns out, is also celebrating her forty-fifth birthday. They are, in fact, birthday twins.
A few days later, Alix and Josie bump into each other again, this time outside Alix’s children’s school. Josie has been listening to Alix’s podcasts and thinks she might be an interesting subject for her series. She is, she tells Alix, on the cusp of great changes in her life.
Josie’s life appears to be strange and complicated, and although Alix finds her unsettling, she can’t quite resist the temptation to keep making the podcast. Slowly she starts to realise that Josie has been hiding some very dark secrets, and before she knows it, Josie has inveigled her way into Alix’s life—and into her home.
But, as quickly as she arrived, Josie disappears. Only then does Alix discover that Josie has left a terrible and terrifying legacy in her wake, and that Alix has become the subject of her own true crime podcast, with her life and her family’s lives under mortal threat.
Who is Josie Fair? And what has she done?
Jessica’s Review:
Dang, I’m in a rut for my reviews! The next few are not positive reviews, this one included.
I had heard others mentioned that the audiobook was the way to go for this novel, and I waited a few months for it. But it was not worth the wait for me.
The only reason I gave it three stars is because of the full cast narration/ music/ sound design. I don’t think I would have finished it otherwise. This is one if I had known what should have been a trigger warning I would not have picked up: Pedophilia, and there was a lot of it!
There are mentions of podcast and a Netflix show and this is where the music and sound design definitely added to the story!
The premise sounded like one I would be interested in, especially dealing with the ‘birthday twins’ but it just wasn’t for me.
Purchase Links:
Amazon US
Amazon UK
Audiobook Review: Make Her Pay by Miranda Rijks
Make Her Pay
Series:
Author: Miranda Rijks
Narrators:
Charlie Albers
Ella Lynch
Published in Audio: March 12, 2024
8 hours 46 minutes
Reviewed By: Jessica
Dates Listened To: February 27- March 4, 2024
Jessica’s Rating: 4 stars
Book Description:
Leonie has the perfect life. Someone wants to take it away.
Leonie is living her best life. Still in her twenties, she’s beautiful, successful and has just met Markus, the man of her dreams.
But Leonie has a secret. Ten years ago, she was involved in an accident in which another driver died. Leonie shouldn’t have been behind the wheel that night – no license, no insurance – so she fled the scene. And ever since, she’s been struggling to deal with the terrible guilt.
Now, as her wedding to Markus draws near, it seems someone is out to get her. It’s little things at first – botched work appointments, a cancelled bridal dress – but it soon escalates into a terrifying campaign which threatens her business, her family and even her life.
Leonie, caught up in a relentless nightmare, has no idea why anyone would set out to destroy her. Until she realizes there’s a link to the accident that happened all those years ago.
Someone knows what she did. Someone is determined to make her pay.
Jessica’s Review:
Whoa, whoa, and whoa! This is a book that worked for me in almost every way! This one was intense from the beginning and is full of lies, secrets, deceit, and revenge. All of which makes for a thrilling story! And it goes in some different turns too!
This also has dual povs and you know how I feel about multiple povs! YES!
Leonie is just 16 and has killed someone in a car accident. Her father insists on it being a secret but still all these years later it haunts Leonie. And you know what they say about secrets… They have a way of coming back to you.
She thinks her life has turned around when she meets Markus and begins an unexpected whirlwind romance. but as it progresses then it starts to seem as though someone is out to get her and things begin to slowly unravel bit by bit.
This was an intense ride and there is no likeable character or anyone to trust! I had no idea how this one was going to go and was taken by surprise by the end twist.
The narrators did a good job, but I wasn’t able to speed up the narration due to the English accents.
This is my first novel by Rijks and I plan to look into her work more! Many thanks to the publisher for granting me a copy to listen to and review!
Purchase Links:
Amazon US
Amazon UK
Audiobook Review: First Lie Wins by Ashley Elston
First Lie Wins
Author: Ashley Elston
Narrator: Saskia Maarleveld
Published: January 2, 2024
Audiobook: 9 hours 16 minutes
Reviewed By: Jessica
Dates Read: March 5-11, 2024
Jessica’s Rating: 3 stars
Book Description:
Evie Porter has everything a nice, Southern girl could want: a perfect, doting boyfriend, a house with a white picket fence and a garden, a fancy group of friends. The only catch: Evie Porter doesn’t exist.
The identity comes first: Evie Porter. Once she’s given a name and location by her mysterious boss Mr. Smith, she learns everything there is to know about the town and the people in it. Then the mark: Ryan Sumner. The last piece of the puzzle is the job.
Evie isn’t privy to Mr. Smith’s real identity, but she knows this job will be different. Ryan has gotten under her skin, and she’s starting to envision a different sort of life for herself. But Evie can’t make any mistakes—especially after what happened last time.
Because the one thing she’s worked her entire life to keep clean, the one identity she could always go back to—her real identity—just walked right into this town. Evie Porter must stay one step ahead of her past while making sure there’s still a future in front of her. The stakes couldn’t be higher—but then, Evie has always liked a challenge…
Jessica’s Review:
First Lie Wins came out at the beginning of the year to a lot of positive feedback, but this is just one that did not work for me.
We have a female con artist who has seemingly met her match with someone pretending to be her actual self! And we have the creepy “Mr. Smith” that lurks. The ending had a big twist for me that I actually liked.
The narrator did a good job for me portraying our con woman. We have chapters that take place in the past with her former jobs, which I just wasn’t interested in. But these chapters ended up being necessary to the story.
This one just wasn’t for me, but maybe you will like it! It’s a debut novel, so I would be willing to give the author another try in the future.
Purchase Links:
Amazon US
Amazon UK