Diamond Girl

Interesting story

This was my second audio book by Andrea Smith and it was so different from the first one I listened to that I wasn't sure what to expect. I was very happy to discover that Andrea Smith has an amazing talent for writing a story that sucks you in and leaves you tied up until the end. Right about the time I thought I had things figured out, the story shifted and took my breath away. It is full of suspense, angst and sexy fun times. This is an audio book that I will listen to again, to catch all of the thing I missed the first listen.

Chandler Gray did a good job bringing Diamond Girl to life. I found his reading style easy to listen to and could distinguish to who was "talking". I would listen to another book he narrates.

2 of 2 people found this review helpful

Great story

Any additional comments?

I thoroughly enjoyed the story of Slate & Samantha. A great start to a wonderful series.

2 of 2 people found this review helpful

Amazing

I already loved this story, I have read it several times, but hearing come to life makes it that much better.

2 of 2 people found this review helpful

awesome book

loved this story loved the way the narrator would change his voice for each character would definetely reccomend

2 of 2 people found this review helpful

I LOVE SLATE

I've read the entire G-Man series 3 times, but have read this book 5 times, so when it came out on audible, I jumped! The book was narrated by Chandler Gray, a man, so it seemed a little weird at first to have him reading the female parts, but I didn't notice it after the first chapter. He did a really good job throughout the book.

The story is one I love. Samantha has put her entire life and energy into raising her daughter with whom she got pregnant at as a teenager. Now that her daughter went off to college she has an empty nest. Her lackluster husband works suspiciously long hours, seems uninterested in her and reconnecting & spicing up their relationship. Samantha finally takes advice & begins carving out an identity for herself. During this time she starts learning more about herself & figures out more of her life and congress to terms that her marriage is not what it seems.

Samantha's life changes in small ways at first, but things start to change much more quickly when a dirty-talking biker named Slate enters her life. He's a take-charge kind of man, with a way about him that makes you not even care, but wanting to do what he wants. Granted there are times you want to kick him, but even then he's almost undeniable. He is so hot & sexy and the interactions between Samantha & Slate are steamy.

The action in this book is awesome & does carry through several of the books in the series. But it is best left vague & enjoyed while reading/listening. However, this book does leave the reader/listener with a sense of completeness, not like a cliffhanger.

I'm excited for the other books in the series to be recorded & published on audible.

2 of 3 people found this review helpful

I want to be Diamond, just saying

Any additional comments?

Ummm, a bored housewife who seems to find herself working as a dancer and finds herself attracted to a hot biker - sign me up for classes. This is the beginning of the G-Man series, and can I just say I want to find my own G-Man, just don't tell my husband. ;)

Andrea Smith can write some seriously hot men, and to hear the story just allowed me to relive the whole book just like I did the first time I read it. I knew that listening to a book would be different than reading it, but it was like enjoying the story for the first time over again and for that I'm grateful.

Give Diamond Girl a chance, but remember - I'm next in line for my own G-Man!!

2 of 3 people found this review helpful

Chandler - you should have declined this

The narrator - Chandler Gray, should have declined to read this book because he clearly DID NOT want to do this. His inflections were completely off and he made this book miserable to read. If I ever see a book narrated by him, I'll be sure to miss it.

So bad I was prompted to write a review

What could have made this a 4 or 5-star listening experience for you?

I don't think this one is salvageable. It would need different text, a different reader, and a story line developed beyond weird soft porn.... Granted, I may not have read carefully before purchasing. I bought this in a hurry before a road trip thinking it was an undercover detective novel with a fun, steamy twist. It turns out the detective part played almost no role in the book, and it was all about the sex. Sadly, even if erotica had been what I was after, the sex scenes were so crude and so poorly written, and delivered in such a sing song babyish voice, as to prompt laughter at best, eye rolling and disgust at worse.

Would you ever listen to anything by Andrea Smith again?

Highly unlikely. I couldn't even finish this one.

How did the narrator detract from the book?

1. Errors in pronouncing words to the extent that at times it took me moments to figure out what it was the author had actually written. It was mystifying to think that someone paid to narrate seemed to be unfamiliar with words such as "sprawled" and "akin," and that there was no audio-editor to catch these flagrant mistakes. It was not just an issue of a different regional accent. The whole thing struck me as having been written, narrated and produced by people with junior high or high school level capabilities, not professionals. 2. The narrator read much of the book, particularly the female characters' voices & thoughts in a grating singsongy tone as if speaking to a child.

If you could play editor, what scene or scenes would you have cut from Diamond Girl?

Too many to list. Beyond the unnecessary, often disjointed scenes, this author needs a serious text editor; there were so many unnecessary words and sentences it was painful to hear.

Any additional comments?

I don't mind listening to a "beach read" or junky novel that is pure entertainment; I'm not looking to edify myself every moment on the road with audiobooks. I can handle a lot of formulaic tales and unbelievable scenarios. This one, however, had no redeeming qualities, and did not seem to be written with any linguistic or story-telling skills. (Not saying I could do better, of course, and I applaud the effort. But nothing about this struck me as the work of a professional writer.)

2 of 4 people found this review helpful

Very entertaining book

Would you consider the audio edition of Diamond Girl to be better than the print version?

I think the audio version and the print version are pretty evenly matched. Both are enjoyable.

What did you like best about this story?

I loved the twists and turns of the story. It kept me engaged. I couldn't wait to see what happened next.

Which scene was your favorite?

I think my favorite scene was where Slate and Samantha were brought together again after separating.

1 of 2 people found this review helpful

WTF was this?

I have never written a bad review, but OMG this was just awful. The story was completely unrealistic, and with zero consistency or character development to even give a HINT of being believable. The narration was childlike on so many levels, that I wasn't sure if he'd ever read a book in his life. The editing was bad, the writing was weak, etc. DNF

2 of 4 people found this review helpful