Beauty's Punishment

I've always loved this author, and this series, and once again I wasn't let down, you MUST give it a try, although it certainly won't be for everyone and definitely not for the faint hearted

To much anal sex for my taste. Not clear on why this is needed. I read it bef6years ago, it didn't leave an impression. I read it this time and it sounded foreign to me.

The narrator was easy to understand, the story is interesting. An amazing fantasy explained in great detail. My husband even listened for a while!

I enjoyed the story as much as the first book. Definitely enjoyed the voices done by both narrators. Listened straight through for 8 hours I was so enthralled.

I would definitely (and certainly have) listen to/read anything by Anne Rice. When I was younger I thought her writing rather stilted, but as an adult, I very much appreciate her fluid writing style! This book, along with its predecessor and sequel, is wonderful: inventive, thought provoking, engaging. Not so much the narrators though. They do their best, I believe (and hope), but it really does fall flat. Thank goodness I've actually read these books before and didn't go through them for the first time with these audiobooks.

In the Sleeping Beauty novels, I find the most charm coming from the interaction of the characters. Remove the copious amounts of sex and there are psychological wonders here in their interactions with one another. There is something compelling about having so many extraneous elements to life stripped away, leaving only this one thing that these characters all have to build their existences around.

In my mind, I always imagined the Sleeping Beauty novels to be in need of some sort of European accent, at least British, yet Samantha Prescott and Corbin Steele are as American as it comes (except for the one random character of the auctioneer she played with a cockney accent). Characters come from different countries and need distinction to capture the exotic feeling Ms. Rice has written so masterfully. Clearly from the narrative they are using English currency, why then the rather uninflected American accents? And obviously, these two narrators did not ever meet up to discuss how to make things cohesive. Case in point: the character, Prince Laurant. This is a french name. It would natively be pronounced with almost no sounding of the last two letters. Ms. Prescott pronounces it "Luh-RAWnt". Mr. Steele pronounces it "LOR-rint". Such things are distracting and I don't find an excuse for them. The producer and director should have put everyone on the same page.

I enjoy the story so much that I can tune out most of the flaws in the audiobook production. But I would always recommend anyone actually read the books before I would recommend these audio versions.

I did not notice it much in "The Claiming Of Sleeping Beauty" but I certainly noticed it in this sequel. This recording has been MASSIVELY over produced. As an audiobook narrator and producer, I am constantly tuned in to the sound of the recording as well as the performance, and every breath that these two actors take has been meticulously edited out, making the performances feel tight and airless. There has also been such editing on vocal 'noises' ("F" sounds, "P" sounds, "S" sounds) that certain words are distorted and clipped to be almost unrecognizable. For example: a world like PURELY comes out with a strong "H" sound: hughr-ly, because the first letter has been edited to non-existence. This was monstrously distracting and it puzzles me that this final version was permitted to be sold.

loved loved loved it it was a non stop rollercoaster of heated pleasure KUDOS ANNE KUDOS

Anne Rice has done an excellent job with the first book that I knew the second book would go the same excellent way

Normally I do not read erotic novels. But after hearing about this series from a friend of mine, I decided to listen to it and see if I would like it. I found it simply amazing and could not stop listening at any chance I could get. True Ann Rice and her current and former form. Outstanding job.

I honestly got tired of the sex and I can't believe I am saying that. I like hot books but honestly this was too much for me. This is the first in over 180 audible books that I felt that way. I finished the first book and stopped about half way through the second. I guess I need at least the hope of a happily ever after and I guess I just don't have that in this. There is no hero/heroine combo it is not quite my speed I guess.

Would have been better as a stand alone than part of a series. It's like she ran out of ideas so she puts Beauty in different settings with the same plot. There's no real story or purpose. The book is hot and has a lot of erotica, just about any and every kind of erotica you could imagine. If you are ok with a book with basically only hot steamy sex you'll enjoy this book. I prefer a story with my erotica.