Troublemaker

Who wrote this?

I have to say I was excited that we were finally getting another LH story after all these years. In order to get myself psyched up for the new adventure, I did what I normally do - listened to some of my favorite tales from the author. So, I spent the last week re-listening to Dying To Please, Cover of Night, and Kill and Tell, re-reading Heart of Fire, and heck I even listened to Veil of Night....that turned out to be a mistake. After listening to this tale, the unending monotony, the creepy obsession with this dog, and the slow pacing of this story...I am left with only one question - Who wrote this?

I am struggling to judge this story on it's own merit. My expectation for this story based on the plot and author was that we were going on another fast paced action packed ride...but instead we got to spend the day in Mayberry. It was more of a love story for dog lovers, the story between the hero and heroine was no where near as well defined as the affection this dog receives. It was more - "hey you...you're here, so I like you...come fall in love with this great dog." To say I am disappointed doesn't begin to cover it.

Don't get me wrong here... when I say this book is day in Mayberry... I like Mayberry and what it represents. There are several great stories that focuses on small town life and LH has pulled it off before with Open Season. There was just way to much focus on Tricks, I believe this dogs name has been stated more than ANY character in the book. Tricks is definitely the focal point of the story, not anything happening between the characters, action is a distant concept, and very little humor (outside of the dog) is even hinted upon. Even the antagonist in the story focuses on the dog! So, maybe a better analogy would be that story is like spending a day in Mayberry, when Barney, Opie, Andy, Otis, and Gomer are all out of town.

I was so hoping LH hadn't gone into retirement, but after such a disappointing read/listen I am beginning to think it is time to take her off the automatic-buy list. This story isn't up to Veil of Night standards (a book i thought was just okay) or even Running Wild for that matter.

To wrap up, the narrator is not my favorite. She does okay - her character voices are better than the story narration in my opinion. There are narrators that I seek out and end up finding new authors that I come to like, Tanya Eby isn't one of them. Her voice is a little annoying, but with a good enough story not too distracting...I hope. I just purchased the audio book of Heart of Fire my FAVORITE LH adventure...I guess I'll see how that goes with this narrator to better gauge if part of the problem here is in part the narrator.

36 of 37 people found this review helpful

Troublemaker

If you like books about dogs, this one is for you. Not much of a storyline. Really surprised this was written by Linda Howard. Not her style at all. I look forward to Linda's books and usually listen to them multiple times. I'm deleting this one. I would not recommend the story or narrator.

16 of 16 people found this review helpful

Don't expect much

This book wasn’t for you, but who do you think might enjoy it more?

I don't think Linda Howard wrote this book. It was so not like anything I have read from her

What didn’t you like about Tanya Eby’s performance?

Tanya did the best she could with such a slow moving boring book.

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

Way to much of the plot revolved around the dog. I was really sick of that dog by the third chapter.

Any additional comments?

very very disappointed.

13 of 14 people found this review helpful

Linda Howard, please come back!

I had been counting the days until I could listen to this book, but sadly I was disappointed. I even double checked the information to make sure that it was written by THE Linda Howard.
The premise was good, and I mostly liked Morgan although even he was a bit bland for my taste. With every chapter, I kept thinking, "Ok, now the action will start", but it never did (even when it did!)

I also considered keeping a tally of how many times I heard the name Tricks. Too many. Way too many. I won't give up on LH, but this one is not her best effort. C-

5 of 5 people found this review helpful

So disappointed as I love reading her books

This book wasn’t for you, but who do you think might enjoy it more?

I am not sure. The book was mostly about a spoiled dog. I love dogs and have to but I not want to have them be the main character. Very very boring. Linda is one of my top favorite authors, as a result it was a huge disappointment. I hate to write bad reviews but I had to be honest

Would you ever listen to anything by Linda Howard again?

Yes. I have almost all her books

Which character – as performed by Tanya Eby – was your favorite?

Morgan

What reaction did this book spark in you? Anger, sadness, disappointment?

Disappointment

Any additional comments?

I hope her next book is better

4 of 4 people found this review helpful

Excellent Romantic Mystery

Very intriguing, sexy, great characters with lots of personality. One of the most unexpected characters was a dog named Tricks. I laughed at so many of her antics. She made this s great overall book not to be missed. Can’t wait to start the connected book.

2 of 2 people found this review helpful

Sorry to Say, Just OK

I had such high hopes for this book, pre-ordered it as soon as it was available for me to do so, but I am disappointed. I was looking forward to another "Mr. Perfect, Open Season, After the Night, Kill and Tell, Cover of Night, Dream Man, To Die For" and all the rest that are favorites and GREAT. Maybe next time. I'm not giving up on Linda H. because she has written great books and because of that she will continue to be on my top 10 author list.

The characters in this book were very likable which is probably why I finished it, although it did take me days to do it. The plot was good but she didn't seem to stick to it. I enjoy books with dogs and hunky guys and strong women that are not irritating, and this had it all, but not really any suspense or mystery.

2 of 2 people found this review helpful

This read like an original harlequin story, lasting 14 hours.

Although I love Linda Howard, It was hard to sit through this story. It was boring and mushy, mostly about the dog. And Tanya Eby is not a narrator that pulls me into a story. Usually, Linda's main characters are strong women and men. They just sound complaining and demanding in Tanya's voice. This was a story I could have did without. However, Linda Howard is my favorite author., so it is strange to have such a negative reaction. I have introduced her books to my daughters and friends. I tell them, that women the world over , would have the perfect man, if they could get Linda Howard to make him. lol! Thus, I am waiting for her next story, with a pray, that this one, was just an aberration.

4 of 5 people found this review helpful

A Long Listen, with too much dog/small town detail

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

This was effectively a romantic suspense novella into the middle of which was inserted a full length weak Robyn Carr-like small town/dog book. By the end I despised the book, thought that the dog needed a month with a good trainer, and found Bo to be an amazingly boring leading woman.

Very disappointing.

What was your reaction to the ending? (No spoilers please!)

Just happy to have the book over.

You didn’t love this book... but did it have any redeeming qualities?

Chapter 1 & 2 were good and classic Linda Howard. I prefer to think that she handed the rest of the book off to a ghost writer who misunderstood what writer he was supposed to be emulating.

6 of 8 people found this review helpful

Gahhhh

Good lord - I read the second one first and it was good. Not great but at least the heroine wasn’t a whimpering girl :-) and what’s up with the damned dog??? I love my dogs don’t get me wrong but seriously - a little less dog talk and a bit more adventure would have been nice. And if you take water for your dog and give it to him at a lake - where she has just been spent hours swimming... that’s taking the dog love a bit too far. In my humble opinion :-) but I listened to it till the end. No surprises anyway. But better than being bored while driving to work... but man, quiet boring. And the heroine is oh so - how can I say this??- well all you wanna do is is shake her and tell her to man up a bit. Or woman up :-)

1 of 1 people found this review helpful