Bad narration

The narration was absolutely awful! One of the worst I've heard. I'm not sure where the surfer accents came from but they were a fail. The story was good although unrealistic to the extreme.

7 people found this helpful

Whiny main character - no real tension

This appears to be the first of two novels. Elect and it follow-on Elite. I have listened only to Elite. Based upon the first novel, I can already predict the best thing that could have been done was to write one novel by crushing them together and then edit aggressively. I blame this on the publisher. The conflict escalates so slowly that you almost miss it. As filler, the author has to throw in much whiny dialog. She introduces a sub character at the beginning leading you to believe that she will play a big role and then she vanishes except for the last five minute entry.

The narrator, Franco adds to the whiny tone.

I really have not much to say positive about this novel. With a few lines of editing, it would be better as a YA instead of romance of which there is not. I'd give it a read if you into YA but as a serious romance novel -- thumbs down.

8 people found this helpful

Story has potential. Narrator is awful!

Overall, the story is okay, but with a little more work this could’ve been a great book.

I’m not sure how I feel about an unbelievable mafia based precedence in a college atmosphere that feels just like high school.

How am I supposed to believe that college students would ever act like high school students? The characters act and speak like young teens.

The heroine is a naive space cadet. She’s initially presented as strong and witty, but acts stupid almost all the time. And if it’s possible she seems to get dumber as the story goes on. She even blurts out incriminating secrets about everything at the wrong times.

And don’t get me started on Nixon. He’s supposed to be a mafia leader but he’s running around a college making rules? Then he magically falls for the girl that is getting dumber every moment. I guess it could be that the chemistry is missing.

It feels like the book was rushed and published after the second draft. It needs to be polished. The book has so much potential, but needs a major overhaul in editing. It’s obvious that the author jumped around in writing scenes and never really lined up how the information was given. The characters are weak, but are interesting enough for me to want to know more.

The narrator is awful! Her delivery is just bad. The heroine is always whiny and adolescent. The mafia students are portrayed as surfer boys. The grandfather sounds like a dying old lady. I can’t believe I was able to listen all the way through.

2 people found this helpful

Meh

If you could sum up Elite in three words, what would they be?

I love this story. I had read the books previously so I knew I loved them. The audio did NOT work for me.

What other book might you compare Elite to and why?

Anything mafia, modern day Romeo and Juliet type story.

Would you be willing to try another one of Sarah Franco’s performances?

No. I thought she did a TERRIBLE job with the male voices. It was like she tried to over do it and it was just not working.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

No.

2 people found this helpful

Painful listen...not in a good way.

Although the story was pretty good, the narrator was awful. I only finished because I couldn't return it. The narrator made Tracey sound like a stupid, pathetic, whiny brat. Nixon was just weird and not at all sexy or mysterious the way the author intended for him to be. Chase sounded like an arrogant surfer dude. The characters we're hard to like and identify with because the narration was just so bad. I honestly hope this narrator did not get paid for this performance. I will probably check out the second book in the series, but definitely will not to go with the audible book.

2 people found this helpful

The more you read, the better it got!

It was tough for me to score this story but it’s a 3.5 stars for me. I think I really didn’t like the female main character, Tracey. I mean, at times she stand for herself and then the next minute, she’s so weak, crying a lot.... lack of confidence. I dig stronger and bad ass female leads vs damsels in distress. I guess the bullying is a bit much,too and I just don’t believe that could happen in the real world, too unbelievable. Yup, I just struggle her push and pull emotions but maybe that’s what she was written as...very young and native personality. So, She slowly grew on me. Sarah Franco did okay as the audio narrator...she is kinda weak, clueless and whiny but I think that’s what Tracey kinda is. Lol. As for Nixon and crew, they were quite interesting characters and probably why I continue reading page after page. The more you read, the better it got. I want to know more about about the students and how things run there- Nixon and crew just rule the school and secretly, discovering they are in MIA family wars. I heard the next book is Enforce - Nixon/men’s point of view. This book 1 was her point of view.

1 person found this helpful

Ok storyline, but...

Little juvenile for my taste, and I'm a bit sad I wasted a credit. Van Dyken's description of the setting was similar to a co-ed boarding school rather than a college/university campus, and the characters had the maturity level of high school students. Her character development lacked imagination and the storyline was riddled with techniques I consider as lazy writing. Not only did she used every cliche known to describe her characters, she also compared their appearances to Abercrombie models and celebrities. I surely hope Van Dyken has grown up a bit and her writing techniques improved since publishing this book.

1 person found this helpful

Good - Some mixed feelings

*3.5/5 for the story itself* I went into this book knowing it’s the first installment of a fairly lengthy series, so I didn’t really have any set expectations. I felt that, overall, it was a good story and did a good job at sort of introductory world building. I wound up liking Nixon by about midway & adored Chase. I loved the aspect of the childhood connection between him & Trace. I guess I’m just a bit unsure about what’s next based on the sneak peak of book 2. This series definitely has promise & my favorite book blogger swears by it, so I will absolutely continue!

Great story, ok narration

Love the story, but the narration is not the greatest. Weird accents make some of the characters sound like surfers. There is also weird intro and outro music that plays over the narration. I would recommend the physical book, but probably not the audio version.

Loved it.

I don't know what took me so long. But I finally got sucked in. I love a good Mafia read and I love Rachel Van Dyken's books. I'm glad I did though because I have been missing out. I started by listening to Enrage which is book 8 in the series. I got lost in it and knew I needed to start from the very beginning. And I am happy I did. Because it explains so much. Even though it was easy to follow listening to book 8 as a standalone. This book was filled with everything you would expect to find in a good Mafia read and then some. And the narrators did an amazing job bringing the characters to life. I can't wait to get lost in this series. The best part about waiting is now I don't have to wait for each book to be released.