Cute but bad

I would have loved this book if I had read it. The narrator was terrible and at times almost ruined it. However, the author's story was different and strong enough to keep me going. With a baby at home I don't get time to sit and read but I wish I could have with this one.

7 people found this helpful

Not great audio.

Any additional comments?

1.5 Stars for Narration

It makes me unbelievably sad to give this rating - because the story is fun, sexy, dynamic, and definitely worth 4 stars - but the narration was HORRIBLE. I feel terribly that the author's very good, very interesting, and very well envisioned work was showcased as badly as it was by Ronald Ray Strickland's narration.

Yes, I said it. The narration is all capitals BAD. Strickland's timing, lack of character voice delineation, the editing, hell...everything was bad. It was like Strickland has never read a book aloud before, got put in a sound booth and told to go crazy, and someone was hoping it might pay off. Well, guess what? It did not pay off. Strickland has odd times where he doesn't enunciate particularly well, but then will suddenly over-enunciate. His speech is halting and then flows almost unnaturally. Also, there were too many times where the audio was badly edited/spliced and suddenly the sound would explode.

Now was it abysmal? No. I've heard worse and, luckily, the story itself saves it from being completely unlistenable. I kept listening because I really wanted to know what happens with Dolf, Tal and Kirk. But I would not recommend anyone get the audio for this.

I would definitely recommend the story - just not the audio.

5 people found this helpful

Really inexperienced and bad narration

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

A better narrator. One who can actually read the words. He had horrible diction and no character distinction.

What was the most interesting aspect of this story? The least interesting?

Liked the shifter m/m/m aspect. That was cool.

How could the performance have been better?

See above. You need a way better actor and performer. This guy was a total amateur.

2 people found this helpful

4 stars = I REALLY liked this book!

I received a free copy of this audiobook to listen to and review for Wicked Reads.

I’m not entirely sure of how to rate Trouble Comes in Threes as there were parts of the story I loved and parts that had me rolling my eyes in frustration. To be honest, I’m not going to go into much detail or discussion about the things that had me rolling my eyes because I suspect that for the most part, they were personal annoyances and I don’t want to negatively affect someone else’s opinion regarding the book, nor do I want to risk spoiling the book because there’s a romantic suspense thread that plays out that I wasn’t expecting based on the blurb – which was actually one of the things that increased my enjoyment of the book.

I found the relationship dynamic that develops between the two mated cat shifters, Dolf and Tal, and their human mate, Kirk, to be quite fascinating. In light of the anti-human prejudice that seems to pervade the cat clowders, it would seem that Dolf and Tal’s acceptance of Kirk as their mate occurred too easily. However, when Dolf explains the mating scent and how he responded to it upon meeting Tal (and vice versa for Tal), it was relatively easy to understand the need that compelled the shifters to follow their human mate so that they could learn more about him, and later defended their right to claim their mate to a less than receptive collection of clowder members. As I said, the actual relationship dynamic between the trio was fascinating in how it balanced out each partners’ needs – a balance which we learn had not been fully achieved when it was just Tal and Dolf, even if they didn’t fully realize it until Kirk’s arrival. Kirk truly was a wonderful blend of dominance and submissiveness, knowing when to hold his ground and when to back down. While I did think that Kirk’s acceptance of Tal and Dolf’s shifter nature progressed far quicker than I would have expected, I thought that in the end, it played out well.

The narrator, Ronald Ray Strickland, have a lovely voice and did a nice job in his storytelling. I will admit that I relied upon the point of view prompt at the beginning of each chapter quite a bit so as not to get confused as to which of the three men were narrating at that point. There were a few occasions when Strickland’s subtle voice changes for the different characters was a tad too subtle, leaving me confused as to who was talking a few times during the listen. As an aside, I did find that twice during my listening of the audiobook that there was an issue with the recording; however, neither occurrence affected my overall rating because they were easily rectified. Although not my favorite of Church’s books, I did enjoy the audiobook edition of Trouble Comes in Threes and am looking forward to listening to the next book in the series soon.

1 person found this helpful

Good story, but the narration was not enjoyable.

Good story but the narration took away from my enjoyment of the book. Very disappointed.

1 person found this helpful

Great Story, Bad Narrator

I really enjoyed the story, but the narration left a lot to be desired. It sounds very awkward and stilted and makes it hard to fully enjoy the book. I would have enjoyed reading this story a lot more than listening to it.

1 person found this helpful

Really fun shifter series

Kirk is having a bad… life so far. His partner has left him, his house is falling apart and though he has his own garage – it’s early days and he worries about every penny. Suddenly, on a snowy new year’s night, 2 cats show up on his door. Little does he know these aren’t your average cats and they are in fact shifters and his mates!

Dolf and Tal are already mates when they scent Kirk. They both know he is their (uncommon but not impossible) third mate. They petition the alpha for the right to claim him and bring him into their “clowder” or group of cats. They are accepted… but that is where the easy stuff ends and the tough stuff begins.

Though it doesn’t take long, Kirk has to be convinced of the whole mating, shifting, moving part of his new life. The clowder is less than welcoming and this puts a rift in their relationship. To add to that, someone is targeting Kirk and physically attacking him as well.

Luckily, the clowder joins together to keep Kirk safe and we end up with a very HEA.

**

I loved this book! It was exciting and a unique but still traditional take on shifter romances. The threesome really worked for me. I thought that each truly added to the relationship and though Dolf and Tal were there together first, Kirk really added a needed dynamic that kept them closely bound.

I didn’t like a lot of the very light BDSM between Kirk and Dolf (not my taste) but it was mild enough I could skim it.

I hadn’t read this author before but I will definitely be looking for more from her in the future.

Hmmmmmm. Well, I like Ronald Ray Strickland’s voice. It’s very smooth and easy to listen to. He tries hard to infuse emotion into his reading and he does a little bit of voice differentiating. But… his voice doesn’t match the characters – they are very proper and crisp and his voice is just a bit too relaxed. The parts of the story that wasn’t dialog also came across very flat and monotone.

According to Audibles this is only his second narration, so I’m hoping that in time he’ll improve this technique. I also think he was matched poorly for this story, so that’s something he can’t control, either.

I think, overall, that though this didn’t add to my experience it didn’t detract, either. I loved the book and if you can’t read it, listening to this is a nice way to experience it, if not the most perfect way.


So… I stick with 4.5 of 5 stars as my rating – I still recommend it highly and if you can’t read it, don’t be afraid to listen to this very capable narration.

Story 4.5
Audio 4 of 5
overall 4.5 stars

1 person found this helpful

Comfort Listen

loved the book and the narrator is great. Took a bit to adjust to the heavy southern accent as it was pronounced but the story and performance made up for it. Will listen again.

Good Story, a Bit Disappointed in the Narrator

What was the most interesting aspect of this story? The least interesting?

I'd answer the most interesting thing would be that I've never heard/read a story that involved a poly-amorous group, let alone shifters. I like how they were able to reconcile that aspect pretty well, and give a little insight on how some group relationships work. Granted, I'm not poly myself, but I would be happy to hear more about how the relationships work.

How did the narrator detract from the book?

It was almost as if you could tell he was reading a book. There were so many incremental pauses, I would figure that was him moving back to start a new line in the book.

If this book were a movie would you go see it?

I would probably like to see it, mostly because I would like to see how they would show, if at all, the shifting.

Great Read, Painful Listen

I recommend that you read the book rather than listen to it. The story is an interesting (in a good way) tale and the characters are like-able. The narrator ruins it though. It sounds as though he is reading a textbook.