Julie Ruelle
- 13
- reviews
- 1
- helpful vote
- 15
- ratings
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The Covenant of Water
- By: Abraham Verghese
- Narrated by: Abraham Verghese
- Length: 31 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 9,813
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 8,581
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 8,569
Spanning the years 1900 to 1977, The Covenant of Water is set in Kerala, on South India’s Malabar Coast, and follows three generations of a family that suffers a peculiar affliction: in every generation, at least one person dies by drowning—and in Kerala, water is everywhere. At the turn of the century, a twelve-year-old girl from Kerala’s long-existing Christian community, grieving the death of her father, is sent by boat to her wedding, where she will meet her forty-year-old husband for the first time.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Story Telling At Its Best
- By Regina on 05-06-23
- The Covenant of Water
- By: Abraham Verghese
- Narrated by: Abraham Verghese
good but not great
Reviewed: 06-18-24
This book has very good reviews and while I don't think it was by any means bad, I just had a really hard time being that interested. It seemed a little too far fetched at many times. I think it also could have been better if the author didn't narrate it himself, again he wasn't bad, it just wasnt as great as a professional narrator in my opinion. I listened to the book on 1.3 speed to get through it faster. I wouldn't chose it again if I had never started it.
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The Mountain Shadow
- Shantaram, Book 2
- By: Gregory David Roberts
- Narrated by: Humphrey Bower
- Length: 33 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 447
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Performance5 out of 5 stars 379
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 377
It has been two years since the events in Shantaram, and since Lin lost two people he had come to love: his father figure, Khaderbhai, and his soul mate, Karla, married to a handsome Indian media tycoon. Lin returns from a smuggling trip to a city that seems to have changed too much, too soon. Many of his old friends are long gone, the new mafia leadership has become entangled in increasingly violent and dangerous intrigues, and a fabled holy man challenges everything that Lin thought he'd learned about love and life.
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3 out of 5 stars
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Didn't Sizzle Like Shantaram
- By David Bricker on 03-22-23
- The Mountain Shadow
- Shantaram, Book 2
- By: Gregory David Roberts
- Narrated by: Humphrey Bower
not the best
Reviewed: 10-31-23
I loved Shantaram, it is one of my favorite books ever. This one fell short for me. I found it to be boring, much too long and sort of braggy (if thats a word). I ended up listening to it at 1.1 speed and fast forwarding the "philosophy" debates because I just couldnt listen to those. I definitely could have lived without listening to this sequel.
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It Ends with Us
- By: Colleen Hoover
- Narrated by: Olivia Song
- Length: 11 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 86,452
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 76,674
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 76,523
Lily hasn’t always had it easy, but that’s never stopped her from working hard for the life she wants. She’s come a long way from the small town where she grew up—she graduated from college, moved to Boston, and started her own business. And when she feels a spark with a gorgeous neurosurgeon named Ryle Kincaid, everything in Lily’s life seems too good to be true.
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1 out of 5 stars
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Not what I expected.
- By Love2Read on 01-23-20
- It Ends with Us
- By: Colleen Hoover
- Narrated by: Olivia Song
It’s okay…
Reviewed: 02-15-23
I really didn’t like this book for the first 2/3, it got a little better at the very end.
It’s a very adult subject book but for some reason that I can’t quite put my finger on the writing style felt juvenile to me.
There were also a couple of small mistakes that really annoyed me: the mom living in the UK calls for a casual chat at 10pm ET time, that would be 3am UK time, she says she has to go for “high tea”.
And they leave east coast at 12am to fly to west coast, flights don’t leave east coast at midnight to fly to the west coast.
Just little things like that really distracted me from the story.
I also strongly dislike the names Atlas and Rhyle.
Maybe if I liked the book more these things wouldn’t bother me. But because I almost quit the book a thousand times, the little things really bothered me.
I finished it, the end sort of redeemed it but overall it wasn’t great. I wouldn’t recommend it
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The Couple on Cedar Close
- Detective Dan Riley, Book 2
- By: Anna-Lou Weatherley
- Narrated by: James Lailey
- Length: 10 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 7,064
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 6,608
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 6,577
One sunny August afternoon, the residents of Cedar Close throw their annual summer barbecue. Children play in the cherry-tree lined street, tables are laden with food, and the wine is flowing. For Laurie Mills, it’s her first time meeting the neighbours. And it’s the first time she discovers her husband, Robert, is having an affair. Cedar Close has always been a nice place to live - a quiet suburban street where everyone looks out for one another and bad things don’t happen. Until late one evening, when Robert Mills is found dead in his bedroom.
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4 out of 5 stars
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I listened to the 1st book
- By scott comeaux on 06-24-19
- The Couple on Cedar Close
- Detective Dan Riley, Book 2
- By: Anna-Lou Weatherley
- Narrated by: James Lailey
predictable but still enjoyable
Reviewed: 01-30-23
I can only assume that the author meant for the reader to figure out who the characters really are, who did it and why. Because it was incredibly obvious very early on so I am going to go with its intentional and its not meant to be a "who dun it". Either way, I thought it was an enjoyable read that help my interest.
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Do I Really Know You?
- By: Sheryl Browne
- Narrated by: Tamsin Kennard
- Length: 10 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 111
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 103
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Story4 out of 5 stars 103
Maddie and Kiara have been best friends since they met on their first day at university. They have always shared everything with each other--everything except one big secret, which Kiara knows would tear them apart…. When the police knock on Maddie’s front door as she and husband Nick are getting ready for the morning school run, she’s not expecting to hear what they have to tell her. Kiara is dead.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Clever! Complexellent! Compelling!
- By Karenique on 08-02-22
- Do I Really Know You?
- By: Sheryl Browne
- Narrated by: Tamsin Kennard
So so
Reviewed: 11-23-22
There was nothing really wrong with the book, it just didn’t really excite me that much. I’ve had this problem with most books I’ve listened to recently. I just felt like not much was going on, I thought it was very predictable and I also really wanted to know why these people didn’t have more than 3 friends for their whole lives. I did like the style it was written in, in that different chapters were different characters perspectives. I think it just could have been better maybe if there were more characters or if it was a little less predictable.
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Surrender, New York
- By: Caleb Carr
- Narrated by: Tom Taylorson
- Length: 23 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 1,771
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 1,613
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Story4 out of 5 stars 1,612
In rural, impoverished Burgoyne County, New York, a pattern of strange deaths begins to emerge: Adolescent boys and girls are found murdered, their corpses left hanging in gruesome, ritualistic fashion. Senior law enforcement officials are quick to blame a serial killer, but their efforts to apprehend this criminal are peculiarly ineffective.
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1 out of 5 stars
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Dreadful.
- By Trevor Little on 08-24-16
- Surrender, New York
- By: Caleb Carr
- Narrated by: Tom Taylorson
Average
Reviewed: 08-15-17
I really wanted to like this book. I loved the Alienist but I just couldn't like Surrender. It seemed like a preposterous story line and I had a lot of other issues with it that I won't go into. I would definitely not recommend it to a friend though.
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America's First Daughter
- A Novel
- By: Stephanie Dray, Laura Kamoie
- Narrated by: Cassandra Campbell
- Length: 23 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 9,936
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 9,029
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 8,994
In a compelling, richly researched novel that draws from thousands of letters and original sources, best-selling authors Stephanie Dray and Laura Kamoie tell the fascinating, untold story of Thomas Jefferson's eldest daughter, Martha "Patsy" Jefferson Randolph - a woman who kept the secrets of our most enigmatic founding father and shaped an American legacy.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Great Story Great Narration
- By MissSusie66 on 03-30-16
- America's First Daughter
- A Novel
- By: Stephanie Dray, Laura Kamoie
- Narrated by: Cassandra Campbell
I wanted to like it more than I did
Reviewed: 08-19-16
I really wanted to like this book, but I just found it to be too long and too slow. The time period and the people in it are fascinating. And I'm ultimately glad I finished it, but it was just a slow read
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Freedom
- A Novel
- By: Jonathan Franzen
- Narrated by: David LeDoux
- Length: 24 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 5,261
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Performance4 out of 5 stars 2,814
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Story4 out of 5 stars 2,821
Patty and Walter Berglund were the new pioneers of old St. Paul - the gentrifiers, the hands-on parents, the Whole Foods generation. Patty was the ideal sort of neighbor, who could tell you where to recycle your batteries and how to get the local cops to do their job. She was an enviably perfect mother and the wife of Walter's dreams. Together with Walter - environmental lawyer, commuter cyclist, total family man - she was doing her small part to build a better world.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Believe the Hype
- By L. Kerr on 09-07-10
- Freedom
- A Novel
- By: Jonathan Franzen
- Narrated by: David LeDoux
Thought I'd like it more
Reviewed: 11-19-15
Would you try another book from Jonathan Franzen and/or David LeDoux?
Maybe
If you’ve listened to books by Jonathan Franzen before, how does this one compare?
Have not listened
If this book were a movie would you go see it?
no
Any additional comments?
I just didnt love any of the characters enough to care what happened to them. I'm not sure if it is the book or because it was audio from, but the characters just didn't resonate with me. And I feel bad saying all this, I thought I'd love the book
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We Are Water
- A Novel
- By: Wally Lamb
- Narrated by: Wally Lamb, George Guidall, Maggi-Meg Reed, and others
- Length: 23 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 2,844
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 2,556
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 2,562
After 27 years of marriage and three children, Anna Oh - wife, mother, outsider artist - has fallen in love with Viveca, the wealthy Manhattan art dealer who orchestrated her success. They plan to wed in the Oh family’s hometown of Three Rivers in Connecticut. But the wedding provokes some very mixed reactions and opens a Pandora’s Box of toxic secrets - dark and painful truths that have festered below the surface of the Ohs' lives.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Lamb writes Fine Literature/What a Book!
- By Suzn F on 10-27-13
- We Are Water
- A Novel
- By: Wally Lamb
- Narrated by: Wally Lamb, George Guidall, Maggi-Meg Reed, Tavia Gilbert, Richard Ferrone, Edoardo Ballerini, Cynthia Darlow, Therese Plummer, Sandy Rustin
Entertaining read
Reviewed: 10-27-15
I'd recommend this audiobook. I like the different actors reading each characters part. Thumbs up
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The Girls of Atomic City
- The Untold Story of the Women Who Helped Win World War II
- By: Denise Kiernan
- Narrated by: Cassandra Campbell
- Length: 12 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 2,927
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 2,634
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 2,623
At the height of World War II, Oak Ridge, Tennessee, was home to 75,000 residents, consuming more electricity than New York City. But to most of the world, the town did not exist. Thousands of civilians - many of them young women from small towns across the South - were recruited to this secret city, enticed by solid wages and the promise of war-ending work. Kept very much in the dark, few would ever guess the true nature of the tasks they performed each day in the hulking factories in the middle of the Appalachian Mountains.
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4 out of 5 stars
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Important story of this secret city
- By CBlox on 11-14-13
- The Girls of Atomic City
- The Untold Story of the Women Who Helped Win World War II
- By: Denise Kiernan
- Narrated by: Cassandra Campbell
So-so
Reviewed: 09-04-15
This wasn't really as interesting as if hoped. It was pretty dry and I didn't love the narrator. I hate to give a bad review, but this book really want my favorite. Not terrible but not great either
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