A Good Storyline

What did you like best about Hibiscus Fruit: Where Grief Leads to Murder in Paradise? What did you like least?

I thought the general storyline was strong. By the end, it felt like there were perhaps one too many plot lines (the mystery of Rafe, the mystery of Joe, the bone murder mystery, the kidnapping/murder mystery of one of the hotel patrons, the stolen art aspect, the human trafficking aspect, the mention of Abigail/Johnny in danger at home and abroad aspect)

What did you like about the performance? What did you dislike?

I thought Ms. Angelini did a great job with the multitude of characters. Unfortunately, the technical aspect (pacing, mouth noise) was distracting.

Any additional comments?

I received a copy of this audiobook from the author via Audibookblast in exchange for an unbiased review.

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Hibiscus Fruit

Is there anything you would change about this book?

narrator

Would you recommend Hibiscus Fruit: Where Grief Leads to Murder in Paradise to your friends? Why or why not?

no

Any additional comments?

This is a very slow moving book.The plodding of the story nearly made me give up on it.Lisa Angelini does a very dry reading,sometimes it sounds like she is recording in a can.Abby takes her son on holiday to try to work through her husbands death.She is a police woman.On the island her son finds bones and a story of other bones,murder and betrayal plays out.s.l.o.w.l.y...
There is a lot of disbelief by many people in this book.The back and forth repetitive observances surrounding this is at times unbearable.This audiobook was provided to me at no cost for a fair and honest review

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Complex Mystery Thriller

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

I would to some one who likes this genre. It is a complex mystery thriller.

What was one of the most memorable moments of Hibiscus Fruit: Where Grief Leads to Murder in Paradise?

When the children were rescued from the traffickers.

What do you think the narrator could have done better?

It was a bit monotone at times. There could of been more tone inflections and variances in the characters voices.

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

This was not an all in one sitting listen.

Any additional comments?

The book has a bit of a slow start and drags a bit initially. Bear with it as the book gets more interesting.

Also there are are too many distractions in the story which do not apply to the actual story. I'm thinking that the extra information and distractions such as who murdered Abby's domestic partner and the Bone Killer serial killer will be further developed and put to rest in subsequent volumes of the series.

Sweeping aside the distractions and the parts that drag, this is a fairly decent mystery thriller. It is through sure serendipity and good fortune that the villain is identified and caught as there was almost another victim.



“I was provided this audiobook at no charge by the author, publisher and/or narrator in exchange for an unbiased review via AudiobookBlast dot come”

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Puttin something right.. means letting people down

The book starts well with the discovery of a spiral of human bones on a Greek island where Detective Abby Foulkes is holidaying with her seven years old son, Johnny, following the murder of his father, her partner, three months before. Other piles of bones had been found recently, too, she discovers. And the following plot, though convoluted, is reasonable. Unfortunately, it is the main protagonist, Abby herself, who is the destructive entity in the story: for someone who had raised herself through the force to reach her position, she was whiney, indecisive and constantly obsessing about her son. Yes, she'd recently lost her significant other and was possibly still under a death threat herself (so why, one has to ask, remove herself and her son from the protection offered by the force in England to go trailing through the stranger-danger environment of Greece, despite the beautiful isolation and memories it rekindled?): all the more reason to be with Johnny and not involving herself in another country's police work whilst agonising about his safety. She was a most irritating and juvenile protagonist, this reader had to keep reminding herself that Abby was not a newbie police cadet.

To add to the irritation, narrator Lisa Angelino, although having a pleasant voice, with clear delivery and innunciation, read with a 'Listen with Mother' affectation which made everything sound rather twee. Her English had a slight Antipodean (?) hint, and some pronunciations were distractingly strange, for example 'surgen' rather than sergeant, and Newcastle was given a two word rendering as New Castle. Her voicings for the other characters emerged better in the latter half of the book, but her vocalisation of the child, Johnny, was always good.

Hibiscus Fruit is a story which would probably really appeal to older children who could engage with Abby's angst ridden concerns without criticism and empathise with Johnny, whilst provided with the thrills and danger inherent in the story which comes without much overt violence.
My thanks to the rights holder from whom I received, at my request, a freely gifted complimentary copy, via Audiobook Boom. It will be interesting to find out if Abby manages to grow up after her return to England.

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