This was a very entertaining book. OK, so there were a couple of things that sounded a little awkward: an adviser (a professor of archaeology) intent on being a matchmaker for one of his very young, female students. And that same adviser asking same student to bring his brand new Landrover from Oxfordshire to Mallorca. I mean, seriously? An inexperienced driver, driving first on the 'wrong' side of the road, then, on the continent, driving on the right side, but with the steering wheel on the left -- that's a challenge even for drivers who are used to drive on that side of the car. Plus, we all know the Americans drive mainly automatic cars, and this one had gears to shift.

That aside, this was a very enjoyable book, playing with all cliches and prejudices you can think of ,of all nations involved -- and there are a lot of those: England, France, Spain, America, Germany, Ireland.... and it doesn't end there. Gender, age, -- you name it-- you'll find it here.

I could imagine that if you're easily offended this book might not be for you. I found it hilarious, after all, all these cliches are well known, and are portrayed in the funniest way. If I had thought for a moment that the author actually holds all these prejudices, I'd probably have turned away in disgust, but I couldn't detect any of that.

The book starts out fairly slowly, but once things get moving, it is very fast paced until the very end.
The narrator did a fabulous job with all the different accents, kudos for that. It was an enjoyable, light and fast listen, exactly right for forgetting everything around me for a while.

I was voluntarily provided this free review copy audio book by the author, narrator, or publisher.


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*This audiobook was provided by the author, narrator, or publisher at no cost in exchange for an unbiased review courtesy of AudiobookBoom dot com, at my request.

Jane is given an offer to drive her professors car to his archaeological dig site, and bring pottery with her. She can't pass it up! But along the way she learns that the locked box she carries doesn't carry the pottery shards found at the site but priceless artifacts. And there are people who will stop at nothing along the way to retrieve them from her.

Cait is a new voice for me in audio books. There are times where k's, p's, and b's feel to pop when speaking. It's not terribly bad, but I could hear it and got caught on it at times. I don't know if she uses a filter to speak through, it might help with the microphone that picks up so clearly. Cait does a lovely job of accents for the characters to differentiate them and fit to the accent each is to have. The background was clear and I didn't come across any repeated words through the story. Cait did a lovely job or reading along with Jane's adventures.

I listened to this book, so I don't know how the editing is through the written book. In reading through the first few chapters on Amazon, I did notice that the number 1 was different in many cases. The number 1 was an I, like a capital "i" instead of the numeral 1. Then I saw it was a numeral 1 in other places. It is something tiny and would bother me for a bit but I'd get use to it.

We spend time with Jane as she drives her professors car. Much of this travelling time to get to Mallorca was boring in her driving. So boring I almost clicked the 30 sec fast forward button.

I thought the attraction for Jane to Alex when she meets him on the ferry was to fast. Like trying to hard at first meeting to create a connection. She's attracted to him, and thinks about things she could do in the backseat of the car. Seems a bit fast and jumpy in the attraction arena for me. We get the drive of hormones, but no other senses with it, smell, touch and feel of skin, something more to connect rather than drive of lust.

Jane felt as though she jumped to conclusions without details which made her feel a bit paranoid for no reason to me. She questions everything in her mind, like when Jane sees a black Mercedes, meets Alex for the first time, or when checking on the car on the ferry. She has no reason to feel paranoid about everything. I know she's on her own but the questions she's asking felt as though the author was trying to drop hints and lead us to the story that's to come. But I didn't feel a connection to why she was thinking these thoughts. She doesn't know anything is wrong or wanted, so why think this way? It felt as foreshadowing was trying to be done to heavily with lack of suspicious reasoning. It just needed something more in the beginning to draw it together.

I'm sorry, I just couldn't see the reasoning behind actions. The characters background and current person didn't blend enough and feel to give backing for following along as she does. There felt like missing pieces to strengthen character and reasoning.

Jane does a lot of "reflecting" on past events instead of living now. The author uses these as the fashion to back why Jane does as she does, but she still doesn't seem to fit for me. I didn't want to live in the past, I wanted to see the story that was evolving now.

I really wanted to like this story. It sounds like a thrilling ride that I'd enjoy, but I just could not get into this story. I felt like I had to many hang-ups with Jane and the events happening. Also, I found the story a bit bland. I know if I would have read it, I would not have finished this one. But, what I find boring, others may enjoy. ( )

Imagine being the prey in a car chase and having to drive on what you perceive as the "wrong" side of the road, in a totally unfamiliar car, and the directions are wanting. That's all the spoiler you get, so I don't insult the author. The publisher's blurb is fair at hinting the plot, but doesn't tell you what a great imagination wrote this, or how totally interesting he makes it. The writing draws you in and holds your attention (good thing it is not awfully long, or there would be no sleeping), the characters are all too realistic. I am looking forward to more!
Cait Frizzell is excellent as the audio performer for this book, and she seems to enjoy doing it--and it shows!
This audiobook was provided by the author, narrator, or publisher at no cost in exchange for an unbiased review courtesy of AudiobookBOOM. ( )

A Race Across France

Stolen Antiquities

Thieves And Crooks

STORY LINE:

Author J.J. Dibenedetto has created a novel with adventure, action, thieves and stolen antiquities. American, Jane Barnaby, is attending Oxford; her advisor, Professor Welldon, ask her to deliver his new car and a box of pottery shards to him in Mallorca, Spain where he is vacationing.

Through a series of mishaps and mistakes, Jane unintentionally retrieves a box of antiquities and the adventure of a life time begins. The box is stolen from Jane and she races across France along with 2 sidekicks to retrieve the box. Are these two friend or foe? Jane met Alex Coggins on the ferry as she travels from England to France and Tom Barker shows up in France stating he is an employee of the Bodleian Library from which the antiquities originated.

Come along for a map-cap adventure as Jane races across France to Spain and her vacationing advisor, Professor Welldon with two men that could her friend or they could be the enemy.

CHARACTERS, PLOTTING, AND DEVELOPMENT:

This is an action filled novel with skillful character development and plotting. The plots just keep coming; Jane questions her opinion of her sidekicks, their intentions, and her attraction to Alex.

"Obviously this man wasn't just gorgeous, with a killer voice and charm to spare-he had real talent and serious brains going for him as well. He was too good to be true."

Ms. Dibenedetto kept the drama at high peak as her characters race to find the original box of antiquities, elude the thieves, solve the mystery, and retrieve Professor Welldon's box. Ms. Dibenedetto's talent in keeping the suspense at high pitch was clear. I thought several times I had the plot worked out, to find I was wrong.

At first I found Jane an odd duck; she has a memory tree on campus under which she places one rock a day at the base as she talks to her deceased mother. However I came to understand, this is just part of Jane's personality. She is a quirky American with a lot of moxie, courage, strength, smarts, and oh boy, can that girl drive a car!

Look out "Smokey and The Bandit", here comes Jane. I howled with laughter reading some of the scenes Ms. Dibenedetto created. I liked Jayne's character quite a lot.

"....Pure instinct or maybe the spirit of Burt Reynolds taking hold of her for an instance. Without warning she shifted straight into reverse, turning the wheel hard to the left. She heard screaming, she couldn't tell if it was hers or Tom's and she saw a black blur as the BMW blew past on the right, clearing her with an inch or two to spare. .....That was her cue to go straight back into first gear and floor it."

Tom's conversations with himself were hilarious.

"The girl....(Jane)simply had to be a lunatic. There was no other explanation...It had to be her American upbringing. That was it. They were all crazy. Grandfather Alfred had strong opinions bout them. .....Tommy if you get mixed up with one of them when they're on a mission you've only two choices. Hang on for ride, or get the hell out-of-the-way"

Ms. Dibenedetto portrayal of Alex and Tom was intriguing and skillful. Was Alex a villain or an innocent bystander assisting Jane in her quest to find the antiquities or was their meeting on the ferry prearranged by the thieves? Alex was sigh worthy with a large portion of "is he trust worthy".

"..it was not mere annoyance but straight-up anger. It was gone as quickly as it appeared, but Jane could not mistake what she'd seen."

Is Tom a hero or a villain? Was he really an employee of the Bodleian Library or was he part of the theft ring? Have they suddenly appeared to help her or harm her? So many questions, have no fear, Ms. Dibenedetto will weave all the threads together, answer all your questions and create a cohesive tale of theft and mystery.

The pacing of the book was spot on as Ms. Dibenedetto kept the action, suspense, and mystery at top-level. I could not wait to see who was the villain, who was the friend, and how the thieves instigated their plan. Was Tom their inside man or was Alex the dastardly villain? You will become invested in Jane and her adventure.

RECOMMENDATION:

I recommend this book to anyone that likes a solid mystery adventure. I look forward to installment 2 with Jane and her future adventures.

I received this book from the author and publisher in return for an honest book review.

Book reviews of any novel are dependent on the book review author’s opinion; book reviews on line under my name and on my blog are my opinion. ( )