Fifteen Minutes by Karen Kingsbury

Title: Fifteen Minutes
Author: Karen Kingsbury
Read by: Kirby Heyborne

Publisher: Simon & Shuster Audio

Length: 10 CDs, approximately 11.5 hours
Source: Review Copy from Simon and Shuster Audio.  Thank-you!

Zach Dylan decides to compete on a reality singing competition show, Fifteen Minutes, for a chance to win enough money to save his family’s horse farm in Kentucky.   He wants to use his singing voice to shine for God.  His girlfriend, Reese Weatherly, is a beautiful therapeutic horse trainer that is also the love of his life.  Zach dreams of saving the farm so that he can eventually continue on the family inheritance and marry Reese.

After getting to Fifteen Minutes, Zach soon finds himself one of the top competitors and beloved by fans.  He also finds himself caught up in the production where the producers have decided to script a romance between him and another contestant, Zoë.  He is also told to lay off the God talk.  Zach finds himself entranced by fame, but what will the fame cost him?  Zach also had two judges on his side, Chandra Olson and Kelly who have seen the price that fame has had on their own lives.

Overall, I enjoyed this audiobook.  The story was very interesting and definitely kept me intrigued while on the road.  I could see the point that Kingsbury was making about fame changing people and not always for the better, but I thought she failed in not showing that there is also a positive side to fame.  I’m sure as a well-known Christian romance novelist, she couldn’t argue that sometimes fame can allow you do things in life that you wouldn’t be able to otherwise.  I’ll also admit to being annoyed at two other items.  One, I was really annoyed that Zach wanted to use his voice to glorify God  and kept saying that is really wanted to be on the show.  Truthfully that is not why anyone goes on any such show.  You are doing it to glorify yourself and make money, which I think was one of the points that Kingsbury was trying to make.   I get annoyed at all famous people who seem to think God is worried about who is going to win a basketball game or a singing reality show.  I think he has much more to be concerned about.  I was also annoyed by Kelly’s story.  She was portrayed as the bad person in her marriage, when her husband PAID someone to pretend to be his girlfriend for the tabloids and that is what started their problems.  I think they both had issues in their marriage and it wasn’t one party’s fault.

As you can see, the audiobook did elicit passionate results from me, mostly because I enjoyed the characters, and the story.  I thought Kirby Heyborne was a great narrator for the audiobook as well.  I really enjoyed listening to him, although I do wish he could have sung Zach’s songs.

George Washington’s Secret Six: The Spy Ring that Saved the American Revolution by Brian Kilmeade and Don Yaeger

Title: George Washington’s Secret Six:  The Spy Ring that Saved the American Revolution
Author: Brian Kilmeade and Don Yaeger
Read by: Brian Kilmeade

Publisher: Penguin Audio

Length: 5 CDs, approximately 6 hours
Source: Review Copy from Penguin Audio.  Thank-you!

Brian Kilmeade is a passionate narrator of this audiobook that he co-wrote with Don Yaegar.  The story is riveting and one to get passionate about.  It starts off with a quote from the British military saying that General Washington didn’t beat them with military might, but because of his superior spy network.  This was a view of the Revolutionary War that I did not know about, and find very fascinating.

After General Washington had to retreat from New York City, he had to work to put together a spy ring on the inside that could feed him with information.  His first attempt with poor infamous Nathanial Hale was a failure, but also a valuable lesson to General Washington.  He couldn’t send a spy in from the outside, he needed an insider.  Soon a spy network for six spies was formed, known as a Culper Ring.  With codes and invisible ink, they were the epitome of what a spy ring should be and were so secret that one member is still unknown.  They were also one of the major reasons that the Americans won the Revolutionary War by providing information that was necessary for the victory.

This audiobook was moving and very, very interesting.  I greatly enjoyed it.  Kilmeade veered a bit from strict non-fiction by having some of the characters have conversations that it is unknown whether they had or not.  It worked really well listening to it as an audiobook however.  My only complaint is that I want more, especially more detail on the Culper Ring after the Revolution.  I definitely need to look for more books on this topic.  I highly recommend this audiobook.

Inherit the Dead by Mary Higgins Clark, Charlaine Harris, Stephen Carter, etc. all

Title: Inherit the Dead
Author: Mary Higgins Clark, Charlaine Harris, Stephen Carter, etc. all
Read by: Christopher Evan Welch

Publisher: Simon & Shuster Audio

Length: 7 CDs, approximately 8.5 hours
Source: Review Copy from Simon and Shuster Audio.  Thank-you!

Author Linda Fairstein got together a great group of mystery writers for a wonderful cause.  All royalties in excess of editor and contributor compensation for this novel will be donated to Safe Horizon, the leading victim assistance agency in the country.  Each author wrote a chapter of this book and made it a great and compelling story.

Perry Christo is a Private Investigator.  He was once a detective on the police force, but lost his badge when he was framed for corruption after discovering more than he should have on a case.  His marriage broke apart after that and he has been trying to make a go of it as a PI.

Julia Drusilla is a wealthy divorcee that is looking for her missing daughter, Angelina, nicknamed Angel.  Angel is a young woman (20 years old) that was raised by her father after the divorce.  On her 21^st birthday, she will inherit a large trust fund if she is there to sign the papers.  Julia is searching for her to make sure this transfer takes place.  As Christo digs into the story, he learns there is much more to Angel than meets the eye.  

I found the novel to be fast paced and interesting.  I loved the twists and turns and how Perry also used the time to introspectively think about his own life.  Christopher Evan Welch was a good narrator and was the voice of Christo to me.

Bunker Hill by Nathaniel Philbrick

Title: Bunker Hill
Author: Nathaniel Philbrick
Read by: Chris Sorensen
Publisher: Penguin Audio

Length: 11 CDs, approximately 13 hours
Source: Review Copy from Penguin Audio.  Thank-you!

Nathaniel Philbrick is a wonderful writer of history.  I greatly enjoyed his non-fiction book, Mayflower, and was more than a little excited to receive the audiobook of Bunker Hill to review from Penguin Audio.

Bunker Hill is a battle that every American school child is taught as a major battle of the Revolutionary War, but besides the fact that it was fought near Boston I didn’t know much about it.  I did know that America lost the battle, but that the colonists lost far few men than the British had to lose to make the victory possible.

Bunker Hill tells of the events leading up to the battle that actually took place on Breed’s Hill, not Bunker Hill.  From the fiery personalities involved on both sides, to the aftermath and its place in helping to secure the overall American victory, I found this book to be riveting.  I especially loved learning about General Joseph Warren.  He was a fascinating part of our history and it is interesting to wonder what would have happened if he would have lived.  I also loved learning that like most of our early heroes, he had his strengths and his weaknesses.

The most surreal moment of the book for me was when British General Howe was leading his troops up to the colonists’ fortifications on Breed’s Hill and he had a servant with him carrying champagne.  All I can say is, “wow.”  That is a totally different view of battle than I can ever imagine happening.  Also when Howe actually made it to the fort and realized he was the only officer that had made it there alive; it was a fantastic moment of the book.

I also loved how the story was bookended by John Quincy Adams.  Joseph Warren was a doctor and had repaired young Quincy Adams’s hand.  He and his mother Abigail had watched the battle from his home and it was a moment that deeply disturbed him.  At the end of the story as an old man, he still would not participate in any commemorations for the battle.

Chris Sorensen was a fantastic narrator.  His voice truthfully reminded me of Tom Hanks.  It was a great voice to listen to and was quite expressive while reading this book.

Overall, Bunker Hill is a fascinating look into our history and is not to be missed!

Venetia by Georgette Heyer

Title: Venetia
Author: Georgette Heyer
Read by:  Richard Armitage
Publisher: Naxos Audio

Length: Approximately 4 hours and 51 minutes (Abridged)
Source: MP3 Audio through Wisconsin Public Library Consortium – Overdrive on my Droid

I loved Venetia.  Venetia is a spirited heroine who lives out in the country taking care of her younger brother and waiting for her elder brother’s return from the continent.  She is beautiful and spirited, but living in limited circles, has been unable to find a suitor.  One day the mysterious and handsome Lord Damerel returns to his nearby estate.  The two meet and instant sparks fly.  Lord Damerel has a scandalous past, but Venetia doesn’t care a whit for it.  After her older brother’s new wife returns and takes over care of the estate, Venetia finally gets a chance to go to London and experience society.  She also plans a way to make Lord Damerel forget his past and move on to a future, with her.

I loved Richard Armitage’s narration.  I could listen to it all day long.  And even better, he would make the perfect Lord Damerel in a Hollywood version of this novel.  Please Hollywood – it would be wonderful!