Notorious Nineteen by Janet Evanovich

Title: Notorious Nineteen


Author: Janet Evanovich

Read by: Lorelei King

Publisher: Random House Audio

Length: Approximately 6 hours (5 CDs)

Source: Kewaunee Public Library

I’ll admit, the sole reason I am still reading the Stephanie Plum series is because I love, love, love Lorelei King’s narration. Her voices for all of the characters hit the mark and make me laugh out loud while I’m listening to the book driving to and from work. I wasn’t that impressed by the last two novels, but I do love the characters so I tried the latest and greatest, Notorious Nineteen.

Stephanie Plum and Lulu are back in the game. Stephanie is as usual low on funds and trying to catch a couple of guys that are out on bail. One in particular, went to the hospital to get his appendix removed and was never seen again. Where did he go and where is all of the money he stole from the assisted living facility he worked for?

Also to make things interesting, Ranger is in dire need of Stephanie’s help. He and his best friend from his elite Navy Seal days have been receiving death threats. Stephanie is Ranger’s date to various wedding related parties to help protect Ranger and keep an extra eye out for any danger.

Joe Morelli is still on the scene and he and Stephanie has tender moments. Unfortunately, Joe and Stephanie are still locked in a relationship limbo – they are together, but will they take the next step? And will Stephanie give it all up for Ranger?

Luckily Notorious Nineteen did not focus on the romance aspect, which was great as that has been annoying me greatly the past few books. The mysteries were intriguing, the action suspenseful and light hearted at different times. Lula was sadly missing from the last part of the novel, but otherwise, I thought this novel was better than the last few in the series. I hope this continues . . . and that Stephanie makes some forward growth in one of her relationships!

The Bone Bed by Patricia Cornwell

Title: The Bone Bed


Author: Patricia Cornwell

Read by: Kate Reading

Publisher: Penguin Audio

Length: Approximately 13 hours (10 CDs)

Source: Penguin Audio Review Copy – Thank-you!

I first discovered Kay Scarpetta last year in Red Mist, and was more than a little excited to review the next book in the series, The Bone Bed. I have discovered that I LOVE to listen to mysteries while in the car. With two hours of commute time per day, most of my reading is now done via audiobook. I don’t want to fall asleep while driving, so it is importantly to me to listen to engaging books that keep my attention and make my drive enjoyable.

Kay Scarpetta feels like life is starting to fall out of her control. Her staff is not performing up to par, her husband suspects her of infidelity, and to top it off, she receives a mysterious video on an email that shows a grisly discovery of a missing paleontologist’s ear. Shortly thereafter, she is in Boston Harbor helping to bring aboard a victim from the sea. The rest of the novel is fast paced sleuthing as Kay tries to solve the mystery of the two murders. It is also very interesting how the Chief Examiner tries to keep her personal life in order at the same time.

I really enjoyed this novel and was intrigued with the mystery. The only part I didn’t like was the tying together of the two mysteries, which seemed a bit farfetched. Kate Reading did a great job as a narrator capturing the essence of each character with a distinct voice. Overall, I enjoyed this audiobook and felt it was over too soon!

To Sell is Human by Daniel H. Pink

Title: To Sell is Human


Author: Daniel H. Pink

Read by: Daniel H. Pink

Publisher: Penguin Audio

Length: Approximately 6 hours (5 CDs)

Source: Penguin Audio Review Copy – Thank-you!

To Sell is Human makes the convincing argument that we are all salesmen (or women) of some sort or another, no matter what career we have. The audiobook gave a great history of sales and how sales in changing in this new digital world that we live in. It gave a wide range of examples of careers that may be convincing people that they need something from nurses and educators to engineers. I found the examples to be very relevant.

Daniel Pink read the audiobook himself and did an excellent job; he seemed very engaged with the material. Besides giving the fascinating history of sales, the audiobook also gave ideas on how to be a successful sales person using new pitch ideas and what type of person is a good sales person. I thought it was very interesting that the extrovert that we always assume is a good salesperson is not always the successful sales person. I also loved his real world examples, especially the shady used car salesman and his techniques from the 1970’s.

I enjoyed listening to the audiobook as it was well written and engaging. In order to put the tips into practice though, I think I would need to purchase a digital or hard copy version as well to refer to while I practiced the techniques. Otherwise, when I’m listening while driving, I can’t make notes to keep track of the different techniques to use.

How to Talk So Kids Will Listen & Listen So Kids Will Talk by Adele Faber & Elaine Mazlish

Title: How to Talk So Kids Will Listen & Listen So Kids Will Talk


Author: Adele Faber & Elaine Mazlish

Read by: Susan Bennett

Publisher: Simon & Schuster

Length: Approximately 8.5 hours (8 CDs)

Source: Simon & Schuster Review Copy – Thank-you!



I have three kids age’s seven to three. I always like learn new tools to put in my parenting tool box to help to work through the tough times of parenting. I had never heard of How to Talk So Kids Will Listen and Listen So Kids Will Talk, but the title intrigued me. I was excited to have the opportunity to review the book, and now that I have – I see it everywhere!

Adele Faber and Elaine Mazlish talk about the joys and stresses of raising their children, and different ideas for how to express your frustrations to your children in a constructive way, instead of yelling. It also gives ideas on how to get your children to talk to you about their emotions for a better understanding between parents and kids. The book also gives guidelines on good ways to talk to children so that they know how you feel, but also how they can constructive problem solve to deal with a problem.

I thought many of the ideas were great and started using them immediately with my children. It especially worked well with my eldest son who is seven. He seems to not whine quite so much now that he feels I am listening to his problems and helping him to solve them. It has also helped with my four year old. Instead of yelling about his coat on the floor, I just say, “I see an orange coat on the floor” and he picks it up. I like that I can get him to get things done without the yelling. It has overall helped to make “crunch time” after we get home and are trying to make dinner, easier to deal with.

I also enjoyed the updated section “The Next Generation” by Joanna Faber. Joanna hit the nail on the head with many topics, such as dealing with the shear amount of homework and business that kids these days have. I really enjoyed her section and listening to the many problems that she has counseled different families with. I think the problem solving section was the most useful and also made me feel that my family is not so different than most!

I really enjoyed listening to this book and thought Susan Bennet did a great job narrating it. I felt I was learning something new on my drive to and from work. The only item I did not enjoy about the audiobook was that during the problem solving sections, there wasn’t enough time to think through the problems as the audio continued on. I also felt like I wouldn’t be able to skim back over topics with the audiobook. Therefore, I purchased a hard copy of this book for reference. I enjoy the cartoon examples especially. My husband is listening to this audiobook now and finding it helpful.

This book did not deal with sibling issues much, which is actually the biggest issue we have with the kids right now. I purchased Siblings Without Rivalry by the same authors and hope this will help me out.

Have you read this book? How did you feel about it? What is your favorite parenting guide?

And the Winner of Shadows and Strongholds by Elizabeth Chadwick is . . .

Meghan of What Does that Have to Do With the Price of Butter?  Congrats to Meghan!  I have notified Meghan via email and she has one week to send me her snail mail address to receive her book.  If I haven't heard from Meghan within that time, I will select a new winner.

Meghan was selected using the power of random.org.  Thank-you to all who entered the giveaway!  I will have a new one up next week so stay tuned.

I LOVED Shadows and Strongholds and hope Meghan enjoys it too.  I will hopefully have my review up and posted sometime within the next week.

Thank-you to Elizabeth Chadwick for writing such a compelling novel and for writing a fantastic guest blog post for Laura's Reviews.  Thank-you to Sourcebooks for allowing the giveaway.

I hope you all have a great Easter weekend!

Finding the Hero’s Journey: Or how Shadows and Strongholds Came to be Written a Guest Blog by Elizabeth Chadwick (and GIVEAWAY!)

I am honored today to have one of my all-time favorite authors, Elizabeth Chadwick on Laura's Reviews today with a guest blog about her new novel, Shadows and Strongholds.  I just started it yesterday, and I'm already hooked! Elizbeth Chadwick has no equal when it comes to historical fiction - she brings medival times to life!  Thank-you Elizabeth Chadwick for being on my blog today!

Finding the Hero’s Journey:  Or how Shadows and Strongholds Came to be Written by Elizabeth Chadwick

First let me explain:
Shadows and Strongholds was born out of the novel I wrote before it, about a medieval outlaw called Fulke FitzWaryn, who ran rings around King John. That novel will be coming to the USA in the autumn as The Outlaw Knight. In the UK where these books were first published, it was the other way around and The Outlaw Knight (titled Lords of the White Castle there) was published first, followed by Shadows and Strongholds. I have a tendency, you see, to write prequels. I become very fascinated while writing a novel in what makes the people who they are and then my curiosity often leads me to the ‘what happened before.’ In this case, I wanted to know all about how Fulke’s parents got together, and when I trawled the history of the family, I found a tremendously exciting story.

The primary source historical document for the tale of Brunin FitzWarin and Hawise de Dinan comes from a document written in the 13th Century in Anglo-Norman called Fouke le Fitz Waryn. It is partly a family chronicle with information that can be verified from other sources, and partly an adventure romance with invented or altered material. It tells the story of the FitzWaryn family’s rise to power on the Welsh borders and their struggles against fellow barons and tyrannical kings to hold on to what they had.

The hero of Shadows and Strongholds is Brunin FitzWarin. The chronicle gives us the detail that in his adult life he was known as Fulke le Brun (The Brown) because of his dark hair, eyes and complexion – imagine the colouring of Johnny Depp, Orlando Bloom or Keanu Reeves. A Medieval historian friend well versed in Old French, told me that a childhood nickname might be Brunin, or Bruno, so that became his name.

The novel begins in his childhood when he goes to become a squire to his father’s ally and friend Joscelin de Dinan. The piece below from the chronicle, translated from Anglo Norman French by Professor Glynn Burgess is what set me on the path to finding out more about Brunin and Hawise and how I should go about creating their personalities and their story.

"When the boy was seven years old, they sent him to Joce de Dinan to be educated and brought up, for Joce was a knight of great experience. He received him with great honour and great affection and brought him up with his children in his own chambers. For he had two daughters, the younger of whom was the same age as Fouke, and she was called Hawyse...”

The chronicle goes on to say that there was discord and war between Joce and his rival marcher lord Walter de Lacy, who coveted Ludlow. When Brunin was in his late teens, there was a battle between Joce and de Lacy right in front of the walls of Ludlow, and Joce found himself in deep trouble...
“The lady and her daughters in the tower saw their lord so hard pressed that they could scarcely endure it. They cried out, fainted and lamented greatly, for they did not expect to see their lord alive again. Fouke FitzWaryn (Brunin) had been left in the castle, for he was only 18 years old. Hearing the cry from the tower, he went up quickly and saw his lady and the others in tears. He went to Hawyse and asked her what the matter was and why she appeared so unhappy.

'Hold your tongue,' she said, 'you are not so much like your father, who is so bold and so strong. You are a coward and always will be. Do you not see my lords there, who has cared for you greatly and brought you up lovingly? His life is in danger for want of help, whilst you, wretch, run up and down in safety, without giving him a thought.'

The young man became flushed with anger and distress. Then he climbed down the tower and found in the hall an old, rusty hauberk, which he donned as best he could. He grabbed hold of a large Danish axe and went to a stable beside the postern leading to the river. There he found a packhorse, which he mounted, and going out through the postern he soon crossed the river and reached the field, where his lord had been unhorsed and was on the point of being killed if he had not suddenly come up. Fouke had a wretched helmet, which scarcely protected his shoulders, and at his first attempt he struck Godard de Bruce, who had seized his lord, with his axe, slicing right down the middle of his spine. He put his lord back on his horse, turned towards Sir Andrew de Preez and with his axe dealt him such a blow on his helmet of white steel that he cleaved right through it down to his teeth. Sir Ernalt de Lys thought that he had no chance of escaping, for he was seriously wounded. So he surrendered to sir Joce. De Lacy defended himself, but he was soon captured."

Then everyone goes back into the castle, the hostages are locked up in the Pendover tower, and Joce thanks Fouke (Brunin) saying: 'My dear son, blessed be the time I have spent bringing you up, for effort expended on a worthy man is never wasted.'

This scene became one of the major dramas in the novel and illuminated for me the path I was going to take with the story line, and also firmly defined the characters. Brunin is a young man of great potential who has to come to terms with himself and face the demons that hold him back, and Hawise is a strong young woman, plainly not afraid to speak her mind. She has known Brunin since they were children. What is her relationship with him? What had it been like before that moment, and where was it going to go now? I had my characters, I had my conflicts, I had my storyline: A 500 page novel written from the inspiration of 500 words in an 800 year old chronicle!

Fascinating - although I will shallowly admit to being caught by a hero that  has the "colouring of Johnny Depp, Orlando Bloom or Keanu Reeves."  I can't wait to finish this intriguing story, although I always am sad that a Chadwick book has ended - I want to keep reading them forever.  Thank-you again for the great guest blog!

Giveaway
Sourcebooks has graciously offered a giveaway of one copy of Shadows and Strongholds by Elizabeth Chadwick.
If you would like to win this prize pack please leave a comment about what intrigues you about the this book or this wonderful giveaway by Elizabeth Chadwick.

As part of your comment, you must include an email address. If I can't find a way to contact you I will draw another winner.

For an additional entry, blog about this giveaway or post it on your sidebar. Provide a link to this post in your comment.

I will be using random.org (or a monte carlo simulation in excel) to pick the winners from the comments.

This contest is only open to US and Canadian residents (Sorry!).

No P.O. Boxes.

The deadline for entry is midnight on Friday March 22, 2013.

Please make sure to check the last week of March to see if you are a winner. I send emails to the winner, but lately I've been put in their "junk mail" folder instead of their inbox.

Good luck!



Winner of Grace Burrowes Prize Pack!

I still exist and I'm still reading!  Life this semester has been more than a little hectic trying to get everything together for my new classes and do my own homework for my certification class.  I will hopefully catch up soon (it's Spring Break next week, but I do have to work - lots of meetings!).

Sourcebooks graciously offered a prize pack of the two books—Lady Maggie’s Secret Scandal and Lady Louisa’s Christmas Knight (the two books that come before Lady Eve’s Indiscretion) for one lucky winner that posted a comment on Grace Burrowes guest blog.  Using the magic of random.org, Barbara E. was selected as the winner.  Barbara has been notified via email and has one week to send me her mailing address.  If I don't hear from her in a week, a new winner will be notified.

Thank-you Grace Burrowes for the wonderful guest blog, and for answering readers questions!  I finished Lady Eve's Indiscretion a couple of weeks ago and loved it .  . . I will hopefully be posting my review shortly.

Thank-you to Sourcebooks for allowing me to hold this giveaway and to all who entered.  Sad you didn't win?  I will have a new great guest blog and giveaway posted shortly . . .

"How Did I Come Up with the Windham Family?" a Guest Blog by Grace Burrowes (and GIVEAWAY!)

I'm excited to have author Grace Burrowes as a guest on Laura's Reviews today.  I love her bestselling Windham series and this post on how she came up with the complex, loveable family is fascinating.  Enjoy!

How Did I Come Up with the Windham Family? by Grace Burrowes

I’m seven books into the Windham series, and nobody has asked me this yet, which surely qualifies it as great question.

Of the Windham siblings, I started off writing Westhaven’s story first, and because every hero needs reflection characters, I gave Westhaven a couple brothers who by turns support and exhort his lordship. They were good fellows, those two, so good in fact, that after serving their terms in The Heir, they merited books of their own, The Soldier and The Virtuoso.

Because families of the Regency period tended to be large, I also sprinkled a few sisters into the mix, and because most families also lost somebody to disease, I consigned one brother to an unfortunate demise as a function of consumption. Then too, the Napoleonic wars were taking a toll, so the loss of the late ducal heir also hovers over the family. I was trying for historical accuracy, but in fact, I got much more than that.

When my editor gave me the opportunity to write a Christmas story, it seemed only natural to turn to a Windham sister for inspiration, and wasn’t it convenient that she had three older brothers riding in from the east to meddle with her happily ever after? Lady Sophie didn’t quite see it that way…

With Sophie’s tale complete in draft, I could have turned back to the manuscripts preceding the Windham’s, written completely new material, or come up with stories for the remaining four Windham sisters. My editor’s guidance was to write the sisters’ stories, and it turned out to be good guidance.

I am relatively new at this published author business, having seen my first book in print little more than two years ago. Having one milieu to work in across many books let me focus on the writing and the stories, and spend a bit less time on the research and the world building. Then too, readers have become fond of the family, something I did not anticipate, and the family members are fond of one another.

It’s interesting to me that often, the scene in each book that readers will say got to them—St. Just reading his mother’s letters with Valentine, Maggie finally accepting Her Grace as her mother, His Grace waiting with Eve at the back of the church on her wedding day—are not scenes between the lovers, but rather, family scenes.

I’m a child welfare attorney, and I see families on the verge of falling apart, pulling back from the brink of disaster, and falling into complete disarray. More to the point, I’m the sixth out of seven children, and my family members are among my favorite people on the entire planet.

So where did the Windham family come from? From my own formative years, from what I see in the courtroom, from historical realities, from editorial guidance. Mostly, the Windham family came from my belief that when two people love each other and commit to a lifetime together, that love creates family. It might not be biological family, it might not be a big family, but love and family are intertwined, and mutually reinforcing.

Then too, Their Graces were such fun characters are parents… I do wonder what tricks they’ll get up to as grandparents. Don’t you?

LADY EVE’S INDISCRETION BY GRACE BURROWES – IN STORES FEBRUARY 2013

Lady Eve's Got The Perfect Plan…

Pretty, petite Evie Windham has been more indiscreet than her parents, the Duke and Duchess of Moreland, suspect. Fearing that a wedding night would reveal her past, she's running out of excuses to dodge adoring swains. Lucas Denning, the newly titled Marquis of Deene, has reason of his own for avoiding marriage. So Evie and Deene strike a deal, each agreeing to be the other's decoy. At this rate, matrimony could be avoided indefinitely...until the two are caught in a steamy kiss that no one was supposed to see.

Praise for Lady Maggie's Secret Scandal:

"Burrowes delivers red-hot chemistry with a masterful mix of playfulness and sensuality."—Publishers Weekly Starred Review

"A tantalizing, delectably sexy story that is one of the best yet from an author on the way to the top."—Library Journal Starred Review

"A delight...strikingly unique characters with realistic emotions and exciting antics."—RT Book Reviews, 4 Stars

"Captivating...historical romance at its finest and rife with mystery and intrigue."—Romance Fiction on Suite 101

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Grace Burrowes is a bestselling and award-winning author of historical romances. Her debut, The Heir, was selected as a Publishers Weekly Best Book of the Year for 2010 in the romance category, and Lady Louisa’s Christmas Wish won RT Book Reviews Reviewer’s Choice Award for Best Historical Romance of 2011 and was also nominated for the prestigious RWA RITA© award. The author of the bestsellers The Heir, The Soldier, Lady Maggie’s Secret Scandal, and Lady Sophie’s Christmas Wish, Grace is a practicing attorney and lives in rural Maryland. She’ll conclude to the Windham Family Series with Lady Jenny’s story in October 2013, and will begin a new regency series with Darius in April 2013. She also has a Scottish Victorian series as well, beginning with The Bridegroom Wore Plaid, which was a Publishers Weekly Best Book of 2012. Please visit http://www.graceburrowes.com/ or follow her on Twitter: @GraceBurrowes for more information.

To Purchase Lady Eve’s Indiscretion:

Amazon

Barnes and Noble

Sourcebooks

Giveaway
Sourcebooks has graciously offered a prize pack of the two books—Lady Maggie’s Secret Scandal and Lady Louisa’s Christmas Knight (the two books that come before Lady Eve’s Indiscretion). 


If you would like to win this prize pack please leave a comment about what intrigues you about the these books, Lady Eve's Indiscretion or about author Grace Burrowes Guest Blog.

As part of your comment, you must include an email address. If I can't find a way to contact you I will draw another winner.

For an additional entry, blog about this giveaway or post it on your sidebar. Provide a link to this post in your comment.

I will be using random.org (or a monte carlo simulation in excel) to pick the winners from the comments.

This contest is only open to US and Canadian residents (Sorry!).

No P.O. Boxes.

The deadline for entry is midnight on Friday February 22, 2013.

Please make sure to check the last week of February to see if you are a winner. I send emails to the winner, but lately I've been put in their "junk mail" folder instead of their inbox.

Good luck!

The Last Runaway by Tracy Chevalier

Title: The Last Runaway

Author: Tracy Chevalier
Read by: Kate Reading
Publisher: Penguin Audio
Length: Approximately 10 hours (8 CDs)
Source: Penguin Audio Review Copy – Thank-you!

I love Tracy Chevalier’s historical fiction novels. Girl with the Pearl Earring, The Virgin Blue, and Burning Bright are some of my favorite novels. I was very excited by the opportunity to review Chevalier’s latest novel on audiobook, The Last Runaway.

The Runaway explores a fascinating chapter of American History, the Underground Railroad that helped runaway slaves escape to Canada, especially prevalent in the 1850’s. I have always been fascinated by the Underground Railroad. I grew up in Union City, Michigan, which was a station along the railroad. There was a tunnel used on the underground railroad discovered during road construction in the 1990’s and many tales of hidden tunnels and passageways in town. Especially interesting is that four incomplete sets of mystery bones have recently been discovered in the home of a known stationmaster, John Zimmerman (http://www.foxnews.com/us/2012/10/04/old-human-bones-found-in-michigan-attic-to-be-interred-at-1800-style-funeral/). This is worthy of a blog post or novel of its own, but I am fascinated with this era of history.

Moving back to the book review, Chevalier explores the trials of being involved with the Underground Railroad. Honor Bright is a young English Quaker. Jilted by her fiancée, she leaves England with her sister for a new life in America. After tragedy strikes, Honor finds herself alone and in a very awkward situation. Honor makes the best of it, but finds herself adrift in Ohio. She begins to help with the Underground Railroad as slavery is against her Quaker believes. She soon learns that things are not always black and white in the Quaker world for slavery. What is the morality if a Quaker does not help a slave, but also does not turn them in? What is a Quaker obeys the letter of the Fugitive Slave law even though it is against their moral believes? Weighty topics are to be had in this novel.

Honor is also a part of a love triangle. I didn’t think I would ever think kindly of a slave catcher, but Donovan is a real three-dimensional figure that Honor abhors, yet is attracted to. Interesting and colorful characters are found throughout the novel.

Another fascinating part of the novel was quilting. Honor is an expert at making quilts and all are awed by her sewing skills. Honor brings her English quilting ways to America, but soon finds that things are done differently in America.

The central question of the novel is if Honor can find her way in America. Whether she can learn to adapt to American ways and leave her old English ways behind. It is also a question of moral beliefs. How firm should one stick to their beliefs amidst adversity?

This was a fascinating audiobook to listen too. I enjoyed Kate Reading’s narration, except for when she was Honor’s voice while talking or reading letters. She gave Honor a very strange voice and accent that annoyed me. All of her other voices were excellent.

Overall, I highly recommend this book – I’m still thinking about it two weeks after I finished it!

Insane City by Dave Barry

Title: Insane City


Author: Dave Barry

Read by: Dave Barry

Publisher: Penguin Audio

Length: Approximately 8 hours (7 CDs)

Source: Penguin Audio Review Copy – Thank-you!



I love Dave Barry’s humor. I was a fan of his newspaper column in years past and I also enjoyed his humorous novel, Lunatics (co-authored with Alan Zweibel) last year. While I enjoyed the first part of Lunatics, I thought it spiraled off too far into crazy during the last half of the novel. Happily, Insane City was able to keep a great, consistent, yet surprising humorous story throughout the novel. I greatly enjoyed listening to the audiobook on my trips to and from work, and the constant laughs it elicited in me helped to break the monotony of my drive.

Seth Weinstein is not that successful in life. His career is writing tweets for douche, but he has been successful in love. Tina is a beautiful high powered attorney from a wealthy family. Seth knows she is way out of his league, but he is more than a little bit happy that she has agreed to become his wife. Tina has always enjoyed Seth’s brand of humor and the fact that he is a nice guy, but the wedding has transformed her into a bit of a bridezilla. Seth is afraid to let Tina down. Everything is going smoothly until his “groom posse” leads him out for a night on the town once they arrive in Florida right before the wedding.

Suddenly, Seth finds himself in a series of unfortunate, but hilarious events. As he makes his way through them with the ultimate goal of finding Tina’s lost wedding ring and making it to the wedding on time, Seth finds out many truths about himself, Tina, and his friends. He also makes a host of new memorable friends as well.

One item that I thought was brilliant in this book was the juxtaposition of the Haitian refugees with the debauchery of the bachelor party / wedding. While the refugees were literally fighting for their life, hoping for a better one in American, the consumption of the entire wedding party was crass. It was jarring to go from hilarity to sobriety, but I thought it made an excellent point on our society. It also soon became part of the main story once the refugees were rescued by our hero. There were many points that Barry made in this novel that were so true to human nature, it was humor in its best form – a great point that makes us laugh while also makes us think about our own humanity.

Dave Barry was the narrator of this audiobook and he was excellent. He brought the novel to life. I sometimes wondered how he could read the novel without laughing himself!

Overall, Insane City is a wacky comedy that has shades of The Hangover and Bridesmaids, but it ultimately goes beyond those stories to become a hilarious story that also showcases our humanity.