We often talk about how listeners’ experiences can differ greatly – all with the same audiobook. Don’t Cry for Me is proof positive as all three Gals give their thoughts on this Audie Finalist.
Narrated by Kathe Mazur
Melinda’s Take
Wow… What an emotional, action-packed ride – an incredible story with a wonderful, empathetic narration that kept me hanging from the very first word. (Note to self: now listen to the first in the series!)
Sharon Sala is a totally new-to-me author, although she has written more than 50 books, with a first publish date of 1991. Don’t Cry for Me is the second in the Rebel Ridge series, based in the Kentucky Appalachian Mountains. Longtime Rebel Ridge resident Quinn Walker is reunited with his commanding officer, Mariah Conrad, when she is released from the VA hospital, recuperating from both the mental and physical wounds she suffered in Afghanistan. Quinn takes her to his remote mountain cabin to heal, but it’s there that the PTSD hits her hard when she starts hearing helicopters and voices that no one else seems to hear.
This is suspense at its finest – Sala starts right off with two different plot lines that intersect late in the story, with a wounded black bear and a wounded former neighbor both wreaking havoc in the small mountain community. As I listened to the first hour of the book while walking the treadmill, I had to stop my workout and go home to avoid a public breakdown. And the pace never really lets up. If you are at all squeamish, this isn’t your book, as she describes scenes in great detail to evoke the horror of the bear, of the psycho villain, and even of the PTSD that both Quinn and Mariah suffer.
Kathe Mazur is a prolific narrator, with 75 listings in Audible, of various genres and dating back to 2002. The 2 titles she’s narrated that are in my library include an early Suzanne Brockmann and a more recent Rachel Gibson. I loved the narration on Any Man of Mine (Gibson), and Ladies’ Man (Brockmann) was a 4 star re-listen for me several years ago. She managed to imbue Don’t Cry for Me with an intimacy that put me right inside Quinn’s head, feeling his thoughts, from the get-go. While she doesn’t have a particularly deep voice for Quinn, she gave him a slightly lower register but also a different pacing. And thank you, Ms. Mazur, for not going overboard at all on any accent for any character! I’m sure the temptation was there – it was mountain folk, after all, and some of the dialogue was written with the associated cadence and speech. While giving each character a distinct voice, she avoided using anything beyond the subtlest hint of any accent.
There were a couple of truly “Die Hard” moments for me, where I actually sat up and did a fist-pump and yelled YESSS! into the solitude of my home. (Which I do whenever I watch a Die Hard movie, a sort of guilty pleasure) Both of these scenes involve a truly courageous, kick-ass moment for a woman, and only one of them is Mariah. I can share Mariah’s moment without any true spoilers:
Mariah shuddered as she laid her head against his shoulder.
“I understand. They hurt you, didn’t they? So after I get you home and get you well, if the people who did this aren’t already dead, I will find them and kill them myself.”
For the true Die Hard sensation, think of Bruce Willis walking across the broken glass. My second Die Hard moment is a definite spoiler, so you’ll just have to trust me and listen to the story yourself. Think of me as you raise your fist to the sky in a moment of pure, angry vengeance and glory.
The combination of the Sala’s edge-of-the-seat story and Mazur’s narration is a clear DIK winner for me, and an obvious choice for an Audie nomination in the Romance category.
Melinda
Narration: A
Book Content: A
Steam Factor: Glad I had my earbuds in
Violence: Escalated fighting and Graphic
Genre: Romantic Suspense
Publisher: Harlequin Enterprises, Ltd.
Lea’s Take
It’s been years since I last read a Sharon Sala book but I do recall enjoying her writing style. Starting up Don’t Cry for Me, I was eager to hear my first Sala audio, especially after reading the synopsis.
My one experience with narrator Kathe Mazur wasn’t all that favorable. Listening to Rachel Gibson’s Any Man of Mine, I found her performance adequate but not good enough to inspire a relisten. When I choose to experience Any Man of Mine again (which I will – Gibson is always good enough for at least one reread), it will be in print. But I was determined to listen to Don’t Cry for Me without preconceptions and started listening expecting to be wowed as it was up for an Audie award.
As for book content, the first two hours held great promise. Quinn was a hero I wanted to know and the more I discovered about him, the stronger my feeling that he held great hero potential. Mariah’s character’s favorably caught my attention as well. I wanted to hear what was sure to be a mature love story between two sensible characters with appealing personalities. And then all the crap started coming at them … in droves.
As I listened, I couldn’t help but feel that it was all simply too much – too many events for believability – a helicopter flying close by at just the wrong time – a bear losing it in a most unlikely place – too much trauma in too many scenarios – and entirely too much villain time. Why couldn’t there be more of those calmer moments allowing that wonderful lead couple to grow closer?
Ms. Mazur does differentiate her characters but it’s subtle. Her general narrative is often hard to distinguish from the dialogue and Quinn and Moriah voices can easily be confused if you check out for even seconds. I found myself listening closely to stay on track or reversing – which I did often if I was otherwise occupied (I rarely just listen to an audio) and it was a passage featuring only Quinn and Moriah.
What was most surprising in this over-the-top action tale, was the fact that I often grew bored. I’m certain that was partly due to the overall lack of believability but the greater responsibility lies with the lackluster narration. Ms. Mazur’s narration is tightly held with only restrained changes in inflection making it sound a bit monotone at times. And it was so very slow. I felt like I was listening in slow motion.
My interest in Quinn and Moriah remained strong throughout. If only there had been more time dedicated to their relationship…
Lea Hensley
Narration: B-
Book Content: B-
Brenda’s Take
I was looking forward to this one as I have fond memories of some older Sharon Sala books and I enjoyed narrator Kathe Mazur with an early Suzanne Brockmann. I figured I was in for a treat when adding in an Audie Nomination worthy book.
Unfortunately, Don’t Cry for Me didn’t work for me. All the makings were there with a close knit family that helps one another with no questions asked, a hero and heroine who knew each other previously (making their smooth move into a relationship reasonable), and more than one adorable pet in a small town setting.
I realize with that type of setup, the drama has to come from somewhere and I’m fine with that but there was just too much in Don’t Cry for Me and it overwhelmed a good premise. We have a rogue bear killing people, PTSD syndrome with coincidental happenings triggering repeated episodes, big game poachers needing to be hunted down, drug runners, an accidental drug overdose, patricide, suicide, fratricide, homicide, some torture plus several detailed villain POV scenes including crude villain sex. I was over my personal limit.
Give me one, two, or even three of those angles and I’ll buy it but as they continued to pile up, all I had was a feeling of distaste as I suffered through to the end.
I’m happy that by the end Mariah had a handle on her PTSD and that she and Quinn earned their HEA but you couldn’t pay me enough to attempt another book in this series.
The narration contained distinct character voices that were appealing, a good narrative voice, along with emotions and feelings you could hear which I enjoy. My only problem was the pacing, which I found slow. I listened to most of the book at 1.5 speed which didn’t garble the words or make them hard to understand.
I will freely admit that I wanted the story over so badly that the pacing issue could well have been in my head.
Brenda
Narration: B
Book Content: C-
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