Thursday, October 15, 2015

Audiobook review: Confess by Colleen Hoover

Title: Confess
Author: Colleen Hoover
Narrator: Sebastian York, Elizabeth Louise
Story rating: 2 of 5 Stars
Audio rating: 3.5 of 5 Stars
Overall rating: 2.5 of 5 Stars

MY THOUGHTS

I have a confession: I’m a hopeless audiobook addict. I’m not kidding. I listen every chance I get, even if it’s just ten minutes commute; I listen while I’m cooking, I listen while I’m cleaning, I listen while I’m walking, sometimes I even listen while I’m applying make-up. You get the picture. So it’s not a good sign when this happens:

  • I’m cleaning and I’m listening to music instead of an audiobook.
  • During my commute instead of an audiobook I’m going for the radio.
  • I’m walking and instead of plugging my ear buds in, I’m, well, just walking.
  • I’m applying my make-up, and I’m thinking “It’s just several minutes, why even bother with an audiobook, I don’t have “enough time to listen”.

This is exactly what happened here. I think it took me twice as long as usual to listen to Confess because I found more interesting things to do. I had my doubts before starting this book, and unfortunately it didn’t work for me at all. It’s been ages since I’ve read a book by Colleen Hoover. I’ve read and loved her Slammed and Hopeless, but my book tastes changed drastically since then. So I don’t think I would give those books high ratings now. In truth the reason why I decided to read Confess is that the audiobook is narrated by Sebastian York. I’ve heard A LOT about this narrator. It looks like everyone praises his voice. So as a self-proclaimed audio addict I needed to hear him for myself. My thoughts about the narration later, now I want to talk about the book.

I was bored out of my mind. I think if I read this book instead of listening I would DNF it.

This story is about Auburn Reed. She has recently moved to Texas, she has undesirable job, feels very lonely and in need of money and new job. Then one day she comes across Owen Gentry’s studio. He is an artist and his project is very unique. People anonymously send him their confessions, and he uses them as an inspiration for his works. He needs an assistant and Auburn jumps at the offer. They feel an instant attraction, but of course there are a lot of obstacles on their way.

First of all I want to say that Owen freaked me out in first chapters. He came across as a stalker who somehow knew Auburn from the past and was obsessed with her. Then of course there was insta-love which annoyed the hell out of me. I do believe in insta-lust. But in this case Auburn and Owen weren’t just physically attracted to each other. After knowing each other for a few days they felt so much so deeply, that it was over the top. I find it hard to believe that a woman in Auburn’s position would risk it all, risk to lose the most important thing in her life for a guy she had just met. As for the Owen I find his obsession on Auburn bordering on unhealthy. All in all I couldn’t connect with the characters, I didn’t feel any chemistry between them and their insta-love annoyed me a lot.

There were several twists in the book, but my mind was wondering. I usually love suspense, I love when the author keeps me in the dark, but in this case I was bored. I was so annoyed with the characters, that when all secrets were revealed I just didn’t care.

My thoughts about the audiobook

Elizabeth Louise, who narrated Auburn, is a new to me narrator. She was ok, I guess, but I don’t think I’ll be in search of audiobooks performed by her.

Here comes Sebastian York. Well, I wasn’t impressed. There, I’ve said it. Probably my extremely high expectations were the cause of my disappointment. I don’t know what I expected; everyone mentions that his voice is sexy and sinful. Sebastian York is a good narrator, but I don’t get all this fuss around him, though this can be just my personal preference. I also had another issue. As I understood Owen was in his early twenties, but Sebastian York sounds like a man in his thirties. At first I wanted to check out how old Sebastian York is; maybe he is twenty and he just has an older voice. But you know what? Narrator’s real age doesn’t matter, because listeners hear only his voice. It really annoys me when narrator’s voice is not age-appropriate.

As you can see Confess was a big disappointment for me. It’s a shame really because I find the concept of this book very interesting (the author included confessions from real people and some of them were heartbreaking). I also wonder if my feelings toward Confess would be different if read a paperback instead of an audiobook. Many readers mentioned gorgeous art-work. All in all it seems like Colleen Hoover is not an author for me anymore. I think it’s time to part our ways.

AUDIO SAMPLE:




9 comments:

  1. yikes, he does sound a bit stalkish...sorry this did not work for you. How do you manage to take anything away from the audiobooks multitasking? serious question, I find I have a difficult time focusing myself when I do try them ahah

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  2. I seriously can not wait to read this. I've had it since it's release, but haven't had the time to pick it up yet because I'm reading soo much other stuff at the moment, but I'm sorry you didn't like this one! I've heard pretty good things about, so I'm still excited to pick it up.

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  3. My first Colleen Hoover book was a disappointment (Maybe Someday) and I'm sorry to hear you didn't enjoy this either. I think I might still check the book out because of the art work, so it might work better visually compared to audiobook.
    I can't do audiobooks for the life of me, haha. I get so distracted!

    Aentee at Read at Midnight + The Social Potato

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  4. Confess really didn't fare too well even among my friends who are hardcore Colleen Hover fans D: I'm so sorry that this was a disappointment for you, my dear! I do have to applaud your dedication to audiobooks, though. I can't keep listening to one unless I stand/sit still haha. Multi-tasking with it is not for me XDD

    Faye at The Social Potato

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  5. It's a shame you didn't like this because Collen Hoover is a really a popular author but not all books can relate to everyone so I totally relate girl! I hope your next read is better♡

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  6. Sorry this was a disappointment for you Ksenia! I'm with you though - I believe in insta lust for sure, but insta love drives me crazy. (Unless we're talking about animals - I believe in insta-love between people and pets, I definitely fell in love with my furbabies the minute I saw them ;-)

    I haven't read anything by Colleen Hoover yet, but I'll be sure to not start with this one!

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  7. Sebastian York definitely wasn't the right voice for Owen. I would have preferred someone younger. This wasn't my favorite CoHo book, so I understand where you're coming from.
    Sorry this was disappointing, Ksenia! :(

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  8. I really appreciate you leaving audio samples for us with your reviews, as you know I'm trying to get into audiobooks more and can be the pickiest reader when it comes to narrators voices. I'm sorry that this one didn't end up working for you Ksenia, I think I would have a lot of issues with it too. I hope your next audiobook is a lot more enjoyable! :)

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  9. I'm sorry this one didn't work for you! I have to admit - I used to be a big CoHo fan. I loved Hopeless and Slammed. But then she started to veer toward waaayy too much romantic angst territory and I no longer have any interest in her books. :/ This is one I know I wouldn't like, and from your review it looks like I dodged a bullet!

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