BOOK REVIEW The Confessions of Catherine de Medici by C.W. Gortner

The Confessions of Catherine de Medici by C.W. Gortner

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


As I loved his "Last Queen", so did I love this book! And it only cost me one credit from Audible.com!

As with "Last Queen", Catherine de Medici becomes more than a by-word for 'evil'. Her early life is one that today's accused would blame for whatever they did in the present, so deeply was she hurt. Her times were hard for women, especially for women of intelligence. As they effected her, the 'times' and 'places' are also characters in the story.

C. W. Gortner showed me a very complex and deeply emotional woman, both strong willed and determined. Oh how she loved her family! Maybe too much. She was every bit "The Queen"! The Ruler! She who would have her way come hell or high water! As I listen to Cassandra Campbell's narration, I felt compelled to listen until the wee hours of the morning. I had to find out more about her and what she would do and why.

Cassandra Campbell voice was perfect for C. W. Gortner's grand story about this woman!

White Sister by Stephen J. Cannell
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

They said it well:

Leaving L.A.'s Parker Center, Shane Scully and his wife, Alexa, agree to meet at home in one hour. Shane gets there; Alexa doesn't. In the middle of the night, he's called to a crime scene on Mulholland Drive: The African-American victim, who appears to be a Crip gangbanger, has been executed gangland style. Shockingly, the body is in Alexa's car and her gun is found nearby. But Alexa is missing. Shane's frantic investigation into his wife's disappearance soon takes him inside a bitter and violent feud between two rival hip-hop record companies.

At the center of this war is one of the most lethal adversaries he's ever encountered: Stacy Maluga, a trashy, beautiful Lady Macbeth-like white woman raised in Compton, married to a multi-millionaire rap mogul and known in the gangsta hip-hop world as the White Sister. Shane is no stranger to big trouble, but this time he's met his match in a powerful and media-savvy enemy who could put him in jail, order a hit on him, or utterly destroy his reputation. Worse, Shane fears that his wife may be dead and that the White Sister is behind it.

My thought:

The description caught my interest so I snarfed it up from Audible.com after listening to the snippet they had and liking the voice of Scott Brick. I was not disappointed in Mr. Bricks narration or Mr. Cannell's writing while staying up late to continue the story!

So why not 5 stars? I have been listening more than reviewing and am trying to catch up. This one, I could not remember until I read the first sentence above...then it all came flooding back!

I do so dislike abridged versions of books and according to the ratings at Audible.com, this one ranked low on those who got that version. I can guess why. There is so much color to characters and so much action, that to cut it would be such a travesty.