Corralling Callie

Hey Guys! Today I’m reviewing the audiobook Corralling Callie by Amelia Smarts and narrated by Gideon Welles.

Let’s start with the narration. Gideon Welles has a deep voice. It is steady and sexy. However he pauses a lot. He pauses so much I thought my app wasn’t working or that my phone had broken. When checking that my phone and app were working I became a little frustrated by how much he pauses. He would say a sentence like this: Well I don’t…know….but well I….guess that’s….fine. Now I’m from the south and I know we can talk a little slow, but people don’t just pause for seconds in the middle of their sentences. And I highly doubt they do that over in Texas! In the last forty minutes of the audiobook he redeems himself and stops the annoying pausing habit. So the audio gets a 4/5.

Now for the plot. The plot itself is interesting. Callie is going on a month long trip to San Francisco to meet her fiance for the first time. On the way she has a thing with Jude, the stage coach driver. They fall for each other, but can’t have each other. The story though is a tad boring. Nothing much is described. We are told what happens. I would have liked to see more scenes like the one where Jesse James comes to rob them, or Callie sitting in the dark humming. I didn’t feel like I traveled with them, just heard about it.

There also was not much romance. It was only in the last thirty minutes, and it was definitely not graphic. For a book that said it was 18 plus I figured there would be more sex? But I guess not.

Callie was an issue. She acted like a ten year old most of the time and a five year old when she had tantrums, but she’s supposed to be eighteen. I don’t believe for a second she is 18 years old. And the fact that Jude, a 30? something year old man, is interested in her is just plain gross. It has to be for the fact that she is young looking. She doesn’t really have a personality outside of her temper tantrums and naive and ignorance. I understand she was locked in a closet during her time at the orphanage when she would act out, but was she locked in their from 5 to 18 years old? Because she has not grown up at all! The only times Callie was somewhat redeeming as a character were when Jesse James came to steal from them and when she was in the dark humming to herself. The rest of the time she was too young for her age and didn’t really do much in the story except wreck everything for everyone.

Overall I’d give the narration a 4/5. Story 3/5. And total experience 3.5/5.

If you’d like to check this out on Audible for free trial click on the link below for easy access. It’s $13.08 or 1 credit with Audible account. If you’re more a fan of reading on your kindle it’s $3.95.

Amazon Audible