Hey Guys! Today I’m reviewing the audiobook Dropping the Dime by Ellie Ashe and narrated by and narrated by Teri Schnaubelt.
First let’s start with the audio. Teri did a much better job of narrating male voices in this second book. Although that could be because there were less male voices interacting with each other as well, so less confusion. I think she really shines with female voices, and I hope that in the next book she does just as well with her male voices! The tone is steady and even paced. Voices shake and scream when they’re supposed to. I’d give the audio a 4/5.
For the plot this story is intriguing. We find that Miranda now works for the criminal defense lawyer full time and is living with her aunt. Her aunt is dating the man she works for, which makes living with her aunt a little awkward. A new client, Katharine, comes in saying that she wants to go to the feds with information she has from her employers the Leonitus family. There is money going to a fishy company that doesn’t seem to exist.
Then we get the FBI. Jake and his partner show up. Miranda apparently hasn’t seen/heard from him in months…which makes things super awkward. As they try to entrap the head of the company with wiring Katharine she decides to make out with him….like what????? Then she talks Miranda into breaking into the file room to find some evidence. That is thwarted when the brothers of the family walk down there and have a fight. Miranda then is talked into breaking into the office to find evidence. Because without more evidence the FBI can’t do anything. So instead of having trained officers look into it they do nothing, while Katharine tries to get her boss on his criminal activities.
We also have a weird dude enter named Quinn. He was a drug dealer of sorts, but then turned his life around and runs a ranch now. He makes Miranda hot, but she has all sorts of feelings for Jake still. What I found very odd was that Jake took Miranda on some of the investigation work. Like why is she in the surveillance van? Why does she go to question the ex brother in law? She’s not police and this time they aren’t on the run from crazy people or trying to clear her name.
Katharine also seems to be leading Miranda into a trap. Mainly because she acts all innocent, but then they spy her wearing sexy clothes and kissing Alexi Leonitus. And this is after she had made out with his dad! She explains that she is dating Alexi…but if so then why did she make out with his dad? That’s certainly cheating and very disturbing, especially when his dad meets her as his son’s gf sometime down the road.
Miranda also gets a bomb placed under her car and it ends up blowing up Jake’s house. He apparently lives in town. So why hasn’t he called or visited? Even if he has been busy he lives like 10 mins from her, they could totally have seen each other if he wanted to. This seems like a case of He’s Just Not That Into You! And I find the bomb being placed on Miranda’s car stupid as she literally was nowhere close to the actual culprit…
Now at this point I had figured it was either Katharine, because of her apparent shyness that went away easily. She seemed like a spy. The other was the ex bro in law, because he actually understood the position that the youngest brother was placed in. He also has to pay his wife a million dollars a year, when she is an heir to the Leonitus fortune and he just works for a technology firm.
Investigation wise Miranda didn’t really do any. She broke into places twice and got some information that helped her out, but ultimately the culprit was revealed by fluke. Or rather by drone trying to shoot people. I feel that I as a reader did more investigation/crime solving than Miranda lol. Jake was practically non-existent in the story except for when his house got blown up and his saving Miranda at the end. I wanted more of him. Especially since they decide to kiss in the end. It just doesn’t feel right with him only being in like 25% of the book.
Cast of characters wise I thought it was fun. Liked Katharine and Alexi. Quinn was fun, but I still don’t get his deal. I hope we learn more later, otherwise his character introduction would be sad. Miranda is a likable character, as well as her friend. I hope the friend gets together with that office guy next book. The aunt and criminal defense lawyer are cute. Jake is more likable this time around, but that could be due to him not appearing in the majority of the story.
There was more investigation and character development in this story so I’d give it a 3.5/5 leaning towards a 3. It still needs more.
But overall I liked it and I think this series is a fun cozy mystery read. I’d give it a 3.75/5 stars or 7.5/10 on my rating scale.
If you’d like to check this out on Audible for free trial click on the link below for easy access. It’s $17.95, 1 credit with Audible account or $14.95 at a discount. If you’re more a fan of reading on your kindle it’s $4.99.
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