Review copy was received from Publisher. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
Shattered Pieces by Stacy Claflin Narrator: Tina Wolstencroft
Series: Brannon House #4
Published by Tantor Audio on April 27, 2021
Genres: Mystery
Length: 6 hours, 5 minutes
Format: Audiobook
Source: Publisher
Goodreads
Amazon, Audible, Libro.fm
Most family ties are silken threads. Others are literally handcuffs.
Kenzi Brannon thinks most of her problems are behind her until she gets a call from the local jail. Her mother, a proven killer, is being released due to overcrowding. Blood takes care of blood, so there is no turning Regina away.
She returns to live at Brannon House. A haunted house. A house reputedly so cursed, some neighbors want it razed to the ground.
But her niece’s friends and the rest of the town would love to explore. And Halloween seems like the perfect time to open their doors to the community. Despite Regina promising to be on her best behavior, Kenzi has concerns her mother might do something to ruin the evening.
It turns out far worse than she feared. With innocent lives on the line, Kenzi must put a stop to her mother’s maniacal actions—but first, she’ll have to find her.
Shattered Pieces is not the wrong title for this book. It jumps all over the place. The viewpoints are primarily Kenzi, Ember and Grandma. This review and this book, definitely contain spoilers for previous books.
The primary story arcs are that somehow Grandma is released from prison because of overcrowding. Ember is spending a lot of time with her Dad, and actively trying to get Kenzi and Graham together. Kenzi is trying to figure out where to have her mom live other than with them, and to figure out her relationships.
The emotions and choices of the characters do not seem realistic or authentic to me. They do have money so it is easier for them to do what they want without worrying about the costs or being tied to a schedule to make their living.
Bella and Jack have almost no role. We do get to see Jack continue to blossom now he is out in the world, which is nice. I’m glad to see he is not having more problems after being shut away so many years.
The Brannon House series is one I would read in order, as I think you’d be lost otherwise. There’s some mystery, some romance and some horror. The books are short but a bit over the top.
Narration:
This narrator is the same throughout this series, so now I am familiar with her. I still feel like Ember’s voice is lower or deeper than Kenzi’s voice which felt odd to me, as Ember is younger. I was comfortable with the performance overall and able to stay in the story. I listened at my normal 1.5x speed.
Listen to a clip: HERE
About Stacy Claflin
.Stacy Claflin is a USA Today bestselling thriller author who has published more than 75 novels, including Girl in Trouble and The Perfect Death. She has always been curious about the human mind, and in her quest to learn more, she earned a degree in Psychology. Her favorite course was Abnormal Behavior, which has been useful in writing fiction.
Her love for thrillers goes back to her early childhood when she fell in love with Unsolved Mysteries and America’s Most Wanted. When Stacy was five, she got mad at a babysitter who wouldn’t let her watch the evening news. These days, she spends her free time listening to true crime podcasts or watching documentaries on the subject.
She has been telling stories for as long as she can remember, and as child would often get into trouble for trying to convince friends her wild tales were true. Now she puts her creativity to better use by writing page-turning stories that leave readers begging for more.
Stacy occasionally dabbles in other genres, so as you peruse her library of works, you’ll find some romance and paranormal tales, all with strong suspense elements.
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I read all types of books but my favorites are urban fantasy and romantic suspense.I like some romance and some action / adventure / mystery in everything.I like sex in my books but please, only between TWO people.Intimate conversation is equally important to the sex in a book.It lets me see the characters.The other thing I enjoy is humor.
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Reading this book contributed to these challenges:
- C21-Spring
This sounds a bit confusing, although it probably makes more sense if you read the series from the beginning. Hopefully the next book will work better for you.
I’m thinking there won’t be another book.
Thanks for the spoiler warning. I just jumped to your bottom line. Did you enjoy the series up to this point?
It was interesting in some aspects but not very believable. So overall it’s not my favorite series. I thought it would come together eventually but it always jumped all over, and didn’t really.