The Curse Giver

By: Dora Machado

Narrated by: Melissa Reizian Frank

Lusielle's bleak, but orderly life as a remedy mixer is shattered when she is sentenced to die for a crime she didn't commit. She's on the pyre, about to be burned, when a stranger breaks through the crowd and rescues her from the flames.

Brennus, Lord of Laonia, is the last of his line. He is caught in the grip of a mysterious curse that has murdered his kin, doomed his people and embittered his life. To defeat the curse, he must hunt a birthmark and kill the woman who bears it in the foulest of ways. Lusielle bears such a mark.

Stalked by intrigue and confounded by the forbidden passion flaring between them, predator and prey must come together to defeat not only the vile curse, but also the curse giver who has already conjured their demise.

©2013 Dora Machado (P)2014 Dora Machado

pace and narrator

I struggled to finish this book not because of the story but the narrator. There was also a little bit of an issue with the pace of the story. Listen to the sample and if the narrator doesn't grate on your nerves like she did mine give it a shot.

So good but so long.

I listened to this book at 1.45 beginning 1.60 end
Author: Dora Machado

It still amazes me how some people can have such a wonderful imagination. This story if full of Lords, ladies, Scorsese, curses, herbal medicines.
Plot. ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ stars
Story. ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ stars & why

Heat. none flames

Narrator.: Melissa Reizian Frank
Betrayal of the story.🥇 GOLD
why: When you have to keep looking to see that yes there is only 1 narrator then you know she's Great. New narrator for me but definitely going to look for more books betrayed by her.

Narrator annoying. Story goes on… and on… and on…

I really wanted to like this one. First off, the narrator is super annoying. She reads the pages as if she is playing the part of a noble woman in a cheesy TV show. Totally over the top which takes away from the story.

I had no idea what was going on for the first several hours of this. It’s all over the place and the names of the characters on opposing sides are too similar. Very confusing. There is also a change in the primary voice to several different characters. Contributes to the confusion.

The dialogue between characters lacks depth, also feels cheesy. The author tries to make up for the lack luster dialogue with overly descriptive language about less critical pieces of the story, i.e. lists 40 ingredients in a remedy but doesn’t address the interaction between the two main characters.

The story is intriguing but the delivery is suboptimal. I feel like it would probably be better if 4-5 hours of material was cut out. I still listened to the whole thing because I wanted to know what happened next. I just had to take several breaks from that narrator.

Excellent storyline, excellent performance

Any additional comments?

This is a story that is difficult to put down. The narration was well adapted to the characters and I could easily visualize the story as it unfolded. Great job and Thank you!

Story went on forever.

The story was alright, but took too long getting there. The rhyming names made it annoying trying to remember when they were.