The True Diary of That Girl

By: J. S. Cooper

Narrated by: Rebecca Roberts

Length: 4 hrs and 41 mins

Publisher's summary

Sex. Lies. Romance. Love. My life has it all. I do what I want, when I want and no one can stop me. This isn't a story of how I found my prince. Or my how my prince found me.

I'm that girl that everyone wants to hate, but they don't know my story. This is my chance to let everyone know the real me. The shocks in my life. The highs in my life. The lows in my life.

I had a lover and a friends with benefits when I met the man I thought was 'The One'. Only thing is he had a bigger secret than I did. I sure didn't see that coming. And neither will you. This is the story of my messed up life. This isn't the story that will make you believe in love again or maybe it will. Who knows?

Don't say you weren't warned. This is the true diary of that girl and I'm here to tell you that you might not be ready for my story.

This book is recommended for readers 18 and up due to mature situations and language.

©2014 J.S. Cooper (P)2014 J. S. Cooper

Phenomenal performance, mediocre story....

STORY: 3 stars
PERFORMANCE: 5 stars
OVERALL: 3.5 stars

*I received a free Audible audiobook in exchange for my honest review*

STORY:
I might have rated this book 5 stars if the story had ended 63% in. Had the book come to a conclusion after Saskia learned that Aiden and Dominic shared women, this might have been a truly fantastic story. However, Cooper continues on, spinning webs for female main character Saskia to entangle herself in, pushing the story to what I felt were unrealistic places . As I just stated, I thought the story of Saskia, Dominic and Aiden was great; karma comes back to bite Saskia, she gets what she deserves! The problem for me though is that literally minutes after Saskia decides she doesn't want Aiden or Dominic anymore, Brad is, was and always has been the love of her life . Saskia barely mentioned this guy's name during the first 63% of the book yet she suddenly has an epiphany that Brad is her, "peapod and she is the pea?" Come on!?!? As I said, if the book had ended at 63%, it would have concluded perfectly yet the last 37% of the book was far-fetched and ridiculous.

Either the writing of this book was poor or the editing was lacking. Aside from being far-fetched and asinine, the inconsistencies during the last quarter of this book were beyond frustrating. For example, at 84% (before Saskia discloses who she is married to, Saskia tells us she believes in love, she wants love, she is in love. However, literally a few pages later at 85%, Cooper has Saskia explaining, "why I don't believe in love". In addition, Cooper repeatedly tries to create a sense of excitement by having the Saskia say things such as, "but then, things get even worse" or, "... You see, what happened next in my life, shook everything around me and caused it to collapse". Statements like these are made throughout the book, positive and negative yet the supposedly exciting or dreadful tale that follows these warnings are rarely exciting or dreadful. Basically, had this book ended much earlier, it could have been something really great. However, Cooper apparently didn't know when enough was enough

PERFORMANCE:
Narrator Rebecca Roberts' performance was truly phenomenal! With her sugary sweet voice, I immediately recognized what a perfect fit she was for the female main character Saskia. Soon after having that thought, I found myself feeling even more impressed with Roberts who proved to be quite capable of altering her voice, easily fluctuating between Saskia's saccharine-sweet feminine voice to one of the powerful male characters. Had I read this book instead of listening to it in audio format, I highly suspect that my star rating of the story would have been even lower. Ms. Roberts brought life to this book, helping me believe some of the less plausible aspects of the storyline. I will definitely be looking for more audiobooks narrated by this talented woman!

Great Narrator

What made the experience of listening to The True Diary of That Girl the most enjoyable?

My general rule for listening to an audio book is only choosing books I have already read. Having already read and reviewed the ebook version, this review will feature mainly on my listening experience. I need to congratulate Rebecca Roberts for her portrayal of male and female roles. It was similar to the silent voice that I use when I’m reading. It amuses me to try and work out what I am looking for in a narrator and I am starting to realise it has more to do with their tone rather than an accent. Being an Australian reader, listening to distinctive accents and pronunciations that differ from what I am used to tends to distract me. Rebecca’s accent didn’t factor into my listening experience, which is an aspect that impressed me. The narrator can make or break an audio book for me, so finding someone that brings a book to life is exciting and I will be looking out for more of her work.

What other book might you compare The True Diary of That Girl to and why?

No similar book comes to mind.

Have you listened to any of Rebecca Roberts’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

No, this is the first time I've heard Rebecca Roberts narrate a book.

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

This book doesn’t hold back on details and listening to the details of Saskia’s sexcapades was more confronting than when I read it. I hoped and prayed that the volume on my phone was not loud enough to be heard by others as I spent a lot of time listening to this book while commuting. No amount of explanation would have saved me if I was forced to explain any of this book should it have been broadcast unexpectedly!

Any additional comments?

There are some aspects of writing that are entertaining to read but are cringe worthy to listen to. My big bug bear is listening to text messages being read out. It just doesn’t work for me at all. I don’t know how you get around that in an audio book, but announcing who was messaging would be a suggestion to ease my frustration. Hearing ‘Dominic’ on repeat for the sake of a long string of messages that contained minimal words was tedious. Fortunately, the messaging in this story was limited to an isolated section towards the beginning of the story.

One hell of a roller coaster ride!

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

Absolutely! This book was amazing! It gets down to the nitty gritty of all things lies, sex, betrayal, and love!

What was one of the most memorable moments of The True Diary of That Girl?

There are so many! This story was mind boggling and will keep you guessing!

Have you listened to any of Rebecca Roberts’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

My first time. She was great!

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

You will run through all kinds of emotions with this book! You will laugh, cry, be shocked, get hot, and constantly be asking "did that really happen?"

Convincingly erotic!

Would you consider the audio edition of The True Diary of That Girl to be better than the print version?

n/a

What was one of the most memorable moments of The True Diary of That Girl?

The erotic and naughty scene on the subway was shocking and memorable!

Have you listened to any of Rebecca Roberts’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

This was my first experience with narration by Rebecca Roberts and I look forward to more. Her soothing voice style positively contributes to the writing style of this particular book especially well! I truly felt the narrative expression all throughout!

If you were to make a film of this book, what would the tag line be?

She'll take your breath away (and your man) with a powerful and mysterious allure.

Any additional comments?

Obviously, the book leaves you hoping/wondering if there is a sequel. (??)

My first audiobook and I loved it!!! A great story

I received this book for free in exchange for an honest review. I loved this book. Hot and Steamy with a few laughs thrown into the mix. I may have to get the e book to read it too. From the beginning the audio book was a completely foreign experience to me but Rebecca was able to pull me right in to the story and keep me engrossed till the end. I was completely floored by all of the twists and turns of this book and I am still amazed at how it all went down. JS Cooper did an awesome job bringing the story to life for me and I loved it. Very well written and even while listening to the story I was able to see it unfold in front of my eyes, if at times I wanted to close them!!! Can't wait til my next audible book.