Listen Up! - The Replacement by Brenna Yovanoff

Published: September 2010
Publisher: Brilliance Audio
Copy: Library and Overdrive
Summary: Goodreads

Mackie Doyle seems like everyone else in the perfect little town of Gentry, but he is living with a fatal secret - he is a Replacement, left in the crib of a human baby sixteen years ago. Now the creatures under the hill want him back, and Mackie must decide where he really belongs and what he really wants.


A month ago, Mackie might have told them to buzz off. But now, with a budding relationship with tough, wounded, beautiful Tate, Mackie has too much to lose. Will love finally make him worthy of the human world?

Christinabean first reviewed this book back in December last year, so technically this should be a Same Book, Second Look/Listen-up post I guess. If you'd like to check out her review click HERE.  She really enjoyed it and very kindly lent me her copy of the book, which sat and sat and sat on my shelf.  When I saw it was available from Overdrive for download I thought Yeah! now I'll get a chance to listen to it, and away I went.

Imagine my surprise and delight when I discovered that the narrator of Replacement was none other than Kevin T Collins, who narrated my favourites - Beautiful Creatures and Beautiful Darkness.  Unfortunately, that is where my delight ended.  I have persevered through the whole book, thinking 'Come on Kevin, wow me here!', but it just wasn't working.  I love his narration, but Ms Yovanoff's story just didn't do anything for me at all.

After thinking about it for a while, I have decided it has just too much 'woe is me' for my tastes.  Now don't get me wrong here, the storyline is different and interesting, but I was never able to fully engage with most of he charaters. One caveat here, I did enjoy Tate - she was definitely a fine upstanding young lady, with a wicked left hook!  Mackie just never felt like anything more than a whiny 16 yr old to me.  He has a loving family, a sister who adores him and a best friend who is always there for him, whatever his problems and all I could hear was 'why me?'.  There is an interesting little twist on the title towards the end, but it just wasn't enough.

Final verdict, sorry Replacement, but I'm just not that in to you.