Better Red

I love a good fairytale retelling and Tara Lain's ability to do so doesn't fail to amaze me. Red and Mark were simply delightful together and I couldn't get enough of them. The storyline was unique and compelling and keot me engaged. The characters were likeable and enjoyable and the world building was refreshing and beautifully created. Kirt Graves did an exceptional audio delivery for this which made listening to this all the more enjoyable.

I thought this was a cool story with good narration

I love a good fairytale retelling and this one was really cleverly done, with cleverly hidden tricks and even characters that fully modernized the tale of Red Riding Hood. The characters were cleverly named and the premise of "beauty" was really well addressed. I loved the honesty in the writing and the connection between Red and Mark was beautiful. I wanted more. I wanted more of Red and Wood, More of Mark Wood's past, and more growth for the characters but all in all, it was a sweet and easy listen. Kirt is FANTASTIC as ever! I look forward to more in this series and this world and I really hope we get Avery's story. They were a wonderful bonus character I'd love to see get their happily ever after!

I enjoyed this story. It was sweet with a few little twists. I loved the whole premise and crazy little town of Ever After. The narration was done well with just a few cringey character voices but they were side characters with few lines so not too bad. Ovearll a good listen.

What a wonderful take of Red Riding Hood turned into a modern day fairy tale. There are evil characters, handsome hero's and true love. This story will take you on quite the advenure as these men find their HEA. Kirt Graves does a wonderful job of narrating this story. Better Red is a great start to a new series and I'm looking forward to what comes next.

Well, Kirt Graves version was gentler then when I read it. I originally didn’t like the grandmother at all, due to her pushing Red and not listening to him, but Kirt Graves made it to where I sort of liked her in the end. I really enjoyed his interpretation and thought he did a great job on the voices. I wish Red would have pushed a little bit more for what he wanted instead of letting people nudge him. I really liked Mark but felt sorry for him a bit. I'm so happy he got his HEA as he was my favorite character.

I LOVED this book. I felt a lot of emotions as I binged through this book, both wanting to know how it would all turn out and not wanting it to end; (I'm SO glad it's the start of a series). It's definitely a fairy tale, with very distinct good guys, bad guys, and hints of magic. A few of the characters, such as ones on the more "villainous" side of things, might be considered too one-dimensional for some readers who might not be into this style of story, but I feel that they were meant to be that way because of the fairy tale aspect of it. I simultaneously wanted to hug and yell at Red. I wanted him to flat out run away from Wolfe from the get-go, (after giving Wolfe a good slap), but if he had, well, there would be no story. Red is YOUNG, only 18 years old, freshly graduated from high school, and feels way too much pressure to make decisions on his entire future RIGHT NOW. The absolutely lovely Mark was also once in a similar position, of having to be an adult too soon, though he had far less choice. Gran is also living with the affects of choices she's made, good and not-so-good, along with the choices her daughter and husband made years earlier. For good or bad, they're all products of choices they've made and choices that have been made for them in the past. They have good intentions and a habit of martyring themselves badly. There's also a serious lack of meaningful communication since each character has a bad habit of saying what they think the other wants to, or ought to, hear. The book is mostly from Red's point of view, but we did get glimpses into the POV of multiple characters, so we knew more about what was going on than they did much of the time. The characters' flawed perspectives and how they stumbled about was frequently infuriating, but no doubt meant to be infuriating. They needed to learn lessons and we suffered, (and sometimes swooned and laughed), along with them. This, of course, made the HEA all the more meaningful for me. (And I will give absolutely no spoilers as to how that happened, but it is a fairy tale and a romance, so of course there is a happily ever after - in Ever After). As for the audio narration, Kirt Graves did an excellent job in my opinion - he was the perfect choice for these characters.

I love twist of Little Red Riding Hood. Red and Mark are so amazing together and I just love their story. Kirt Graves does an amazing job with this narration. I just couldn't stop listening once I started. He brings this story to life.

I really enjoyed this story, but didn't put together that it was a Little Red Riding Hood spin. So, it was subtle in the story but I did get the nods to the names used. I thought Red tended to waiver too much when it came to decision making and follow through. It seemed like he was confident when it came to choices that didn't matter or affect his life too much, but when it came to deciding on his future, he always chose the wrong road. Overall, the story was cute, the main characters were adorable, but I didn't like Wolfe or Granny at all. I hated what she was trying to pull over on Red, which basically crashed the book for me.

Better Red is the first book in the Ever After, New York series. The book is set in the contemporary world with just a hint of magic to it. Like the book’s title suggests, the plot is loosely based on the Little Red Riding Hood fairy tale, but instead of a naïve young girl, Red Ridley is an innocent young man who’s trying to do the best he can for his grandmother and himself. Red’s vision for his life is far different than the vision his grandmother has; all Red wants is to work at a job he likes and fall in love with the handsome local mechanic, Mark. Gran, on the other hand, knows Red has it in him to be supermodel—a sentiment that’s shared by Brock Wolfe, the sleazy and manipulative talent manager from New York City. But fame and money aren’t all what they are cracked up to be, and Red will have to decide whether to follow his heart or follow the money. The story has all the classic feels of a fairy tale but manages to keep a fresh and unique spin on a popular and well known tale. On a personal level I didn’t agree with Red’s choices and found him a little too pure and honorable for my tastes, but he fit the character mold that was needed for this story. I really liked how the author incorporated all the new platforms people use to achieve fame such as video blogs and social media accounts. There were a lot of wonderful details that the author added that made the whole influencer/model aspect of the story feel real and dynamic instead of just the standard background plot device. Kirt Graves narrated the audiobook and did a great job. Kirt’s voice was smooth and rich and did an array of different character voices. I found it very easy to listen to his narration and enjoyed it greatly. The audiobook production was well done and enjoyable.

I loved this story! Red and Mark were so good together, loved the Twist on Little Red Riding Hood!! The narration was done by Kirt Graves. He did a pretty good job! All around it was great,

Mr Graves made an oustanding job with his narration of this book. His voice was perfect for bringing to life the wonderful characters written by Ms Lain. This MM modern twist in the classic tale of Little Red Riding Hood is so good, I enjoyed a lot how Red and his woodsman found each other while trying to be true to themselves in a very scary world. I can’t wait for more books in this series.

I enjoyed Better Red for the most part! I really enjoyed Red and Mark but I really hated Red’s grandmother!!! Her controlling ways really grated on me!!! Other than that I liked this twist of Red Riding Hood! Kirt Graves did a fantastic job with this narration. I loved his portrayals of Mark and Red!!!