Review: A great way to spend 5 hours.
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 09 3, 2012
Cute, light and fun are some of the words that I would use to describe Driving Mr. Dead. Molly Harper's writing is cheery and Amanda Ronconi's narration is colourful. I finished this audiobook in record time; mainly because it's only 5 hours long but also thanks to the high entertainment value. This light-hearted book is guaranteed to put a smile on your face! Miranda is quirky and silly, Collin is peculiar yet sexy, and their road trip together is disastrous. If you haven't given Molly Harper a try yet, Driving Mr. Dead is a good place to start!I like the main concept behind this book: a vampire concierge service. Simple but with oh so many promising possibilities! Anyone who's ever been on a road trip knows that they usually don't go quite as planned, throw a vamp into the mix and you're just asking for trouble! Harper does a fab job of writing a great book that revolves around such a simple story line. I think that's part of the appeal of this novel; you don't have to think. All you have to do is sit back, listen and enjoy. Don't get me wrong, I still love all of the complicated universes found in the Paranormal genre but it's nice to dumb things down every once in a while and to just enjoy the experience. This book is just plain fun!Miranda reminds me a lot of my young adult days. She's sort of all over the place, doesn't really know what she wants to do with her life and is rather ditzy. She also has a knack for turning a dull, cross-country drive into an African safari. Harper's imagination really shines through in the form of Miranda's ridiculous antics. Many of them seem farfetched, but really, under the right circumstances anything is possible! Or maybe it's just me. I am a Murphy on my mom's side after all so perhaps I'm more prone to weird things happening. Anyway, moving on...I wasn't a very big Collin fan at first. When we're introduced to him he's snobby, anti-social and uptight. He also has a whole booklet of rules for Miranda to follow as she plays chauffeur for him. Not a good sign. As they get closer to their destination and their problems become stranger and stranger, Sutherland can't help but see the humor in their predicament. Oddly enough, Miranda's chaos messes with his ability to see possible outcomes which actually brings him peace, for the first time in over a century. Aaw, a match made in heaven! Sorta.There's no complicated mystery to solve or complex love triangle to decipher in Driving Mr. Dead but it is one heck of a fun read. The narrator is expressive and upbeat, the story is entertaining and the characters are delightful. This is a great way to spend five hours.