China White

The Styvie Savard Series, Book 1

By: Sarah Richards

Narrated by: Juliette Gosselin

Length: 9 hrs and 35 mins

Publisher's summary

Styvie Savard was a damn good cop - before she made a mistake that cost her everything. Now she lives in her car, works a dead-end job, and scrapes by on the fumes of a dwindling savings account. Life couldn’t get much worse, until it does. One morning on the way to work, Styvie hits a 16-year-old, Dharma, with her car. When the injured girl flees the scene, Styvie finds that she can’t leave well enough alone.

Propelled by ghosts from her own complicated past, Styvie is determined to find the girl and make things right. In her pursuit, Styvie confronts Dharma’s brother, Jeremy, a violent addict working as a distributor in a fentanyl drug ring; and Dharma’s husband, Glen, who heads a pseudo-Eastern-religious cult.

Styvie becomes obsessed with freeing the teenaged Dharma from Glen’s clutches and bringing Jeremy down. In doing so, she forms a tenuous and clandestine arrangement with her ex-boyfriend, Detective Constable Dennison Lee. Going undercover reignites her love for law enforcement and polishes her rusty sleuthing skills. At first it seems as if she could slide right back into her old life, but when Styvie develops an unshakable bond with Dharma, the lines between right and wrong blur.

In the end, Styvie must make a choice: chase down her old badge and recoup her losses or follow her instinct and save Dharma from a future she doesn’t deserve.

©2021 Sarah Richards (P)2021 Audible Originals, LLC

It felt like What would you do in the situation scenario

This had me guessing most of the time. Brought me to a different world and circled back. It did keep me on my toes in the world in the main characters perspective. I would say there felt like something was missing but it left room for a conclusion.

Slow start

Different story line. Some things seem unbelievable but it's a good story line. Good buildup on characters.

You’re going to be so annoyed by the main character

While I did not enjoy the story, I finished it to the end to see if the plot line gets better… it doesn’t. I’ve listened to other Sarah Richards books and they are better. You can tell this was her first one. The main character is 40 years old and was a cop for 8 years but acts, talks, and thinks like a 16 year old with no life experiences. If this person actually was a cop, they would not have lasted 8 years on the force. Would have been fired after a year with how impulsive and immature they are.

The plotline has so many holes in it. Too many unrealistic things happen and left me thinking, WTF is going on? I’m not sure if it’s the way it was written or the narrator but the story moves too fast without proper transition for the listener to follow along. On top of that, the narrator also sounds like they are 16, not 40. So it puts you in the mind frame that the main character is younger from the get go. The main character makes so many mistakes throughout the story and has no redeeming qualities by the end. Overall, you’ll probably be extremely annoyed with the characters the majority of the time and won’t be able to make it through.

Not a thriller

The narrator who is supposed to be a grown woman sounds like a thirteen year old. The story is unrealistic and I just couldn’t waste any more time listening.

Just, no.

Narrator is weird. Talks too fast, I can’t follow the story. And the story takes forever to unfold. Don’t waste your time.

Narrator isn’t for this book

I’m five minutes in and the narrator is not keeping my attention. It’s very hard to follow this narrator, the way she’s reading it doesn’t match up. She’s fast and breathy.

Narrator is difficult to listen to

Probably won't finish it. Narrator is too difficult to listen to. Can't focus on the story line.

could not get into it

The story seems to be all over the place from the very beginning. Very hard to follow and stay interested at the same time. I tried to get through it but couldn't make it more than about two hours before I just lost interest completely