I could not get into this book, sorry. Trying to clean up my netgalley. Didn’t realize that I was forgetting to leave reviews on netgalley itself, My apologies.

The Birds That Stay is the first title in the Russell and Leduc mystery series. The next book to feature this duo is The Dogs of Winter which has also been published.

Readers of this title are in Canada’s Laurentian Mountains where an elderly woman has been murdered. What happened and why? A mixed team will sort things out. There are a professional inspector (who should have been starting vacation) and the amateur working together. The case will raise issues from both of their pasts.

The narration of this title is crisp and clear, allowing listeners to get to know the characters. The reader, who is the author, did a good job.

This book was middling for me. I would rate it at three stars.

Many thanks to NetGalley and ECW Press Audio for this title. All opinions are my own.

Thank you to NetGalley and ECW Press for the early listen. Loved this story. The author did a great job narrating. Looking forward to the next one.

The Birds That Stay by Ann Lambert was an okay read.

I found it read very fast, but I was not super interested in the mystery. The only part I could relate to was the Hungarian family as my Grandfather also escaped during that same Revolution. He was a freedom fighter and ended up in the USA instead of Canada. He had the thick accent and was hard.

My least favourite aspect was the politics. While I agree with the authour on some points and disagree on others, I would have preferred none of it. I read books to get away from politics regardless of the view.

I thought the narration was pretty good. There were a few traditions that I think could have used a longer pause. Other than that, I had no complaints. I enjoyed Ann's voice as well.

Story is a 2.5 and the narration a 4.5.

I received an eARC from ECW Press Audio through NetGalley. All opinions are 100% my own.

Sorry, I thought I would not be able to listen and review this title, but t still appears on my bookshelf on my NG app, It may be due to me sampling the start of the narrator. I will update my review once I finish listening to it (over my holiday break).

thank you

Really enjoyed the audiobook but I found once I put it down I’d forget about it. I think I’ll try reading something physically from this author.

I enjoyed this as my very first audio book thru NetGalley. It was a mystery/thriller that explored many years back to around world war 2, including the many prejudices (anti-semitism...nazism, etc.). I found the book a bit choppy, and jumped around a bit. It was a little heavy for my usual mystery/thriller taste,

I'm always unimpressed by an author's need to have a political agenda, even just minimal amounts. It alienates half of your audience, especially when it is concerning current leaders or elections of a country that is not your own. This tends to ruin much of the experience for me, even if I agree with any of the thoughts. I just personally believe that attempting to shame any of your audience is of poor taste. Readers tend to seek reading books to escape much of what is going on in their own world. Outsiders (authors and citizens of countries outside of the country referenced) especially should not be referring to hot topic buttons of a nation that is not their own. Imagine reading a book written by an American that trashes the government of Quebec, and of the individuals who may or may not have elected him/her. This is just in poor taste. I gave a 3 star because this book really was well written with a very good storyline. It had a lot of character development and depth. It's just a shame that Ms. Lambert had the need to refer in any way to a government outside of her own, and that in doing so she needed to refer to individuals who voted for that government in a derogatory fashion. I will therefore not be seeking other books by this author, or posting this review on my personal blog.

I received a complimentary copy of this book from ECW Press Audio through NetGalley. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

Who doesn't love a fictional murder mystery with a complex and confounding back story? How about one written in the French-Canadian province of Quebec that includes stunning descriptions of the beautiful country's landmarks, and a real-life history lesson to boot?

Thank you so much to ECW Press Audio and Netgalley for allowing me an ALC of this novel in exchange for an honest review. I was so excited to pick this one up - supporting Canadian authors and reading our country's literature has always been important to me, and I am proud to be able to claim this novel as a Canadian's work.

A small village outside of Montreal is shaken by the murder of a reclusive older woman. Who killed her, and what in the world was their motive? Enter Romeo Leduc, Chief Inspector of homicide for the local police department, and Marie Russell, the old woman's next-door-neighbour. When the two connect, the past is uncovered and the roots of the crime are unearthed in unexpected places.

I listened to the audiobook version of this novel. I adore audiobooks read by their authors, and this one definitely didn't disappoint! Lambert's speech was the perfect tone and speed for an audiobook - not so quick as to lose the reader, but not so slow as to put them to sleep. Her accents helped me follow each character and added a sense of realism to the writing. This book was a tough one for me to rate when it came to content, so I'll break it down into things I loved, and things I didn't love:

Loved
- The book was full of references to Canadian places, stories, people, and culture, all of which were included in a subtle but beautiful way.
- I'm a sucker for a backstory, and this book was full of one. The web of stories told in this novel was spun beautifully to connect characters and their life experiences.
- All of the characters had a realistic and unique personality. I felt like I could connect with each one of them and understand their situations and thought processes, even if they came from backgrounds and lifestyles completely different than my own.

Didn't love
- Sometimes I felt as though the story jumped around too quickly, especially at the beginning. This made it hard to follow the plot and also left me wondering what the most important details were.
- The novel ended fairly abruptly with a relationship that was never built. I am TOTALLY excited about the couple, though! Cute!
- I felt as though there were a few extra characters added in that served no real purpose in this novel's storyline. With this being said, this is the first novel of a series, so I am excited to see how Lambert incorporates these individuals in her future works!

In summary, I definitely suggest giving this book a read - especially if you are someone who loves Canadian literature and/or books that reference the locales' landmarks and history. I think that the audiobook added a little extra to my experience and would definitely recommend giving this one a listen for my fellow audiobook fans out there! I look forward to picking up the next novel in this series, The Dogs of Winter, to see what Russell and Leduc are up to next!

CW: death, murder, violence, antisemitism

Thank you to Netgalley and ECW Press Audio for an audiobook copy of The Birds That Stay by Ann Lambert. This book sadly did not hold my attention and I felt no attachment to the main characters. There seemed to be too many storylines that took awhile to connect to one another, so by the time they did I had to remind myself of what occurred at the beginning and how it pertained to the overall story.

I don't know if it was just me but I was also bugged by having to change the volume every few chapters because the various narrators used different speaking volumes, one where I could only hear them if I turned the volume all the way up and then immediately turning the knob back down for the author narrator.

I enjoy that this audiobook was read by the author because it just added an extra element to the words for me. As much as I hate to say it, this book was a little too slow moving for me. Additionally, I couldn't really follow the plot line as easily as I would've liked which could be because the action was too slow moving or due to the sporadic nature of the storytelling. Thank you to NetGalley and ECW Press Audio for a copy of this book for an honest review.

2.5 / 5

If this novel interests you, I would definitely recommend the audiobook. It is read by the author, and her voice acting breathes an extra layer of life into the story, and, barring the occasional anglo 'know' that slip through the Hungarian accent passages, the experience is seamless. And as a personal preference, I much prefer experiencing the Quebec and Montreal-isms by listening to them than by reading them.

That said, the story wasn't for me. While I genuinely enjoyed the main mystery, both in the twists and turns and in the background it provided about the history of Canadian immigration after WWII, it was often interspersed with scenes I did not find myself connecting with, hints of a romance I did not care for, nor did I feel was developed enough, and one too many instances of sexual assault for me to stomach. I don't mind reading about difficult topics, if they are addressed with respect and appropriate gravitas (Speak is one of my all time favourite novels), but when it's just peppered into a character's backstory without really serving a purpose to the story, it starts to feel like it's there to add a level of grittiness to the story for the sake of grittiness. There was a late chapter attempt to tie one of these occurrences into the main thesis of the book, a mostly successful one, I might add, but by that time I'd already gotten annoyed at how many instances there were in the book.

The Birds That Stay is the first book in a new mystery series by Ann Lambert. Thank you to ECW Press Audio for an advance listening copy of the audiobook in exchange for an honest review,

I enjoyed this one and the narration for it made the story come to life. I think that fact that it was narrated by the Author added an extra something special to it too. She did a great job at differentiating each character and making the multiple points of view distinct.

I enjoyed the slow burn of the mystery. It did seem to jump around a bit more than more and had some information that I could have done with out, There was a lot going on, but when it did all start to weave together, it all worked out well.

The Birds That Stay by Ann Lambert is book one in a new mystery / detective series revolving around Inspector Romeo Leducz that takes place in the Laurentian Mountains of Quebec. Several people collide in an investigation of the death of an 80 year old woman. S L O W burn for me. Unfortunately, it didn’t keep my interest like I thought it would after reading the synopsis. Let’s talk about what I did loved. I loved that the author narrated this book. I loved her authentic French accent. I felt like that truly added so much to this story. Listening to me was defined better than reading as I would have totally skipped over so many phrases that were in French throughout this book. So kudos to the author. The downside of this being an audiobook was the sound production was terribly poor. The pitch was all over. One chapter you were turning it down, only to get to the next chapter were you were turning it up. It was a constant battle of high and low sound production. That took away from the story. As well as, there was just too much of a back story. Interesting but terribly boring and a complete snooze fest. I didn’t feel like that added to any of the storyline at all. Most of that could have been eliminated. I felt that alone added made this such a slow burn that many will give up on this mystery before it has a chance to even get going. It seemed a tad scattered and all over the place and simply had way too many characters to follow.

Thank you to NetGalley and ECW Press Audio for an advance copy in exchange for my unbiased review. Unfortunately, this wasn’t for me. I just couldn’t connect to the characters nor the storyline. If you love a lot of backstory and a slow burn then this book is definitely for you.

3 1/2 stars, rounded up

The Birds That Stay is a mystery novel that takes place just north of Montreal, in the Laurentians. We meet inspector Roméo Leduc as he is assigned to the murder of an elderly woman, and then we also meet Marie Russell, who is a neighbor of the victim.

This could have been a much more compelling book, had it not been so scattered. We jump from going all extra on the atmosphere and (remarkably authentic) reminiscence, to introducing way too many characters, to occasionally getting back to the actual progression of the story and what the heck, let's throw in a romance just to round it out. I found myself disengaging, then having to pinch myself to remember to engage, more than I should have.

I was gifted a copy of the audiobook, narrated by Ann Lambert, which sadly did not enhance my experience. Lambert's narration was excellent, no doubt about that. But the sound production was poor, such that one chapter was super quiet and then the next chapter slammed in so loudly that I thought my ears would bleed. That fear of TOO LOUD or annoyance with too low -- where I had to stop at the beginning of each chapter and re-adjust -- was just one more reason to disconnect from the novel.

The real question: Will I continue the series? Likely no, as this series hasn't gotten off to a very inspiring start. It was just fine, but not great.

A big thanks to NetGalley and ECW Press Audio for the opportunity to listen to and review this audiobook.

I liked the narrator a lot, she made this book much more interesting. It started with just some murder of an older lady but after while there were a lot of mysteries unfolding.


*I received a copy of this audiobook from the publisher, via NetGalley, in exchange for a fair review.

Thank you to Netgalley, Ann Lambert & ECW Press Audio for the opportunity to listen to this audiobook in exchange for an honest review! This was the first in what will be a detective series (titled Russel & Leduc mysteries #1). I loved that this was narrated by the author and that she wrote this taking place in Quebec which is so close to home for me. Her French accent made this so easy to listen to and more realistic. In the beginning it seemed like there were so many different plot lines and I couldn't see how they were going to weave together. This book took on some heavy topics that I wasn't expecting outside of the usual murder mystery including Nazis hiding in Canada & living under alternate names. It went into depth of one woman's family's story trying to escape Hungary during WWII and her discovering her truth and religion. I really enjoyed the love story that was starting and I can't wait to see where it goes in book #2!

The Birds that Stay was written and read by Ann lambert. The novel took place in the Laurentian Mountains of Quebec where several people collide into an investigation of the murder of an 80 year old woman. Roméo Leduc, the investigator, and Marie Russell, a writer, help each other unravel what really happened to her neighbor. As discoveries are being made, they both are pulled into other dramas they didn't realize already happened to connect them. This mystery unfolds layer by layer until you finally the reader sees what has been right in front of you wasn't what you thought.

Listening to the novel by the author gave it an added touch of how she wanted the story delivered. There were some French words in the story that I didn't know so I had to read into it. Reading the book might have helped.

Thank you NetGalley and ECW Press Audio for allowing me to listen to The Birds That Stay for an honest review.

The Birds that Stay is a murder mystery based in Quebec, Canada. The narrator was suburb and spoke French which was helpful since there are many phrases in French that I would have grazed over if I was reading it myself. This was definitely a slow burn murder mystery. At times I forgot there was a murder because it went so deep into the back stories of the characters. I'm giving this 3 stars because it was very hard to follow. It may have been better if I had read it instead of listened to it. It was difficult to keep all the characters stories straight, especially when there were multiple characters that went by multiple names. The audio itself also needs work. Some chapters are significantly quieter than others, some are significantly louder. I found myself constantly adjusting my volume when listening. Overall, I would suggest reading this instead of listening to it.

I found this book interesting at times but boring during others. I honestly don't have much feedback to give for this one but thank you Netgalley and the publisher for my gifted copy.

Book takes place in the Laurentians, a town north of Montreal. Lots of French-Canadian accents, and Canadian locations. An elderly woman is found strangled outside her home, by a neighbor who was fond of her. Detectives investigating are Romeo Leduc and another neighbor, Marie Russell. They work together a bit, and get together on what they know about the case in the past and present. This is a story that reaches back into the past.

My thoughts

There are a lot of characters in this book, and a lot of plot threads. There is also plenty of jealousy and suspicion between the characters. The book is also very interesting as it showed how people think, how they age and forget, and change. And how somethings are not forgotten and some things never change. The plot threads reached far back into the past, to WW2, and one surprise, is that things are not always what is assumed, and often more complicated than they appear.

I keep calling this a book, but I listened to the audio book, which was read by the author, Ann Lambert. I was intrigued by this idea, because the author herself would be able to pronounce the words, get the nuances of accent and sentence movement. Most audio readers can do this, but some don’t read it the way I would in my head.

I enjoyed the story, the narrator, and the relationship that is building between Romeo Leduc and Marie Russell. They are not young, they are older people who have lived and experienced, and are definitely individuals. As Marie thinks on the murder, and the people around her, she begins to remember and look at some incidents from her own past too.

Good book. Thanks NetGalley for the ARC.