I’m over at Dear Author with a review of Big Wild Love Adventure by Julianna Keyes. Real love on reality TV.
Category: reviews (Page 21 of 117)
Book Lovers by Emily Henry, narrated by Julia Whelan. Loved it.
It’s no secret that Julia Whelan is one of my favourite narrators. If she narrated more romance titles I’d be a very happy camper. In fact, the main reason I picked up last year’s Emily Henry release, People We Meet on Vacation was because Julia Whelan was narrating. This year’s offering, Book Lovers was on my radar because I enjoyed People We Meet On Vacation so much. (I’m saving Beach Read for when I need a pick-me-up.)
While People We Meet on Vacation and Book Lovers are very different books, they have the same vibe to them and the same glorious witty banter so I’m confident those who enjoyed last year’s book will enjoy this year’s too. And the narration is stellar so there’s also that.
Nora Stephens is a literary agent in New York. Her father walked out on her mother when she was still pregnant with Nora’s younger sister, Libby and it was just the three of them for a long time. When Nora was 20 and Libby was 16, their mother died suddenly and Nora was Libby’s guardian. Nora is fierce generally but when it comes to Libby she will do anything to make her sister happy and ensure her safety and well-being, including putting her own dreams on hold or passing on them completely.
Nora’s star client is a temperamental, high maintenance woman by the name of Dusty Fielding. When the story begins, Nora has just been dumped by her boyfriend who has decided to move to a small town where he’s met someone else (this is a thing that keeps happening to Nora) and she’s late for a lunch with editor Charlie Lastra. She’s trying to interest Wharton House books in Dusty’s latest novel but the pair do not get off to a good start.
Fast forward two years and the book Charlie passed on is a runaway bestseller and about to be a movie. Nora and Charlie have had nothing to do with one another since then but they bump into each other (repeatedly) when Nora and Libby go to Sunshine Falls, North Carolina for a month-long holiday. Sunshine Falls is where Dusty’s famous book is set and Libby is a mega-fan. In the past few months, Nora and Libby’s connection has stuttered and something is clearly wrong. Libby is five months pregnant with her third child and Nora is worried there might be trouble in paradise and/or something wrong with Libby’s health. Libby wants to get away before the baby is born and have a rest away from her two young daughters (aged four and two respectively) and begs Nora to go with her for the summer. Nora, desperate to reconnect with Libby and fix whatever is wrong, agrees.
As it happens, Charlie was born in Sunshine Falls and he’s there helping out his family after his dad became ill.
Dusty has written a new book and Nora is horrified to find that she, Nora that is, seems to be the inspiration for the main character – an acting agent with a reputation of being a shark who lacks emotion and heart. Stung, Nora decides to let loose a little and agrees to participate in Libby’s “list” of small town things to do when she is in Sunshine Falls. It’s a ridiculous list which includes things like “pet a horse” or “go skinny dipping” and “save a small business” but Nora will do anything to make Libby happy. The other problem is that the new book is fantastic – Dusty’s best yet. And for reasons, Charlie takes over the editing so Nora and Charlie begin working together on it over the summer.
Charlie has his own troubles with his family and not quite fitting into the Sunshine Falls aesthetic.
Whatever is going on with Libby causes Nora no end of angst as she schemes to identify the problem and fix it, just like she’s always done.
There are nods to common small town romance tropes which I heard as fond, including a very handsome horse farmer Libby encourages Nora to date.
But it is always Charlie Nora keeps going back to. They’re like magnets, always attracted to one another no matter what. After an unexpected kiss, Charlie tells Nora that it “can’t happen” between them and they skirt around each other for a little while but are inevitably drawn back together.
They have a delightful connection. They aren’t really enemies in my view but I suppose some might classify this as an enemies to lovers story. They aren’t ever truly mean to one another but they do a lot of sarcastic sniping – it never crossed the line for me. There was always an underlying attraction and chemistry which was obvious and a genuine care that shone through. Charlie agrees Nora is a bit of a shark but he loves that about her. He doesn’t want to change a thing. Nora, for her part, comes to realise that Charlie keeps things very close to his chest but once she gains a little insight she reads him like a book and realises there’s much more to him than she first thought. They have the best banter – flirty, funny, witty and smart and I was completely there for it.
The narration only highlighted all the good things in the text. I’m sure I enjoyed it more on audio than I would have in print simply because Julia Whelan’s narration is just that good. (On her Instagram feed there’s a sample of her doing Charlie’s voice and it is fire.) Charlie’s tones were husky and rich; like honey with just a touch of gravel in my ear (apologies for the mixed metaphor). The humour throughout the book is enhanced by Ms. Whelan’s excellent comedic timing and the emotion that breaks and reforms Nora was embedded in the performance too. There’s one particular scene where Nora’s voice has a hitch in it when she’s talking about something difficult and it was perfectly portrayed.
I always like lots of the love interests together in a romance and I got that in Book Lovers – Charlie and Nora spend a lot of time together and there’s plenty of evidence of just how much they belong together and how good for each other they could be if only they can find their way to a HEA.
There was a little too much bait-and-switch in the Libby subplot which I don’t think worked quite as well as the rest of the book but the romance was fantastic and the narration excellent. Definitely recommend.
Grade: A
When Blood Lies by CS Harris, narrated by Jenny Sterlin. Great story but I did not like the narrator’s Sebastian voice.
The annual Sebastian St. Cyr mystery is always a cause for celebration but my anticipation this year for When Blood Lies was tempered a little by the news that Davina Porter, the narrator of all prior 16 books had retired and a new performer, Jenny Sterlin, was taking over.
Let’s face it, Davina Porter is a hard act to follow. And for listeners like me who have consumed the entire series to date via audiobook, her depiction of the characters is the benchmark by which any other will be measured.
The good news is that Jenny Sterlin sounds in many ways very like Davina Porter. In fact, there were times during the listen when I could believe they were one and the same (they’re not). However there was one important – and for me, crucial – difference and it made me wonder whether I will continue on audio for the next book or take up the series in print instead. That difference was Sebastian’s voice. For 16 books and something like 190ish hours I have heard Sebastian’s deep tones and it was with shock and dismay that I heard Ms. Sterlin’s version of him. He did not sound at all like Sebastian. He did not often sound much like a he to be frank. Ms. Sterlin is clearly capable of deepening her voice for male characters – there were plenty of secondary and side characters in the book for whom she did just that – but not for Sebastian. Almost every time he spoke I was disappointed because his voice was… well it was almost high (Some men have higher-pitched voices and for some characters that would be entirely appropriate but it did not work for me here at all). Even had I not previously heard Davina Porter’s version of Sebastian I would not have liked it but contrasted with what I have been gifted with previously it was that much more disappointing.
Sebastian is the backbone of the series. Had it been, for example, Jarvis’ voice or even Hendon’s, I’d have been able to move past it far more easily. As it was, I struggled with the listen. Frustratingly, there were times when Sebastian’s voice did sound deeper, most often when he was angry or frustrated, but when he was speaking normally, the pitch was too high and too soft and not at all Sebastian-like for me. It’s not that I needed him to sound the same as with Davina Porter’s depiction – of course he would not. Every narrator will bring something different to a performance. I was prepared for that. But Hero’s voice was deeper than his most of the time.
Usually in our reviews we talk about the story first and the narration last but in this case, I decided to switch it up because I had far more to say about the latter than the former.
As to the story, well, as usual it’s fairly hard to go into any detail without giving away spoilers. Sebastian, Hero and their family are in Paris looking for Sebastian’s mother. He does find her but she has been stabbed and thrown off a bridge and dies shortly after he discovers (in Chapter 1) her broken at the foot of the Pont Neuf. He is of course distraught and determined to find out who killed her and why.
As Sebastian and Hero investigate, Napoleon prepares to and then actually does escape from Elba and the St. Cyrs wonder how much, if anything, Sophie Hendon had to do with it. The whereabouts of a mysterious talisman becomes key to solving the mystery and their various enquiries lead the pair to encounter Marie-Therese of Angouleme, Hortense Bonaparte and the notorious police minister Joseph Fouche – to name only a few of the real-life historical characters in the book.
Unlike in previous books, Hero is not writing an article about the poor of London (or, in this case, Paris) but she is active in the investigation and a stalwart pillar for Sebastian as he grieves the loss of his mother and what could have been. There are also tantalising hints about the possible identity of Sebastian’s father so I expect more to come on that topic in the future.
At the end of the previous novel, Sebastian and Hero took in Jamie Knox’s son, Patrick. Predictably, Hero is not at all phased by raising him as her own and clearly both Sebastian and Hero love him but it was never explained in the book how others saw him. Patrick looks enough like Sebastian to be his biological son. Is this a scandal? What does Hendon or Jarvis have to say? There was a curious absence of conversation or explanation about this which felt strange in the circumstances. What story did Sebastian and Hero put out to explain Patrick’s presence in their lives?
As usual the history is meticulous and fascinating. I fell down a bit of a Wikipedia rabbit hole looking up information about the Reign of Terror and the return of the Bourbons and what happened after Napoleon’s escape from Elba. I enjoyed the different setting and “exploring” Paris in 1815. The detail about torture and executions was compelling if a little gruesome at times. Sebastian and Hero are still happy, in love and devoted to one another and their sons. It’s a recipe for a great book.
I struggled with the grade for the narration. There were a few stumbles which weren’t fixed in editing where the words were all correct but Ms. Sterlin tripped over them a little but no major errors. The characterisation was good and consistent with prior books. Had Sebastian’s voice been (consistently) deeper I would have rated it as a B+ at least. The narration wasn’t bad so I could not rate poorly. But Ms. Sterlin’s Sebastian voice did not impress me. However, with really only a small tweak it could be fantastic – maybe next time?
Grade: B/B-
I’m over at Dear Author with a review of Never Been Kissed by Timothy Janovsky. Charming and sweet but I had a bit of cognitive dissonance around the stated age of the characters at times. Alice is a firecracker.
The Wedding Crasher by Mia Sosa, narrated by Rebecca Mozo & Alastair Haynesbridge. A lot of fun and great narration.
The follow up to 2020’s The Worst Best Man, The Wedding Crasher features Lina’s cousin, Solange Pereira, and Max’s best friend, Dean Chapman.
The story is bookended by weddings – but I’m not going to say whose is at the end – you’ll have to listen to know. The wedding at the beginning is Dean’s – to Ella. Solange, roped in to helping out her makeup artist cousin, Natalia, at the wedding, overhears the bride-to-be professing her love to someone other than the groom. She’s not to know that Dean and Ella’s marriage was supposed to be a modern marriage of convenience. Still, exactly why Solange thinks it’s her place to stop the wedding remained a little unclear to me.
Because the marriage was based on friendship and mutual ambition, not ending up married didn’t crush Dean into dust – which does help him (and me, in the sense of believing him) when he falls into love with Solange only a few weeks later.
Dean is a lawyer for a big corporate firm on the partner track. He’s been working hard toward this goal for 8 years and it is within reach at last. A potential new hire (Kimberley) at the firm could bring with her a lucrative client (her father’s media business) and she has asked to spend time with some of the associates of the firms she’s interviewing with to get a feel for not just New York but the places where she might be working.
While the non-wedding didn’t damage Dean emotionally, it didn’t do him any favours professionally. An assumption is made that he’s crushed and therefore not the best person to show Kimberley and her partner around. If he can help lure Kimberley to the firm he’s a shoo-in for partner. His biggest rival (a jerk by the name of Peter) has also volunteered for the task. Peter is married so he’s likely to get the gig – until Dean concocts a story on the spot of he and Solange being old friends who realised they were far more to one another after the wedding-that-wasn’t. Now he just has to get Solange on board, keep up the lie to a suspicious Peter (they both get the chaperoning gig), lure the lawyer and win the partnership. Piece of cake.
Solange has a need for a fake relationship of her own as it happens. Her aunt and cousins from Brazil are coming into town soon and, following some peer pressure and family competitiveness, Solange’s mother has told them that Solange is at last in a happily committed relationship. No bother; Solange’s best friend is Brandon, her roommate. They can pretend to date while the cousins are in town. All good.
Okay, so the premise is pretty thin. But, if you can get past that (and I did) the rest of the story is fun, sexy and engaging. Dean has sworn off love for family reasons. Solange has vowed to never settle for anything less than true love for family reasons. Their chemistry is off the charts. Bingo bango bongo.
Peter tries hard to trip them up and set them up – which leads to some surprising engagements and steamy scenes which I won’t go into here. Again, fairly improbable but I liked it anyway.
The narration was great. Alastair Haynesbridge is a performer I’ve listened to before in a Cindy Gerard book and I was impressed by him then. Nothing in this listen changed that view. He has a touch of the Teddy Hamilton’s about him – he doesn’t have the same accent but there’s a similarity nonetheless.
Both narrators are called upon to say some Portuguese in the book. I’m no expert but the accent seemed pretty good to me from Mr. Haynesbridge. Ms. Mozo’s was better – likely from personal experience – but both were authentic.
The character voices of the various cast members were all very good, with the exception of one of Solange’s aunts who sounded (from Ms. Mozo) more like one of Marge Simpson’s sisters than I’d have liked. Otherwise, both performers gave a convincing depiction of the emotion on the page and brought their A-game when it came to Dean and Solange’s chemistry. There were perhaps a few too many improbabilities in the book but the strength of the narration easily overcame those issues.
Grade: B
I’m over at Dear Author with a review of Kiss Hard by Nalini Singh. Another strong entry in the Hard Play series. Danny and Catie’s fake relationship doesn’t stay fake for long!
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