Musings on Romance

Tag: fiction

Thank You For Listening by Julia Whelan, narrated by Julia Whelan

Thank You For Listening by Julia Whelan, narrated by Julia Whelan. A delight for my ears.

Illustrated cover in pink, showing a book in yellow with the book's title and some blue over-ear headphones with the author's name on the top headband part, there's a cup of fruit tea? in the top right as well

 

Julia Whelan has long been one of my very favourite narrators. I love the way she presents characters, her emotion, her style, and, at base, I just like her voice. It’s very pleasing to my ear. She’s a talented actress who brings those skills to her performances as well and that combination is just killer. Any romance narrated by Julia Whelan will get my attention and so, as soon as I established that Thank You For Listening does in fact have a HEA, I was all grabby hands.

Sewanee (pronounced “Swanny”) Chester is an actress who lost her career when she also lost an eye in an accident seven years before the book begins. She turned to audiobook narration, at first in romance, under the pseudonym, Sarah Westholme. But Swan, as she most commonly goes by, doesn’t believe in love and happy ever afters and got out of romance and into general fiction, using her real name.

While at a book convention in Las Vegas, she meets “the rake” (the chapters have titles) and they have one hot night together. She uses the alias, Alice, on the basis of “what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas” and only knows Nick by his first name. His Irish charm is winning though and Swan keeps thinking about him when she returns to LA.

Swan’s beloved grandmother has dementia and is an assisted living facility. She will soon need more care and that is going to cost a lot of money she doesn’t have, so when a fantastic offer is made to revive Sarah Westholme one more time for a duet narration with the fan favourite, Brock McKnight, Swan says yes.

Brock is famously secretive about his true identity (think someone like Sebastian York – although Brock is emphatically NOT York – more on this later) but his voice has apparently melted panties all over the USA and probably parts of the rest of the world too. For myself, I don’t think of narrators quite that way. I do appreciate a sexy voice (I mean, who doesn’t?) but I don’t then sexualise the narrator. Apparently there are a lot of (mainly) women who do. There’s a whole world over on Facebook I’m only peripherally involved in. Brock is uncomfortable with the way he’s been sexualised by his fandom and doesn’t really love audiobooks or romance but he’s good at it and it’s a living. Brock has his reasons for the way he feels which I won’t go into here because spoilers but I admit I had mixed feelings about both narrators in the novel not liking romance. To be honest, I couldn’t help but wonder…

Which brings me to that “more on that later” I mentioned earlier. Right at the end of the audio is an author’s note chapter titled “on Autobiography” where Ms. Whelan talks about how the book came to be and specifically says that Swan is not her (even though they do share some commonalities, which she details) and that Brock is not based on any narrator from real life. Brock is a work of fiction and so is Swan. I was relieved to hear that Ms. Whelan loves her job. I’m really glad she included that chapter because as she mentions at the beginning of it, the nature of her actual job and the characters in the book mean there will inevitably be questions about just how fictional the story is.

Some of the book is nonetheless fairly meta – discussion about not outing a narrator’s pseudonym for example (don’t do that) and about some of the more rabid areas of the romance fandom are true, and the nuts and bolts of audiobook narrating are rooted in reality. Because of that mix of real and fictional, it was, I think, especially important for her to be clear and I’m glad she was.

Back to the book. As Sarah and Brock begin to record their duet narration for what is a serial to be released weekly in eight parts, they start to trade texts and emails and build a connection outside of work. It’s flirty and fun and sexy. They grow closer and eventually they decide to meet. In person. In real life. This is a BIG deal. Both are nervous.

For the listener there are many questions. Brock’s voice is not Irish so he can’t be Nick, so who is the HEA going to be with? Will there be a love triangle? Is Brock good-looking or does he just have a sexy voice? What will Swan think of him when they actually meet? Where’s Nick? Is he coming back or was Nick kind of a breaking of a seal which enabled Swan to open herself to Brock? Where, exactly was this promised HEA coming from? So many questions!

There are also family issues with Swan’s father and grandmother, unresolved issues related to Swan’s accident and her grief about it, the possibility of acting again with her best friend and fellow actor, Adaku. I have to mention that I fell a little in love with Swan’s mother’s new partner, Stu. He was so funny and sweet. I laughed hard at the text messages he sent.

Thank You For Listening is a hybrid of women’s fiction and contemporary romance but there is definitely a romance and a very satisfying one too. In some ways, it is two books, smushed together; there are particular sections which are very romance-y and others which are not. As for heat, there’s not a lot of on-page sex but what there is brings some steam. I didn’t feel robbed.

The narration, of course, is stellar. I very quickly cared about the characters and Julia Whelan’s vocal performance only added to my enjoyment. Because Ms. Whelan also wrote the book, she knew the characters inside out and that had to be an advantage when she was performing them.

Audio narration is acting and the best narrators do more than just read us a story. There’s a bit of discussion in the novel about AI maybe eventually being a significant player in audiobook narration and I cannot tell you how vehemently I rejected the idea. But, as the novel points out, there is an entire generation of listeners who may not know the difference. How sad that would be for them.

Grade: A

If I Never Met You by Mhairi McFarlane

Illustrated cover in lavender with a biracial woman on one side and white man in a suit on the otherWhy I read it:  I’ve been meaning to try this author for ages now and I love a fake relationship.

What it’s about: (from Goodreads)  When Laurie’s partner of eighteen years, Dan, dumps her to ‘find himself’ (and leave her on the shelf at 36), she is blindsided. But not as blindsided as when he announces that his new girlfriend is now pregnant.

Working in the same office with Dan is soon unbearable – until the day she gets stuck in the lift with her handsome colleague Jamie. Jamie is looking for a way to improve his reputation in the company and what better way for Jamie to advance and Laurie to give the rumour mill something else to talk about than a fake relationship?

As Laurie and Jamie progress from Instagram snaps to dates, dancing and more, Laurie feels herself falling further for her unlikely hero. But you can’t break your heart in a fake relationship. Can you?

What worked for me (and what didn’t):  Even though this is a romance and there is most definitely a HEA at the end, the romantic relationship between Jamie and Laurie takes a very long time to get going. When the book begins, Laurie is still with Dan and then it all hits the fan. Then she’s heartbroken and it takes a while before Jamie and she get stuck in a lift (which sparks, eventually, the idea to have a fake relationship).  If I didn’t dislike the term I’d say this was more “women’s fiction”. The book is as much about Laurie’s own journey to rediscover herself than her relationship with Jamie. In many respects, the former is far more detailed. Continue reading

© 2024 Kaetrin’s Musings

Theme by Anders NorenUp ↑

Verified by MonsterInsights