Tag: small town (Page 2 of 10)

In His Protection by Sandra Owens, narrated by Patrick Zeller

September 28, 2022 / Kaetrin

In His Protection by Sandra Owens, narrated by Patrick Zeller. Enjoyable romantic suspense (mostly romance) and great narration but would have liked more of the dog!

I’ve enjoyed romantic suspense by Sandra Owens before and I love dogs so In His Protection caught my eye when it popped up at Audible. Unfortunately, there’s not quite enough of the dog – Fuzz – as I’d have liked. He does have a couple of pivotal scenes but the story is not very much about him.

Tristan Church is the chief of police in Marsville, North Carolina. The county sheriff is Skylar Morgan. (I admit I don’t understand why such a small area has two separate police forces but I’ve seen it in other books so I guess it’s a thing in the US, or at least some parts of it.) When Sky came to town to interview for the job, she met Tristan in a bar and they had a hot and steamy night together – first names only (her rule). Tristan was deeply smitten from the jump but when Sky returned to Marsville and realised who they were in relation to one another professionally, she pretended they’d never met and gave him the cold shoulder. Tristan has been trying to get her attention for a year.

Sky left Florida where she held a Chief Deputy position after a bad break up with a fellow cop. That man bad-mouthed her to her colleagues and started rumours she was dirty. She faced an investigation (she was cleared of any wrongdoing – she was actually innocent) and her reputation was severely damaged. She wanted a clean start but vowed not to date another cop. And what is Tristan? Argh.

However, the attraction between them won’t go away and when they are teamed up to plan the reopening of the Marsville UFO Museum (yes, that’s why it’s called Marsville), they’re forced into one another’s company even more and Sky’s fragile shield against his charm fails.

At around the same time, her ex turns up in town and someone burns down her apartment. Plus, there’s a deputy in the county sheriff’s department who has it in for her as well and after she fires him he makes threats against her. So there is a plethora of potential suspects available. It’s soon clear that someone is after something from Sky and won’t stop until they get it. This is where my biggest bone to pick with the story arises. Sky is an experienced and accomplished law enforcement officer. When Tristan asks her not to go anywhere alone it’s only because she’s a woman. There’s just no way he’d have made the same request had Sky been a dude. And, Sky went along with it rather than calling it out as the gendered BS it was! *frowny face*

The author does turn some things around though and Sky does get to do some heroics – just not without some Special Forces officers to help. Male of course. (Tristan’s brother Kade is a Ranger. He has another brother, Parker, who is the fire chief and a talented artist.)

The problem with the plot is that for Tristan to be protective of Sky and do any rescuing (and really, rescuing is one of my very favourite things in romance!) because she’s as talented and experienced as she is, it only serves to diminish her. Not entirely and not always a lot – but enough that I noticed and it grated a little.

The push/pull of the relationship is Sky’s reluctance to get in a relationship where, if it all went wrong, she’d have to leave town and start all over again AGAIN. This a real risk for her. Tristan does not think the town would turn on Sky if they broke up but he’s 100% all in anyway and wants her to be his forever. I do like a man in pursuit romantically (and respectfully) speaking. There again, sometimes Tristan made choices to withhold information from Sky that may have spooked her relationship-wise but which she had a right to know professionally so that was a minus in his column. It wasn’t egregious though and, lucky for him, it wasn’t anything that put her at risk.

That said, Tristan also overtly recognised that she needed to stand on her own with her deputies and not interfere with her work and he did treat her with due professional respect most of the time.

The narration was really good. It’s been ages since I’ve listened to Patrick Zeller and I had to ask myself why that was. He has a great range of character voices – from Parker’s 5-year-old daughter, Everly, to the old town matriarch, Ms. Mabel Mackle, to different tones for each Church brother and beyond. His pacing and tone are great and I really liked the emotion he brought to the performance as well. Not overdone; just right.

I’m sure I enjoyed In His Protection more on audio than I would have in print because of the narration. Some of the things which bothered me about the story were easier to manage with Mr. Zeller in my ears. In fact, I liked his performance so much, I immediately went and bought another Owens/Zeller audio collaboration.

Some of the suspense plot stretched my credulity to the breaking level but I enjoyed the romance and I liked Sky and Tristan (most of the time) and I liked them together.

Grade: B-

The Secret Life of Albert Entwistle by Matt Cain, narrated by Simon Vance

June 22, 2022 / Kaetrin

The Secret Life of Albert Entwistle by Matt Cain, narrated by Simon Vance. Quiet and gentle second chance romance for gentlemen “of a certain age”.

The first thing you need to know about The Secret Life of Albert Entwistle is that it is a quiet book. Quiet and gentle. It’s the difference between a cosy mystery set in rural England and Law & Order: SVU. Don’t expect fast-paced revelations. This book is slower and mellower than many contemporary romances around the place. I had to deliberately switch gears to get into it.

Albert Entwistle is nearly 65. He’s a postman for the Royal Mail in the small town of Toddington in England’s north. He’s been a postie since he was 18 and left high school. He has a solitary life and very routine – he eats the same meals every week, he has a Crunchie bar (it’s a kind of candy/chocolate bar – honeycomb covered in chocolate = very nice) with his lunch every day. He keeps himself to himself. He has no friends, doesn’t engage with his co-workers and has only his elderly cat, Gracie for company. For many years he looked after his sick mother but she died 7 years earlier and he has been alone ever since. Even when it was him and his “mam” it’s not like they were close. She would berate and belittle him at every turn.

But Albert loves to dance and sing along to show tunes in the night time behind closed curtains where no-one can see. And he remembers his long lost love, George.

The book begins with Albert getting a letter from HQ which tells him his compulsory retirement is nearly upon him and then Gracie gets sick. Yes, there is pet death on page so beware (I cried). These events shake up Albert’s world and he vows to make some changes. He decides to find George.

It’s been nearly 50 years since their year together, hiding from public view and falling in love during their final year of high school. Back then being gay was only legal if you were over 21. At 17/18 it was a different story. And, even so, being gay in public was not okay and bars and clubs were regularly raided. In small town England the homophobia was even worse. (Be warned, there is quite a bit of homophobia in this book).

Interspersed among the story is a bit of the gay history of England since the 1970s – interesting, sad and enraging at turns. The main story is set in about 2019 I think, doing the maths.

In the course of Albert’s search he makes friends with a young Black single mother, Nicole, aged 19, who has a 3-year-old daughter Irene (“Reenie”). Nicole has a romance of her own (as well as POV sections) and I was very invested! In fact most of the romance within the book itself was for Nicole and Jamie.

Albert and George’s romance is told in flashbacks and what future they may have is still to be told when the book ends.

Albert also makes many other friends, including with a gay couple Daniel and Danny, who move into the neighborhood and many of his co-workers. He opens up, shows interests in others, releases the kindness he has been hiding and, he comes out. It’s a slow process but almost universally, the people he comes out to are very kind. It’s perhaps a picture of an ideal world but it felt a bit too “It’s a Wonderful Life” by the end.

The cast is large, with many of the other characters who go through their own life events during the course of the book. (Listeners should note that one of those life events is the death of a child – a relative of a secondary character – from cancer.) Albert is there to offer sage advice. He’s perhaps a little too perfect considering how very insular he’s been. It was just a little too saccharine.

Albert’s history of what is essentially abuse by his parents (of the emotional kind and a little bit of the physical from his dad, especially when his dad found out Albert was gay) is very sad and difficult to hear. What’s even sadder is that there are many teenagers who experience this kind of thing even now. There’s also some explicit depictions of casual homophobia, racism and gay bashing so for all the gentle tone of the story there are serious topics being covered.

I did find it a little hard to get a handle on Albert. There was very little by way of physical description. I didn’t have a clear view of him really. I know he’s got gray hair and he’s 64 and I gather he’s fairly fit because he walks a lot but as for physicality, he was a bit of a cipher. It seems he’s a young 64, initially hiding in an older 64-year-old’s body.

The narration is very good, with all the various regional accents being delivered skilfully by Simon Vance. Mr. Vance’s female character voices were very good too. Given the wide-ranging cast, Mr. Vance had plenty of opportunity to demonstrate the range of ages he can depict as well, from toddler Reenie, to Albert himself and many, many characters in between. There were also a range of characters of colour, including some from Pakistan and the accent there was well done and also respectful.

There were a few (perhaps more than a few) instances where there was a pause in a sentence where it didn’t belong, causing a bit of a stutter in the throughline. Sometimes I had to mentally replay the sentence to get the understanding. But there were no other issues of any significance and overall I enjoyed his performance quite a bit.

The Secret Life of Albert Entwistle was a change of pace to my usual listen – it was also sweet (if a little too much so at times) and gentle and kind and who doesn’t need a bit of that in their lives?

Grade: B

Review at Dear Author

September 24, 2021 / Kaetrin

I’m over at Dear Author with a review of Walk on the Wilder Side by Serena Bell. Fun and sexy small town contemporary featuring the best friend’s little sister trope.

Review at AudioGals

October 20, 2020 / Kaetrin

I’m over at AudioGals with a review of More Than Neighbors by Shannon Stacey, narrated by Tatiana Sokolov. Low conflict small town contemporary about a widowed single mother and her sexy next-door neighbor.

REVIEW: Mermaid Inn by Jenny Holiday

March 19, 2020 / Kaetrin

Why I read it: This is one from my own TBR.

What it’s about: (from Goodreads) Eve Abbott has a problem–actually, make that a lot of problems. And they’re all going to get worse the moment her toes hit the sand in Matchmaker Bay. Once a blissful summer escape, now the tiny town just reminds Eve of loss. Inheriting her aunt’s beloved Mermaid Inn is the only reason Eve is coming back. She’s definitely not ready to handle nosy neighbors, extensive renovations, or the discovery that a certain heartbreaker still lives down the street…

Police Chief Sawyer Collins always does the right thing, even when it costs him everything. Like Evie. He’s spent the past ten years trying to forget her–to forget how right she felt in his arms, to forget the pain in her eyes the day she left. The last thing he expects is to see her back in town or to find that the spark between them is as strong as ever. Sawyer knows this is his only chance to prove that his feelings have always been real… before Eve turns tail and leaves for good.

What worked for me (and what didn’t): A new Jenny Holiday book is cause for celebration so I preordered this one and cracked it open almost as soon as I had it. There was a lot to like, with the signature humour which tends to really work for me and characters I cared about, as well as some delightful quirkiness for extra spice.

Eve Abbott used to spend summers in Moonflower Bay, on the banks of Lake Huron in Ontario, with her Aunt Lucille who ran the Mermaid Inn. (Yes, I know the series is called “Matchmaker Bay” – I’m getting there.) She became fast friends with young Sawyer Collins as a young teen and they gradually grew to be more over the years. By the time they were both 17 they began having sex and then when they were both 18, everything came to a screeching halt when Eve watched Sawyer make out with Jeannie Wilkerson on the Mer-Queen float in the town’s annual Labor Day Mermaid Parade. Eve left town and did not return. Thereafter’s Eve’s interactions with Aunt Lucille were limited to when she came to where Eve was, or via phone calls or email. Eve put the rest of Moonflower Bay out of her mind and had not intended to ever go back. However, as the book begins, Aunt Lucille has died and left Eve the Inn in her will. Only, there’s a catch. Eve must not sell the Inn for a year. Continue reading