There is a growing trend of books being written FOR audio and I absolutely love it.
Plot: Sewanee Chester wanted to be an actress, and thanks to some nepotism, genetics, and actual talent, she made it big. And then she promptly UN-made it and retreated to audiobook narration. Fortunately, she is excellent at that too. Less fortunately, audiobook narrators aren’t exactly bringing in Marvel money, and she needs cash. So she dusts off the pen name she used when she started, back when romance novels were a big part of her portfolio, and agrees to a one time return to the genre for a much needed pay day. Now all she has to do is manage the enigmatic narrator reading the other character’s perspective, support her best friend while she lives the life Sewanee thought she was destined for, and secure the money needed to support her vibrant and quickly sundowning grandmother. Shenanigans ensue.
If you want to look behind the curtain and see how the audiobook sausage gets made, you’re going to get it here. I was only ever vaguely curious, and still found it fascinating, and that’s thanks to Whelan’s skill in weaving the information into the narrative.
But that’s not the showstopper. The showstopper is Bla Bla’s nursing home. A facility full of aging Hollywood vultures (and one midwestern sweetie) bickering at each other nonstop. Listen, it’s rare that a book makes me literally laugh out loud but those scenes killed me dead.
Though there are a lot of characters, they each get time to shine. They get to have vastly different life goals and perspectives and the way they relate to one another is lovely. This is a warm hug of a book and you deserve that.
