A hundred years or so ago, I had an office job I hated that also had a horribly long commute. Desperate for entertainment, I started checking audiobooks out of the library. Suddenly my 45-minute drive was filled with stories and the drive didn’t feel nearly as long as it was. Audiobooks have come a long way since 2007. Now there are multi-cast recordings, graphic audio adaptations with sound effects, and celebrity memoirs narrated by the actual celebrities who wrote them. Julia Whelan is a giant in the field of audiobook narrators, and for good reason. Her voice is soothing and personable, and she can do a dozen different voices in one scene. When I saw she both wrote and narrated a romance novel, I knew I had to listen to her narrate it.
Sewanee (pronounced Swan-knee) Chester, has been an audiobook narrator ever since a tragic accident took her eye and her confidence to act on camera. At the start of the novel, she is in Las Vegas to moderate a panel on romance audiobooks because her boss/landlord broke his foot. While in Vegas, she meets a mysterious stranger, Nick. She gives him a fake name (and accent) because, Vegas, and they have a steamy night together.
Weeks later, Sewanee is still thinking about Nick when she is asked to narrate a romance novel, something she has sworn she no longer would do. However, not only will she be narrating opposite the most popular male narrator, Brock McNight, but she will also get a TON of money. Which she needs to help pay for her grandmother’s retirement home. Sewanee and Brock exchange several flirty emails and texts. He lives on the other side of the country, and they eventually agree to meet up when he is in town. But what about Nick? What will Sewanee do?
This book was goddamn delightful. I read it over a month ago and I can’t stop thinking about it.
CBR15 Bingo – On Air – The main characters record Audiobooks for a living