Anonymous

Such a fantastic narrator. Good book too

Reviewed: 12-31-21

I enjoyed the book a lot, but wanted to give a special shout-out to the narrator. It’s so rare that I feel that a narrator actually enhances a book. This narrator did an amazing job, and added so much to the experience. I’ve listened to this book several times, would recommend!

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90% of this book is sad, feeling sorry for myself content

Reviewed: 12-21-21

When I read the synopsis, I had imagined that the two main characters would have a happy summer together. Instead of a happy fun summer together, the main characters spend 90% their summer discussing the tragedy of the fact that they’ll inevitably have to part ways. Then when they reconnect, they spend their time lamenting their circumstances. Then once they’re finally together, the book is almost over and there’s a lot of sad discussion about the main character’s cousin’s regrettable love life.

Maybe some readers will love this, but for me, this book was not only a downer but also incredibly repetitive. I know a lot of romances are repetitive, but at least most of them are fun. There wasn’t much fun to be had here.

I also was frustrated by the instant love both characters felt. They have such serious conversations about their relationship when they’ve barely spent any time together. I can’t imagine being that serious about a guy I haven’t even been on a date with. There was no “getting to know you” phase or “wow I think I’m falling for you” phase. It was like they met and both decided they were in love immediately. That kind of instant serious relationship feels totally unbelievable to me and takes me out of the moment.

Also, though I generally enjoy these voice actors, the British accents were ...ok-adjacent.

Definitely not worth the credit I used on it.

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Loved it! Not much BDSM. A really fun, dimensional romance

Reviewed: 12-19-21

First, this was fantastic and I highly recommend it! I enjoyed that the main characters have a different power balance than most historical romances. The heroine has money and doesn’t care much about following society’s rules. The hero is poor and cares very much about appearing respectable. Their dynamic is unique compared to other historicals and I enjoyed watching them fall in love.

A few reviews talk about BDSM. While there are references to BDSM and it’s discussed, any reader who reads BDSM romances should know that this book does not depict much BDSM sex. It’s an important theme in the book but if you’re expecting a lot of scenes in this book, just know there are few actual BDSM scenes here.

I enjoyed the involvement of political discussion and that the heroine has career aspirations. Really enjoyable, more dynamic historical romance. Highly recommend!

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Audible, please stop making these radio plays

Reviewed: 11-19-21

I don’t know why Audible thought it was a good idea to produce a bunch of romance radio plays, but I really hope they stop doing it.

The Audible originals like this one are “radio plays” like the ones back in the early 1900s in the sense that we’re only hearing dialogue and sound effects. An actual audiobook romance is still a book. An audiobook has a narrator (or sometimes multiple narrators) and you can hear the inner thoughts and feelings of the narrator(s). All the fun parts of a romance novel, like descriptions feeling nervous excitement when you see your crush, are removed from the “radio play” style. Instead of hearing a narrators thoughts and feelings, we get to hear the sounds of footsteps and doors opening and closing and background noise on a busy street and so on.

Having some music in the mix and a full cast of voice actors do not make up for all we lose in these radio plays. Honestly, who prefers hearing the sound effects of people kissing rather than hearing a description of people’s happiness and excitement when sharing a first kiss? Who thought this would be a better romance experience?

Please stop making these, Audible

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Unsatisfying

Reviewed: 10-25-21

90% of the book is build up and you’re left unsatisfied. So much of this book is dedicated to building up sexual tension and even though there is sex, it doesn’t fulfill what the build up hints at. The best comparison I have about the sex scenes vs the amount of build up would be for you to think of a really persistent itch, but you can’t reach it, so you settle for scratching close-ish to it. Just not satisfying.

I wouldn’t care about the sex if the sex weren’t the most prevalent aspect of the book. The main focus of the book is the sex and sexual tension, which is what makes the unsatisfactory delivery of sex scenes bothersome.

Also the narrator’s British accent is not good. Got distracting.

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Not too heavy mystery with a good ending

Reviewed: 02-02-21

When I say “not too heavy,” I’m not saying it’s got comedic elements. I just mean it didn’t feel as deeply heavy/oppressive as some mysteries do. I enjoyed this, and the last chapter adds a twist I didn’t see coming.

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Fanciful, Silly

Reviewed: 01-30-21

This book is fanciful. I enjoy fanciful romances, but this once needed more elements of substance to make it work. It has a fairytale vibe, which I usually enjoy, but I think the unrealistic elements of this story needed to be balanced out with more realism than the book had. A curse, a witch/magic lady, people “falling in love” after knowing each other for maybe a week or two, acts of heroism, the male lead kidnapping the female lead, the heavy influence of fate....it’s all just too much silliness. I wouldn’t necessarily call this a bad book, but I’m glad I didn’t use a credit for it. It’s in the audible plus catalog, so at least I don’t feel like I wasted money.

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Wha....what?

Reviewed: 01-14-21

This was a ridiculous but fun romantic comedy for a while and then it took a SHARP turn and became absurd and bizarre. If you don’t mind turning a blind eye to logic and rationality, then you’ll enjoy this book. Gave it 4 stars because at least it wasn’t completely predictable like most romance novels. But seriously I don’t even know how to feel about this. Maybe I feel slightly betrayed that I listened to this entire book and it wound up being so ludicrous. Maybe I just went with it and laughed a bit and went “....huuuh??” a few times. Maybe I thought it was pretty cute despite the weirdness. Maybe I felt all those things and don’t really know which feeling is most prevalent.

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2 people found this helpful

Fun, Irreverent

Reviewed: 11-18-20

This book felt very tongue-and-cheek which I find enjoyable. There were several moments of humor and the characters didn’t take themselves too seriously. In fact, the book in general didn’t take itself too seriously. Along with the delightful irreverent characters, the story felt robust enough to keep me engaged. There were a few reveals that I predicted, but it was still a satisfying read.

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Charming but not up to Blakely’s standards

Reviewed: 11-18-20

I wouldn’t call this bad, but I would suggest listening to another of Lauren Blakely’s books. Most of her work is on another level from this audiobook.

The plot was pretty simple and though there’s charming banter, this audiobook fell flat a bit.

I also wasn’t a huge fan of how they produced this, though I wouldn’t say I disliked it enough to deter me from other audiobooks done in this way. It reminded me of the radio plays from the 1940s my dad sometimes played when we went on family road trips, and I never really liked those. I do enjoy the full cast, but the lack of narration contributed to the lack of complexity of the story and the background noise sound effects sometimes got distracting.

Though this wasn’t a big hit with me personally, I would highly recommend Blakely in general. Check out her other work! She’s a lot of fun, her books are charming, and she tends to have great banter between characters.

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