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Ashlee Willis

  • 19
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  • 5
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All the feelings

Overall
5 out of 5 stars
Performance
5 out of 5 stars
Story
5 out of 5 stars

Reviewed: 05-10-24

Sometimes stories like this don’t feel real enough to be engaging. This story did such a good job with dialog that felt like actual conversations people would have, actions people would have taken, and authentic feelings. Even the big choices made by the characters didn’t seem too outlandish or that they were made just for the plot. The anxiety I felt as the book neared the end was intense, as I wasn’t sure if I was going to get the resolution I wanted, but that’s part of good story telling.

That being said, I was originally caught off guard by the narration as it didn’t seem to fit with the character. Luckily, that didn’t last long but it was jarring at first.

This was such a good listen and definitely recommend. It would be great for a long drive.

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Christmas without all the cliche

Overall
5 out of 5 stars
Performance
5 out of 5 stars
Story
5 out of 5 stars

Reviewed: 12-21-23

This book had me smiling, laughing, and commenting out loud which I rarely if ever do when listening to a story/book. It brought all the warm fuzzy feelings of a Christmas love story without the traditional Christmas love story tropes. Everything seemed to be organic. Such a good listen.

My only complaint is that I kind of wish there had been an epilogue with an update!

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Made me feel things

Overall
4 out of 5 stars
Performance
5 out of 5 stars
Story
4 out of 5 stars

Reviewed: 12-07-23

I felt so many things about the main character. She’s kind, generous, and tenacious, but also shameless, a little rude, and sometimes self centered. The amount of times I got second hand embarrassment and had to turn down the volume was more than I can count, but the fact that I felt that viscerally is a testament to the author and narrator. That being said, the main character really straddled the line between likable and not. Every time I debated whether I could keep listening, she did sometime redeeming or something interesting happened.

I will say, that I expected the story to be similar to the movie “Confessions of a Shopaholic” but it’s not. I do wish I would have known that before hand because I was expecting the story to move in a different direction. The last hour really brings everything together and shows all of the characters self awareness and the awareness of everyone else in their circle. It ends in the way a Christmas story should. It’s definitely worth a listen.

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Kind of like “The Holiday”

Overall
4 out of 5 stars
Performance
4 out of 5 stars
Story
4 out of 5 stars

Reviewed: 12-01-23

This book was a cute holiday listen but was very reminiscent of “The Holiday”. The main difference being we already knew all of characters, with the exception of Cher.

I did have two hang ups that kept me from giving 5 stars. First, I didn’t feel Dara Rosenberg was the right fit for this story. I can’t explain why, but I just didn’t enjoy that as much. Her voice as Eli was also hard to listen to. Second, I get really bothered when a guy who had a crush on his friend makes things seem like her fault. Sarah never led him on, but this book kind of makes it seem that way. I understand that he had feelings that were unrequited, and he needed healing from the grief, but the way he ignored every other call from her had me almost upset. Maybe this is because I’ve been in this position, but it comes off as manipulative. Especially rally as he says he wasted years of his time on her. I didn’t feel this way about Elliot until this book.

That being said, a lot of the book was really sweet and it’s nice to get a peek into how the other characters have grown over the years. The relationship did seem organic and not overly forced which I liked. It’s definitely worth a listen but only after the first two books!

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Cute!

Overall
5 out of 5 stars
Performance
5 out of 5 stars
Story
5 out of 5 stars

Reviewed: 11-29-23

I liked this story better than the first in the series. Even though there was the classic “misunderstanding” trope, it gets resolved quickly so there’s no time for an eye roll. The characters act pretty much how you would expect someone yo act in real life which helps. It’s a cute easy listen.

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Take it for what it is

Overall
4 out of 5 stars
Performance
4 out of 5 stars
Story
4 out of 5 stars

Reviewed: 11-28-23

There’s a happy ending which is what you want. If you go into it with a “hallmark” mentality, it’s fine. It’s the classic ‘guy doesn’t see what’s right in front of him’ trope. I only wish the best friend hadn’t been involved because that makes it weird. In such a short story, the characters don’t have time to develop the way you would hope and you don’t get attached to any of them. I listened to this during an afternoon at work, and it helped the day go by faster. As long as you suspend disbelief, it’s worth a listen.

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Romantic…adjacent?

Overall
3 out of 5 stars
Performance
3 out of 5 stars
Story
3 out of 5 stars

Reviewed: 11-27-23

If you took just the main plot points of the story, it sounds like a cute rom-com. But the details take it in another direction. Not only did the male narrator give me the ick when he spoke, his dialog was manipulative and crass, and his behavior was toxic. If Riley had told people the truth about Kennedy, there would have been red flags all over the place and no one would have told her to pursue him. I’ll take cheesy and cliche over toxic any day. As for Riley, who sends an insanely private email asking for advice from your work account??

I did like the female narrator and she even made the male character sounds slightly less awful. The general idea of the book could be fine but it needs a lot of reworking to not feel sexist and creepy.

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Rough

Overall
3 out of 5 stars
Performance
3 out of 5 stars
Story
3 out of 5 stars

Reviewed: 11-24-23

Although it was incredibly hard to do so, I did not want to finish this book. The only reason I did finish, was to lend credibility to my review. I wanted to stop after the first hour. This is my first listen to a book by Lily Chu and a narration by Phillipa Soo. I read another review that said echoed by thoughts, and said that this was unlike other books, so I’m going to give them another listen.

I like Phillipa Soo, so I was shocked that I did not like the narration. It was almost monotone and when there was inflection it was in odd places. It also seems slightly fast but if I slowed down the speed, the monotone was exaggerated. It made listening feel like work and I was consistently bored.

The authors overuse of metaphors for the main character was draining. Everything was “like” something else instead of what it was. So instead of showing the reader through character development or context, we were simply told things. The MC was also hypocritical at times and petulant when things didn’t go her way. I also felt like the relationship growth between characters didn’t naturally evolve. Things somehow happened to slowly and too quickly at the same time. The book did pick up slightly at the halfway point, but only marginally.

In surprised that more people haven’t made comments like this. Because of the overwhelming praise for the book, author, and narrator, in addition to the comment that this is an outlier, I’m hoping to give the author and narrator another go.

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Just in time

Overall
4 out of 5 stars
Performance
5 out of 5 stars
Story
5 out of 5 stars

Reviewed: 11-20-23

The resolution of the story takes place at the last second, which is both wonderful and a little emotionally taxing (in a good way). I binged the book, so the emotions were probably felt more intensively than had I listened over a longer period of time. I appreciated that the book tried to avoid tropes as much as possible. The ones that couldn’t be avoided at least felt realistic, with the exception of the miscommunication due to unspoken feelings. But tbh, most people aren’t brave enough, so I guess that one is realistic too. Overall I really liked it.

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Cute, endearing, and fairly realistic

Overall
5 out of 5 stars
Performance
5 out of 5 stars
Story
5 out of 5 stars

Reviewed: 11-15-23

I really enjoyed this book. Even the emotional parts that probably bring readers own breakups to mind. But that’s part of its charm. Getting to “okay” isn’t a straight line and in the beginning it never feels like you will get there, but one day, out of nowhere, you’ll realize that you are okay. Sometimes the worst day of our life had to happen in order to save us from worse pain down the line. Even though you can guess how the story will end, it’s fun to keep listening and see how the characters will get to their “okay”.

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