Leanna

Mystery driven romance

Revisado: 08-09-24

I have loved all the author's Audible Originals, but I think this one is my new favorite. What I loved about this book is that the mystery surrounding Dot kept me intrigued, and made it so that the story wasn't too predictable. The character development was great too, seeing both people work through their family issues so they could come into their own lives, together.

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Entertaining with a lot going on

Revisado: 04-12-23

I enjoyed this book -- the performance was solid and when it eventually found its footing, I started to look forward to my commute to hear what happened next. There was just so much going on in this story -- a career story, a best friend story, a parents story, a romance story, a story within a story... -- that it required so much exposition to set it all up, that by the end it felt like we were rushed through the resolution. It did leave me with that feel good ending, even if the main character didn't actually seem to do that much growing and the romance came wayyyy late in the book.

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ethically concerning storyline, but fun accents.

Revisado: 11-23-22

not a fan of the story but I kept listening because I enjoyed the Australian accents and Sunday's character.

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If you want a "how to" erotic novella, here it is.

Revisado: 09-12-22

Incredibly naive main character, erotic scenes that have a level of detail that make this more instructional than enjoyable. The sex scenes took over the story...it was nothing but sex scenes and I somehow still had another hour of blundering awkward story left?! I gave up on this one.

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Long, but charming ending

Revisado: 07-18-22

This story was four hours longer than it needed to be, but gave the warm fuzzy ending I was looking for.

I found the protagonist exhausting. In many ways she is the typical Hallmark Channel movie type-A career gal, on her way to the top with no time for emotions, let alone love. The only reprieve from the archetype is the undercurrent of racial micro and macro aggressions that call attention to the very real issues of PoC of Asian descent. I'm always up for a story that brings other groups' struggles to my attention, and thought the author included these moments in a way that felt organic and important to the plot.Otherwise, this woman is determined to be the least self-aware person she can possibly be.

My biggest complaint was that the love interest was too perfect -- his "mistakes" were so dang reasonable that the protagonist's responses felt wildly unfair and out of proportion. I wish there had been some actual struggle there, not just coming up against her own immaturity, but a couple that learns to grow together. The love interest arrives already perfect and pretty much stays that way, while the protagonist has a whole lot of waking up to do.

Truly, the story didn't need TWO major setbacks (basically of the protagonist's creation) to get to the character development that doesn't happen until the last two hours of the story. One major setback would have been more satisfying. Twice made me wonder why on earth the love interest kept putting up with that sort of treatment.

All this said, I ate it up in less than two days, so it was entertaining. The ending was sweet and charming and gave me the warm fuzzies I expect from a romance.

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Worth the listen

Revisado: 07-15-22

I took a chance on this listen since it had no reviews at the time I downloaded, and I'm glad I did. The women in this book are frustrating in the way that makes me realize their faults are also a lot of my faults. As I was grumbling at them for not standing up for themselves, I also was having to be honest with myself about my own silence when people press my boundaries. I appreciate that in a story, and was pleasantly surprised since I am not a mother and have no plans to be a mother any time soon.

The story is told from the three mothers' points of view, and interspersed are little snippets from the potential adoptive parents they come across in their efforts to find the right home for a coming baby. It took me a bit to figure that out, since there isn't really any indication in the audiobook except the switch of narrators. it becomes obvious as the story progresses, but at first it was confusing.

I have four stars because the story felt a bit too tidy, and then still left a big unknown in a way that made me shout out loud. I wish the author had either left more up for the imagination, or just drawn all the lines together.

Overall this story gives a look into adoptive motherhood that feels important, especially as many millennials my age grapple with whether to have kids at all, adoptive or otherwise. I especially appreciated the exploration of the emotions that accompany adoption and infertility.

Even if the topic of adoption doesn't interest you, this is a good story of three women working through their faults to build a family in a thought-provoking and moving way. Plus, there was one moment where a character literally made me laugh out loud, which to me was evidence that the character development had been very effective.

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A story that gives you a view from above

Revisado: 07-05-22

This is a massive story that spans time and lives and oceans. It is beautiful, poignant, troubling, exciting. The characters are real, with flaws and moments that make you want to yell at them in frustration. The author delivers beautiful lines that seem to capture fleeting feelings of what it means to be alive.

I do wish I had known there would be very descriptive moments of sexual assault, not to avoid the story but just to be a bit more prepared. The author has a gift for making things real, and for me it got a bit too real at times, but that also made it powerful and relatable, even if that relatability forced me to confront myself along the way.

There were really only two moments I thought the author got carried away with her own prose. One, when two characters are having a trip and she spends what felt like eternity offering metaphors about LA. To someone who has never been and has no interest in the city and it's celebrities, it felt too indulgent. The second, surprisingly, is on Marian's great flight, the event the book builds to but in my opinion, was actually the low point.

The ending is satisfying, and it winds down with the same feelings of calmness and acceptance the characters display as they settle into aging lives and eventual death. It is the sort of story that gives you the full picture of a life, and faces the human fear of death with grace and poise.

The narration is solid, and I appreciated that two performers are used to keep the two stories straight, however I greatly enjoyed Cassandra Campbell to Alex McKenna. Campbell gets the bigger chunk of the book, thankfully. McKenna gives what I think is probably an accurate voice to an LA movie star, with it's gravelly fry, but I truly couldn't stand the voices she used for male characters. After especially moving sections narrated by Campbell, it was often jarring coming back to McKenna. That said, don't skip this book because of (less than) half of it's narration.

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