Tag Archives: audiobook

ARC — French Holiday — Sarah Ready

Author: Sarah Ready
Narrator: Kelsey Navarro

Genre: Romance, Fiction
Actual Rating: 4 stars
Spicy Meter: 1 fire emoji
Content Warnings: Mentions parental death and disappearance. Discusses sexual assault, terminal illnesses, and abandonment. Contains some sexual content.

“French Holiday” follows Merry DeLuca, as she moves to France in an attempt to escape the fact that Merry’s little sister just married Merry’s best friend and unrequited love for years. Little did she know that her stay at her aunt’s old castle came in a package deal—Merry was being forced to coexist with Noah Wright, the best man at her sister’s and best friend’s wedding, and her lowkey archnemesis. Well, an archnemesis she thinks she hooked up with during said wedding? But oh well, that’s a story for another time. Together Merry and Noah will not only make the castle livable again, but they will try to uncover the truth about the castle’s history and its previous owners.

Let’s touch on the narration first—at first I thought I had never heard a book narrated by Kelsey Navarro, and oh have I been missing out, but it turns out I was wrong. Kelsey Navarro has actually narrated some of my favorite books, like All The Feels by Olivia Dade, it was just her voice variations are so spot-on that I didn’t even recognize her. Without her voice and inflections, I don’t think this book would’ve been half as fun as it was.

Now moving on to the actual story. If you’ve been following my reviews, it is no secret Sarah Ready is one of my new favorite authors. Her Josh and Gemma series have most definitely defined my year. So perhaps take my opinion on “French Holiday” with a grain of salt.

That being said, I absolutely loved this story and audiobook. Is it objectively unrealistic? Um, yes? But isn’t that what we’re looking for in fiction sometimes? “French Holiday” was a lovely enemies to lovers romance that carried along a fun mystery on the side. Set in Franch (duh), this is the perfect summer read if you’re looking to escape reality for a bit. I would highly recommend this audiobook.

If you click here, you’ll be redirected to Goodreads, so you can add the book to your TBR list.

Or you could click here, and be redirected to Amazon, so you can order the book.

ARC provided by NetGalley and Swift & Lewis Publishing LLC in exchange for an honest review.

Publication Date: April 26, 2023

ARC — Bad Girl Reputation — Elle Kennedy — Avalon Bay #2

Author: Elle Kennedy
Narrated by: Lee Samuels and Summer Morton

Genre: Romance
Actual Rating: 4.5 stars
Spicy Meter: 4 stars
Narration: 5 mikes
Content Warnings: Discusses parent death, parent neglect, abandonment, alcohol and drug abuse, police/authority abuse, and includes sexual content.

“Bad Girl Reputation” follows Genevieve (Gen) West, a rebel who escaped the small town of Avalon Bay, running away from her past and her reputation—but then, after being a year away, her mother dies unexpectedly, and she is forced to come back and help her father with their family business. So in comes Evan Hartley, Gen’s on-again-off-again high school ex-boyfriend and personal bad boy. As soon as they see each other, they know there’s still something there, and so Gen has no option but to run away from him, constantly. If she wants to break out from old cycles, then she needs to start with Evan. She can’t be dating him if she’s planning on not being her past, irresponsible self. But what if she isn’t the only on that has changed? What if this time apart has also been good for Evan? What if she does have another shot at love after all.

“Bad Girl Reputation” is worth the hype. This second chance romance is both fast-paced and, well, romantic. I was lucky to get my hands on the audiobook ARC of this book, with Summer Morton narrating as Gen and Lee Samuels narrating as Evan. In my opinion, Summer was the perfect cast. Her voice was all I imagined Gen’s voice to be. Evan, on the other hand, took me a few chapters to get used to. I wasn’t feeling his voice, even if the narrator was doing a great job—and even by the end I wasn’t 100% sold on it.

I am happy to say, tho, that I liked “Bad Girl Reputation” so much more than the first book in this series, “Good Girl Complex”. The first book in the Avalon Bay series felt one-dimensional at times and perhaps even a bit bland. “Bad Girl Reputation”, on the other hand, has so many layers and parallel situations that all show their relevance by the end of the book, even if at times they felt like unnecessary filling. Everything from problematic friendships to awkward dating to strained parental relationships being mended to volunteering were discussed and it was precious.

I would highly recommend grabbing this audiobook, even if you haven’t read the first book on this series, as it serves as a standalone novel mostly. Gen are Evan are the sweetest couple and the narration is clear—so clear, actually, that I was able to listen it at 3 times the speed with no problem whatsoever.

If you click here, you’ll be redirected to Goodreads, so you can add the book to your TBR list.

Or you could click here, and be redirected to Amazon, so you can order the book.

ARC provided by NetGalley and Macmillan Audio and published by St. Martin’s Press in exchange for an honest review.

Publication Date: October 4, 2022