Author: Nicola Marsh
Narrated By: Kendra Murray and Connor Brown.
Genre: Romance
Actual Rating: 4 stars
Spicy Meter: 2 fire emojis
Content Warnings: Discusses domestic abuse, parent death, car crashes, and snow storms. Has some sexual content and innuendos.
“Did Not Finish” follows Mia Samson, a book reviewer and aspiring author, as she is chosen to spend a week in a writers’ retreat with 5 other new writers and her favorite author, Axel Low. Little is known about this multi-bestselling author, Axel, so Mia was stoked to be there, with the non-disclosure agreement and all, by a small town in Nebraska—all her Gilmore Girls dreams were coming true. One thing she did not expect, though, was how they would be snowed in for that week… alone. Mia arrived a day before everyone else, so Axel could tear her novel apart, the same way Mia tore other’s careers apart with her DNF reviews. In this close-proximity and stranded approach to an enemies-to-lovers story, you’ll get to know Mia and Axel in depth, with all their doubts and insecurities.
If I’m being honest, I almost did not request this audiobook because the cover simply wasn’t for me. The color scheme, the fonts… It just did not look like the kind of books I usually like. I am so so glad I looked past that.
“Did Not Finish” tells the story of a warm romance stuck in the middle of a snowstorm. Starting with a sexual attraction and then moving into something more, it was great to see how Axel and Mia opened up to each other. This book is fast-paced and I was there for it.
I was lucky enough to get an advanced reader copy of the audiobook of this novel and I must say I loved the experience. I feel like there are books that work and there are books that don’t when performed as an audiobook, but this was definitely a book that did, if that makes sense. Mia’s and Axel’s voices, as narrated by Kendra Murray and Connor Brown, were just as I would have imaged them. The quality of the audiobook and narration are unparalleled, I am so glad I got to experience it.
About the actual contents of the story, we know things get frisky, but we don’t get too much detail on that. We also get to see how these characters have some moments of miscommunication due to their own traumas and doubts. I’m well aware this wasn’t a suspense book, but throughout the novel we know things about one character that the other character doesn’t know and that felt forbidden, low-key illegal. Like, with every single miscommunication we knew exactly what went wrong and what was the truth behind the misunderstanding.
I think Mia and Axel are an unusual pair, but I’m still happy they got their happily ever after. The grand gesture that came from the last misunderstanding was so sweet. Then, the epilogue was all we needed it to be. If I weren’t happily in a relationship, I would wonder why these kinds of things wouldn’t happen to me as a reviewer.
I would highly recommend this novel if you like books about books (and reviewers and authors). I found it hilarious how these characters talked about tropes when they were following tropes themselves. Nicola Marsh did an amazing job at capturing the subtle rivalry between reviewer and book author and she gave us a romance to remember long after the book is over.
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ARC provided by NetGalley and Dreamscape Media, and published by Thorpe Bowker, in exchange for an honest review.
andrea's galley 