I absolutely LOVE this book!

I'm so glad this is FINALLY out of Audible jail and available to the masses because damn, it's good. First and foremost, it's major strength is the story. For me it is an ideal romance and I absolutely fell in love with it when I read the paperback last year. Australian school teacher Samantha Markson is hired for three months to tutor and care for American movie star Abigail Taylor's child Grace while she's shooting a film in Melbourne. Because Abby's shooting schedule requires her to sometimes go in very early or stay very late, Sam moves in to Abby and Grace's apartment during the shoot, which gives her the opportunity to get to know Abby and her child on a more than superficial level. There is an immediate attraction between the two and while Sam sees herself as too "ordinary" to possibly be a love match for one of the biggest movie stars in the world, Abigail Taylor soon recognizes how truly extraordinary Sam really is.
Sam is likely one of my very favorite MCs in lesfic. She is kind, generous, has a fabulous sense of humor and is a great teacher. And she's hot. Good luck with ANYONE not falling in love with her. I loved that Abby was unaffected by the trappings of stardom, kind and approachable, and that she had a fierce, protective love for Grace. There are really strong supporting characters in addition to Grace, including Sam's best friend Cath, as well as Abby's personal assistant and friend Tom.
This was Australian narrator Ruth Guice's first audiobook and the only tell of that was that she speaks quite slowly outside of the dialogue. A voice actor, she captures the personalities beautifully. I loved Sam's voice with a dreamy Aussie accent and she does a great job with Abby's American one, using a very low and incredibly sexy tone for her. Guice has a wonderfully soothing voice and while it did take some time to adjust to her slower delivery, she did a terrific job for her first go-round. KJ was understandably frustrated with how long this sat with Audible before being released, especially with it being her first audiobook. She also said she and Guice learned as they went along since neither had worked on one before. It is my sincere hope that now that this has been widely released that it will sell well and KJ will be willing to do another. She's such a terrific writer. I think Guice would be a wonderful voice for KJ's books, and if she makes that slight pace adjustment, could turn into a favorite. I would love to hear her do The Art of Magic next! Fingers crossed.

13 people found this helpful

Nice reading, great performance

Loved the book. Very sweet and at the same time deep love story. I also loved the narrator!

5 people found this helpful

Better than expected

Narration was super slow and made it hard to keep listening, but speeding it up A LOT helped. As far as the story, I was surprised at how rounded it was. Nice character relationship development, sexy and flirty.

3 people found this helpful

Wow!

Oh my, this was so good! I am not someone who read the print novel. This audiobook was my first experience with this story, and I have no complaints. I found it to be a very sweet take on the classic ‘found family’ premise (which I’m a sucker for), with the addition of a small dose of celebrity fic (which I am also a sucker for). There were many reasons to enjoy this book. The characters were all extremely likable. The humor kept me laughing. The relationships were well developed, and the events had me running a gamut of emotions. A very fine reading experience all around.

As for the narrator, I’m shocked it’s her first book! I thought she did a great job. I can’t say I personally agree with other listeners who found her reading pace to be too slow. She doesn’t really read any slower than Abby Craden, who is possibly the most utilized narrator in lesfic, and whose reading style I find to be excruciatingly slow. Did I have to speed the pace up a little? Sure, but it’s no great sacrifice when the narrator does such a fine job of truly acting out the dialogue, differentiating voices, and producing good sound quality. I hope to see her name on more audiobooks in the future!

2 people found this helpful

5 Stars for the story, 5 Stars for the narrator

5 Stars for the book, 5 Stars for the narrator, Ruth Guice

I already wrote a Goodreads review for the ebook in Apr 2020, so I won't give an in-depth review. In short this book is about a famous American actress, Abigail Taylor who brings her 9 year old daughter, Grace to Melbourne, Australia. She hires a gifted teacher, Samantha (Sam) Markson to be her daughter's teacher and because of Abby's long hours to essentially be a live-in nanny for the few months of their visit. Sam not only teaches Grace academics but also takes her around Melbourne to museums and galleries. After listening to this book, I've decided that Sam is one of my favorite Lesfic characters. She's a tall, attractive Australian Mary Poppins/Maria Von Trapp all rolled into one, minus the singing.

I don't know where K.J. found the Australian voice actress, Ruth Guice but I hope she uses her again in her next audiobook. As far as I could tell this is Guice's first audiobook. Her American accent is well done. I liked her distinctive voices for each of the characters from the Americans, the sexy, deep voice of Abby and the young 9 year old Grace to the Aussies such as Sam and her BFF, Cath. I was also impressed with her distinctive narrative voice such that there is no confusion with the character's voices. Her acting (as opposed to just reading) was excellent and not overly done.

2 people found this helpful

Sweeter than most

How nice to hear a romance story without the usual melodrama. I almost didn't listen to this one cuz I couldn't care less about celebrities and movie stars, but glad I gave this story a chance. It's really about how we're all ordinary and extraordinary when we truly love one another. Refreshingly sweet! Hope to hear more from this author and also this narrator.

1 person found this helpful

Loving Grace

Abigail Taylor is back in her birth country of Australia to film a movie. She brings her daughter Grace so they can bond and she can experience the school system. Sam Markelson is a very happy school teacher in one of the best private schools in Melbourne. Volunteered by her father and principal for the job she’s an ordinary person living an extraordinary moment with her movie crush and her wonderful daughter. Great narration and story.

Narration definitely needs work

Great story, pretty good character development but that was impacted by the narration. Quite a number of times too that pronunciations were not American.

Sweet and simple

Good story. Likeable characters. Sensual and intimate. Lots of chemistry and sexual tension that I personally would have like to have seen released a lot more. Especially considering how sexy and physically attractive the characters are described to be. Overall pretty good.

Great story!

I absolutely love this book! It’s intriguing, the character developement and humor is spot on! This was my first Aussie narrated book and it was AWESOME, the accents were really cool to listen to. My one and only gripe is the sexy/seduction hits the mark in my opinion, it sounds very robotic like the narrator lacked the passion in her voice