Reviews with content warning for Death of parent - Thank You for Listening

I am *very* picky about audiobooks, to the point that I know it’s unfair and illogical and so I tend to not listen to them at all, but I like Julia Whalen. A lot. I find her very talented and enjoyable to listen to. Now, bring me a book of written by an audiobook narrator ABOUT audiobook narrators and it seems only fair (and totally obvious) that it need to be consumed via audio. Right? So, of course, I did. Now please refer back to my comment about being unfairly judgmental and illogically picky about audiobooks and take my review with a grain of salt. I believe this book is good and if I had read it on page I would’ve loved it more, possibly. The characters are unique and flawed and diverse, the banter is funny and witty and cute. BUT…. But… you can tell an audiobook narrator wrote this. There are characters who exist solely for the purpose of the narrator [author] showing off her skills in accents. Which, for the record, is good (with the exception of the Bostonian ex boyfriend with the most horrendous Boston accent I’ve ever hear and take person offense to), but there’s no real reason for them. I also have mixed feelings about a white author writing about the plight of a black woman in Hollywood… but it does seem (to me, another white woman, to note) to be handled somewhat carefully. Just perhaps not her story to tell, again, as a white woman who was a former actress. I guess all this to say some of this felt inauthentic but it’s hard to parse that from what I HEARD and wish I would’ve just read the book 🤷🏻‍♀️ don’t come for me. I still gave it 4 stars!! There’s quality story here and a lot of fun.

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nadia's review against another edition

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emotional funny lighthearted medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes

3.75

This started off real strong for me! I thought it was going to get at least 4⭐️.

But, somewhere along the way, it fell a little bit flat, some of the spark was lost, and it seemed to drag a little. Some parts felt a little too contrived, especially with regards to trying to create tension. I was rooting for the central relationship, but just didn't end up feeling as emotionally invested or as excited for it as I thought I'd be given the first third of the book.

Still, the cast of characters was super fun, heavy topics are dealt with incredibly well, there's a real clever "meta" nature to this book, and, especially given that, this is definitely one to go for on audio if that's a format you consume books in!

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maethereader's review against another edition

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funny lighthearted medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

Oh, I struggle with how to rate & review this. I was SO enjoying this book at first. I honestly laughed out loud a few times. I'm not a huge romance person, but I really enjoyed the banter in the beginning and through the epistolary section. I enjoyed the story lines about other characters like her best friend, parents, grandma. And I enjoyed learning about audiobook narration.

But... once these two met, it all fell apart for me. I suddenly didn't understand the characters' motivations for basically the rest of the novel... On top of that, all of the smaller storylines seemed to wrap up very quickly, which I found unrealistic and unnecessary.

And I'm not sure how to feel about the inclusion of this disability trope. It feels like it was just a device used by the author for a convenient storyline, and the character's handling of it, thinking about it, processing it, as well as that of her friends and family just did not ring true to me at all (coming from someone who became disabled as a young adult). Did Whalen talk to anyone who had gone through something like this? I hope so, but honestly it doesn't seem like it. So that's really disappointing. Disabled characters only included in books when it's convenient to make a storyline out of their disability... ugh.

Listened to this on audiobook and narration was great (obviously!).

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jess_segraves's review against another edition

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emotional funny hopeful lighthearted medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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cristinareading's review against another edition

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funny inspiring reflective fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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readingwithleslie's review against another edition

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emotional funny hopeful inspiring reflective fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

I love listening to Julia Whelan read, she is one of the few audiobook narraters that I know by name. So, her writing a story about an audiobook narrator? A must read, or should I say ‘listen’? It was so good! As usual, she knocks it out of the park. Not only was it enjoyable to listen to, the story was good and stayed on my mind the whole time I had to pause it and go to work. I kept wanting to know what happened next. I loved the characters and watching their development. The banter was *chef’s kiss* and I liked how issues were addressed. Blah needs her own story, seriously! I loved her spirit and as someone who has had a loved one slowly slip away in their mind while sitting in front of me, it hit close to home. All around, it’s already a favorite read for 2023, how are the next 11 1/2 months gonna stack up?? All this to say: Julia Whelan, thank you for writing.

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hazelgirl21's review against another edition

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emotional funny lighthearted reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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nebraskanwriter's review

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emotional funny hopeful slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

I had only heard great things about this book by THE amazing Julia Whelan so once I finished the book, I couldn’t help but feel disappointed.

I LOVED the banter/dialogue between Nick and Swan, the tension and their feelings for each other really leapt off the page, even from their first interaction. However, I feel like the story was really weighed down by all the other side plots. Swan’s grandma, Swan’s best friend, her mom, there were so many things and life events that kept happening to keep Swan and Nick apart it started feeling comical. Also the book felt incredibly long for a romance, there just seemed to be conflict after conflict happening.

Also, and I know Swan had to work through a lot of internalized things that she felt about herself because of the accident, but I felt like she was always picking fights with Nick. Not believing him, questioning his intentions at every turn and always arguing with him and projecting onto him. That part of the book just felt very unhealthy/gross to me. They would have this big blowup fight, right after he ran to her aid after

Spoiler

her grandma tried to commit suicide FYI

and Swan starts yelling at him. It just didn’t make any sense to me. She was always way too hard on him and he was nothing but nice and caring to her the entire book. Just my two cents but he would literally be so nice to her and then she would suddenly turn on him and start projecting/yelling at him. Not romantic.

Side note: also I know that people have nicknames/pet names for their grandparents like Mimi, Memaw, Papa. But Blah Blah??? Every time her name was mentioned, it took me out of the story. Could never take it seriously and that stinks because what is going on with her is super serious but her name felt comical, like a joke I missed out on all while she’s battling Alzheimer’s . It just didn’t make sense.

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