Mixing fact with fiction, Alcott offers a stardusted look at Hollywood’s Golden Years, when movie stars were glamorous, amorous, and scandalous—shocking and delighting the public. Cassandra Campbell’s engaging performance introduces Julie, an appealing ingenue who arrives in Hollywood from Indiana, hoping to become a screenwriter. Julie settles for a job at the studio filming GONE WITH THE WIND but is promptly fired. Campbell makes her sound plucky and determined, and when Julie encounters celebrities, Campbell is wonderfully understated, never resorting to theatrics. When Julie is hired as personal assistant to Carole Lombard, Clark Gable’s brainy, beautiful, outrageous ladylove, Campbell offers a Julie-eyed view of the sizzling Gable-Lombard affair and the electricity between Gable/Rhett and Vivien Leigh/Scarlett in GWTW. Campbell’s interpretation makes Alcott’s intriguing speculations feel right.
Pub Date: Feb. 17, 2015
Duration: 11 hrs
DD ISBN: 9781101889435
Publisher: Random House Audio
Review Posted Online: Jan. 22, 2026
A model and a mogul get married in Vegas on a bet, and Diana Luke narrates their story with élan. While it would be easy to portray Leila Darling as a scheming caricature or Carter Bain as a ruthless businessman, Luke never crosses that line. Her portrayal of Leila is generous and encompasses the full range of her character--from the formidable professional at the top of her game to the vulnerable woman who is unsure if she can trust a man with her heart. Likewise, Luke's portrayal of Carter showcases both his business acumen and his emotional vulnerability as he opens himself up to Leila. While loosely connected to the previous Unconventional Brides volumes, this can easily stand alone.
Pub Date: N/A
Duration: 9 hrs
DD ISBN: 9781501968471
Publisher: Recorded Books Inc.
Review Posted Online: Jan. 22, 2026
After her divorce, Roberta Jewett, with her three daughters, returns to Camden, Maine, to start a new life. Such an independent move in 1916 brings difficulties with her mother, her in-laws and the townspeople. Dukes's performance, while skillful, sometimes suffer in scenes of emotional content. His pace slows, and his reading acquires the peculiar emphasis of someone trying to get instructions across to a non-English-speaking person. The effect is disturbingly laughable. When he resumes his normal pace, the story revives and personalities emerge again, but the awkwardness remains as an odd interruption to Spencer's drama of pain and love, dispelling Dukes's carefully constructed characterizations.
Pub Date: N/A
Duration: 3 hrs
Publisher: Dove
Review Posted Online: Jan. 22, 2026
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