Listeners who appreciate an awkward protagonist or a meet-cute will find this audiobook appealing. Buttoned-up Hayes Montgomery III and awkward Franny Doyle meet when he gives her his Gucci suit jacket when her dress rips on the subway. Alternating chapters provide opportunities for Franny and Hayes to contemplate their growing attraction. The audio format capitalizes upon the dual points of view, with narrators Amanda Dolan and Neil Hellegers each highlighting their protagonist while maintaining the mannerisms of the other's. Dolan's bright voice makes for a compelling and realistic foil to Hellegers's more contemplative, thoughtful tone in the story of a couple who find that becoming a viral sensation is only the beginning.
Pub Date: March 15, 2022
Duration: 10 hrs
DD ISBN: 9781549166549
Publisher: Hachette Audio
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
A young Southern woman marries into an aristocratic Boston family and spends her summers at a vacation community on the Maine coast. Heavy-handed abridgment reduces this novel to an outline which denies the listener any character development. Judith Ivey offers stereotypical dialects which are discordant to a New Englander's ear. In her interpretation the Down East Mainers speak like thugs in raspy voices. Her presentation of a Boston accent is phonetically erratic and also spoken in gruff tones. The color and flavor of Maine are missing from this tasteless rendition.
Pub Date: N/A
Duration: 3 hrs
Publisher: Harper Audio
Review Posted Online: Jan. 22, 2026
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