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Audible : 🎧
9 hours 59 minutes at 1x speed
6 hours 40 minutes at 1.5x speed
5 hours at 2x speed which I was able to easily listen to.

Described as an “emotional contemporary romance�� rather than as a ROM COM, the latest offering from Abby Jimenez IS a bit different from past books.

So what does that mean?

The author has always written Rom Coms that included a serious topic as well as witty banter and plenty of spice, with characters who are under the age of 30. But, this time, the serious topics share equal time with the romance, and while the witty banter still exists, the spice takes a back seat.

Fortunately, as a reader who is outside of the demographic that is her usual target audience-it still worked for me, as I just LOVE her characters and writing.

So, what’s this one about?

Xavier Rush is a gorgeous, but grumpy veterinarian.

And, Samantha is all sunshine when she brings a kitten she found to his Minneapolis practice-that is until he informs her that her kitten will need a serious and VERY EXPENSIVE operation to survive, and he recommends euthanasia instead.

Although he means well-that is UNACCEPTABLE.

Samantha will find the money for the surgery and she returns to his practice just to show him her healthy, happy kitten, Pooter -but instead of finding an arrogant DR, she discovers one who is quite contrite. He asks her to dinner, and she accepts-because why not? She is moving to California the next day, to become a caretaker for her Mom who has advanced dementia.

So what happens after you go on the BEST first date of your life, with a person who could very well be “THE ONE�� when a future seems impossible?

What follows is a love story that prevails despite the very messy obstacles of two very real, very challenging, adult lives.

I paired my reading with the FABULOUS Audible version of this story-but found myself wanting to LISTEN because of the unique production. The Audible has two narrators and the story alternates between the POV’s of both Samantha and Xavier, BUT ALL of the conversations between the characters, no matter which POV you were listening to, were voiced by BOTH narrators!

In other words, whenever Samantha spoke it was in narrator Christine Laken’s voice and whenever Xavier spoke, it was in the voice of narrator Matt Lantor, no matter which POV you were listening to-and I loved that the conversations were both narrators speaking to each other no matter which POV the chapter featured!

With her trademark witty banter, a kitten, and a dog named “Jake, from State Farm��- Abby Jimenez has penned another winner for me❣️

AVAILABLE NOW

Thank You to the Chandler Public Library for the loan of both formats! ❤️ As always, these are my candid thoughts!