Friday, May 7

Audiobook Review: What Happens at Christmas by Evonne Wareham




Author:  Evonne Wareham
Narrator:  David Thorpe
Title: What Happens at Christmas
Genre: Romantic Suspense, Holiday
Format: Audiobook
Pages: 255
Published: December 5th 2017
Where I got It: Audible

Summary: 
Best-selling author Andrew Vitruvius knows that any publicity is good publicity. His agent tells him that often, so it must be true. In the run-up to Christmas, she excels herself - talking him into the craziest scheme yet: getting himself kidnapped, live on TV.
But when the plan goes ahead and Drew is unceremoniously thrown in the back of a van before being dragged to a hut in middle of the Brecon Beacons, it all starts to feel a little bit too real.
Meanwhile, not far away, Lori France and her four-year-old niece Misty are settling in to spend the holidays away after unexpected events leave them without a place to stay. Little do they know they’re about to make a shocking discovery and experience a Christmas they’re not likely to forget …

Review:
Been eyeballing this for a while and wanted to save it for Xmas time buuuuuuut I wanted to listen to it now ;)

The story follows best-selling author Andrew Vitruvius and wannabe author Lori France. Andrew has always been told any publicity is good publicity so he decides to join her crazy scheme of him being kidnapped on live TV. But things go off-script when he is for real kidnapped and wakes up in a hut chained to a wall. Meanwhile, not too far away, Lori and her four-year-old niece are settling in to spend the holidays after unexpected events leave them without a place to stay. Thank goodness for friends. Little do they know they will uncover a chained-up celebrity and have a Christmas no one will ever forget. 

This was for sure a different take on a romance, a xmas book, and a mystery. I couldn't resist this one!

I'll admit...I struggled to get into this at first. It took me a minute to really give a hoot about Andrew. I only care about Lori and Misty. I only started caring about Andrew when he was chained up. He had some really good character development then and then I cared about him and was interested in his POV. 

This was so unrealistic to the point it was believable. Idiot for agreeing to do the kidnapping, to begin with. SMH. But he trusted his agent's opinion. 

Now...I will say I do not buy that they fell in love so quickly. They were together for what....maybe like 5 days....a solid week? Sure I get the lust and the caring about each other....but I didn't buy that they would be angsty for each other when he had to leave. Maybe looking fondly back on the time they spent and wishing they had more time...sure....but angsty longing? Mmm....they had two kisses. I just didn't buy it for them. 

I am glad that the author made them deal with their life issues and personal issues first before they could have their HEA finally. Especially for Andrew. He had a lot of things to deal with before hunting down Lori and starting a relationship. Between his traumatic past and his traumatic experience and finding the kidnapper....boy is busy. 

The narrator did well. I swear I have heard his voice before...but I went through his list of works on Audible and I didn't recognize anything. Maybe he just sounds like someone? Who knows. Butt yes - he did well. His little girl voice made me cringe, but all the other voices were good and luckily Misty isn't around for long. 

Overall, I enjoyed this. It took me a minute to really get into the story, but I enjoyed the ride. Sure...it was unrealistic in a lot of ways, but it was fun and a different take on a HR xmas tale. I'm glad I didn't wait to listen to it. I'll give this 3 stars. 









Challenge(s):
- #23 for Audiobook challenge
- #16 for Romance Bingo - Xmas setting







3 comments:

Blodeuedd said...

LOl,yay xmas books

Jen Twimom said...

Do you think you would have liked it better if it had been closer to Christmas, or it was just too unbelievable at times to be a great book?

Carole Rae said...

B, yayyyy!

Jen, maybe a bit of both. Maybe I would've been more receptive if it was near xmas....xmas miracles and whatnot.