Rescue My Heart by Jill Shalvis

Narrated by Karen White

The publisher’s blurb: After a tragic stint in the National Guards, Adam Connelly returns to Idaho and to Belle Haven, the animal shelter he owns with his brothers. All Adam wants is to be alone. Then he opens the door to the past—the woman whose heart he once broke. Still gorgeous, still tough-as-nails, but this time, unusually vulnerable.

Holly learned the hard way to never depend on a man for anything. Now, of all men, Adam is the last one she wants to see, and the only one she needs. Her father has gone missing in the Bitterroot Mountains and she could use someone with tracking skills to help find him.

For Holly and Adam, each with their ghosts, a trek this desperate, this unpredictable, and this intimate, will have its share of risks—including opening their hearts one more time.

My take on the story: I read this on my iPad when it came out last November. In general, I like Jill Shalvis’ books and I liked the first 2 in the Animal Magnetism series, which features hot men and their vet clinic – the aforementioned animal referring not-so-subtly to both the men and the cute and cuddly kittens and puppies populating the stories. I liked this story about 3 stars worth – there’s Adam, almost past his PTSD, controlling his dog almost as well as he controls his emotions, and there’s Holly, almost past her decade-old teen crush on Adam, but not in contol of anything really. I had some problems with both characters, but more Holly, who seemed to lack a filter that helped her decide what was appropriate and what was off-the-charts stupid. She’s in love with Adam as a teen, he dumps her and runs off to join the army, and she runs off to college and within a year is married to a professor. Really? I had a hard time buying her backstory and feeling any compassion for her. And at the end, without giving any spoilers, let’s just say the deus ex machina event that forces Adam to admit his feelings seemed a little, well, forced on me too. Instead of being appropriately on the edge of my seat, biting my nails, once again I was thinking, “Really?”

My take on the narration: Now that I’ve dissed the story, I want to say that in Karen White’s clever voice*, I liked it better in audio than in print. She totally nails the general contemporary romance/romantic comedy genre for me – she has the emotion, she has the humor, she gives the characters easily differentiated, gender-appropriate voices and once again she gets to voice animals. OK, just one kitten “mew” this time, but hey – it was really good! Often I have a hard time disconnecting the narration from the story, but having read the book first, combined with hearing White narrate other contemporary romance, I feel she lifted this one out of the mediocrity of reading this in my head, and added a full star of value to the story.

And hey – did anyone else notice they used similar but different cover photos for the audiobooks in this series? The first 2 definitely look Photoshopped to add the animals too.

*Using the phrase “clever voice”, I was hoping to evoke the terms “clever fingers” and “clever hands” which authors so often use to describe the hero having…

[section label=’Audiobook Information’ anchor=’Audiobook Information’]

Melinda

AUDIOBOOK INFORMATION

TITLE: Rescue My Heart

AUTHOR: Jill Shalvis

NARRATED BY: Karen White

GENRE: Contemporary Romance

STEAM FACTOR: Glad I had my earbuds in

REVIEWER: Melinda [button type=’link’ link=’http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00BPE0Y7O/?tag=audiogalsnet-20′ size=’btn-lg’ variation=’btn-default’ target=’blank’]Buy Rescue My Heart by Jill Shalvis on Amazon[/button]

Save