Narrated by Karen White
This is the fourth book in the Animal Magnetism series, set in Sunshine, Idaho. The first three books centered around the town’s kennel and vet clinic, and featured some notable pets and rescue animals. In Rumor Has It
Yeah, that brother-sister code thing, where it’s some unwritten law that brothers don’t sleep with their sister’s friends, a law that is just begging to be broken. Kate’s an elementary school teacher as well – another stereotype that we all know is just that – teachers aren’t really any more prim and proper than anyone else!
I was a little sad that the only Notable Pets in this book were Thing One and Thing Two, Griffin’s father’s rescue dogs from the previous book. Neither Grif nor Kate have any animals, or even any encounters with animals in the book. Shalvis does a great job with the contemporary small town romance, with just a touch of humor and some silly situations to put me at ease. Since Kate is seducing Griffin at a wedding, they both go into the relationship assuming it’s a typical wedding fling, and Griffin will be leaving town, effectively ending it. In fact, Kate has a scholarship to a Master’s degree program in San Diego that she has been waffling about, so even she is (probably) planning to leave Sunshine after the affair has run its course. A “Fun Naked One Night Adventure” is how Kate puts it. But love has a way of sneaking into romance novels, with chemistry galore.
My one (or maybe it’s three?) quibble with this story happens with 2 hours left to go in the 9+ hour audiobook (not sure of the page number). Suddenly I felt like Diana Gabaldon stepped in to finish up the story as 3 – count ’em, 3 – different plot twists pile up one on top of the other to complicate the relationship. Kate is reconsidering whether she can bring herself to leave her father and siblings while she’s away in San Diego when Griffin decides maybe he can stay permanently in Sunshine on his father’s ranch after all. This gives Kate hope that she and Griffin can actually have a long-term relationship. But as he starts to settle in to ranch life, Griffin makes an unsettling discovery which changes the course of his life. Next, there’s an emergency that brings all the residents of Sunshine together, and while they’re all handing this emergency, one more emergency occurs that has Griffin reeling. It had me reeling too – it felt like all the times I have reread Outlander
Of course, Karen White’s narration is always a joy – her storytelling skills bring the book to life. She performs the characters well, with several seven-year-olds, an angsty teen, a couple of curmudgeonly dads as well as her fleshed out protagonists. She’s got the male register down to an art – she manages to make you believe her heroes have deep voices. She uses pacing as well as register to define her characters; she pitches her voice higher for Kate, with a slightly younger, more innocent sound, especially when she’s drinking at the rehearsal dinner and wedding reception. And she is consistent in her performance of each character, so it’s always clear who is talking.
Conclusion: the story wasn’t as good as I was expecting, but it was still good, and the narration was great.
Melinda
Narration: A
Book Content: B-
Steam Factor: Glad I had my earbuds in
Violence: none
Genre: Contemporary romance, small town
Publisher: Tantor Audio
Rumor Has It was provided to AudioGals by Tantor Audio for review.
Thanks, Melinda, for your thoughtful review and lovely feedback! I do get what you’re saying about the plot twists at the end, but I’ll also argue that two of the three (Kate’s agonizing decision over whether to leave as well as the emergency – don’t want to give too much away on that, though) were set up early in the book. Perhaps the pacing of the final chapters was a bit rushed.
In any case, although I missed the animal voices, I did have a good time with the 2nd graders :) And with the main couple as well, as always.
Wanted to share that to celebrate the release this week, I am giving away a copy of the audiobook. To be entered, listeners can just head on over to my blog and comment on Shalvis’ propensity to mention audiobooks in this and #3 in the Animal Magnetism series. I’ll be choosing a winner at random on Friday. Here’s the link:
http://karenwhiteaudiobooks.com/2013/11/04/rumor-has-it-by-jill-shalvis-plus-giveaway/
Happy Listening, all!
I was not actually counting Kate agonizing over the decision as one of the three twists – there was (1) the unsettling discovery in the office, and (2 and 3) the two emergencies that had me looking for Jamie and Claire, who always seem to find themselves in a number of run-on harrowing plot twists! Not giving the actual twists away, just saying the book was going along at a nice pace then BAM! we were all scrambling, hearts pounding, bagpipes in the background*. Kate agonized over the decision to go to San Diego the whole book, poor thing. But that decision epitomized her entire life, didn’t it? No man left behind, indeed.
Thanks for your comment! And hey, kids, get on over to Karen’s blog! It’s true, there are AUDIOBOOKS mentioned in this book, and used in a fun way. “Now he listens to me!”
*just kidding about the bagpipes.
My bad, I forgot about the double emergencies. Perhaps bagpipes would have made it all work…?;)