Narrated by George Allen and Lucy Rivers
Every once in a while, I’m in the mood for a light, funny romance that will help reset my typically darker, romantic suspense laden palate. When I pushed play on The Hooker and the Hermit, that was exactly the kind of listen I was looking for, and this audiobook fit the bill perfectly! I definitely chuckled at LH Cosway’s and Penny Reid’s plentiful comical lines that were full of sexual innuendos and double entendres. I also reveled in watching the heroine, a social recluse at the beginning of the story, blossom and become more comfortable with her in-person social interactions, as I ate up the plentiful alpha moments where the dominant, Irish rugby star “hooker” got to exhibit his alpha hero tendencies.
Perhaps what surprised me the most, though, was a somewhat less than vanilla, BDSM theme that was woven into the story. Though tasteful, and very light in nature, it just caught me largely by surprise, as I was not expecting an erotic listen from the blurb. If you don’t mind a little light dominance with your romance, however, The Hooker and the Hermit is a witty romantic comedy with an above-average narration, making it a good audiobook choice.
Annie Catrel is content to live her life in the shadows. Though she is a media sensation both at her day, public relations position, as well as at her anonymous celebrity gossip website, Annie prefers to keep her interactions over media and avoids personal interactions at all costs. Fortunately for her, she is that good at her profession that her PR firm allows her to work nearly entirely from home, and even dispatches other PR personnel to deal with the personal details of implementing her highly successful publicity campaigns.
That is, until the day that Ronan Fitzpatrick sets his eyes on Annie. Ronan, who has just been dragged through the media gutter by an ex-girlfriend out for revenge, reluctantly agrees to the Rugby League International’s mandate that he engage the PR firm that Annie works for. His one stipulation, however, is that the executive assigned to his account be none other than Annie. He immediately recognizes Annie’s submissive nature, and can’t help but be drawn to her, an attraction he plans to explore during their inevitable long hours at work together. If only Ronan knew that Annie was the anonymous Socialmedialite who had poked her own fun at Ronan’s Colin Farrell-like good looks but unfortunate wardrobe mishaps. Moreover, how will Annie react when she discovers Ronan’s particular bedroom tendencies?
Can Ronan bring Annie out of her shell? And when both of their secrets are revealed, will their mutual attraction be enough to withstand the inevitable public backlash?
The Hooker and the Hermit sports the New Adult style of narration, with George Allen narrating the chapters from Ronan’s perspective and Lucy Rivers the ones from Annie’s. This approach works generally well to separate the different point of views with each main character fretting over the secrets they are withholding from the other. Additionally, both narrators are generally adept with all of the classic hallmarks I look for in a good narration.
For example, both Ms. Rivers and Mr. Allen use a large range of voices to identify each character in the book, making the reliance on dialogue tags unnecessary. In that regard, both narrators showed the ability to reproduce both classic American accented voices, as well as Irish ones, lending authenticity to the characters portrayed. They were also equally able to communicate the class differences between Ronan’s more blue collar raised friends and the upper class characters (such as Ronan’s grandparents).
The pacing of the narration was generally well delivered as well. Providing a natural flow, both narrators timed their deliveries well to add effect to the humorous lines and steaminess to the passionate scenes. I also thought both narrators dealt well with Annie’s anxiety prone nature, by adding just the right amount of urgency without over dramatizing these scenes.
All in all, The Hooker and the Hermit is a funny, touching romance with a little extra steam in the heat department. Moreover, Ms. Rivers and Mr. Allen do the characters justice, making this title a good choice in audiobook format.
BJ
Narration: B
Book Content: B+
Steam Factor: For Your Burning Ears Only (due to mild BDSM content)
Violence Rating: Minimal
Genre: Humorous Contemporary Romance
Publisher: Tantor Audio
The Hooker and the Hermit was provided to AudioGals by Tantor Audio for a review.
[jwl-utmce-widget id=32435]
