Rescue Me, Maybe by Jackie Bouchard

Narrated by Teri Clark Linden

Rescue Me, Maybe is marketed under the Romance Category at Audible.com as Chick Lit – a genre that I usually associate with young career women in an urban area wearing expensive brand name shoes, told in first person as their journey in the dating and career scene is revealed. One definition calls it a plucky heroine overcoming obstacles, with a satisfying ending. Starting from that definition, I waited and waited for the story to be relatable, for the heroine to be plucky, for something satisfying to end the journey.

Jane Bailey is widowed after a 6-year marriage to Ryan. In those 6 years, she and Ryan moved – temporarily, she thought – from her home in San Diego to his family’s home in Philadelphia. She wasn’t happy there and eventually planned to divorce him and return to San Diego, when Ryan was diagnosed with advanced stage cancer. Shortly after he died, while she was planning her move, their dog also died – again from cancer. Bereft, widowed, alone, she quits her job in Philly and, realizing she doesn’t have any prospects in San Diego yet, she moves in with her aunt and uncle to help them run their kitschy B&B in Prescott, Arizona, while she job hunts.

On the cross country trip, she picks up a stray dog she names Maybe. Jane is a pretty introverted character, and she’s also extremely inwardly snarky and sarcastic. She doesn’t like people very much, and her interactions at the B&B do nothing to improve that, as people continue to violate her private spaces and annoy her in every possible way. Although she didn’t want to replace her beloved dog, Maybe worms her way into Jane’s heart, making it that much worse when Maybe’s limp is diagnosed as bone cancer, and her leg is amputated. (At this point, I almost stopped – no way was I going to become invested in this dog character, only to have it die!!)  Spoiler alert: The dog makes it through the surgery and recuperation with flying colors – whew!

The story is 99.99% about Jane and her personal journey to re-find herself after losing herself in what she saw as a loveless marriage that ended with her being caregiver during Ryan’s cancer treatment. In Prescott, there is the handyman next door – he was potential for a love interest. He was described as good looking, and the text indicates she might have been slightly interested. At one point, Jane goes back to San Diego for a job interview and meets up with the friends she left behind. This was a scene that might have been the most relatable in the book, as she describes how the relationships between the friends has changed over time.

Teri Clark Linden was fine as the narrator. I actually thought she might have been a little too chipper for snarky Jane – there was more sarcasm in the text than in Linden’s voice. Her delivery was good – her voice pleasant to listen to. Narration in first person is different from third person delivery – I always expect it to sound more as if the heroine was recreating all the voices. She differentiated between Jane and Celine, the other employee of the B&B who I assumed was about Jane’s age, as well as created character voices for Jane’s aunt and uncle, Jane’s in-laws and mother, the handyman and his grandfather. It was a competent and serviceable narration for a passable story.

After all was said and done, I found Jane annoyed me most of the book – I wanted to be more charitable towards her, but she was an irascible Debby Downer so much of the time! Even though the story had a more upbeat ending (than the rest of the story), it didn’t make up for the fact that Jane barely maintained a cordial relationship with anyone beyond the dog for most of the story – she couldn’t even have fun with her former BFFs in San Diego. While the glowing Amazon reviews talk about the humor and witty banter (and “the slow burn relationship” with the handyman – not), mostly I heard a depressed, sarcastic loner whining to herself. I was hoping maybe the rescue dog element would save the book for me, but alas, I cannot recommend it.

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Melinda

AUDIOBOOK INFORMATION

TITLE: Rescue Me, Maybe

AUTHOR: Jackie Bouchard

NARRATED BY: Teri Clark Linden

GENRE: Women's Fiction

STEAM FACTOR: You can play it out loud

REVIEWER: Melinda [button type=’link’ link=’http://www.amazon.com/dp/B013C3YNMC/?tag=audiogalsnet-20′ size=’btn-lg’ variation=’btn-default’ target=’blank’]Buy Rescue Me, Maybe by Jackie Bouchard on Amazon[/button] [section label=’Excerpt’ anchor=’Excerpt’]EXCERPT: