Overruled by Emma Chase

Narrated by Jason Carpenter and Charlotte Penfield

Emma Chase has been an author on my audio auto-buy list since the release of Tangled last year. Her heroes are the stuff of legends: direct, blunt, and (to a large degree) major jerks. Normally she redeems them, making the reader sigh and swoon with how big a change the heroine made in their life.

I say normally. With the release of Overruled, a book I was seriously excited for, I think she missed the boat.

Stanton Shaw is a man at the top of his game. The lawyer is slowly working his way up the partner path. Around DC, he is known as the Jury Charmer; his slow drawl and charisma enthralls any and all who come into contact with him. Not bad for a boy from the fields of Alabama. Everything he’s ever wanted for his life is coming to fruition. Someday he’s going to go back home and prove the mother of his child all the sacrifices have been worth it.

Until the day he receives a call from her telling him she’s marrying someone else…

This book was such a disappointment. I expected outrageous hijinks and humor from the characters, especially from the hero. Chase hooks me in with the uber-a*holeness (is that a word?) of her male characters. Stanton was a major disappointment. Too much time was spent on establishing his past relationship with his baby mama Jenny than with his present one with Sofia. How am I to trust Stanton’s feelings for Sofia, once he realizes them, when he spends two-thirds of the book moping and trying to get back Jenny?

Not to mention, for a lawyer, he came across as indecisive and unfeeling in regards to the adult women in his life. What made him think it would be a good idea to ask his current bed partner for help in nabbing the woman of his dreams regardless of the fact they both said they were friends with benefits? It should have occurred to him Jenny might find it offensive even if Sofia didn’t. I found it offensive; I’ve always read that honest love wants what’s best for people. Nothing about Stanton indicated he had anyone’s best interests at heart save himself. This could have been a deliberate move on the author’s part, showing how much he had to learn about love. In the end, I felt I knew too much about his character to see him redeemed. Maybe if we hadn’t had all that info in the beginning, I might not have been so upset.

Sofia’s character, in contrast, was almost a mystery. This was essentially Stanton’s book. Most of the change and struggle was his and most of the page time as well. I know some characters are lead characters and some are there to move the story along but I couldn’t tell which place Sofia fit. We learned about her but not enough to fully understand why she allowed Stanton’s disregard of her. I wanted to know what motivated her.

Oh, there was a bit about the struggles her family faced as immigrants, giving her the drive to succeed. I wanted more. What drives her now? What attracted her to Stanton in the first place? If she was as driven and confident as her profession indicated, why let Stanton use her as he did? Why go back on the promises she made to be strong when Stanton crooked his finger? From the first page she was relegated to sexual partner and, in contrast to Jenny, there she remained for the rest of the book.

The narration wasn’t as pleasing either. Dual narration is one of my favorite types of performances, especially when done right. In the case of Overruled, it was a rather meh performance all around. Jason Carpenter is not unfamiliar to me although I’ve only listened to one of his performances. In this book, he had to perform several deep Southern accents for men and women. I really only noticed Stanton’s. It wasn’t bad, I cannot attest to its authenticity but it didn’t make me shudder like some performers have. On the other hand, it didn’t encourage me to go out and look at his backlist either. It wasn’t bad; I have heard worse. I just wasn’t overly impressed. Nothing about his performance stood out. His females were slightly higher to distinguish them from the males but I cannot recall any other attempt being made to distinguish them. Same for the males. There may have been a difference in pitch but no other attempt to distinguish them with the exception of Stanton.

Charlotte Penfield is another narrator known to me, if not well. Her narration, like Carpenter’s, was merely meh. She didn’t attempt to mimic the accent of the characters nor did she attempt to change her voice for each character. She infused her performance with life and feeling but it wasn’t the performance I had expected based off of the other narrator’s. Why even have two narrators if the narration isn’t a performance? I wanted more; I guess I’ve become spoiled in terms of narration since I started reviewing.

In a more positive light, both narrators get the humor and wit of the author’s writing. They kept the pace of the jokes and banter. I had no cause to judge them for technical issues like heavy breathing or noticeable inhalations.

Overruled, in my opinion, is not the best book to judge the narrator. If you’ve never tried Emma Chase’s books, I would recommend staring with Tangled or the next book in this series, Sustained. Emma Chase is an enjoyable author; don’t get me wrong, this book just wasn’t her best. There is a third book coming out in January with a new narrator that I’m very excited for it. Despite my response with this book and its performance, Appealed is one of my top picks for the month. Fingers crossed it measures up.

Diana

Narration: C

Book Content: C

Steam Factor: For your burning ears only

Violence Rating: Minimal

Genre: Contemporary Romance

Publisher: Simon & Schuster