Until There Was You by Kristan Higgins

Narrated by Xe Sands

I have been so, so pleased and excited to see all of Kristan Higgins’ backlist coming out in audio, especially with Xe Sands as narrator! Until There Was You was originally published in 2011 by Harlequin, and I’d read it in print more than once. Having it in audio is just the cherry, the whipped cream and the chocolate sprinkles on the cupcake. Maybe a dab of fudge sauce too.

Cordelia “Posey” Osterhagen is the adopted daughter of two German restaurateurs in a small New England town. She has an older brother, Henry, also adopted, and a cousin, Gretchen, who is the daughter of her mother’s identical twin sister, and all these other wonderful, different people in her life. As a teen, she had a major crush on Liam Murphy, the Bad Boy who moved to town after getting out of juvey. But Liam never really noticed Posey, even though he worked at her parents’ restaurant. First he slept his way through the easy girls, then fell hard for a new, good girl. He followed Emma off to college where she got pregnant, and they got married. Two years before the story starts in current time, Emma died from cancer, and now Liam is back in town with his teen-aged daughter to live near Emma’s parents.

Higgins shows us in so many ways how Liam’s personality developed and changed over the 20 or so years the story covers. He gave up his bad-boy ways when he met Emma, and he loves his daughter Nicole as fiercely as any dad can. Over time, he has developed OCD tendencies that were exacerbated by a serious motorcycle accident shortly after Emma died. All his thoughts seem to focus on the worst possible scenarios – being in an elevator means the elevator will plunge him to his death, leaving Nicole an orphan. Even though his business is motorcycles, he won’t ride one anymore. He checks and rechecks locks; he methodically and compulsively counts the seconds of hand washing; he’s a mess, even though his outer appearance is still motorcycle bad boy. He is incredibly overprotective of Nicole because he remembers what he and Emma got away with as teens.

Posey is the outsider – she doesn’t look anything like her parents or her cousin, she doesn’t cook. And her love life is pretty pathetic. She has a terrific circle of friends who make life a joy, but when Liam comes back to town, she’s still hopelessly attracted. The story outlines her life, her struggles, and along the way, a number of truly funny and heartwarming moments as she and Liam develop a new, adult relationship. However, Liam isn’t sure he can maintain their relationship and also raise his daughter – a choice that is heart-wrenching and heart-breaking. But the epilogue was where it all got tied up so nicely, and even then Higgins brought out the big guns and left me in a puddle of teary eyes.

Xe Sands is truly perfect for this story. Her pacing is so, so natural, and infused with pathos and emotion when needed, and uplifting when called for, and everything a contemporary romance listener could want. She has a distinct voice for males – it’s not that different from book to book, but it delineates the characters well – and she gives each of the well-described characters from the book their own personalities, using rhythm and accent and pitch and acting. I guess I could go on and on about how well she portrayed Posey or Liam, and how she even managed to give Posey’s Great Dane Shilo just the right voice (ok, he doesn’t talk but he’s an important part of the story!) – I won’t, I will just encourage you to pick up Until There Was You and let it give you a back rub, and tear at your heartstrings, and entertain you and make you believe, for just a little while, that there can be Happy Ever Afters in the world.

Melinda

Narration: A

Book Content: A

Steam Factor: Glad I had my earbuds in

Violence Rating: None

Genre: Contemporary Romance

Publisher: Recorded Books