Narrated by Karen White
Natalie Castellano is a young divorced mother in Bliss, a Midwest town devoted to marriage and happy-ever-afters. Her family runs a bridal boutique on The Aisle (aka Main Street), but the untimely death of her mother left the family and the boutique floundering. Natalie is determined to bring it back to its glory before moving away, since she’s Persona Non Grata in the wedding-crazy town. When she reveals all her woes to someone in a dark confessional, she has no idea the man she is complaining about – the man she blames for ruining her short marriage – is the very man she’s speaking to!
CJ Blue is a young widower who was the big winner of Bliss’s Husband Games 5 years before. He and his military wife were newlyweds back then – and now she is gone, killed in action several years earlier. He’s in town only for a short while, for his sister’s sake, and has no idea who this young woman blaming him for her life is.
The book was originally released under the title The Husband Games, which is one of the many events in Bliss to keep tourists coming back, since tourism is the financial lifeblood. If Natalie can just convince CJ to be this year’s big star – returning to do the Games – she thinks Bliss and her boutique will be saved, and she can leave Bliss satisfied. But she has to work in the background because the town’s Queen General, or QG as she is known, wants to run Natalie out of town.
If this sounds like a setup for a romantic comedy, then you are on the right track. Blissed is a light froth of a story about a town hellbent on getting everyone married – the big central town feature is a giant wedding cake fountain. The QG is the local Cruella de Vil, running the bakery next door to Natalie’s boutique as well as running all the marriage events in Bliss, and she’s horrified to think that CJ, Husband Games winner, will even look at Natalie, misfit divorcee. She spends most of her time doing everything she can to ruin Natalie.
Of course, when you write a romance with humor, who else should narrate but Karen White, who has done such great work with some of the best romantic comedies in audio? Her wonderful comedic timing and dry wit accentuate the antics, and her natural, talking-to-your-BFF pacing makes every book she reads a pleasure. She differentiates well among all the characters, giving each one a specific, recognizable sound, placing men in her lower register, creating believable children’s dialogue and delivering just the right note to her villain.
All in all, I found it mildly entertaining – mostly due to Karen’s narration – but the story stretched credibility at several points. Once you get past the idea that Natalie blames her divorce on a blind-folded man mistaking her for his wife (one of the many Husband Games, and obviously one CJ did not win), among other eye-rolling plot devices, you can sit back and let Karen entertain you for a few hours (well, 11 hours). This is book 1 in the 4-book Misfit Brides series.
[section label=’Audiobook Information’ anchor=’Audiobook Information’]
Melinda
AUDIOBOOK INFORMATION
TITLE: Blissed
AUTHOR: Jamie Farrell
NARRATED BY: Karen White
GENRE: Contemporary Romance
STEAM FACTOR: Glad I had my earbuds in
REVIEWER: Melinda [button type=’link’ link=’http://www.amazon.com/dp/B01GUCMQCG/?tag=audiogalsnet-20′ size=’btn-lg’ variation=’btn-default’ target=’blank’]Buy Blissed by Jamie Farrell on Amazon[/button]
