Narrated by Sebastian York
I have come to expect Lauren Blakely’s work to be of the sub-genre of contemporary romance that is male-centric, told in first person from the hero’s point of view, which is usually arrogant and self-confident and a little surprised that a mere woman can end up making him fall so hard. Big Rock and Mister O are the two that come to mind for me; they are also narrated by Sebastian York, and I enjoyed both of them. But The Sapphire Affair is actually more of a detective/romantic suspense story – and, slightly spoilerish, there is a sequel and it ends on a cliff-hanger, which I was not expecting.
Told in third person, the story starts with the protagonists arguing about whether or not either of them knew the other (and their connections to the crime) before actually meeting – and then Chapter 1 starts one week earlier. Bounty hunter Jake Harlowe is on the trail of a stolen Stradivarius violin, which he just manages to escape with after a chase through Paris streets. On his return to the States, he has a new job waiting for him: find out how Eli Thompson managed to steal from his ex-wife and former partners, and where he stashed the money. Eli is a charming womanizer who is now running a popular nightclub in the Cayman Islands, so Jake heads there to get the money back.
Steph Anderson is an outdoor sports tour operator, specializing in ocean snorkeling/diving, and island hops. She is just now getting her business back on track after being derailed by a former lover who had been sabotaging her trips. She heads to the Cayman Islands, where her former stepfather is the same Eli Thompson Jake is seeking. Eli used to take her and her family there for vacations, when they were still a family. She’s decided to do a little sleuthing while there, to find out whether the stepfather she thought she knew and loved is really the rat-bastard that left her mother bankrupt.
Fate, luck and some detective work bring Jake and Steph together over darts at a local pub – the question from the beginning is, did either of them know that the other one was also looking for Eli’s stolen money?
Jake runs his business for one main reason: he needs the money to put his younger sister and brother through college, since they were all orphaned a decade or so earlier. Steph, on the other hand, sees her tour business as a labor of love – and she also has conflicting love/hate feelings for Eli, the only father she ever knew. In spite of their almost opposite views on Eli, they team up to find the truth about whether Eli embezzled the funds to start The Sapphire Club. The story is a mashup of noir and hardboiled fiction, tossed with some boy-meets-girl attraction and lust. At first they decide to keep it strictly business, especially since each of them has recently ended a disastrous work-related love affair. But romantic island nights call for working a little more closely, and one thing leads to another…
Sebastian York is a true professional in the narration world – he’s got a sort of rough, baritone voice that he lightens/softens to produce the female characters, and deepens a titch for the hero. His characters are very easy to discern, and his pacing works well for this detective-story type of narrative. It’s very natural if not quite conversational. There isn’t really any comedy in this book, which is a shame since York delivers humor well, but it’s not all dark and ruminating, either.
The story moves along pretty quickly, as does Steph and Jake’s island tryst, until they hit a snag Steph and I were not suspecting – and then Sebastian York told me not to miss the sequel, The Sapphire Heist. I can see from the reviews that I wasn’t the only one left blinking stupidly into the air while the speakers went silent. It’s well written and interesting, but somehow I felt like I only got half a book. If you are so motivated, the sequel comes out next week and promises real danger and another heist.
Melinda
Narration: A
Book Content: B-
Steam Factor: Glad I had my earbuds in
Violence Rating: Fighting
Genre: Romantic Suspense
Publisher: Brilliance Audio
The Sapphire Affair was provided to AudioGals by Brilliance Audio for a review.
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Don’t’cha just hate it when that happens? I just read a book that turns out isn’t ‘finished’ that didn’t tell me it had a “to be continued…” ending before I started, so not only did I have to slog through a barely average read, there was no payoff at the end.
This seems to be happening more and more – and I think punters world be less upset if they were told upfront that they need to listen/read more books to finish the story.
I wouldn’t have been more surprised even if the book stopped mid-sentence, which is kinda how it felt. This actually happened to me once, on a library download where it turned out I did not download the last chapter…
I had the same thoughts when I listened to this story. Moreover, this story is less than 6 1/2 hours in length, and the sequel at less than 5 1/2 hours is even shorter. Seems like these two books should have been combined into one standalone title (which at a combined 12 hours is closer to what I am generally accustomed to in romance audiobook length).