Narrated by Sebastian York & Andi Arndt
The Sexy One, is Simon’s and Abby’s story. In Mister O, regular listeners of Lauren Blakely’s work first met Simon Travers and Abby Becker. Abby was a friend of Harper Holiday’s and Simon was a client and possibly-would-be boyfriend in sort-of-competition with hero, Nick Hammer. Simon, a single dad, was in need of a nanny and Harper hooked him up with her nanny friend, Abby. The Sexy One can be read as a stand-alone, although I enjoyed the earlier books and recommend them.
The story begins seven months after Abby begins work as nanny to Simon’s five-year-old daughter, Hayden. Simon and Abby have been attracted to one another since the beginning but neither has acted on it. However, when Simon is trying to land a business deal with a bilingual chef whose advisors keep slipping into French during conversations, Abby (who is fluent in five languages, including French) offers to help. This sparks a change in their relationship and allows those pesky pheromones to escape.
The romance itself is largely without conflict. Abby and Simon don’t have anything much keeping them apart except for the fact that she works for him. She’s 26 and he’s 34. A bit of an age difference but not insurmountable by any stretch and Abby is certainly not a naïve young thing. No-one is taking advantage of anyone in this book. I did like how the employer/employee dilemma was eventually solved, even though the option wouldn’t be available to most people. It worked for Abby and Simon and that was enough for me.
Abby and Hayden get along like a house on fire and she is not fazed by the prospect of dating a single dad – it’s really more a matter of navigation rather than any barrier to the romance. I like a low-conflict romance from time to time so it worked for me but for those listeners looking for drama and angst – well, there’s not a lot of it. It is a short book – just over five hours and the low conflict suited the length.
Near the end, there is a bump in the road (of course) but it is short-lived, thankfully. Abby does a silly thing (really, it was SUPER DUMB) which caused me to roll my eyes a bit. Talk about manufactured conflict! What I did like was that it didn’t become a bigger-than-Ben Hur thing.
I liked how Abby and Simon related and it was clear they had way more in common than sexual chemistry and affection for Hayden. Lauren Blakely’s characters tend to have some quirky thing about them that makes them unique – Harper is a magician (how cool is that!!) and brothers Nick and Wyatt Hammer play weird games where they imagine strange breeds of dog. Abby is a nature lover and is fascinated by nature documentaries and an eagle-cam featuring baby Bald Eagles. Simon and Abby bond of the over the chicks and he even takes her to a movie about zebras.
I’ve been listening to a lot of Sebastian York lately. I’m beginning to wonder if I’m just repeating myself. He is perfectly suited to Lauren Blakely heroes. His comedic timing and delivery of sexual tension is so good. I was even impressed by his accent when he delivered a few French words here and there in the book.
Big Rock, Mister O and Well Hung are all told solely from the hero’s point of view. The Sexy One has a dual POV and Abby’s sections are performed by Andi Arndt. She is becoming a favourite narrator as well – although I will say she really has to work on her Australian accent. It was only one line right at the beginning but it was bad.
Other than that however, Andi Arndt delivers character, emotional tension and sexual chemistry reliably well.
I might need a short break from this narrator pair – but only because the hero and heroine voices are beginning to sound very much the same. I sometimes forget which characters I’m actually dealing with – the perils of being an avid audiobook listener! I’ll definitely be back for more both from Lauren Blakely and this narrating duo because they’re a lot of fun.
Kaetrin
Narration: B+
Book Content: B
Steam Factor: Glad I had my earbuds in
Violence Rating: None
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Publisher: Lauren Blakely Books
The Sexy One was provided to AudioGals for a review.
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