Narrated by Tim Paige
Having enjoyed Avery Flynn’s Tomboy last year, I wanted to try something else of hers so I picked up Parental Guidance, the first book in her Ice Knights series. We were introduced to the hockey team in Tomboy – that book’s hero, Zach Blackwood, was an Ice Knights’ defenceman – and here, we meet Caleb Stuckey, another Ice Knights player who needs to rehabilitate his public image. A video in which he’s seen NOT shutting down his team-mates when they start talking like a bunch of misogynistic arseholes goes viral, resulting in a chewing out from his coach, the team’s PR manager AND his mother (a famous junior hockey coach) – which is how he ends up agreeing to do something “…to change the narrative and give everyone something else to talk about besides what dickheads you all are. “
That something is a publicity stunt involving the Bramble dating app. The deal? He has to go on five dates with a woman his mum picks out for him; afterwards, he and his mum film a little post-date chat, his date and her mum do the same, and Bramble can use the videos in their publicity. After all, if, after the disastrous video, they can make Caleb dateable, they’ll be able to do the same for anyone. Right?
Zara Ambrose is a miniatures artisan. In the sense that she makes miniatures – although at barely five-feet tall, she’s heard all the jokes before. Her recently-engaged best friend Gemma has been urging her to ease back on the work a bit and take some time for herself for the past couple of years, but Zara is focused on her work, on making a name for herself – and besides, she likes being able to do things like pay bills and eat. When Gemma brings up her lack of work/life balance – again – Zara changes the subject by telling her about her dad’s latest get-rich-quick scheme; he’s going to become a character actor. For that, he needs to get his Screen Actor’s Guild card – and to obtain that, he needs to be on TV; but he’s got a plan. Zara will do an online dating reality TV thing where parents pick their kid’s date and then offer advice about finding true love – and as her only parent, he’ll get his TV hours in – easy! But this is merely the latest in a long line of similarly quixotic adventures which usually involved Jasper putting everyone but his family first, and Zara has no intention of enabling him to go off on yet another one. Until Gemma offers to take Zara to an upcoming charity gala and introduce her to Helene Carlyle who, as well as being the area’s wealthiest woman also happens to be one of the world’s best known expert on and collector of miniatures – provided Zara helps her dad out and goes on a few dates.
Well, we all know where this is going – although refreshingly, Caleb and Zara actually bond – sort of – over their desire not to date for real. They’ll go on the five required dates because that will get them both what they want, they’ll have fun (maybe they’ll even have sex, maybe not) but what they won’t do is view what they’re doing as the prelude to a relationship, and there won’t be any dates beyond the fifth.
Right from the start there’s a palpable chemistry between the pair. Caleb likes Zara’s take-no-crap attitude and Zara is quickly able to see that there’s more to Caleb than the stereotypical arrogant jock who shags a different woman each night and doesn’t bother to remember their names. After their first date – during which they argue about the benefits (or otherwise) of mashed potato (!) – they both find themselves actually looking forward to the next one… and bonding further when that date turns out to be a team-building obstacle course experience and discovering that they’re both intensely competitive
I liked both Caleb and Zara, although I felt Caleb was the more well-developed of the two, especially when it came to the insecurities resulting from his dyslexia, and his relationship with his mum. Zara has grown up with a dad who was always chasing one dream or another and as a result dislikes any kind of uncertainty or disorganisation in her life; and while I could understand that attitude as a reaction to her father’s unreliability, using it as a reason for the way she treats Caleb when he makes a misstep – from the best of intentions – was a massive over-reaction.
I enjoyed the real sense of camaraderie the author built between Caleb and his teammates, and the friendship between Zara and Gemma – and if you’re a fan of dogs in romance (I can take ’em or leave ’em) then you’ll love Zara’s Great Dane, Anchovy. (Although I had to question the wisdom of someone who lives in a small studio apartment keeping a Great Dane!) But my biggest issue with the story as a whole was the weak premise. I appreciated that Ms. Flynn addressed some important points about the toxic nature of that whole ‘boys will be boys’ locker room culture, but Caleb’s so-called fuck-up just didn’t seem like it was sufficient to warrant his rehabilitation by dating app. None of the guys who actually made the shitty comments about puck bunnies seemed to have to do anything to redeem themselves, and that didn’t make sense to me.
It’s rare, these days, for the audio version of a contemporary romance told from the points of view of both protagonists to have a single narrator – and a male narrator at that – but I was actually drawn to this title for precisely that reason! Tim Paige is a new-to-me narrator, and I’m pleased to say that I was impressed with his performance, which is well-paced and expressive. He has a good range of character voices and is able to differentiate effectively between all the characters – leads and supporting cast – by means of a variety of pitch and timbre. His portrayal of Caleb really brings out his kindness, his humour and his inner vulnerability, and with Zara, he’s able to emphasise her toughness and her insecurities; and their banter is well-timed and nicely nuanced. I definitely intend to listen to him again.
Parental Guidance is a quick and easy listen, a fun, sexy rom-com with appealing characters that’s perfect for when you want a light-hearted story without a lot of angst or drama. I wasn’t keen on the flimsy premise, however, which brought my content grade down a bit, but Tim Paige’s strong performance is worth the price of admission, and earns the audiobook a recommendation overall.
Caz
Buy Parental Guidance by Avery Flynn on Amazon
I listened to this a while back and had similar reactions. Flimsy premise, good chemistry between MCs, and very good narration. Overall, it was a fun story. This was my first Tim Paige narration, but I have since listened to several more, and his work is consistently good. He’s great with nuanced emotions and he does good character voices. I don’t think he’s been at this for all too long, so I’m hoping for even better things in the future from him! Like you, I prefer books narrated by a man, especially in romance, so that was a deciding factor for me, too. Perhaps authors will see this and begin to make this kind of casting choice more often! I liked this book’s follow up, Awk-Weird, even more, but it has 2 narrators.
I saw that – and am thinking about listening to it because I enjoyed Tim Paige’s performance here, but dual narration isn’t something I enjoy all that much (which is probably why I don’t listen to many m/f contemps). I thought it was unusual for an m/f romance to have a male narrator, but I wish there were more.