Narrated by Angela Dawe
The Truth About Love introduces us to law student Gina Blanchard and former football star Landon Vista. The two of them meet, and are instantly attracted to one another. Little do they know the effect Landon’s past and Gina’s present will have on the future they hope to build together.
Gina Blanchard is riddled with guilt. Years ago, her testimony sent an innocent man to prison. Once she found out what she had done, Gina vowed to do what she could to right that wrong. Now, she’s interning with a small law firm whose goal is to set wrongly convicted people free.
Landon Vista lost his mother when he was a child. She was brutally murdered, and Landon testified against the man who is now in prison, convicted of killing her. After that, he became Tallahassee’s golden boy, star of their college football team. Now, he’s working for a senator, who wants to come down hard on criminals. Landon is convinced he was hired mainly because of his football prowess, but he hopes to make a difference while working for the senator.
When it comes to their views on crime, Landon and Gina couldn’t be more different. This causes countless disagreements. However, each sees something desirable in the other, and they continue spending time together. Then, Gina’s firm begins investigating the death of Landon’s mother. Is it possible that the killer is still walking free, while an innocent man sits behind bars? Landon doesn’t want to believe it. He begins to resent Gina for calling into question everything he believes to be true. Can they get past this and claim their HEA?
Angela Dawe is one of my favorite narrators. I fell in love with her narration of Nalini Singh’s Psy/Changeling books, and I’m eager to listen to anything she narrates. The Truth About Love was far from her best effort though. I can’t put my finger on what was so off about it. All I can say is that it didn’t work well.
Part of it may have to do with her depiction of Landon. He’s an insecure man who hides his vulnerability behind a cocky smile. I wanted to hear that vulnerability, especially when he and Gina spent time together. Sadly, Ms. Dawe couldn’t deliver. Landon ended up sounding like a dumb jock, a depiction that wasn’t at all in sync with what Ms. Athens put on paper.
I was quite pleased with Ms. Dawe’s portrayal of Gina. It wasn’t quite as good as I’d hoped, but it was far from awful. Gina is a very complex character, driven, determined, and extremely loyal to those she loves. Ms. Dawe was able to bring each facet of the character to life. My mental picture of Gina lacks some of the perkiness Ms. Dawe imbued her with, but I was able to put that aside and enjoy learning more about Gina.
Other characters in the story were very well differentiated. Dialogue tags were unnecessary, and Ms. Dawe once again proved that a large cast of characters is no challenge for her. Her overall pacing was excellent as well.
I didn’t feel the sizzling tension that is supposed to exist between Gina and Landon. Again, I think this is partly due to Ms. Dawe’s depiction of our hero. It’s hard to feel anything even remotely sexy about someone who sounds like an absolute goof. Usually, Ms. Dawe does a fantastic job with steamy scenes, but this was not the case here.
The Truth About Love is enjoyable enough. It doesn’t make my list of favorites, but I enjoyed certain aspects of the story. Both Gina and Landon have a lot of growing to do, and I admire authors who successfully allow their characters to grow. Much to my dismay, I cannot recommend it as an audiobook. Perhaps another narrator could have made it more enjoyable, but, as it stands right now, I’d say to read this in print if you’re going to pick it up at all.
Shannon
Narration: C-
Book Content: B
Steam Factor: Glad I had my earbuds in
Violence: Fighting
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Publisher: Brilliance Audio
The Truth About Love was provided to AudioGals by Brilliance Audio for review.
