#Hater by Cambria Hebert

Narrated by Chandra Skyye and Eric Michael Summerer

#Hater is book two in Cambria Hebert’s Hashtag series. Picking up right where #Nerd left off, #Hater is not a book that does well on its own. Reading the series in order is paramount.

Romeo and Rimmel are a solid couple. He’s the star of their college football team, and she’s, well, a nerd. Rimmel is not one of those heroines who does everything she can to make herself acceptable to her man. Instead, she’s proud of her intelligence, and Romeo is proud of her too. This is a book that celebrates people’s individual talents, something that sets it apart from a lot of new adult romances out there.

So, Romeo and Rimmel are happy together, but Zach, the villain of #Nerd, is not happy for them. He hates Romeo, blaming him for the fact that Zach was kicked out of their fraternity. Now, he’s looking for revenge. He decides to use Rimmel to get to Romeo. Unfortunately, things don’t work out so well for him.

#Hater doesn’t pit Romeo and Rimmel against each other. Instead, they stand solidly against Zach and anyone else who wishes them harm. This is yet another difference between this book and others in the genre.

Basically, I enjoyed this second installment in Ms. Hebert’s series. I wouldn’t say I loved it, but I definitely didn’t feel like the eight and a half hours I spent listening to it could have been spent better elsewhere. Having said that, I must say that I’m not sure I’ll continue with the series. Parts of the story seemed a little too cute for my taste, and the confrontation scene at the end was pretty implausible.

Narrator Chandra Skyye is normally very competent. Here, though, she seemed to falter a bit. Part of the problem is the fact that she sounds too mature for the brainy but naive Rimmel. Her voice possesses a little bit of a rasp that just doesn’t fit the character.

Ms. Skyye creates believable and gender-appropriate voices for both the male and the female characters. She is quite good at suggesting the masculinity of Romeo and his friends without deepening her voice too much. It’s really only her depiction of Rimmel that I struggled with.

I first listened to Eric Michael Summerer when I listened to the prequel to this book. He has a wonderful voice for this kind of book. He put me in mind of a football jock as he voiced Romeo, and I fell right into the story whenever he was narrating. There were a few occasions when he went a little too much toward a falsetto for my taste, but I can count these occurrences on one hand. His female characterizations were normally very believable. His performance was very strong, and I can see myself seeking out more of his work in the future, even if I don’t continue this series.

Shannon

Narration: Eric Michael Summerer A-, Chandra Skyye B

Book Content: C+

Steam Factor: Glad I had my earbuds in

Violence Rating: Escalated Fighting

Genre: Contemporary Romance - New Adult

Publisher: Tantor Audio

#Hater was provided to AudioGals by Tantor Audio for a review.