What are you looking for?

Audible audiobook

Author: Q. B. Tyler

Narrators: Addison Barnes and Christian Fox

Audiobook review

Let me start by saying that the narration for this one deserves five stars. Addison Barnes is new to me and she does an incredible job. She conveys all the emotions that teenage Maddie is going through. Christian Fox is a narration god, and let’s face it, the reason why I picked this one in the first place. He’s absolutely amazing and that voice of his brings all the feels. To be honest, these two kept me listening because, storywise, I was, oh dear… kinda bored. 

I have no problem with age gaps and “iffy” relationships as long as they are developed in a way that it veers in a way towards convincing me that this is for real. That’s not what happens here. Cal is Maddie’s guardian and he has been since she was seven. He was 23 when he came upon the little girl in a crime scene and she wouldn’t trust anyone but him. Fast forward to 10 years later and Maddie is 17 and Cal is 33. She’s still under his guardianship. She’s been looking at him in a different way for a while now and he’s been fighting inappropriate feelings for about a year. We get quite a few flashbacks and they would have been the perfect opportunity to emphasize that they don’t have a father/daughter dynamic but they work to the opposite effect. I’d have been more comfortable in accepting their romance if it happened if she were a little older and if those developing feeling were more shown rather than told. Everything just felt… off for me. He’s a 33-year-old Chief of Police, so yeah, off. 

There is also a twist at the end that came out of nowhere and didn’t really help stick the plot together. It felt like a smokescreen to take attention away from the iffy romance. 

Even with the time jumps and twists, I didn’t really buy that these two would find an HEA that easily. Again, show me, don’t tell me. 

Once more narration saves the day. I only have good things to say about the narration on this one. 

If this is your jam, pick the audiobook!

Possible triggers: MMC is FMC’s legal guardian; FMC’s parents die in a murder/suicide; kidnapping; violent death on page of a family member