Almost Like Being In Love and My Ex-Mas Emergency | Audiobook Reviews • Ana's Attic Book Blog

2 Closed-Door Christmas Romance Audiobook Reviews

Almost Like Being In Love by Sariah Wilson

Narrated by Paula Nederhorst

Almost Like Being In Love by Sariah Wilson was a holiday novella that was free in Kindle Unlimited. This one is by far the most memorable of the year’s Christmas reads, and I think I may like it more now, a few weeks after reading it, than I did when I read it because I still remember it well, which is a real rarity for me.

Maren and her mother planned on taking a trip to the Scottish Highlands, her mother’s favorite place, and the place her mother’s brother disappeared. But Maren’s mom got cancer and sent Maren and her friend to Scotland to experience the Scottish magic for themselves and maybe even find her uncle while there.

Well they got the full effects of the Scottish magic when a castle and village from the 1600s showed up and a Scottish lord rescued them from a blizzard. This castle and village apparently shows up randomly every few years around Christmas then I guess it disappears and stops in time because the inhabitants don’t age much. I am still totally confused with how the whole thing works and that’s what kept me from enjoying the novel more while listening to it.

Maren and the laird (lord) instantly fall in love but she has to get back to her ailing mom and can’t stay in a village that can disappear for 50 years!

Despite Almost Like Being In Love having severe instalove and me not understanding how this time travel worked, now that I look back, it’s at least a 4-star read, probably because it’s so uniquely memorable.

The narrator, Paula Nederhorst, was really good. I haven’t heard her before as far as I know, and I felt she was chosen well. I hope to hear more from her in the future.

Rating: 4 Novella Stars, 0 Heat, 4.5 Narration

Amazon | Audible

My Ex-Mas Emergency by Jennifer Peel

Narrated by Wayne Mitchell and Kim Churchill

13 years ago Tristan chose his family’s snobby opinions over his outspoken girlfriend Calista. Unfortunately, Calista’s sister married Tristan’s cheating brother who went ahead and died. Now Calista is back in town to help take care of her 15-year-old niece (also Tristan’s niece) who just lost her dad. Even though she is now an ER Doctor, she can’t seem to live down her outspoken past.

Tristan is also very close to his niece and has never stopped loving Calista, but he knows he has no chance after the way he treated her. But Quinn, the 15-year-old niece (who I thought was 8 until she drove) did everything to push the couple back together.

My Ex-Mas Emergency was cute and Christmassy but went on a bit too long for the story. It got slow in the middle, his parents were completely hateful, and I wasn’t sure he would stand up to them, but the hero came through in the end.

For the narration, I enjoyed Kim Churchill very much. Wayne Mitchell’s voice changed around a lot and sometimes his voice was annoyingly low and I didn’t like his female vocalization. He just didn’t seem to fit the part to me.

My Ex-Mas Emergency by Jennifer Peel was cute but nothing I would re-read. It was closed-door and very forgettable though I enjoyed it while listening.