Audiobook Review – January: Calendar Girl Book 1 by Audrey Carlan

January: Calendar Girl Book 1 by Audrey Carlan

Narrated by Summer Morton.

Contemporary Erotic Romance, 12 Part serial. 

I have been hearing so much about The Calendar Girl Series by Audrey Carlan, and I have wanted to read it for such a long time. I have the Kindle of Calendar Girl: Volume One (January, February and March), but I never got around to reading it. So I grabbed the audiobook of January for a trip that was about 3.5 hours, almost the same length as the book.

Now this was what bugged me a bit. The Volume One box had an MP3 CD available, but it’s not on audible. You have to buy each month separately, which is either $12 bucks a pop directly on audible, or if you buy the book with the whispersync upgrade, it’s $4.98 each ($2.99 for the book plus $1.99 audiobook upgrade). I don’t normally complain about price, but since they combined 3 books together for the MP3, they can do it for audible. Each 3-month volume is basically the same length as one average to long book, 400 pages. I think reading/listening to 4 books sounds much less daunting than 12. Unless of course you were doing one per month the way they were released. But I will say, this series may be worth it, because I really enjoyed it.

Ok, so here is the premise. Mia’s dad got into debt and owes a loan shark about a million. Plus her sister has tuition. So Mia needs money fast and joins her aunt’s high-end escort service, where she is hired out monthly for the sum of $100,000. If she chooses to have sex (which is not part of the contract) she will get bonuses.

Weston Channing the third (Wes) is gorgeous, and a screenwriter in high demand in Hollywood. The problem is, he can’t get any business done at the Hollywood parties he attends because the bimbos and gold diggers are all over him. So his mom arranges for escorts (why am I the only one that finds that a bit creepy?) for her gorgeous, surfer, blockbuster-movie writing son.

Enter Mia.

The chemistry between Wes and Mia was strong. Though Wes was not interested in any type of relationship, Mia was totally great for him. They became great friends, and then more. Lemme tell you…the more was HOT. There was definitely emotion involved, but they both fought it hard, because she was moving on to a new client in a month no matter what.

“Relax, Wes. I’m in love with your fucking tongue. Now stick it in me so I can return the favor.”

Of course, things get a bit complicated. They may both get a little attached, but we have 11 months, and 11 men left, maybe they’ll get back together after the year is out? Being a romantic who needs her HEA, I was a little sad at the end that she had to go, but I was happy that the story wrapped up and didn’t leave me with a cliffy. (Hopefully this is not a spoiler to you, because it’s the whole concept of the series and in the blurb).

Likes:

• I really liked Mia’s tough, honest, cool attitude.
• Wes was a hot. I have a total crush.
• The sex was amazing.
• Loved the narration.
• Humor and banter.
• Interesting and unique concept.

Dislikes:

• There were a few little nitpicky things that should have been researched better (like how a movie really works behind the scenes).
• The entire premise of the loan shark trying to get money from someone that can’t get it after beating them anyway seems a little ridiculous.
• His mom hiring an escort and bragging about it is plain creepy.
• Every single other woman at the party was a slutty bimbo. Are there no women in Hollywood that aren’t? Women were not portrayed very well in this.
• The pricing structure of the audiobooks (see the top of this review).

The Down & Dirty:

Rating: 4 Stars, Heat 4.25 stars, Narration 5 stars

Purchase January: Calendar Girl Book 1 by Audrey Carlan

Kindle Audible

See the full series here for audible | See the full series here for Kindle

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