Mile High by Liz Tomforde | Audiobook Review • Ana's Attic Book Blog

Mile High (Windy City Series Book 1) by Liz Tomforde

Read by Winston James and Mari

At almost 17 hours (490 pages), Mile High by Liz Tomforde is a LONG book. I like a lot of book for my money, so I don’t complain about this unless the book is too long for the story and it’s filled with a lot of fluff. A lot of Mile High’s “fluff” was sex scenes. There were a LOT, and I found myself rushing through them to get back to the story.

Stevie moved to Chicago to be near her twin brother, a professional athlete in Chicago. She got a job as a flight attendant for the Chicago hockey team and has been told in no uncertain terms that fraternizing with the team will get her fired. I loved Stevie (“Vee”). She is SO, SO hard on herself, and I can totally relate to all of her terrible thoughts about herself and her weight. My inner monologue is so similar, and I also come from a skinny family that points out my weight.

“So, ‘Vee’, huh?”
“It’s a family nickname.”
“My family nickname is Zee. Vee and Zee. Aren’t we fucking adorable?”

Zanders (“Zee”) is the bad boy of the Hockey team Stevie is a flight attendant for. He keeps notes on the girls he has in each city and he seems to think he’s God’s gift to women. While I eventually warmed up to him, I didn’t like him at all at the beginning of Mile High.

“Stevie,” Zanders says. “You following me?”

When Stevie and Zanders end up at the same place a few times, there is no escaping the attraction. But any relationship has to be kept secret because she would be fired immediately for sleeping with a player on the team. As we got to know the characters, I really warmed up to Zanders. I loved what an amazing uncle he was, his charity, and that he was working on himself in therapy.

“I’m going to fucking destroy your body tonight and hopefully some of those insecurities that don’t make any goddamn sense right along with it.”

There was a LOT of focus on Stevie’s curves, her too-tight uniform and her “wild hair”. I understand that when you are self-conscious your weight is all you think about so I loved how relatable that was, but I think many readers would tire of that part quickly. But what really bothered me about this was Stevie was Black, and I felt like she was always comparing herself to white women. It made me feel a little icky because the author is white. I felt like there were some other racist stereotypes in this audiobook, but I did catch something on TT about her removing some of this in the e-book.

“It hurts a whole lot less to be hated when you’re not being yourself than it does not to be loved for who you are,”

Likes:

I listened to this book over a month ago and remember it clear as day. I often don’t remember a book even the day after I finish.
I loved Stevie and found her insecurities so relatable.
Zanders won me over.
I loved how Zanders encouraged her to feel good about herself.
Stevie helps at a rescue center for senior dogs.
Zanders working through childhood trauma in therapy.
Great chemistry and banter.
The mirror scene.
I love that the author wrote from her own experience of being a team flight attendant.

Dislikes:

Way too long, and the multitude of boring sex scenes were filler.
I’m surprised that I haven’t seen Black women call this book out for racism. I didn’t feel comfortable with a white woman writing some of this, but as someone who is not Black, maybe I’m not the person to speak on this. *Note: I caught something on TT that said the e-book may have edited some of the stereotypes, but I have not confirmed this.
It got very repetitive.
The conflict went on WAY too long.

The Narration:

I enjoyed the narration and acting so much, but at around 40% in, the mouth noises started (Or maybe I just started to notice them then). But after that, I couldn’t unhear it. We really needed more post-production. That being said, it was my first time with both narrators and I still enjoyed their performance.

The Down & Dirty:

Mile High had such potential for me! It’s a HUGELY popular book and there was a lot to love about it, but ¼-⅓ of the book could have been edited out and it would have been so much better. I loved Stevie, I loved the banter and the chemistry, but I felt uncomfortable with a white woman writing a Black romance. A few scenes felt a little racist to me, and it didn’t feel authentic. I think this is Liz Tomforde’s first book and I absolutely enjoy her writing style. The next book is about Stevie’s twin brother Ryan, who I really loved. It’s over 14 hours long though, and I’m not sure I want to take the time from 2 other books I could be loving to listen to this. I would like to read Liz Tomforde again if she starts a new series of slightly shorter books.