Thank You For Listening by Julia Whelan

Narrated by Julia Whelan

I love books that take place in the book world. Since I read mostly audiobooks, I was super-excited to read one that takes place in the audiobook world and written by a top audiobook narrator. I especially love it when a narrator narrates their own book because they will tell the story exactly the way they intended.

Thank You For Listening by Julia Whelan is a cross between women’s fiction and romance. Sewanee is a Juliard-trained actress who turned to audiobook narration after she suffered a disfiguring accident. She is one of the most popular narrators in the field, but she no longer narrates romance.

There is a big side story (amongst several) about her Mallomar-loving Aunt “Blah-Blah” who has Alzheimers and needs to move to the expensive memory-care unit of the nursing home she is in. So Sewanee is forced to accept a lucrative offer of co-narrating a romance with a sexy-voiced narrator who nobody has ever seen in person.

They had to communicate about the project, and did so via text and email that quickly became flirty, but neither knows what the other looks like. I loved this part so much! Flirty correspondence is my kryptonite, and it was done well here, and I enjoyed the way the romance progressed though the banter.

Besides the romance and the Alzheimers, there are numerous other side stories happening, which, to me, made the story feel a little busy and long. I felt like two book ideas may have been merged together, and the author’s note at the end (must read) seems to support that feeling.

Likes:

I love books that take place in the book world, and there was a lot of insight into romance books and audiobooks and the fans surrounding it. I loved those details.
Mallomars! I am a Mallomar freak, and will be in my nursing home with them as well.
I loved having a disabled/disfigured heroine. It was handled very well in my opinion.
I loved Blah Blah (though I hated the nickname) and thought she stole every scene.
Made me LOL a lot, even though there were sad parts as well.
I love texts/emails and there was a ton!
Behind-the-scenes peek at audiobook production.
Best sexual innuendos ever.
A very unique story filled with common tropes.
The author’s note at the end.

Dislikes:

There were too many side stories. Though I did enjoy them all, it made the book feel too busy for me.
The names: I know this is nit-picky, but Sewanee, Adaku and Blah Blah were three of the main characters. I find overly unique names distracting in my reading. If I listen, I wonder how its spelled. If I’m reading, I’m wondering how it’s pronounced.

The Narration:

Well duh, of course the narration was fabulous. There is nothing like a narrator narrating their own work, and Julia Whelan is always fabulous.

The Down & Dirty:

There is a bit of everything in Thank You For Listening by Julia Whelan. I loved the romcom parts and I loved the Alzheimers storyline. Romance readers, especially romance audiobook lovers, will love the behind-the-scenes peek at the business. This is a romcom that made me laugh out loud, but it also covered a lot of serious and difficult topics, and Julia knew just when to come in and lighten it up. My only issue with the book is that there were a lot of side stories that distracted from the main one. A few were necessary, a few were not and just made the story a little too large and overwhelming. Still, I highly recommend Thank You For Listening, especially for romance audiobook lovers.