The Snowbirds by Christina Clancy

Narrated by Graham Halstead and Karissa Backer

Standalone mystery with romance. Established couple.

Complimentary copy provided for review from Macmillan Audio.

Being older and from Florida, The Snowbirds by Christina Clancy immediately caught my attention when the ALC was offered. This mystery romance follows a couple in their 50s who escape the harsh Midwestern winter for Palm Springs, but their getaway takes an unexpected turn.

Kim and Grant have been together for 30 years and share adult twin daughters, yet they never married. Grant was a professor at a small college, but Kim never wanted to move out of the city, so they spent their weekdays apart. When Grant’s college shut down, he felt lost, and the timing couldn’t have been better when Kim’s wealthy, flamboyantly gay ex-husband offered them his Palm Springs condo for the winter.

Through the narrative, it’s clear that while Kim loves Grant, she never fully loved everything about him. Honestly, it seemed like she didn’t like much about him at all. Grant wasn’t thrilled about Palm Springs at first, but he eventually got into hiking. Then one day, he went missing on a hike—and that’s when the story flashes back to their past, revisiting old fights and the times Grant had disappeared before.

So the big question is… did Grant get lost in the desert mountains, or did he leave? Search parties spend days looking for him, but what really happened?

The Snowbirds is a slow burn—maybe too slow. At over 10 hours, I would have enjoyed it much more if it had been closer to seven. I never wanted to stop listening, but I kept wishing it would move faster because I had other books waiting for me.

Likes:

An older couple as the main characters
The mystery kept me guessing
The interesting, quirky cast of characters in Palm Springs

Dislikes:

It was too long and dragged in places
I didn’t love either character, so I wasn’t invested in Grant—I just wanted to know what happened

The Narration:

Graham Halstead and Karissa Vacker absolutely embodied the characters and did a great job bringing the story to life.

The Down & Dirty:

Meh. If The Snowbirds had been significantly shorter, I would have enjoyed it a lot more. It dragged—especially in the middle before Grant went missing. While I had to keep going to find out what happened, I can’t say I thoroughly enjoyed the journey.