Vera Stein is Fine by Julie Murphy

Narrated by Joy Nash & Teddy Hamilton

Thank you Net Galley for a copy of this audiobook.

I grabbed Vera Stein Is Fine by Julie Murphy from NetGalley based on the cover alone. I loved seeing a sexy, plus-sized woman front and center, and I wanted to know her story. I’m glad I took the chance on it because Vera was such a refreshingly real character. She was also a hot mess, sometimes frustrating, and not always easy to like, but I think that’s part of why I rooted for her so much.

Vera is 40, grieving after spending years caring for her sick mother, her career never turned into what she thought it would, and suddenly the life she’s been living for years falls apart. She’s also spent most of her adult life working as a personal assistant to a famous movie star she’s been in love with forever. He’s happy to sleep with her, as long as it’s kept secret, and Vera has settled for those scraps for way too long.

When she suddenly finds herself without a job or a place to live, Vera heads to Starlight Palms, the retirement community where her grandmother Ruby lives, and runs straight into Elias Buckley. Eli and Vera knew each other in college and have an interesting past, but they haven’t seen each other in almost twenty years. Now Eli is the doctor at Starlight Palms, Vera takes a temporary job there, and they have a lot of unfinished business between them.

Likes

A 40-year-old, plus-sized heroine who is childfree by choice. I loved seeing a mature heroine who still doesn’t have her life figured out.
Vera’s midlife crisis felt very real, especially that feeling that she should have accomplished more by now.
Eli wants Vera exactly as she is, but also pushes her to figure out what SHE wants. I loved him as a girl dad too.
Ruby, Leonard and Hollis were great. I especially loved Ruby and how completely she owned her sexuality.
There were some really witty, funny moments mixed in with the more poignant parts.

Dislikes

Vera’s movie-star boss was trash. He knew how she felt about him and was perfectly happy to sleep with her in secret while giving her absolutely nothing more. I wanted him to get much more of a reckoning.
Eli wasn’t quite as fleshed out as Vera, and some parts of his life felt underdeveloped.
I could have done without the script sections. The book already felt a little long.
For a book that took its time getting there, the ending wrapped everything up way too quickly for me.

The Narration

Joy Nash narrates most of the book as Vera and did a great job capturing her humor, insecurities and general messiness. She was also great with all the personalities at Starlight Palms. Teddy Hamilton narrates Eli’s flashback chapters, giving us his side of their history. I really enjoyed both narrators and thought they were a great fit for these characters.

The Down & Dirty

Vera Stein Is Fine felt more like a coming-of-age story at 40 than a traditional romance, though the spicy second-chance romance is definitely there. I loved having a plus-sized, childfree-by-choice heroine who was messy, insecure, sometimes frustrating, and still figuring out what she wanted from her life. It didn’t hit me emotionally quite as hard as I expected, and I had some issues with the pacing, but Vera felt incredibly real and I never stopped rooting for her. Add in Eli, the quirky Starlight Palms crew, some great humor, and excellent narration from Joy Nash and Teddy Hamilton, and this was a really enjoyable listen.