From the author of My Oxford Year, Julia Whelan’s uplifting novel tells the story of a former actress turned successful audiobook narrator—who has lost sight of her dreams after a tragic accident—and her journey of self-discovery, love, and acceptance when she agrees to narrate one last romance novel.
THANK YOU FOR LISTENING by JULIA WHELAN
Series: n/a
Publication date: August 2, 2022
Published by: Avon/Harper Collins
Genre: Contemporary romance
SYNOPSIS
For Sewanee Chester, being an audiobook narrator is a long way from her old dreams, but the days of being a star on film sets are long behind her. She’s found success and satisfaction from the inside of a sound booth and it allows her to care for her beloved, ailing grandmother. When she arrives in Las Vegas last-minute for a book convention, Sewanee unexpectedly spends a whirlwind night with a charming stranger.
On her return home, Sewanee discovers one of the world’s most beloved romance novelists wanted her to perform her last book—with Brock McNight, the industry’s hottest, most secretive voice. Sewanee doesn’t buy what romance novels are selling—not after her own dreams were tragically cut short—and she stopped narrating them years ago. But her admiration of the late author, and the opportunity to get her grandmother more help, makes her decision for her.
As Sewanee begins work on the book, resurrecting her old romance pseudonym, she and Brock forge a real connection, hidden behind the comfort of anonymity. Soon, she is dreaming again, but secrets are revealed, and the realities of life come crashing down around her once more.
If she can learn to risk everything for desires she has long buried, she will discover a world of intimacy and acceptance she never believed would be hers.
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Praise for Thank You for Listening:
"A perfectly intoxicating delight! Thank You for Listening is a witty, clever, and open-hearted love story full of delicious twists on all your favorite romance tropes. Julia Whelan has already proven herself to be a singular, wry voice in fiction but with Thank You for Listening, she has something truly special: a story so remarkable and original that only she could write it. A must-read for anyone who loves a good love story." -- Taylor Jenkins Reid, New York Times bestselling author
"Thank You for Listening is a fascinating behind-the-scenes peek at the voice actors who bring love stories to life for the rest of us. Mix Julia Whelan’s storytelling ability and smart banter with a cynical romance audiobook narrator who won’t trust a happily ever after and what do you get? Pure magic." -- Jodi Picoult, NYT bestselling author of Wish You Were Here
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Julia Whelan is a screenwriter, lifelong actor, and award-winning audiobook narrator of over 500 titles. Her performance of her own debut novel, the internationally bestselling My Oxford Year, garnered a Society of Voice Arts award. She is also a Grammy-nominated audiobook director, a former writing tutor, a half-decent amateur baker, and a certified tea sommelier.
REVIEW
Thank You for Listening by Julia WhelanMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
This story centers around Sewanee Chester who is an audiobook narrator. Fans of audiobooks will appreciate the insight the author gives into the industry. Julia Whelan is, of course, a narrator herself as well, so her experiences lend true authencity to the character's thoughts and actions. For me personally, this was more of a drawback going in because I have never been able to enjoy audios. (I know, I know! I've tried, trust me.) So I have to say that the thought of reading about this topic did not interest me at all. However, after reading My Oxford Year by this author and adoring it, reading her second book was a no-brainer. I would probably have read anything she wrote regardless of the synopsis.
Sewanee is a former actress who had to let go of her dream of stardom when she had a horrible, fluke accident seven years ago. After graduating Julliard with her best friend, Adaku, she put everything she had into making her dreams come true. Her passion grew from her childhood learning about Hollywood from her grandmother Barbara (AKA Blah Blah) who had been in quite a few films. Imagine being just on the cusp of reaching stardom. You spent years fantasizing and working your butt off to make those fantasies a reality and right when you land your breakthrough role, you have everything snatched away from you in a heartbeat. Sewanee lost everything she ever wanted unexpectedly while being faced with the physical implications of her accident. It was like she was split into two versions of herself: the before and after. Being at peace with your new reality is hard to do when you won't allow yourself to face it head on. So she grew a hard, protective outer shell filled with bitterness and cynicism. She no longer viewed the world through rose colored glasses, and she certainly has no delusions about the dreaded HEA in her love life either.
HEA is too much of a setup.It makes you believe we just need toget back what we lost and life will berainbows forevermore. But it doesn’t addresswhat happens if you try to get it backand fail, does it? There’s also the possibilityit’s not a problem with Romance,it’s a problem with us?
I must admit, it took me some time to feel invested in Sewanee. The book doesn't really delve into her internal struggle in detail until you're well into the story which left me feeling somewhat detached. She could be a bit abrasive at times as one is when you have a big chip on your shoulder from life disappointments/struggles. The author chose to pace the story so that her accident and surrounding emotions had a layer of mystery around them, and while it did create a bigger impact further on, it took me longer to reach her emotionally. There was a quote from Sewanee when she was discussing characters with "Brock" that really resonated with me:
Surface versus substance. That’s the difference between caricature and character.
Without exploring what makes that character who they are emotionally, all you have is a falsely manufactured empty shell. Even though the pay off took some time, Julia Whelan did not skimp on exploring what made Sewanee tick. She pulled this aspect off magnificently with her first book, which I see now is going to be a common denominator with her future releases as well.
The romance with Brock was both original and in the end, ironic. Sewanee and Brock spend a large portion of the book getting to know one another through emails and text. Although they are working on a romance audiobook together, they don't actually meet in person until the episodes are close to being completed. They are both very private people and use pseudonyms in the romance community to protect their identity. But they have an instant ease with one another when writing that quickly graduates to humor and flirting. Their sense of humor seems to fit one another seamlessly and the attraction that grows is based completely on personality rather than appearance. Of course that was very refreshing as the reader, but it also plays into their own separate insecurities about their looks. "Brock" feels that he could never live up to the false expectations that are created from his über sexy narration voice, and Sewanee's has insecurity about her attractiveness after her accident. Long-distance chatting becomes something of a security blanket for both of them, but what happens when their paths cross unexpectedly for the first time? It was quite an entertaining reveal, let's just say that. The irony in their relationship was that the two most cynical people to ever work in the romance audiobook industry have the most romance novel, fateful, meant-to-be relationship from beginning to end. The people who don't believe in fairy tales got the fairy tale romance.
It feels like we fell out of a Romance treeand hit every trope on the way down.” He laughed.“Snowed In.”“Just One Night.”“Epistolary.”“Mistaken Identity.”
Based on other reviews, I think most people loved her grandmother Blah Blah. I loved the special relationship that Sewanee had with her, and the acceleration of her mental illness brought a tear to my eye late in the book but I didn't love her character. After Sewanee recalled a discussion she had with her involving her career, she lost all of the shine gained from her spunky personality and wit.
Overall, I loved the originality of the story. Even though it took a bit to pull me in, I ended up with a smile on my face over how these two characters worked through their personal demons and started a new beginning together. You truly feel as if they are the male and female counterpoint of one whole because their personalities are so complimentary. I'm very much looking forward to seeing reading whatever Julia Whelan decides to write about next.
“What do you want, love?”“I don’t want to be in any book with you anymore.I want to be in real life with you.”“However it may end?”“Yes.”“Happily or not?”She was surprised to find the answer so easy to say. “Yes.”
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