Editor’s Note: You will find a sound sample (other than that which you find at Audible) below the review.
Narrated by Tanya Eby
Run to You takes readers back to the Texas panhandle town of Lovett, where Gibson set Daisy’s Back in Town 
Gibson left Lovett as a one-off location until last year’s Rescue Me, starting a new series of books loosely related by the location. Run to You is really a road trip story – Rescue Me‘s heroine Sadie has discovered she has a half sister living in Florida, and she convinces her boyfriend to use his connections to bring Stella to Texas after their father dies. Their relationship was a surprise to Sadie, but Stella has known about Sadie all her life. She has long nursed the fantasy that they could meet and be sisters, but she knows the reality of Sadie accepting her bastard half sister couldn’t possibly work. Her career as a bartender employed by a small-time mobster is already in jeopardy when Beau shows up to take her to Texas, so it’s serendipity and maybe a little too coincidental that he agrees to drive her while protecting himself and her from her boss’s mob “friends”.
Beau and Stella have something in common: they’ve each decided that short-term, meaningless relationships are not for them. Beau doesn’t want to follow in his father’s footsteps with a string of one-night stands. He is holding out for The One. As it turns out, Stella feels the same way – she doesn’t want to end up like her mother, knocked up by her employer and raising an unwanted child. So, as strong as the attraction is, each is determined to hold on to their principles. Sorta. Ok, Stella actually thinks they can go pretty far – like past third base – and still stick to their decisions. This allows them to develop the physical side of their attraction while they are traveling to Texas, but is slightly distracting. Instead of enjoying the “ride” as it were, I kept thinking Beau was right and they had left their no-sex-before-marriage vows in the dust.
They also shared ambivalent and conflicting feelings about their fathers. I’m afraid fathers took the rap in this story – Stella’s father wasn’t able to do right by either of his girls. Sadie felt just as slighted as Stella, even though he had been there for her. Beau and his twin brother Blake’s father set a terrible example, and each of them reacted differently; while Beau was careful with his relationships, Blake was the opposite in all things.
The story lost me a little when they finally got to Lovett. There was the issue of the sisters meeting and spending quality time, and some Day in the Life scenes with Beau, Blake and Sadie’s boyfriend, Vince. There was some soul-searching on Beau’s part about his feelings towards his father and about his brother’s potential PTSD, but he didn’t share these feelings with Stella, which leaves her jumping to conclusions.
I liked all the characters and I actually enjoyed a lot of the story, but I felt the declarations of love came out of left field when the story ended. The almost-deal-breaking conflict between Stella and Beau wasn’t so much manufactured as it was confusing – I was left wondering why he didn’t follow up with a phone call to Sadie when he thought Stella had left town. When he finally does call Stella, she won’t answer – but she also wishes he would keep trying. Once again, conflicting feelings take over both of them. Is what they are feeling love? While their relationship built slowly throughout the road trip, after reaching Lovett I lost the thread of it, and had a harder time getting it back.
Tanya Eby gives the story just the right feel – her voice is age-appropriate for the characters, and she has distinct men’s registers for the fellows in the story. Her reading was done with appropriate pacing and the right mix of humor and pathos. She used a slight Texas accent for Sadie, which fit the story, and no accent for Beau and Stella. This is always a good thing – accents are like spice in a story – used just enough to give you the essence! Run to You didn’t rise to the very top of my list of favorite Gibson books, but it’s still a good contemporary romance, narrated by an easy-to-listen-to, experienced voice artist – definitely worth a credit!
Melinda
Narration: A
Book Content: B-
Steam Factor: Glad I had my earbuds in for all that no-sex-before-marriage!
Violence: Minimal
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Publisher: Harper Audio
Run to You was provided to AudioGals for review by Harper Audio.
Sound Sample from Run to You
Hand picked by the Gals to showcase Tanya Eby’s voicing of both the hero and heroine as well as providing an example of the repartee between the two.
I just finished listening. The narration was great and the story was too. That is until it ended an hour too early. Lots of good build up – so much potential and then it all just ends. I felt like we had turned to abridged format all of a sudden. I agree completely with Melinda’s grading.
Up side? We finally get a top notch narrator who understands romance for a Gibson book!