Someone Else’s Love Story by Joshilyn Jackson

Narrated by Joshilyn Jackson

I’ve been a huge fan of Joshilyn Jackson’s writing since 2006. When I saw Someone Else’s Love Story on Audible, I had to have it. I gobble her books like candy as soon as they’re released and, by the time a new one comes out, I’ve experienced something akin to withdrawal. Okay, maybe that’s a slight exaggeration, but not much of one, I assure you.

As usual, I sped through this book. Jackson has a way of writing that draws the listener in, and the fact that she narrates her own work is a definite bonus, but more on that later.

This is the story of Shandi Pierce, a young woman who has spent most of her life in a rural Georgia town. She has a three-year-old son who was conceived under rather strange circumstances, parents who have been divorced for most of her life, and, by her own admission, no idea what romantic love really is. When Shandi’s father asks her to move to Atlanta for a year, her life changes in ways she never expected.

On the way to Atlanta, Shandi is involved in a robbery, and is held hostage by the robber. It is there she meets William Ash, a darkly brooding man who Shandi believes can save them all. After all, he put himself between a loaded gun and her beloved little boy, and this is all it takes for Shandi to fall head over heels for a man she barely knows.

William lost his daughter in a car accident exactly one year before the robbery. Since then, he has merely existed, losing himself in his work as a geneticist, and refusing to think of his wife or his daughter. The robbery changes the way he views the world, just as it does for Shandi. Could it be that these two are meant to spend the rest of their lives together? Shandi certainly thinks so, but William hasn’t a clue.

Not only am I a huge fan of Jackson’s writing, but of her narration as well. Sometimes, authors don’t read their work at all well, but this isn’t the case with Jackson. She knows just how each character should sound, and how much emotion each scene should contain. The fact that she is a Georgia native brings a sense of authenticity to her narration that I don’t often find when listening to audiobooks. She is able to create a wide range of southern accents, depending on whether the character lives in the city, or in the country as Shandi does.

William has Aspergers Syndrome and, not only does Jackson write his character well, she reads him well too. He rarely speaks with inflection, which is typical of someone on the autism spectrum. She manages to give his speech the flatness it requires without detracting from his humanity. I give her props for this.

Every character is distinctly voiced. Jackson is quite capable of speaking in a lower register for the male characters, and a higher one for the women. There are subtle differences in the ways characters of the same sex speak, so the listener always knows who is speaking.

I love the way Jackson reads Shandi’s son Nathan. He’s three, and an absolute genius. She gives him a very serious voice, but imbues it with a youthful quality that fits her written description of him to a tee. When you listen to her read his character, you don’t get the impression she’s trying too hard to sound like a child. Instead, it comes off so naturally.

Someone Else’s Love Story is more of a romance than Jackson’s previous books. It still falls into the general fiction category, but the romance element is strong. It takes us places we don’t necessarily expect, which is one of the things that causes it to stand out for me. I had no idea what was going to happen until it actually happened. This was anything but a formulaic romance.

Shannon

Narration:  A

Book Content:  A

Steam Factor:  You can play it out loud

Violence:  A cross between Escalated Fighting and Domestic

Genre:  General Fiction

Publisher:  Harper Audio