Narrated by Heather Smith
Having been a huge fan of Wallbanger, the hilarious, romantic tale of the very unusual path towards the coupling of Caroline and Simon, I just knew that I had to listen to this sequel, Rusty Nailed. There is just something familiar about a sequel involving a loved couple that now must navigate the treacherous, potentially monotonous waters of everyday life coupledom. Bearing a resemblance to a cross between the 1990s/2000s Friends and Sex in the City TV shows, Rusty Nailed is an interesting study of how Caroline and Simon negotiate the intricacies of life together while at the same time pursuing their own careers. It also delves deeply into affairs of their friends’ relationships and the delicate nature of these friends’ interrelationships.
Rusty Nailed takes place a little after Wallbanger. Caroline and Simon have been together for about a year and are still trying to figure out how their relationship will work given each person’s specific career demands. In Simon’s case, he is constantly traveling as a National Geographic photographer, and in Caroline’s, it means assuming even more responsibilities when her boss gets married and decides to take an “open-ended” honeymoon, leaving Caroline in charge.
Adding further conflict to their everyday lives are Neil and Sophia, one of the two couples who started dating at around the time that Caroline and Simon met, and who have now broken up. As Neil was Simon’s friend before Neil and Sophia became a couple and Sophia was Caroline’s, they must now learn how to remain friends without completely picking sides, especially when the reasons underlying Neil and Sophia’s breakup, beg the question of what constitutes cheating.
In addition, to all the tension they are already facing, Caroline and Simon are asked to house sit for Caroline’s boss while she is away. Does this mean they have now moved in together? Then Simon drops the biggest bomb of all; he’s tired of traveling so much and wants Caroline home more too. Can Caroline and Simon manage to find common ground amidst this chaos? Are they ready to take their relationship to the next level?
While Rusty Nailed did not contain as many completely, hilarious laugh-out-loud scenes as Wallbanger, there is definitely still some witty dialogue that will conjure up a few laughs. Where I found the biggest difference is in the plot development. Whereas Wallbanger keeps you largely entertained with its very unique path to love, Rusty Nailed takes on more of an everyday common theme. As a consequence, I found at different points that it just didn’t grab my attention, especially when compared to Wallbanger. For me, romance audiobooks are supposed to be a fantasy. I love being transported to another time and place where I get to experience someone else’s journey towards finding their HEA. In most cases, the more far flung from my reality the better. In this case, Rusty Nailed just felt too much like normal life.
The narration also contained one of my pet peeves. Repeatedly throughout the entire story you can hear Heather Smith take audible breaths. Given her fast manner of delivery, which is appropriately suited to Alice Clayton’s witty, quick type of dialogue, the breathing issue can become even more pronounced in certain passages giving the performance an overall breathless sound. I always find that this effect, which could possibly be eliminated in the editing process, is distracting as it draws the listener’s attention to it, rather than the substance of the story.
Putting aside the breathing issues, Ms. Smith renders a decent performance even though I would have liked Simon to have had a deeper voice. In my head, Wallbanger is a supremely sexy man, who therefore must have the impressive, low, husky drawl to back up the sex god image. At least, however, I was satisfied that he sounded dissimilar enough to Caroline allowing for easy differentiation. Ms. Smith also created distinguishable secondary characters, even amongst those of the same gender.
Perhaps where Ms. Smith excelled the most was in her depiction of Caroline. Although a little over dramatic at times, I think this style is well suited for Caroline’s wacky, comical nature. As I had read, not listened to Wallbanger, I already had a rather vivid idea in my head as to what Caroline should sound like. Ms. Smith’s portrayals, and style, matched my mental image.
All in all, if you are looking for more of Caroline and Simon, as well as their cast of friends, Rusty Nailed is a fitting story. There’s nothing groundbreaking here but rather more like walking in a pair of well-worn shoes. It’s comfortable and definitely worth a few good laughs to boot. If you are sensitive to breathing issues in audiobooks, however, I would suggest that you read, rather than listen to this title.
BJ
Narration: C-
Book Content: C+
Steam Factor: For your burning ears only
Violence: None
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
Rusty Nailed was provided to AudioGals by Simon and Schuster for a review.
This was entertaining, but not really necessary to the series.
I totally agree with you Krista. I think this was really more Alice Clayton acquiescing to her audience who loved Wallbanger so much that they wanted more of Caroline and Simon.