Narrated by Jillian Macie
Being a lover of alpha heroes, I took one look at this title, and knew I had to listen to it! Having previously listened to one of Jessica Clare’s prior titles, The Wrong Billionaire’s Bed, I also knew that I would enjoy Ms. Clare’s mix of contemporary romance with a bit of humor and steamy, passionate love scenes. The Care and Feeding of an Alpha Male, generally delivers on all these fronts, and even includes a little suspense and a few crucial plot twists, to add to its allure. But it also unnecessarily overdelivered in one of those aspects.
Knowing that this was a small-town romance, I innocently expected a little heat. But what I got was so much more, that after a few scenes I found myself fast-forwarding through them (some of which were fifteen minutes or longer). These weren’t necessarily plain vanilla scenes either. It’s not anything I haven’t previously read or listened to before, but it was so unexpected, given this book’s description, and so gratuitous for this kind of story, that I felt it cheapened it for me. Without this issue, I would have given this story a B+.
Beth Ann Williamson, the belle of Bluebonnet, Texas, is finally done with her “perfect” on-again, off-again fiancé, Allen. As the daughter of the small town’s mayor, she understands the value of discretion when it comes to her public life, so she doesn’t tell others about Allen’s philandering ways. Of course, this just means that the whole town believes that they are still together or will eventually reconcile.
When she moves out of Allen’s house, she decides to be self-sufficient for the first time in her life, so Beth Ann opens up her own business – a salon. Things aren’t easy, but she’s learning to get by, even if everyone assumes that her attempt at playing the businesswoman will only be short-lived.
Ex-marine and survivalist, Colt Waggoner, is the exact opposite of the type of person that anyone in Bluebonnet would associate with Beth Ann. Born on the wrong side of tracks, and having grown-up in a trailer, most of the town considers him to be “white trash”.
Having gone to high school with Beth Ann, Colt has steered clear of her most of his adult life, assuming her to be a spoiled princess. One day that changes when during a storm, he gets an opportunity to teach her a lesson. What starts out as revenge, quickly leads to passion, and he neglects to tell her that they really aren’t stranded. One thing leads to another, and Colt and Beth Ann end up exploring a lot more than just the wild wilderness on their off-road weekend.
Expecting nothing more than a one (or two) night stand, both are extremely surprised when they can’t stop thinking of each other, which leads to an attempt to date. But the small town of Bluebonnet is not going to stand idly by and let this great catastrophe take place, never mind that Allen has made it his mission to win Beth Ann back. Can Beth Ann and Colt beat the odds to find a HEA, especially when certain crucial truths are revealed?
My earlier Clare listen provided me with the opportunity to hear Jillian Macie’s narrative style and I knew I would generally enjoy it, and she delivered as expected. Ms. Macie effectively creates believable females and males and, specifically with this book, appropriate accents and class differentiations. While a few of the same gendered characters sounded similar, this affected a very small part of the book, and, for the most part, did not detract from my experience.
All of the main characters have southern accents, befitting of the story’s setting in Bluebonnet, Texas. She used what I assume is her natural, unaccented voice for the general narrative, which aided in clearly distinguishing the identity of each speaker.
I especially enjoyed Ms. Macie’s rendition of Beth Ann which she imbues with just the right touch of southern accent and sweetness to expertly bring her personality to life. While Colt’s may not be my favorite hero performance, it certainly was appropriate for this deep-woods, small southern town boy. So all in all, I think Ms. Macie did a good job of developing story specific depictions for this cast.
I enjoyed this book’s underlying message that you shouldn’t judge others by their appearances. If you like rooting for the underdog, and love your romances extra steamy, then The Care and Feeding of an Alpha Male may be a decent choice for your next listen.
BJ
Narration: B
Book Content: C+
Steam Factor: For your burning ears only (X 10)!
Violence: Minimal Fighting
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Publisher: Tantor Audio
The Care and Feeding of an Alpha Male was provided to AudioGals for review by Tantor Audio.
