Narrated by Heather Smith
Chloe Patterson – former beauty pageant queen – is on the verge of marrying the perfect guy when it dawns on her, almost too late, it’s a big mistake, being forced on her by her mother. Sure, he’s rich, he’s good looking, he’s – well, maybe a little less than average in bed…
Mai Tai’d Up is Book 4 in the Cocktail series.Don’t let the title fool you, it’s not about getting tied up, it’s just a catchy cocktail title! Chloe ditches the groom, runs out on the marriage at the last minute, and retreats to her father’s northern California ranch to find herself. What does a former beauty queen do for a living? She decides to do the one thing she has a passion for – dog rescue. Pit bull rescue, to be exact. This puts her in a working relationship with the sexy veterinarian Lucas Campbell. While they feel the strong sparks of attraction, as it turns out, Lucas was left at the altar by his fiancee not too long ago, so neither one of them is in the mood for a rebound relationship. Chloe decides maybe Lucas doesn’t really need to know the circumstances of her own failed attempt at marriage either. After all, they’re just friends – right?
Once again, Clayton spins a tale that walks the line between chick-lit and romance – it’s told in first person from Chloe’s POV only, and a good bit of the story is Chloe’s personal growth as she discovers who she is as an adult, without her mother’s strong influence. The development of Our Gang, the Pit Bull rescue, is truly heartwarming, and she gives Pit Bulls and rescue dogs a lot of real estate in the book, which I enjoyed. She also gives Chloe and Lucas time to develop as friends long before they give into their attraction, another plus in the storytelling. Chloe’s family is fairly dysfunctional, which Lucas gets to experience, while Lucas’ family is slightly more “normal” – his father is also a veterinarian, and they work together.
Heather Smith has narrated all the books in the series and really, she does a bang-up job. While her style is pretty much the same, she does make each of the books sound a little different. She uses just a slight pitch and tone differentiation between the two main characters, and suitable accent and acting choices for the mother (the world’s most subtle drama queen) and other characters, like Lucas’ cousin and his fiancee. Once again, I want to note that Smith does take audible breaths – this time, I listened to most of it with the phone in my paper cup speaker, and frankly the cup doesn’t give much depth to the sound, so I wasn’t as aware of the breathing. YMMV.
I really enjoyed this one even more than Wallbanger! Full disclosure: I have a rescue dog, so maybe I’m prejudiced. Also a note: as one disappointed Audible reviewer pointed out, the blurb at Audible is not exactly accurate – I’m not sure why they didn’t just copy the blurb from Amazon, but there are no moonlit sails with two bottles of wine – in fact, no sailing, knot tying, or wine drinking is done at all that I heard. That, however, did not diminish my enjoyment in any way.
Melinda
Narration: B+
Book Content: B+
Steam Factor: Glad I had my earbuds in (although, I actually did listen out loud but that’s because no one was around)
Violence: Minimal – animal abuse is discovered but not too detailed, just enough to let you know
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Publisher: Simon & Schuster Audio
Mai Tai’d Up was provided to AudioGals by Simon & Schuster Audio for review.
A heroine after my own heart! I’ve worked as volunteer in dog rescue centers since I was a teen and currently have several rescued dogs living at home. Great review, Melinda!