The Liar by Nora Roberts

Narrated by January LaVoy

I am a fan of Nora Roberts’ stand-alone romantic suspense stories; I prefer them to her contemporary trilogies and quartets. The Witness and The Search are among my favourite books. (I am not a re-reader but I make exceptions for some books and The Search is one of them.) I admit I was disappointed by last year’s effort, The Collector. But even a disappointing Nora is better than many offerings around the place. I had high hopes for The Liar when I saw the blurb and I’m happy to say those hopes were largely realised. While not quite as good at The Witness (which I think is the high water mark at present), it was nonetheless a great listen, with a lovely romance and smart characters. I was also delighted by January LaVoy’s narration.

Shelby Foxworth is a 24 year old widow with a nearly-four year old daughter (Callie). Her husband, Richard, died when his boat capsized during a squall. Shelby is horrified to find that Richard left her in terrible debt. She has to sell everything and even then, she still owes hundreds of thousands of dollars. She is even more distraught to find that he lied to her about things other than finances and when she stumbles across a number of false passports, clearly for him from the picture, she wonders whether she ever knew him at all.

She heads home to Rendezvous Ridge in the Tennessee hills. When she’d met Richard, Shelby was singing with a band in Memphis. Caught up in a whirlwind romance, she “ran off” with him and has rarely been home since. Richard controlled their finances and would not let her have cash for travel. While he did not abuse her physically, he did abuse her emotionally and that kept her away from her family as well. She has to make it up to a couple of people when she gets home, but for the most part, she is welcomed back into the bosom of her large, loving family.

More information about Richard’s criminal activities arises after she goes home and danger threatens Shelby and Callie.

Shelby’s best friend from high school, Emma Kate, has recently moved back to Rendezvous Ridge with her partner, Matt. Matt and his business partner, Griffin Lott, have moved their general contracting business from Baltimore and put down roots in Rendezvous Ridge. Griff is almost literally bowled over by Shelby and he falls hard for Callie who quickly wraps him around her gorgeous little finger.

The structure of the story is similar to The Witness in that there is a reasonable section of the book which takes place before Griff is introduced to the mix. But The Liar is not as high stakes as the earlier book. The suspense is a thread which creates a menacing undertone but for much of the novel, the focus is on Shelby rebuilding herself and her life, making a home for her and Callie, and falling in love with Griff.

I found myself falling into the story even though it did not keep me on the edge of my (metaphorical) seat. I enjoyed Shelby and her loving and close family. I, too, fell a little in love with Callie, and Griff was almost perfect and very swoonworthy. While I predicted the ending with regrettable accuracy, I sure had fun getting there.

I’d not heard January LaVoy narrate before. I requested the audiobook for review on the strength of the book’s blurb and Nora’s name so I was very happy to find that Ms. LaVoy’s performance was great. I was very impressed with the myriad character voices she utilised – it seemed to me that each person had a distinct sound. Sometimes this was more by accent (as some of the characters had the Tennessee drawl – or should that be twang?) but I can only admire her ability to differentiate such a large cast so effectively.

The only character voice I wasn’t in love with was for Matt, Griff’s business partner, who sounded a bit like he’d been sipping from helium balloons, but as he wasn’t the hero and didn’t have a lot of dialogue, I was able to give it a pass.

I was particularly impressed by Callie’s portrayal. She sounded so cute and adorable!

I noticed only a very few vocal errors – once or twice there was a “his” instead of “her” or vice versa and there were a couple of occasions where I think there was some confusion as to which character voice to use because they kind of switched mid-conversation – but these were small niggles in an otherwise very strong performance.

Even though the suspense was mostly low key in this book, I kept trying to find more time to listen because I was just so entertained. Both the story and the narration kept me glued to my iPod. I can definitely see more of Ms. LaVoy’s narration in my future. And I think La Nora is back in good form. *throws streamers*

Kaetrin

Narration: B+

Book Content: B+

Steam Factor: Glad I had my earbuds in

Violence: Fighting

Genre: Romantic Suspense

Publisher: Brilliance Audio

The Liar was provided to AudioGals by Brilliance Audio for review.