Narrated by Grace Grant and Jason Carpenter
If you’re looking for a feel good, “maid for the cowboy” romance where the big, tall and handsome, and – did I mention – rich, cowboy comes to the rescue of the damsel in distress, then look no further. Sporting one admirable alpha hero, with one undeniable protective streak, When I’m Gone will leave you with the feeling that every heroine, no matter how desperate and down on her luck, is just one hero away from having all her problems solved. Further complementing this happy romance is a solid performance by both Grace Grant and Jason Carpenter.
Two items of caution, though: while the romance is happy, the heroine’s background is not. In fact, as a teenager she is subject to some pretty serious physical and mental abuse at the hands of her step-father and mother, some of which is painfully described at the beginning of the book. Therefore, if this is a trigger for you, this may not be the right listen for you.
Second, When I’m Gone is the eleventh book in the Rosemary Beach Series by Abbi Glines. Although most contemporary romance series function perfectly fine as standalones, as you can imagine, after such a large number of books, quite an intricate web of relationships and prior experiences necessarily color the tight community and Manning family which features so prominently in this series. Therefore, while not absolutely necessary (because enough of the background is briefly summarized) I will note that since I had not listened to the prior books in the series, I did feel a little bit at a loss in a number of the passages that featured a strong influence by previously introduced characters.
Reese Ellis has finally escaped years of abuse by running away from home. Given her inability to read, however, she is extremely limited in the number of jobs she can do to support herself. So when she lands in the playground of the rich and famous in Rosemary Beach, Florida, she considers herself fortunate to have landed a number of cleaning gigs to help her scrape by.
It is on one of these cleaning assignments that she first meets Mase Colt-Manning, a Texas rancher and the son of the famous rock star, Kiro Manning. Mase just happens to be visiting his sister’s home. To Reese’s great horror, however, her first meeting with Mase is over shattered glass after she accidentally wakes him up when she breaks an expensive mirror while cleaning.
Rather than threatening to fire her, however—the response she had expected —Mase actually seems genuinely concerned that she may have hurt herself. So much so, that he ends up sweeping her up off her feet and driving her straight to the hospital.
Reese has never been fortunate enough to have anyone else express concern over her well being before. Therefore, when a number of other incidents lead to Mase continuing to come to her rescue, she can’t help but feel a warm and fuzzy feeling that she keeps trying to quash because why would someone like Mase, who could have anyone he wants, genuinely be concerned about someone like her?
Mase, in return, can’t quite pinpoint what it is about Reese, but every time he’s near her, he can’t help but let his natural proclivity towards helping others shine to the forefront. Soon he is making it his mission to fix all her problems, and having visions of moving her Texas, where he can take care of her full-time. But can someone like Reese, who has only ever had horrible experiences with men, ever take such a leap of faith as it would take to trust, and move away with, Mase?
Grace Grant and Jason Carpenter narrate When I’m Gone in the traditional new adult style with Ms. Grant reading the chapters from Reese’s viewpoint and Mr. Carpenter the ones from Mase’s. This style works pretty well for this story, which is heavily based on the thoughts and feelings of the main characters, by providing natural dividers so that you can easily distinguish whose point of view is being featured at any particular point.
I enjoyed Ms. Grant’s rendition a little more than Mr. Carpenter’s primarily because I felt like Ms. Grant was able to deliver more believable characters of both genders. Mr. Carpenter, in turn, has a husky, male’s voice which worked great for Mase and the other male characters, but like many other male narrators, sounded like a male recreating the female roles which always gives me a little bit of pause. Still, both narrators created slightly nuanced intonations for each one of the characters, adding a sense of haughtiness to some of the more privileged secondary characters and humility to Reese’s dialogue which naturally flowed from the facts of the story.
Both narrators also had good pacing to their performances which easily allows the listener to sit back and enjoy the story, and imbued their parts with adequate emotion, aiding the listener to conceptualize the particular mood of the scene. Therefore, putting aside minor issues with the voicing of a few roles, the narration, as a whole, worked generally well to bring the story to life.
All in all, When I’m Gone was an enjoyable and inspiring listen. If you, like me, love rooting for the underdog, and live for romances with strong alpha heroes, then When I’m Gone, subject to the two cautionary notations above, is sure to hit the right spot.
BJ
Narration: Grace Grant B/Jason Carpenter B-
Book Content: B+
Steam Factor: Glad I had my earbuds in
Violence: Domestic violence
Genre: Contemporary Romance – New Adult
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
When I’m Gone was provided to AudioGals by Simon & Schuster for a review.
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