Narrated by Erin Bennett
Ever since I discovered Karina Halle’s Artists trilogy in the spring of 2014, I’ve been a devoted fan. Although I’m most drawn to her dark romances, her traditional New Adult titles never disappoint. Racing the Sun, book 2 in Ms. Halle’s Where Sea Meets Sky series is no exception, further cementing Ms. Halle’s place on my auto buy list of authors.
Twenty-four-year-old Amber McLean has spent the last six months backpacking through Australia, New Zealand and southwest Asia. She’s had a wonderful time, spent lots of money, and basically put her real life on hold. Now though, Amber is being forced to face reality. Stranded on the coast of Italy with no money to buy a plane ticket home, she is forced to settle for a job as a nanny to two horribly behaved children who need to learn English. This is in no way her dream job, but beggars can’t be choosers, and Amber’s sure she can stick it out long enough to get the funds she needs.
As one might imagine, things aren’t as easy as Amber imagined they would be. Her young charges are complete brats, and Derio, their darkly handsome older brother and primary caregiver unsettles Amber in ways she can’t really explain. She feels things for him she hasn’t felt before, and she’s not sure what to do with such feelings. After all, she’s not planning to stay in Italy forever.
Dario is a darkly brooding hero. His life used to be pretty glamorous, but now he’s stuck taking care of his siblings. A part of him longs to be back racing motorcycles, but, in spite of everything, he has a deeply ingrained sense of loyalty to his family that keeps him at home. Amber’s arrival both frustrates and intrigues Derio, but he knows better than to become too attached to the impetuous beauty.
I loved the setting of this story. Southern Italy has to be one of the most romantic settings I’ve had the pleasure to lose myself in. Ms. Halle’s writing brings it to life beautifully, and her fully developed characters seemed to leap right out of my iPad. Both Amber and Derio have qualities that frustrated me, but this only added to the realism of the story. I felt like I was reading about real people who struggled with honest, human concerns.
I’ve listened to narrator Erin Bennett previously, and although she doesn’t top my list of favorite narrators, I found her performance here to be mostly solid. Her Italian accent is quite good, and her characters are well-differentiated and seem in line with what the author intended. There were a few times when her attempts to make Derio sound sexy were a bit too over the top for my liking, but this did not happen often.
Some narrators excel at voicing children. Unfortunately, Ms. Bennett is not one of them. Her depictions came out on the squeaky side, and made me cringe more than once. Fortunately, the rest of the narration made up for this flaw.
If you’re looking for a sexy romance with a lush setting and fully fleshed out characters, I recommend Racing the Sun. It stands nicely on its own, so prior knowledge of the series is not necessary. It’s one of those stories that leaves you with a smile and a warm glow after you’ve finished it.
Shannon
Narration: B
Book Content: B+
Steam Factor: Glad I had my earbuds in
Violence Rating: Fighting
Genre: Contemporary Romance - New Adult
Publisher: Tantor Audio
Racing the Sun was provided to AudioGals by Tantor Audio for a review.
[jwl-utmce-widget id=32435]
