Park Avenue Prince by Louise Bay

Narrated by Andi Arndt and Sebastian York

The hits (and near-misses) just keep coming from Louise Bay, with a new story in what isn’t labeled a series but features some characters from a previous book (The King of Wall Street, Max and Harper). (Sounds like a series to me, by the way.) While Max was the King, Sam Shaw is the Park Avenue Prince – he wasn’t born into money, he grew up with nothing, not even a family, and made his billions on his own, going from retail sales to real estate. Now he’s the owner of a few buildings in Manhattan, and this new swanky condo on Park Avenue. Because success to him doesn’t include “collecting” anything that doesn’t increase in value, he owns a mattress and a battered, hand-me-down couch as his only furniture in his home, while his 5-figure suits and his swanky office suite display his success to the world. His closest friend, Angie, whom he met in foster care, is worried – this doesn’t seem the way to live and she’s shocked when he tells her he’s hired an art consultant to help him invest. He and the art consultant head to an opening at a new gallery, where a young artist is being featured.

Over at the art gallery, Grace Astor is gearing up for her gallery’s new opening, featuring the art of her ex-boyfriend, the one who was boinking his assistant in her office a few weeks back. Grace is the polar opposite of Sam Shaw – she’s a Park Avenue Princess from head to toe. She grew up in the building where Sam now owns an apartment. But she wants to make it on her own, with her own money, so she is banking on the artist she knows to be talented even if he is a cheating man-whore. She has always been drawn to the starving artist types, because she’s a fixer – she wants to help everyone make it in the world. When Sam Shaw meets Grace Astor, sparks fly, and Sam decides he’d rather have Grace than his paid consultant helping him navigate the art world – so he makes that happen.

This story had some small, meaty bites to it, but all in all left me with some questions. How is it that a Park Avenue Princess who wants to run her own Manhattan art gallery has never attended an art auction before? And how did she manage to miss her parents all those times she went to Sam’s apartment? (She did run into them once.) I’m not sure I’d get away with not stopping by to greet the folks, to be honest, even though her relationship with them was, well, complicated.

One of the major storylines of the book is Grace helping Sam fill up his life – it was a little corny but he apparently needed permission from someone to let go of his fear of losing things, things he wouldn’t allow himself to buy and enjoy, like art, furniture, even dishes and matching glasses. He and Grace bargained for the things they allowed each other to have – he would buy a sofa if she would go out with him; she would get a tattoo if he would buy a dining room table. He was manipulative and pushy, maybe more than I was comfortable with, but still, I was entertained.

What keeps this middling story from a lower grade? The amazing dual narration team of Andi Arndt and Sebastian York. They have completely cornered the market on the contemporary romance in first person genre, with each protagonist having time in your head. Arndt has a very natural pacing and delivery that sounds as if she’s in the passenger seat, keeping you entertained on a road trip with the story of her life. Her voice and characterizations work in both genders, all ages, and multiple (while slight) regional, US accents. Her Sam voice is pleasantly low and attractive – it’s a total win. Of course, everyone loves Sebastian’s basso renditions of these cocky, alpha heroes, and he does it again with Sam Shaw, delivering him with the usual great pacing. He’s mastered the art of speaking women’s dialogue as well, going only slightly higher in pitch but softening a bit. It’s very easy to follow the various speakers, both from Grace’s and Sam’s points of view, because both Arndt and York are amazing at creating various differentiated voices. Between the two of them, they raise the level of a mediocre story – and I’m not alone in that opinion, if you read Audible reviews.

Recommended mostly for fans of this 2-narrator format in contemporary romance, at around 7 hours, it’s pretty compact – just perfect for fitting into your weekend, when you’re in the mood for romance delivered by two audiobook stars!

Melinda

Narration: A

Book Content: C+

Steam Factor: Glad I had my earbuds in

Violence Rating: None

Genre: Contemporary Romance

Publisher: Louise Bay