Then Came You by Jill Shalvis

Narrated by Karen White

When I read Then Came You, the latest installment in the Animal Magnetism series, in ebook, I liked it about 3 1/2 stars worth. It was a pleasant beach-read kind of book, with interesting-enough characters but a story that seemed all over the place. Newly-graduated veterinarian Emily met Wyatt, a veterinarian at the featured animal clinic in the series, at a conference in Las Vegas where they shared a hot, no-last-names, one night stand. When she arrives for her year interning in Sunshine, Idaho, suddenly she’s confronted with knowing she slept with her new boss (think opening episode of Grey’s Anatomy).

Emily is a planner – she feels she needs to control her life by having a goal with no sidetracking, and Sunshine is just a 365-day piece of her plan to become a rich LA veterinarian to the stars so she can support her father and sister. She wants no part of a long term relationship – with her boss – in some small town in the middle of nowhere. Wyatt, on the other hand, likes to let everyone make their own decisions because he was never given choices as a child, being dragged around the world by his jet-setting parents, moving 20 times in 15 years. He let his ex-fiancee decide whether to marry him or travel the world with Doctors Without Borders, and now he’s single. He doesn’t want to get involved with another woman who’s got one foot out the door. So, they’re made for each other, right?

The writing is good, and their story is cute – Emily and Wyatt keep jumping each other in random, not-safe-for-work places and then remembering why a relationship between them isn’t a good idea. Karen White’s fitting narration brings more life to the story than my reading did – and she’s really a pro at the animal dialog, with a mouthy parrot and a cantankerous cat having a fair amount of  dialogue*. Her voices for all the human characters are also excellent, down to the cowboy/rancher drawl and all the various personalities in the story. While the dialog isn’t laugh-out-loud funny, there are some humorous moments which White delivers with just the right touch. But I did get tired of Emily’s wishy-washy attitude and her inability to ask Wyatt for what she wanted. I also found the slight suspense thread did not work for me; it felt as if it were imposed on the story just to make Wyatt show his alpha protectiveness and it weakened Emily’s character. Overall, a fun, not-too-deep read, despite my quibbles.

(*not actual spoken dialog, well, the parrot says words, the cat just meows)

Melinda

Narration: A

Book Content: B

Steam Factor: Glad I had my earbuds in

Violence: None

Genre: Contemporary Romance (small town)

Publisher: Tantor Audio

Then Came You was offered to AudioGals by Tantor Audio for a review, but I had already purchased my own copy, so I didn’t wait for the review copy. Just sayin’.

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