The Winning Season by Alison Packard

The Winning SeasonNarrated by Jane Pfitsch

What a great followup to a debut novel! Although there is a 2.5 novella title in the series, making The Winning Season #3 in the Feeling the Heat series, this book features the bad boy baseball player set up in Book 1 as the obvious next hero. Matt Scanlon’s attitude on life took a major turn for the worse in Book 1, Love in the Afternoon, which got him traded to a rival team, the San Francisco Blaze, a team with no chance of making it to the playoffs. Love’s heroine Kayla and her sister Kelly have always been big fans of the Blaze, however – so much so, that Kelly has just landed her dream job in the marketing department for the team. Now her biggest nightmare is Matt, who refuses to even talk to the media. If she can’t get him to cooperate, her job is on the line. And neither one of them has ever let on that they met (in Book 1), where a war of words was begun.

Both Matt and Kelly have secrets – and Kelly’s is revealed early on: she has overcome an eating addiction and bulimia. Ms. Packard’s treatment of this serious syndrome is remarkable and sensitive; when Kelly realizes someone else in her department might be suffering from something similar, Kelly struggles both with her own feelings and with her desire to help the woman who must first recognize it in herself. Matt’s secret is not more serious, but is the crux of the climax of the novel after they have finally buried the hatchet and opened up to their mutual attraction. When his secret is revealed to the press, he assumes Kelly, as the only person he has told, has betrayed him. The story is well-written and compelling (although Packard used the word “bemused” when I think she meant “amused”, which I found bemusing) and I will definitely be reading/listening to the rest of the series.

And what a delightful surprise was Jane Pfitsch as narrator! With only one bobble that I caught (please, ‘mischievous’ is three syllables: Miss – Chi – Vus, not Miss Cheeee Vi Us!), she delivered a well-paced narration with a terrific handle on creating different characters. Her voice is clear and upbeat and very pleasant to listen to. She did use a lower pitch to denote the hero, so that the protagonists are easy to identify. But she did not always use pitch to make the gender distinction, so that once or twice I was confused about who was speaking. She did have other ways of distinguishing the players – using a slightly more nasal sound for one, giving another a slight whiny sound – that really worked well. Her bio indicates she has a lot of acting background, which shows to her advantage. There were a few of those subtle but annoying things in the recording – more than once, I heard her take audible swallows that had nothing to do with the narration, something that the producer or director should have caught. These are all very small quibbles that detracted some from the overall performance, but all in all I was very pleased and impressed – yay! A good new-to-me narrator!

Melinda


Narration: B+

Book Content: B+

Steam Factor: Glad I had my earbuds in

Violence: None

Genre: Contemporary romance (sports figure hero)

Publisher: Carina Press

 

 

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