Fools Rush In by Kristan Higgins

Fools Rush InNarrated by Xe Sands

I glommed Kristan Higgins in e-books in 2011 (7 titles at the time) and my review of those was that I loved all of them, although reading them all in a row showed me some basic similarities to the stories. The heroine is from a small town where the story takes place, and sometimes she is returning after spending time away; usually she has a sibling who was more popular, more favored when they were growing up; the heroine often had a crush on someone who doesn’t end up being her HEA. Fools Rush In is the first book, published in 2006.

Millie has just returned to her hometown to start practicing medicine, a lifelong dream. She inherited her grandmother’s Cape Cod cottage, and has been fixing it up; she gets a rescue dog; there’s just one more thing on her checklist: Joe Carpenter. She developed her crush on the local dreamboat in high school – he’s so strikingly good looking, he’s been known to cause fender benders in the local streets when women drivers see him. But he hasn’t noticed Millie, whose awkward adolescence included a little extra weight and braces. Her plan is to put herself in his way often enough that he has to see how they are perfect for each other – and it works!

The overall story arc is more like women’s fiction/chick lit – told from first person point of view, Millie is career- and goal-driven, focusing on the things she just knows will make her happy: marrying Joe Carpenter, having a family and a career and a dog. What she learns is that sometimes the things that make you happy are right in front of your face, though, and they aren’t necessarily on your list.

Typical of Higgins’ style, there’s a lot of humor, slap-stick, physical things as well as ironic situations. This is a trait she has honed to a fine point over time, so that revisiting this one showed me how her writing has developed; it wasn’t fully developed in this book. Also, the main characters don’t get much page time to develop their relationship, which is a little frustrating.

I was really glad to see her earlier books being released in audio and even more pleased to see it’s Xe Sands narrating them. The more recent releases have a different narrator whose delivery never seems to relay the humorous tone for me, plus I find Sands’ voice more natural and pleasing to the ear. She did a good job with this one, which takes place in New England/Cape Cod – there are references to the local accent, which she conveys without going overboard. Her rendition of male voices works well, contrasted both with pitch and also with placement so that I was never confused about who was speaking.

It was fun to revisit (full disclosure: after I finished the book, I had to comb through my various book organizational systems to see if I had ever read it, because I did not remember anything; luckily, I had written a review in 2011.) Contemporary romantic comedy is my favorite pastime, and I enjoyed Fools Rush In!

Melinda


Narration: A-

Book Content: B-

Steam Factor: Glad I had my earbuds in (but at the very tame end)

Violence Rating: None

Genre: Contemporary Romance

Publisher: Recorded Books

 

 

 

[jwl-utmce-widget id=32435]

2 thoughts on “Fools Rush In by Kristan Higgins

  1. This one received an A from me for narration and an A for content. Higgins earlier books such as this one are some of my favorite contemporary romances. So thrilled to see another recently released (Just One of the Guys) with Xe narrating and I’m keeping an eye on new releases for more. Fingers crossed!

Comments are closed.