Narrated by Alexander Cendese and Amanda Ronconi
Take one Hollywood hunky star coming back from a scandal, and one down-on-her-luck fashion-designer-wannabe, now working as a wardrobe assistant on a Hollywood set – put them together to set the scene for Wardrobe Malfunction. Vaughn West is at the peak of his Hollywood stardom when his best friend and girlfriend betray him – very publicly – causing him to spin out of control. This movie is his last chance to regain his reputation, so he’s sworn off liquor and women to concentrate on his career. When the wardrobe assistant pins him, well, in an awkward place, sparks fly. First comes anger then comes lust as Vaughn notices Charly Michaels, assigned to keep him clothed on the set. Pretty soon she’s finding it hard to keep either one of them clothed, as it turns out. And – as it turns out – she’s got a little bit of past she hasn’t shared with him.
This is the Really Hunky #1 Hollywood Star falls for normal (-ish) girl trope – Charly has dreams of becoming a famous fashion designer but has to make a living somehow while waiting to be discovered, so she travels around the globe doing wardrobe gigs. She lives a fairly comfortable, if on the edge, life in New York with her roommate, Nick, a friend from art school. Of course, what woman doesn’t have a star crush on The Vaughn West, so when a friend asks her to fill in on the set, she drops everything to spend 2 months up close and personal with Vaughn. Who knew they would find each other irresistible? They both agree to keep their budding relationship a secret from everyone, to keep out of the press – and also for Charly’s past that she somehow has to find the courage to tell him about.
The Big Secret was something kept also from the reader until the press outs them near the end, unleashing The Big Mis (misunderstanding) that threatens to tank their HEA. I guess for a stand-alone book based on a fairly oft-used trope, I should not have been surprised the author relied on other oft-used fallbacks, like having Grandma practically be deus ex machina near the end to help Vaughn and Charly get back on track. It’s romance, it’s the end of the book – no, I didn’t feel any anxiety over whether they would make it work.
I actually bought this book based mostly on the strength of Amanda Ronconi’s narrations. She is totally an A-list narrator of quirky, humorous romance, and her dry wit shows well in this book too. Her delivery is well-paced and very easy to listen to, and her character differentiation is well-done. She has terrific comedic timing and was able to really bring out the fun and funny in the story. She doesn’t place men’s voices quite as low as some other female narrators, but she uses other ways to identify the hero and the other male characters. There were some moments of emotion, and she infuses just the right tone to the narration for these parts too. Her counterpart Alexander Cendese, however, is a conundrum. He delivers the prologue, the scene where his girlfriend and his best friend reveal their true colors, wonderfully. I love his acting, and his Vaughn voice was just exactly as I would expect. His pace is often fast – sometimes almost running words and phrases together – but it generally seems to suit the mood he is setting with his voice. But oh. my. god. In the prologue, when the girlfriend spoke, I nearly drove off the road. What is this cartoony voice? At the end of the prologue when I realized the girlfriend was soon to be the ex, I sighed in relief – so he made the ex cartoony on purpose, I thought!
Nope.
When he voiced Charly, I figured all was lost. And Grandma (“Gran”). And mom. Arg. Seriously? Has the man never heard a woman speak? He didn’t give Vaughn a Popeye voice, why give Charly Olive Oyl? So he gets A for all the men’s voices, of which there were a few, and that he gave fully-differentiated characterizations to, and a D– for all of the women’s voices. Boo! Hiss! Don’t voice the heroine as a ninny, you ninny!
All in all, it was mildly entertaining and sort of frustrating. Some of the situations went deep into major eye roll territory and Mr Cendese really needs to develop a credible woman’s voice to turn his narration around. Maybe if it was in the Audible Romance package? I’m just not sure I can go as far as “worth a credit”.
PS: 70-year-old men generally don’t sound the way Cendese voiced Gran’s boyfriend either, but I would totally let that pass if he could do a better Charly. As I approach my golden years, I admit I’m a little more sensitive to what comes across as ageism in both the prose and the narration. We who are or will soon be covered by Medicare don’t wish to be made sport of! Here too, Ronconi was the star, giving Gran a more full-throated character and not at all cartoony. Other narrators would do well to take note. Authors too. Just sayin’.
Melinda
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