Beginner’s Luck by Kate Clayborn

Narrated by Carly Robins and Will Damron

Kate Clayborn’s Chance of a Lifetime series is a trilogy about three friends who, on impulse, buy a lottery ticket and end up winning the jackpot. The books published so far – Beginner’s Luck and Luck of the Draw (the final book, Best of Luck, will be released in November) – have been highly recommended, and that, together with the combined appeal of two experienced narrators who have both received praise here at AudioGals decided me on giving this one a try. I’m glad I did; Beginner’s Luck is an enjoyable, sexy romance between complex, well-defined characters who grow as individuals throughout the story; there’s a small but fully-rounded secondary cast and the various relationships – friendship and familial – are skilfully drawn.

Ekaterina – Kit – Averin is pretty happy with her life. She has a job she enjoys at the local university, good friends she loves… and although she wishes she was able to see a bit more of her older brother Alex, a globe-trotting photographer, life is good. After the lottery win, she decides to use some of her money to obtain something she’s always desperately wanted, but never really had – a home. Her mother left when Kit was a baby and her father was – is – addicted to alcohol and gambling, so her childhood wasn’t particularly stable. Alex, who is her half-brother, was only five at the time her mother left, but he took on the responsibility of caring for Kit and pretty much raised her. Now, Kit craves stability and wants to make herself a home; she falls in love with an old house in need of a lot of TLC and refurbishment and buys it.

Ben Tucker grew up in the same town, but after a bit of a tumultuous young adulthood, left as soon as he was able and now lives in Houston, where he works for a large pharmaceutical company as a head-hunter. He doesn’t return home to Barden often, but his father has recently broken his leg in a fall and Ben takes leave from his job to help care for him, which also provides Ben with the opportunity to approach a local scientist that Beaumont Materials is interested in recruiting for their research and development department.

On arrival at the university lab where E. Averin works, Ben realises he’s gone into the situation woefully unprepared, because said E. Averin is obviously annoyed by his unexpected visit, not at all receptive to the idea of moving from academia to the private sector… and a lovely young woman to boot. She’s prickly and highly intelligent and makes clear her disinterest in his offer right away, sending Ben away with a flea in his ear – but he can’t stop thinking about her afterwards. Even though he’s got his hands full looking after his father and helping to run the family business – a salvage yard that specialises in furniture, building materials and household fittings – he decides he owes Kit an apology for his behaviour when they met and also sets about finding out as much about her as he can.

Kit hasn’t been able to put Ben out of her mind either, no matter how annoyed she was at his attitude and assumptions she’d be keen to turn her back on everything she knows and loves. So what if he was the handsomest man she’s ever seen? Men like him are overbearing, presumptuous and ruthless, just like the sorts of corporations he represents. But still, when a package from Ben arrives at the lab, she can’t help but be curious to see what it contains – and is surprised to discover it’s an apology. An incredibly thoughtful apology. The box contains a couple of drawer handles that will match the rest of the ones on one of her old lab cabinets, the originals having long-since fallen off or broken. Kit can’t help but be touched by the gift and impulsively calls Ben to thank him; and it’s this call and the fact that Ben’s family business deals in exactly the sorts of things Kit is going to need to fix up her new house that provides the springboard for their romance. Even though Kit is still somewhat suspicious about Ben’s motives for helping her, those start to melt away as they begin spending more and more time together and getting to know each other better. The romance is really well done; Ben and Kit become friends before they become lovers and the warmth and affection between them is genuine and palpable.

But of course, the elephant in the room isn’t going to stay in quietly in the corner forever, no matter how hard they try to ignore it. With his Dad well on the road to recovery, Ben is going to have to return to Houston soon – but Kit has no interest in leaving her job and certainly not her new home… can they make a long-distance relationship work while they figure out what comes next?

Beginner’s Luck is a warm, sexy and thoroughly entertaining romance between two attractive, relatable characters who aren’t perfect but whose obvious love and affection for each other is ultimately going to carry them through. Kit is super smart, dedicated, loyal and loving, and Ben, oh, Ben is a total dreamboat. He’s thoughtful and caring, and somewhat bewildered at all the feelings Kit is evoking in him, and when he falls, he falls hard. The only reason I’ve not given this one a higher content grade is that I wasn’t wild about the Big Mis the author throws in near the end, and about the way Kit treats Ben while she’s labouring under that misapprehension. She does redeem herself, and the eventual HEA is simply wonderful, but I hate eleventh-hour contrivances, and had to knock off half a grade because of it.

I’ve listened to Will Damron before, and although Carly Robins is new-to-me, she’s received some positive reviews from my fellow Gals so I was fairly confident I was in for an enjoyable listen all round. Ms. Robins has an attractive, nicely-modulated voice pitched in the mid-range, so she’s suitably convincing when delivering Ben’s dialogue at a slightly lower pitch, and I liked the gravelly, grouchy note she adopts to portray Henry, Ben’s father. Her character differentiation is good all-round; Kit, Zoe and Greer are easy to tell apart (even though I found the sort of “surfer-girl” accent she gives to Zoe a bit irritating!) as are the various secondary characters who add colour and depth to the story. Mr. Damron is equally adept in terms of pacing, characterisation and differentiation; he’s able to portray the various female characters believably and does a great job of conveying the warmth and affection in the relationship between Ben and Henry. Both narrators are as proficient at bringing out the more humorous aspects of the dialogue as they are in the more emotional and intimate moments and love scenes; as a narrator team, they’re very well-matched (there’s nothing worse than a dual narration where one narrator isn’t as good as the other) and I thoroughly enjoyed listening to them.

If I hadn’t known in advance, I’d never have pegged Beginner’s Luck for Kate Clayborn’s début novel. It’s beautifully written and characterised, the romance is sigh-worthy and Ben is a hero to die for. The expert narration provides a strong argument for picking up the series in audio; I’m certainly going to be adding books two and three to my wish list.

Caz