Narrated by John Lane
Lori Foster’s Driven to Distraction is the first book in her Road to Love series which features the two Crews brothers – Brodie and Jack – who run a high-end transport and courier service. It’s a fairly run-of-the-mill affair overall; we’ve got a buttoned-up heroine meeting a laid-back, super-hot hero who is determined to unbutton her, but the plot is sparse, the pacing drags in the middle and there are just too many tired clichés in evidence for this to be a truly riveting listen.
Mary Daniels has an unusual job working for Therman Ritter, a wealthy collector who sends her all over the country to pick up the various unique, valuable – and sometimes not completely legal – items he buys at auction. These trips are frequently last minute and can sometimes take Mary into some dodgy locations, so she is usually accompanied by a driver. As the story begins, she’s making her way to the office of the Mustang Courier Transport Service, which is the new firm her boss has decided to use to ferry Mary to wherever she needs to go.
When she arrives, the first thing she sees is a gorgeous, half-naked man working under the hood of a car while he’s ogled and (to Mary’s disgust) fondled by the young woman who’s practically draped herself over him. (Was she was looking for his torque-wrench?!) Mary isn’t impressed; the man is too casual and arrogant and flirtatious – and nowhere near as charming as he thinks he is… but of course, he turns out to be the guy her boss wants to be her driver.
Brodie Crews recognises a challenge when he sees it – and Mary Daniels is definitely one of those. He can’t help wondering why she’s dressed in shapeless clothes when she’s clearly got fabulous… assets (yeah, he thinks “great rack”) and why she’s wrestled her hair – which from what he can see is a glorious shade of red – into an ugly knot at the back of her head, but ultimately, it’s not his job to wonder, it’s his job to drive her to where she needs to be.
Needless to say, this pair of opposites gets off to a rocky start. He thinks she’s a prude, she thinks he’s a Neanderthal although of course, at the same time, they’re both eyeing each other up and the mental lusting has begun. Even so, Mary tries not to look at Brodie’s handsome face and fit bod and drool, because for her, sex has never been enjoyable or fun and she does the best she can to suppress that side of herself, deliberately trying to draw attention away from her appearance for reasons which are easy to guess but are explained later on.
I wasn’t sure I was going to like Brodie at first, because he comes across as smug and condescending, but in his favour, when Mary points out he’s being a dick and asks him to stop, he takes her comments on board and regulates his behaviour accordingly. And the more we get to know him, we realise his attitude was a reaction against what he perceived as Mary’s looking down her nose at him. As the trip progresses, the pair becomes comfortable with each other, although they still clash over Brodie’s protective instinct when Mary has to go into some potentially risky situations.
The suspense element of the story gets going during their second trip out some days later, when Brodie and Mary realise they’re being followed and then a deal doesn’t go according to plan. Neither of them has any idea of what’s going on or who might be trying to steal from Ritter, but Brodie is determined to keep Mary safe at all costs, no matter if sometimes that means he has to go against her wishes. This is the least successful part of the book; there’s no real sense of danger or suspense and the villain is fairly ineffectual. In an unusual move for contemporary romance, the story is told from three points of view – Mary’s, Brodie’s, and the villain’s, and from his PoV, we know he’s not particularly enthused by the tasks he’s undertaking. So why do them? It’s all pretty wishy-washy.
I enjoyed Mary and Brodie’s scenes together, and the author does a good job, through their various conversations, of bringing them closer together emotionally, so that when they do embark on a sexual relationship, there’s the sense that they’re beginning to know one another beyond that initial physical attraction. There is, however, that whole never-had-good-sex/an-orgasm-before-the-hero thing on Mary’s part, which tends to make me roll my eyes a bit when it comes up in the very small number of contemporaries I read or listen to, and while I appreciated her decision, late in the book, to finally stop hiding and own herself and her sexuality, it’s a bit heavy-handed. There’s an entertaining secondary cast, and Ms. Foster draws some strong family dynamics between the Crews brothers and their mother, and between Ritter and his staff – and I can’t finish this part of the review without mentioning Brodie’s faithful dog, Howler, who I’m sure will appeal to listeners who appreciate a side-helping of lumbering, slobbering mutt with their romance!
Some of my fellow Gals have listened to narrator John Lane before, but I haven’t – or, rather, I thought I hadn’t, because it only took me a few seconds to realise that Lane is an alias for a prolific and experienced performer I’ve listened to on several occasions, and whose narrations have worked for me on some levels and not on others. Checking the reviews here at AudioGals, mention has been made of some odd pronunciations – but I’m pleased to report that I didn’t notice anything like that here, so either 1) he’s corrected it, 2) the words or words like them weren’t present, or 3) I was too busy drowning in that deep, sexy voice to notice (most likely option 3 ;) ). And speaking of that deep, sexy voice, that’s what carried me through the more repetitive portions of the story. The positive things I’ve noted about his other narrations are all very much in evidence though; he’s a terrific vocal actor, his female voices are very good indeed – never pitched too high or overdone – and he differentiates effectively between all the characters, performing them appropriately according to age and gender. He performs the steamier scenes confidently and without going over the top and delivers a solid and entertaining performance all-round. It’s the best thing about this audiobook, although even Mr Lane’s vocal assets can’t really turn Driven to Distraction into much more than an average listen.
Caz
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