Narrated by Antony Ferguson
I read and enjoyed Rafe last year, which was the first book in the Loose Ends series by Rebekah Weatherspoon – so named because it gives HEAs to various side characters from previous of her series. Xeni is named after one of the main characters, Xeni Everly-Wilkins. She has come from LA to a small town in New York state to settle her beloved Aunt Sable’s affairs after the older lady’s death. She is stunned to find out that Sable was actually her biological mother and the woman she thought was her mother is, according to DNA at least, actually her aunt.
To add to the turmoil roiling around Xeni, the terms of Aunt Sable’s will mean that in order to inherit the whopping $23 million estate, she has to agree to a legal marriage for a minimum of 30 days, to Mason McInroy, a Scottish man living with his cousin Silas on the latter’s farm, who had befriended Sable. Mason will inherit $100,000 if he agrees to the marriage.
The will only requires the marriage to be legal and for it to last at least 30 days so it seems like a no-brainer for them both to go ahead. What they don’t count on is a fast-growing connection of not just the physical variety.
In less than two weeks, Xeni and Mason grow ever closer, finding many things in common and plenty of delicious differences. Both are bisexual, happily monogamous when they’re partnered, neither particularly wants to have biological children, both have complicated relationships with their families and both are at a crossroads where they need to decide what they want to do for the rest of their lives. Xeni is also a witch (although the story is not a paranormal one) and wonderfully bold and confident in both herself and in her body. Mason is a musician who plays 17 different instruments – including the bagpipes. He’s been working as a short-order cook at the café on his cousin’s farm but he doesn’t like cooking all that much, even though he’s good at it.
As in Rafe, the relationship between Mason and Xeni is largely of the fluffy and very sexy variety rather than full of angst and conflict. They have an instant connection, but the story is not one of insta-love. Well, not exactly. There is plenty in both Maxon and Xeni’s lives to cause conflict but for each other they are quickly a safe place.
I did think that perhaps Xeni’s mother (not Aunt Sable) got off a little too easily for lying to Xeni for all those years and I was a little outraged on Xeni’s behalf when her mother went on the offensive at first and made Xeni feel bad for not telling her she was getting married before it happened. (Um, excuse me Joyce – just who was keeping the bigger secret here huh??) But, in the end, she and Xeni worked it out and I have enough experience with complicated family relationships that the resolution felt very believable to me.
While most of the book takes place in a two-week period, the HEA happens later – something which gave not just me – but also Xeni and Mason – confidence in their feelings. There is also a lovely epilogue to seal the deal.
Xeni and Mason, perhaps because at first their relationship is very low stakes – they do plan, after all, to walk away from each other – decide to be very open about what they want and what they like and actually this leads them to a very emotionally healthy place. It also leads to some smoking hot and creative sex. I’m talking varsity level sexytimes.
Mason, in particular, has a delightfully dry sense of humour and some of the things he and Xeni say to one another had me barking with laughter – including one time when I was at the shop which no doubt caused a raised eyebrow or two.
Mason is a big burly man with, as Xeni thinks to herself, a body which indicated he never skipped leg day or dinner. I loved how perfectly suited to one another they were, how much they loved the other’s body, personality and mind and how kind they were to each other. I had no doubts about their HEA.
Antony Ferguson is a British narrator. The narrative portions of the book were read in his native accent which a little odd considering the New York setting but also fine as it isn’t a strong accent (at least not to my Australian ear) and seemed very familiar. Still, hearing him say “asshole” with the American “ass” instead of the UK “arse” but nonetheless in a British accent was… unusual. 😊
Where Mr. Ferguson shone was with the character voices. Mason had a wonderful Scottish accent – honestly, I’d recommend listening to the book just to hear it. We audiobook listeners all know how much find it is to get a bit of a good deep… Scottish accent.
I was also impressed with Mr. Ferguson’s female character voices – particularly Xeni’s – which sounded very authentic to me. The dialogue was the highlight of the narration, with good emotion and pacing. There were a few times when I thought the text indicated the phrasing should be slightly different or the tone wasn’t quite right to me but for the most part, it was very, very good.
Where I stumbled a little was with the narrative sections which had less emotion than I wanted – there was just a touch of newsreader about them as if there was a report being delivered instead of a story.
I have not yet read the other books for which Rafe and Xeni tie up the loose ends, but I’d bet that for those who are familiar with those earlier stories, this one will have some fantastic Easter eggs and cameos. It is not necessary to know the prior books though – Xeni stands alone just fine.
Kaetrin
Buy Xeni by Rebekah Weatherspoon on Amazon
