Narrated by Carly Robins & Teddy Hamilton
Paisley Donovan is about to turn 21. She has a heart condition which will be fatal if she doesn’t have treatment. Jagger Bateman, 23, is in Flight School in Alabama, learning to fly helicopters for the US Army. Eyes Turned Skyward charts Paisley and Jagger’s romance from the day they meet – when he saves her life after she nearly drowns – all the way to their hard-won HEA.
It’s obviously a fairly high-angst story given Paisley’s medical condition. Jagger has baggage of his own and for most of the book there is some mystery about his family and his past.
When the book begins, Paisley is dating Will, the best friend of her older sister, Payton, who died as a result of Sudden Cardiac Death (SCD) as a result of the same heart condition Paisley has. Paisley is convinced she will die on the same day Payton did and so has a bucket list of things she wants to do before then.
Jagger and Paisley become friends but Jagger is pretty much gone for Paisley right from the beginning. He will take what Paisley is willing to offer however.
Oh, did I mention that Paisley is the General’s daughter? As in the General who is in charge of the Flight School? Will is also in Flight School and is the General’s darling. Jagger? Not so much. Let’s just say he does not make a good first impression with Paisley’s dad.
Listeners be warned there is some cheating in this book. Jagger and Paisley’s first kiss takes place before Paisley and Will break up. Fortunately it doesn’t go any further than that and, to her credit, Paisley immediately confesses. It’s a bit of a spoiler but I know this is a dealbreaker for many romance listeners so it’s worth mentioning.
Paisley does not want to be treated like a porcelain doll and she is by Will and her parents. Jagger, who does not know Paisley has a heart condition, treats her differently and she loves it. Therefore, she is reluctant to tell him what’s going on with her. Jagger has his own secrets and they agree to default to trust and never to lie to one another, while each knows the other has things they haven’t revealed. I didn’t mind this at first, largely because they were fairly open about the fact that they had things they were not sharing even if they didn’t say what they were. But it did go on for too long for my comfort. I became a bit frustrated and impatient with it.
Paisley is being urged to have a pacemaker implanted but she is deciding whether to have an alternative surgical option, which is riskier but will allow her to lead a full and unrestricted life afterwards (barring regular check-ups). Her family and Will want her to have the pacemaker. She feels this is the wrong decision for her. I had some discomfort at times with the way Paisley talked/thought about her heart condition. But I have no experience at all with this kind of illness or the treatment for it so I couldn’t put it any higher than that. I can make no comment on whether the pacemaker or the surgery is usually the best option for someone IRL either. I’ll leave that for experts to discuss.
When Jagger finds out about Paisley’s heart, what will he do? Will he agree with her family? Or with her? (And no, I’m not going to tell you.)
Carly Robins narrates the chapters from Paisley’s POV and Teddy Hamilton narrates from Jagger’s. I preferred Teddy Hamilton’s narration overall, finding it more consistent. Paisley’s Southern accent kept slipping in the Carly Robins sections. Teddy Hamilton has the advantage anyway to be honest because his voice is just so lovely in my earholes. Still, Carly Robin’s sections were good in their own right.
Both narrators had good character differentiation and the emotion in their voices matched the text. Their pacing and tone were also very good.
The narration kept me listening when I was getting impatient with the characters to be completely honest with each other.
The characters, especially Jagger, who was so completely in love with Paisley won me over even though they were occasionally frustrating and Eyes Turned Skyward delivered on the promise of being an emotional, high-stakes romance.
Kaetrin
Buy Eyes Turned Skyward by Rebecca Yarros on Amazon
