Make it Sweet by Kristen Callihan

Make it Sweet by Kristen Callihan

Narrated by Jacob Morgan & Ava Erickson

Make it Sweet tells the story of Emma Maron, an actress whose character has just been axed (literally) from the Game of Thrones-like fantasy TV show Dark Castle filming in Iceland. She finds her boyfriend cheating on her just when she needs his support and ends up at Rosemont in California, a beautiful estate owned her grandmother’s best friend where she can lick her wounds and decide what’s next. It’s also the story of Lucian Osmond, a former pro-hockey player who has had to retire after one too many concussions. His own fiancé walked out after he retired and he’s also staying at Rosemont (owned by his grandmother). Listeners of Dear Enemy may recognise some of the characters in this book, as it’s set in the same world and includes some scenes with Macon and Delilah.

Lucian is devastated at the loss of his career. While in some ways what happened to Emma with Dark Castle mirrors Lucian’s life, it is a little different. After, Emma can still act. She can get another part and keep going. But Lucian can’t play anymore and playing defined him. Or so he thought.

The attraction between the pair is immediate and their chemistry is off the charts. But Emma is not staying and Lucian doesn’t think he’s a good relationship bet in any event, so their romance is a slow burn for quite a long time. Even when they start to get physical, things are a bit stop/start because Lucian can’t commit and Emma doesn’t do casual.

Apart from being an ace hockey player, Lucian is also a gifted pastry chef, having learned from his great-grandfather as a child. He woos Emma with gateaux and pastry, pouring his heart out into delightful comfits for her to enjoy. The level of Lucian’s skill as a pâtissier was perhaps a little unbelievable (he’s better than Adriano Zumbo!) but I was prepared to go with it as I am a big fan of all things cake.

I loved Emma and Lucian’s banter and their various pet names for each other. Their nicknames showed the growth of their relationship and became something of a secret language.

The narration was very good, though I enjoyed Jacob Morgan’s performance better than Ava Erickson’s. Some of that preference no doubt reflects my bent for heroes in general but it’s also down to the acting. Mr. Morgan started his career strongly but over the past few years, his skills have developed further and he now adds that extra something to a narration that makes it special. It’s the catch in his voice when the text calls for the character to be near tears, the chuckle that hides in the words when the character is amused and the variation to pacing when the character is spiralling to panic – myriad things which combine to make a lovely whole.

Ms. Erickson’s performance, while good, didn’t have quite that same level of special. I noted there were times when the tone or pace didn’t quite fit the text and that made a difference.

Mr. Morgan’s French accent was better than Ms. Erickson’s but both wobbled a bit there. Sometimes Mr. Morgan’s felt overdone.

I wish that there had been consultation on the pronunciation of character names. In a dual narration, unless there is a textual reason, each performer should pronounce the names the same way. Mr. Morgan pronounced Lucian as I expected; an Americanised version of the French name “Loose-yen”. And as Lucian invited Emma to call him by that name, the pronunciation he gave the name should have been the one Emma used too (I believe Emma is respectful enough to do this.) But Ms. Erickson pronounced it “Looshen”.

Amelie, Lucian’s grandmother is called “Mamie” by the family. Amelie is French and has the accent to match. Mamie is a French-based diminutive of grandmere and I expected a more French accent from both narrators. Instead, they both said “may-mee” and there were a few (from Mr. Morgan) egregious “mammys” too.

Leaving aside those small issues of accent and pronunciation (and overall, they were small to me) the narration was extremely good and I enjoyed it very much.

It takes Lucian a little too long perhaps to realise what’s right in front of him, but it is a romance novel so I kind of expected him to muck things up (or at least, nearly do so). There was nothing revolutionary about the story itself I supposed but what it was was done extremely well. It was charming and sweet, sexy and romantic. Plus: cake.

Kaetrin


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2 thoughts on “Make it Sweet by Kristen Callihan

  1. Absolutely agree about Jacob Morgan; he’s always been good, but he’s now even better, and as you say, it’s the little things that really stand out about his performances. I thought exactly the same the last time I listened to him.

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