Narrated by Jennifer Jill Araya
Ruthie Midona describes herself as 25 going on 125. She’s a preacher’s kid mostly estranged from her father (because he’s a complete jerk!), her mother treats her like she’s a blink away from disaster at any time and she has been allowed little responsibility in her role in the office at the Providence Luxury Retirement Villas. But things are changing. Her boss, Sylvia, is on a holiday cruise and has left her in charge while she’s away – for two whole months.
Ruthie has temp support from Melanie Sasaki, a 22-year-old whirlwind who’s determined to get Ruthie acting her age. Ruthie is lonely and wants more from her life and so the time is right for her to respond to Melanie’s offer of help. Melanie creates “the Sasaki method”; a makeover for Ruthie which will, step by step, lead her to an active dating life.
One evening, while filling up a resident’s car with petrol, she sees the most beautiful man she’s ever laid eyes on. He has long, flowing, blue-black hair, “tortoiseshell” eyes and tattoos of all different kinds everywhere. He’s astride a motorbike, apparently distressed about being unable to pay his bill and she decides to “pay it forward” and pay for his fuel. When he thanks her, he sees her from behind, next to the old-person car and wearing sensible shoes and old-person clothes (as she does) and mistakes her for an elderly person and then, when he sees her face, he thinks she’s going to a fancy-dress party.
Ruthie is humiliated because he’s kind of right. Teddy wasn’t trying to be mean. He was insensitive but he wasn’t cruel. And, as soon as he appreciated he had hurt her feelings, he did apologise and it was sincerely meant.
The next day, Ruthie is dismayed to find out that Teddy is Teddy Prescott, the son of the new owner of Providence Luxury Retirement Villas. There’s a better than even chance that the new owner will make significant changes to the site – they have a history of buying properties and then making them into something else that makes more money. So, when Teddy’s dad says that Teddy needs a place to stay and a job to do, Ruthie doesn’t really have a choice. Pleasing the new owner is a job requirement.
Teddy is 27 and a bit of a drifter. He’s an artist (tattoos mainly) and not one for a business suit. His dad doesn’t understand him and thinks he’s a layabout. Teddy does have ambition though. He wants to buy into a tattoo studio – but he has to come up with the money by Christmas (2 months away) in order to do so. No-one, not even Teddy really, thinks he can do this. Nobody believes in him. But then he meets Ruthie. And she does.
Teddy is charming and sweet and kind and generous but also clueless about many things. He has a reputation for letting people down and leaving when things get hard. He’s never going to stay at Providence. And Ruthie feels she can’t leave. (Literally. Ruthie has an undiagnosed and unnamed mental health issue which leads her to have some OCD tendencies and also to feel scared about leaving the retirement village.)
Melanie tells Ruthie that Teddy is a “Lamborghini” and for her to get behind the wheel would just be dangerous. Ruthie needs a more sensible “car”. But Teddy is dazzling. How could she do anything but fall in love with him?
Two of the most challenging residents at Providence are Renata and Agatha Parloni. The women are in their 90s and Renata in particular, is hell on wheels – albeit of the motorised scooter type. They have gone through 100 assistants over the 6 years Ruthie has been working at the villas and not one of the “boys” (as they call them) has lasted beyond a week. Renata wants a bit of revenge for the way women were always the ones to fetch and carry when she was working (has much changed, we ask?) – now it’s the turn of the boys to do it for her.
Teddy needs a job and Aggie and Ren need a new “boy”. So Ruthie introduces Teddy to the sisters – not without a little private glee. He did make her feel humiliated after all and Teddy might get a little of that same feeling from the Parlonis. Still, Ruthie is not mean. And Teddy is a charmer. Yes, he has to do stupid things for no real reason and Renata makes outrageous demands at all hours of the day and night, but they also pay extremely (obscenely) well and he’s on a mission to get money to buy into the tattoo studio.
Ruthie lives on site in one half of a duplex “caretaker’s” cottage. Teddy moves into the other half and pretty soon Teddy is hanging out with Ruthie every night. Teddy finds Ruthie’s lists and routine soothing and peaceful and relaxing. He’s used to chaos and that’s definitely not Ruthie. It’s not an act. Teddy loves it. He might look like a wild child but he longs for stability.
Over the course of the next two months, Melanie starts to apply “the method” and Ruthie begins to step into her real self and be a young person. She finds she likes it. Teddy does a reasonable amount of subtle and not-so-subtle sabotage. He wants Ruthie to himself. I couldn’t hate him for it.
There will be listeners who don’t like Teddy. Some will find him irritating and annoying and immature. Those are fair criticisms. But overall, I liked him very much. He’s kind of exhausting at times but his heart’s in the right place. As Ruthie places her trust in him and shows him how to achieve his goals, he shows her how to let go and take a risk. They’re good for each other.
Ruthie was treated very poorly by her parents, especially her dad (a total jerk!) and she has baggage and emotional scars as a result. Teddy has his own emotional scars from a difficult childhood, an absent dad and a flaky mother. Teddy wants people to like him, goes out of his way to achieve it. Ruthie feels like she’s on the outside looking in all the time. Teddy, when he learns about Ruthie’s history, is fierce for her (the first person in her life ever to be so) and that won him a lot of points in my book.
Ruthie and Teddy also bond over an old TV show, “Heaven Sent” which seems to be not-so-loosely modelled on the actual TV show 7th Heaven. They both unironically love the show. It’s a revelation for Ruthie who never expected it from someone so cool and hip as Teddy.
The narration is very good. I have little experience with Jennifer Jill Araya but I think that’s likely to change. I liked her deeper, slightly husky tone for Teddy and the wide variety of character voices she displayed. She also delivered on the emotion in the book – I could hear when Ruthie was anxious or sad or happy and I could hear Teddy’s vulnerability.
As much as I liked the story and the narration, the book did drag slightly in places. There were times where it didn’t seem to have much impetus. I expect in print I would have skimmed those parts but I can’t skim on audio. Overall however, the audio experience was a net bonus. I think hearing Teddy in my ears made me like him even more. I suspect one’s opinion of Second First Impressions (as is the case in most romance books) will largely boil down to the “likability” of both main characters. I liked them both very much. I related in some ways to Ruthie’s feeling of being out of step with her contemporaries and wanting to find a way in and I liked how Teddy never saw Ruthie as being in any way lacking.
Kaetrin
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