Narrated by Simon Goldhill
Home Grown Talent is the second book in the Creative Types series, which are all set in the world of television in and around London. Book One, Total Creative Control, chronicles the romance between Lewis Hunter, self-made man and producer of a hit TV show titled Leeches, and his production assistant, Aaron. This book features Mason Nash, a model who once dated Lewis, and Owen Hunter, Lewis’s brother. While it’s helpful to have read the first book for background, it’s not essential to enjoying this story.
Owen is a landscape developer and gardener who has worked hard over the years to establish his own business. When he was seventeen, his mother died, leaving him to raise Lewis while working to support them both. Owen has always taken his responsibilities very seriously, which shows in his successful business and how he provided for Lewis.
Mason Nash had dreams of being a top chef, but making it in the restaurant business means working your way up with long hours and low pay. When his father left his mom and younger twin sisters financially insecure, Mason was grateful to be discovered by a modeling agent who set him on a career lucrative path. Now, years later, he’s tired of life as a model and social media influencer, but with his emotionally fragile mother still very dependent on his help, he sees no way to stop.
When Home Grown Talent opens, Lewis is up for an award as the producer of Leeches and asks Owen to come to the ceremony as moral support and hopefully to help celebrate. Sitting at their table is Mason who is there to do some career networking with the hope of breaking into TV. Owen met Mason when he was dating Lewis and Owen has always been attracted to him. Even though he thinks Mason is a bit shallow, Owen is pleased at the opportunity to talk to him. Misty Watson-King is also at the dinner. She’s the producer of the weekly show called Weekend Wellness that Mason has hopes of joining as a regular guest, or possibly something more permanent. When Misty finds out Owen is a gardener, she comes up with the idea to do a gardening segment on the show, and she thinks Owen and Mason would be perfect for the spot. Owen, however, is unsure and says he’ll think about it.
When a drunk Mason gets abandoned by his date, Owen takes it on himself to make sure Mason gets home safely. Once home, Mason makes a drunken come-on to Owen and is gently turned down. The next morning, Mason figures he blew his chance at the gardening show by making things awkward with Owen, but is pleasantly surprised when Owen gets in touch and agrees to do it. Unknown to Mason, Owen is mainly agreeing because he doesn’t want to ruin Mason’s chances for a more permanent position on Weekend Wellness.
Misty has spotted the chemistry between the two and decides they could play up the flirting aspect which would be sure to drive up viewer interest and ratings. Owen is again unsure, but lets himself be persuaded that it’s all part of the job. What he doesn’t know is that Misty has talked to Mason about really playing up the “will they, won’t they” aspect of the show on his social media platforms, something Mason knows will make Owen uncomfortable. He keeps meaning to talk to Owen about it, but there never seems to be a good time, and when the two begin a real relationship behind the scenes, Mason feels even less able to share the extent to which Misty wants to play up their chemistry on social media. Both characters are well developed, their chemistry is palpable and their love story is like a warm, sweet hug. Even as the reader senses the oncoming crisis, it’s impossible not to get caught up in their romance.
The writing and the romance are excellent, but a couple of plot points didn’t make a lot of sense to me. I find it difficult to believe that a small Saturday morning show would have a big internet following, even if Mason is popular. Another point, which I’ll be vague about to avoid spoilers, is that Misty does something that I can’t imagine any intelligent person thinks they could get away with. The ensuing drama feels overblown and that brought my grade down just a bit.
Simon Goldhill is a new-to-me narrator and I see only three titles credited to him on Audible, all of them authored or co-authored by Joanna Chambers. It’s possible he’s narrated under another name since he’s obviously an experienced performer. His voice has a softness to it that makes it very pleasing and even relaxing to listen to. Owen’s voice compliments his description of being a well-built working man and overall nice person, with a slight gruffness and a gentleness of tone. Mason has a slightly higher pitched voice and an energy that fits his character well. Mr. Goldhill’s female voices are excellent, and he conveys both emotion and humor easily and naturally.
I enjoyed the characters in Home Grown Talent immensely and the writing is lovely as always from this pair of authors. Aside from the aforementioned caveat about a plot choice, I thought the story was excellent. Simon Goldhill caps off this audio experience with an excellent narration, making this an easy book for me to recommend.
Carrie
Buy Home Grown Talent by Joanna Chambers and Sally Malcolm on Amazon
This is such a good series. I listened to this recently, and while I agree with your assessment about the Saturday morning TV show thing, I still enjoyed the story and Simon Goldhill’s performance was terrific. I’m really looking forward to the audio of Best Supporting Actor – and Jo and Sal have said they’re writing a book four!
I can’t wait for Best Supporting Actor, which is easily my favorite of an enjoyable series.