Super listen

Absolutely loved this book , my word does it make you smile and then cry buckets the story of Jace and his two children is quite heart wrenching
The narration is superb but then anything that 🦄narrates seldom lets it down but Grace Grant is also a great narrator but they certainly had a really good story to narrate , five stares all the way
And thanks 👌😀

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1 person found this helpful

Raw, emotional, and ultimately beautiful.

Do you like A-hole characters? Do you like books that hit you in the gut? Do you like having your heart ripped from your chest and then pieced back together again? Yes? Then this is the book for you. The book deals with some very difficult situations and ultimately it’s a book about saving and forgiving yourself. It’s a book about realising that you have to do that in order to keep living and providing for the people in your life. Admitting to yourself about how you feel and letting the guilt go, allowing yourself to grieve. I thought it was handled beautifully. It’s raw, and hard to read at times. But, ultimately it’s uplifting and healing.

These characters are amazing, not necessarily amazing in the sense that I loved them the whole time, but in the sense that they made me react. Not always in a positive way, but that’s okay. I’m intrigued by Preston, and I shall be diving into his story next, I’m on the fence about Evie - so we’ll see how that goes.
Jace is an a-hole. First class a-hole. The things he says and does are just ball-punch worthy, but, the guy is grieving and guilt-ridden, so although I don’t excuse his behaviour, I can understand it to an extent. He was so broken. As the book progresses he improves, you can see him falling for Sydney and in essence, his kids…it was like they were rediscovering themselves as a family and that was beautiful to experience. Of course, just when you think he’s getting to good guy territory he goes and says something that makes you gasp and consider throwing your kindle. He comes good, in the end, he seeks help from the people that matter to him…the people that had always wanted to help, but he never let. I can understand why some people would have issues with certain things he does and says, but, it’s so obvious that it’s the guilt talking that I was able to forgive him.
I struggled with Sydney to begin with. She was a little too much of a fixer, to the point where she was pushing herself onto Jace and his family, saying and doing things that she really didn’t have any right to. But, as time went on I did start to understand her more and become more attached to her. I did get a little frustrated that she didn’t tell Jace about her ex and what he was doing, especially when the opportunity arose. I also felt for her, she was always picking the wrong guys and that stemmed from her childhood, and knowing the type of guys she'd been with in the past, I just wanted her to be happy. I wanted to shake her a few times, but again, she came good when she stood up and made the decision to do the right thing for her and basically say, ‘you know what, I’m worth more than this, I deserve better.’
Logan and Avery are just the sweetest kids, they’ve experienced such a huge loss in their lives and it was almost like they’d lost both their parents because Jace was so withdrawn from them, I mean, he still ensured they had someone, but it wasn’t him, and they felt that, so getting to see them opening up to Sydney and doing fun things together was heartwarming.
I liked that Jace and Sydney’s relationship was built on friendship and it was that friendship that started to break through Jace’s grief and guilt to make him look at his life and his decisions and start making better ones. The connection they had was palpable and the sexy times were off the charts sexy. I need to check my Kindle for scorch marks. I loved that this was not just about Jace and Sydney, but also the children, they played a big part in their relationship and the healing process, for so long Jace had pushed them away because he didn’t think they needed him, that he felt he was the reason their mother was gone, and watching him slowly start to do more with them, and reconnect as a family, well, it was beautiful.

This is the first book I’ve read by Ava Harrison. It definitely won’t be my last. Ava’s writing is phenomenal - it is gut-wrenching, emotional, and raw. She destroyed my heart and slowly and surely mended it. It did take me a little while to get into the swing of it, there was a bit too much repetition for my liking at the beginning, (I think it was mentioned three times about Sydney’s ex and why he’s her ex,) but, once I got hooked, I was hooked hard and nothing could pull me away. I was captivated by these characters and this story. I had guessed one of the plot turns, and I knew the reactions to it were going to be bad…but, OMG, I never expected it to be that bad, I actually gasped. One of the best books I’ve read this year. Single parent is one of my favourite type of stories and this one has blown almost all of the others out of the water. The angst and feels just captured my heart and wouldn’t let go.

I thought this audiobook was perfectly cast, Sebastian York was Jace. I think it’s the best performance I’ve ever listened to him do - of course, I’ve not listened to them all. His voice was deep and rather gruff…not how I’d normally describe him. The emotion he conveyed was astounding, you felt the pain the character was experiencing bleeding through the earbuds. The character and the performance were the three S’s - sexy, sweet, and swoony. Don’t get me wrong, the character is an A-Hole, but, he has sweet moments. He really does nail the single father aspects and his child’s voice is never over-compensating. Grace Grant was fantastic as Sydney too, she really gave that character life. It’s amazing how each emotion Sydney felt was conveyed in the tone Grace used…you believed that she was hurt, or unsure, or happy. It’s amazing to have that come through, not in words, but in tone and for the listener to be immersed. Grace is always so skilled at that.
Grace and Sebastian’s voices blended really well together in this book. Their performances mixed with Ava Harrison’s words at times brought tears to my eyes. They really nailed this story and these broken characters…they breathed life into them. It was wonderful to listen to and one of the best audiobooks of 2018.
I enjoyed the production and didn’t notice any issues. I’m still getting used to not having the chapter PoV said at each chapter announcement…which is especially jarring when you’re switching between reading and listening, but that is just a personal thing and I’m sure the more I listen to books that are like it, and it appears that it’s being done that way more and more, the more I’ll get used to it.

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3 people found this helpful

Beautiful story.

A strong, heartfelt story of dealing with loss, new love, friendship and the growth of joy, perfectly narrated by the talented Sebastian York and Grace Grant. This was an absorbing story amd the narration pulled me in and kept me completely engrossed. Excellent!

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1 person found this helpful

Fantastic story and enjoy it all through. The emotional sides with Jace and the two children, grief and devastation

The narrators were amazing as usual as the book was a real situation. I loved the story and it made my laugh and a lot of tears. The author have great stories. I have listen to many stories and all different. I look forward to the next two audio books. Thank you so much and it’s better listening than holding a book. Love audio books.

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