TEST
Narrated by Karen White
I was about halfway through About That Night when I realized the suspense was not the main focus of the book and the entire storyline started making a lot more sense. Unlike other entries in the FBI/US Attorney series that carry a feel of romantic suspense (although all are categorized as contemporary romance), About That Night reads more like a straight contemporary romance.
Rylann Pierce is an Assistant US Attorney, newly returned to Chicago after some years in San Francisco. She first met Kyle Rhodes nine years earlier in a bar at the college they both attended. Kyle was attracted by Rylann’s smile but had to work fairly hard to get her to agree to a date. When she finally did, it was not to be – Kyle’s mother is in a car accident and they don’t see each other again until nine years later in a courtroom where Rylann is urging the Judge to modify Kyle’s jail sentence after the events in A Lot Like Love.
Kyle is the infamous “Twitter Terrorist” and for an Assistant US Attorney, this represents something of a problem. Added to that, Kyle becomes a witness for one of Rylann’s cases which means he’s a “no go” zone.
A lot of time is spent setting up Kyle and Rylann’s back stories which means we see less of their developing relationship. At the midpoint of the book, I was wishing the two had more scenes together.
In terms of the narration, Karen White gives Rylann the sexiest heroine voice yet. It’s kind of low with a timbre to it that is not quite husky. Audibly, there’s not a great deal of differentiation between Rylann and Kyle – the difference was very subtle. But between that and the dialogue tags, I was able to follow who was talking all the time. I will say that the Daniela accent grated on my ears. It didn’t sound particularly Brazilian to me – I guess I was expecting more a Penelope Cruz type accent.
I prefer Karen White’s narration when she doesn’t add extra commas to the text. There are many times where a sentence is delivered with an extra pause to add a level of snark, which I don’t think, is native to the book. Rylann and Kyle do trade quips (and that’s the best part of their relationship) but I don’t think it needed any padding. I’ve made this criticism before so possibly it’s just me. But, when there are no extra pauses, I love her narration. I love that her heroines in a series clearly sound different. Jordan (A Lot Like Love) and Cameron (Something About You) and Rylann are all performed distinctly. And Ms. White delivers the zing and the attraction between Kyle and Rylann very well.
Rylann’s turnaround at the end seemed too abrupt for the time dedicated to the setup versus the limited amount of time the couple actually spent together. Therefore, the ending felt rushed to me. I did love Kyle and his future plans – I thought they were clever and realistic. Rylann was fortunate her boss was Cameron though, because involvement with a convicted felon could have been more of a career issue than it turned out to be.
Breakdown of Grade – Narration: B and Book Content: B-
Grade: B
Book Type: Audiobook|Contemporary Romance
Sensuality: Warm
Review Date: 04/03/13
Publication Date: 2012/09
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Recent Comments …
Yep
This sounds delightful! I’m grabbing it, thanks
excellent book: interesting, funny dialogs, deep understanding of each character, interesting secondary characters, and also sexy.
I don’t think anyone expects you to post UK prices – it’s just a shame that such a great sale…
I’m sorry about that. We don’t have any way to post British prices as an American based site.
I have several of her books on my TBR and after reading this am moving them up the pile.