Author: Christina Lauren
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Publisher: Simon & Schuster Audio
Pub Date: May 2013
Story Rating: 4.5 Stars
Narration Rating: 5 Stars
Our thoughts...
Voyeuristic ~ Freeing ~ Trust
The Beautiful Stranger audiobook is how dual narrators should be done. Grace Grant not only pulls off a strong male persona (as usual) but she also matches Jonathon Cole’s accent better than I anticipated and he pulls off a respectable female personal. It doesn’t matter how you look at it, these two narrators truly hit the mark. Both inject personality that brings the characters to life rather than sounding like they’re merely reading from a script. The narration of Beautiful Stranger adds vibrancy to an already lively tale.
The story of Max and Sara really hooked me. I found myself relating to Sara in more ways than I imagined and feeling for Max as though he were MY best mate. The level of trust Sara invests in Max, in an initial stranger, is a bit overwhelming but not unbelievable. I found the way Max handles that trust to be commendable and refreshing. We don’t see Max progress from a douche to a gentleman but rather from a randy gentleman to a man in love. Arrogant douches can be enjoyable to read about but it’s nice to read about guys who resemble the ones we want to spend our lives with.
Everyone has issues and hang-ups but Max and Sara provide an example of how to find a way to work with those rather than dismiss those issues or resent them. Max recognizes a need in Sara and finds a way for them to both benefit from it. And maybe, somewhere along the way, Max and Sara have tempted me to pull my husband into a shadowy alcove somewhere. Win-win.
All of your reviews are making me soooooo excited to read this series!
ReplyDeleteThat's great! I can't believe I waited so long to read this series. It's so much fun! ~Jenny
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