Narrated by Vivienne Leheny
Julie Particka is an author that is new-to-me. We acknowledge the initial thing that attracted us for this audiobook ended up being the narrator. We enjoyed Vivienne Leheny’s narration in Playing for Keeps plenty recently that I became keen to be controlled by more from her. And that’s the way I arrived to grab activities in online dating sites.
Consultant actuary and mother that is single Alexa McIntyre, 42, chooses she has to find a guy to be her partner but additionally (and also, primarily) become a beneficial part model and stepdad to her three sons. Brendan is age 13, Blake is 9 and Beau is 5. Brendan is dealing with that age where girls are intriguing and Alexa can use some assistance. (Her ex-husband had been a little inquisitive for me. He’s introduced as an excellent man and the boys love and adore him. They are happy and well when he breezes in very occasionally to visit, both Alexa and the boys go to a great deal of effort to demonstrate. Because he’s a free of charge character whom has to wander throughout the world having activities and can’t stay static in one destination but if he believes they’re unhappy or otherwise not handling he can remain away from duty and get miserable. Or something like that. He does spend their kid help on time which, yay, but i did son’t quite realize why he got this kind of pass to be therefore missing on a regular basis. We can’t imagine the guys would be scarred by n’t that. Alexa is obviously a better girl than we because I’d be pissed.
Anyhow, I digress.)
Alexa is an actuary and thus has a desire for figures and data. She’s a theory that she can invest 20 mins having a work and guy out if he’s worth investing any longer time on. She’s restricted some time a goal that is specific she develops a strategy to pay a couple of weeks having a few 20-minute times within the very early afternoons at her neighborhood restaurant, The Bean Counter. (we liked the use terms right here because it associated with Alexa too.)
Marshall Calloway, owner/operator regarding the Bean Counter and ten years Alexa’s junior, was smitten with Alexa for months. He’s been flirty and charming but she does not seriously take him. 
He’s maybe maybe not initially all that keen for Alexa to make use of their café as being a site that is dating he goes along side it, including assisting her out whenever among the times gets specially obnoxious. (That man had been a douchenozzle but he had been also a little bit of a caricature too. I did son’t realize why he’d jump through most of the hoops he had a need to so that you can arrive at a date with Alexa – Alexa includes a pre-screening questionnaire – only to be therefore terrible from the get.)
Marshall wears purple Converse and geeky tees. He quotes Star Wars and Marvel films and Alexa thinks he’s too much of the child to function as guy her sons need. He’s hot though. And she likes him. But he’s too young and too reckless. She’s a planner and he’s a pantser. She had by using her ex-husband and does want it again n’t. She requires security, dependability and obligation. Therefore, Marshall can’t be that man. Appropriate?
Marshall is perhaps all in right from the start and in the end, makes a bet with Alexa that has the consequence of her assisting down for an hour or so into the cafГ© for the rush that is after-school of whom require their caffeine fix. (it’s a good idea into the tale, well, mostly.)
They start having sex as they spend time together, Alexa and Marshall’s chemistry heats up and eventually. Great intercourse. Alexa is excellent at compartmentalising and chooses that possibly she does not have to find a man who is able to do most of the things she requires. Possibly she will have a man for intercourse, only for her and locate a mentor of some type or sort when it comes to men. Therefore, she enjoys her fling with Marshall and falls the thing that is dating the full time being.
Marshall nonetheless isn’t really interested in the maintaining him split from her life plan. He desires to participate her life. He would like to get acquainted with the guys. He’s not fazed by the possibility to be a stepdad for them. He desires every thing with Alexa but he will take what he can get until she says otherwise.
At one phase, exactly exactly just what he might get had been a quickie inside the small workplace following the after-school rush and at the period we became quite irritated with Alexa. Marshall desired times and some time discussion. He desired the intercourse, certain, but he desired a lot more than that. He additionally desired to spending some time together with her along with her children. But she had relegated him towards the status of fuck friend and I was thinking it had been pretty unjust of her. In the event that footwear had been regarding the other base, it will be an extremely bad try to find a hero.
A few of the problems Alexa had with Marshall had been reasonable and I’d have liked that she had treated Marshall unfairly even before the black moment for them to be addressed a little more, but I also wanted Alexa to come to the realisation. Regrettably, that never ever arrived. I might likewise have liked to see more of Marshall being the man that Alexa believes he is not, seeing him connect that it didn’t really fit within the story being told with her and her sons but I understood.
The narration had been great. Ms. Leheny offered Marshall a much much much much much deeper husky tone and differentiated well between most of the cast, including Alexa’s companion Payton together with three men. Whenever I ended up being irritated by Alexa, Ms. Leheny’s narration kept me personally paying attention. And, I was helped by her to see things from Alexa’s side (despite the fact that i did son’t always think Alexa’s side had been reasonable). Alexa felt more vulnerable and human through the lens of Ms. Leheny’s performance.
There was clearly a good quantity of humour and banter when you look at the story also and also this ended up being delivered with great comedic timing. The feeling and pacing for the narrative performance had been additionally solid.
We first looked over activities in internet dating as a result of Ms. Leheny and she definitely didn’t I want to straight straight down. But I’ll be in search of more from Julie Particka aswell because despite the fact that Alexa did bug me personally once in a while, we enjoyed the written guide a great deal.
