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Thanks to @avonbooks for an advance copy of Thank You For Listening by Julia Whelan, out August 2nd! Actress slash beloved audiobook narrator Julia Whelan has authored a novel about an actress slash beloved audiobook narrator because OF COURSE 🤣 but for a romance reader and audiobook listener, it was basically catnip. I had to read it. There was a lot to love about this book. I love that it gives a glimpse into the book community (book events, Facebook groups, readers who have favorite narrators, what it’s like being an audiobook narrator). I loved its portrayal of family and friendship and grief. Some of the lines and descriptions laid me out flat. It was so funny and kept me up late turning the next page. I love love loved the epistolary element. I loved that there was a disabled female main character but that the story didn’t center on her disability. I guessed what was going to happen very early on but still enjoyed watching it unfold! Suwannee and Nick are both in pretty terrible places — know going in that this book deals with grief and loss in a number of ways — and I appreciated that this wasn’t glossed over in the process of them finding each other. My main frustration was that about 75% of the way in I was still feeling pretty defensive about the treatment of romance novels and reading in general (one popular audiobook narrator proclaims he doesn’t read, another that she never listens to audiobooks) but seeing as the book is itself a romance and the author narrates, among other genres, romance novels, I held out hope. And it sort of redeemed itself? But I was left with mixed feelings about that aspect. Though I read a physical copy, I really would have enjoyed listening to Whelan voice all the characters — I’m sure the audiobook is fantastic. I was super excited by the buzz I was seeing from advance readers, and I too really enjoyed Thank You For Listening! CW: plane accident, disability, suicide, Alzheimer’s, dementia, grief, loss of a loved one, sexual content ID: I’m holding up a kindle displaying the ebook cover of Thank You for Listening via Instagram https://instagr.am/p/CgEvgLhLvqt/