Main Character Energy

De: Jamie Varon

Narrado por: Tara Sands

“Poppy is bright and complicated and utterly enchanting in Jamie Varon’s debut.”
—Ashley Poston, New York Times Bestselling Author of The Dead Romantics

Poppy Banks would rather be writing mysteries than writing listicles for her dead-end job at Thought Buzz. But after a series of rejections, she’s ready to accept life on the sidelines as a plus-size woman. Her aunt Margot is the one person unwilling to give up on her niece’s dreams and tells her so at their secret yearly lunches.

But all of Poppy’s beliefs about herself are challenged when her beloved aunt dies and leaves her niece a grand surprise—a trip to her villa in the French Riviera. There, she learns her aunt intends to leave her stunning villa and secretive writer's residency to Poppy—if she can finish her novel in six months.

When the writing countdown begins, Poppy realizes she has more to confront than her writer’s block. Family drama, complicated romances and self-doubt all threaten to throw her off course. In this fun and heartwarming debut, Poppy must decide if she can live up to her aunt’s—and her own—desire to be the main character in her own life.

©2023 Jamie Varon (P)2023 Harlequin Enterprises, Limited

Reseñas de la Crítica

"Tara Sands deftly narrates this heartwarming debut novel.... Sands does an outstanding job of giving distinctive voices to all the characters.... Sands also hits all the right notes of Poppy's emotions as she mobilizes her confidence in her writing and her life." (AudioFile)

Story was cute enough but the narration

I gritted my teeth through the narration for a few of the male characters but especially Oliver. The stilted affected cadence they used made an attractive passionate love interest sound old, stodgy and unsexy. I wish they’d used the voice for the older brother character for Oliver instead. That voiced seemed a bit younger and lively.

Entertaining and inspiring

I enjoyed listening to this novel. The narrator could definitely have been better, but the characters and their stories made the novel fun and inspiring to my own life.

Predictable, but sweet

It was nice to “read” a predictable story that provided a sweet storyline. The narration, however, was tedious and so hard to listen to. It felt overly dramatic and often whiny. I think the story would have been better served with a softer voice, and less over-dramatizing.

Ooof

I wanted to love this bc I love Jamie Varnon’s other work but the book was predictable and the narration was some of the worst I’ve ever heard. I had to listen on 1.7 speed to not totally give up on the narrator.

predictable and bad narrator

There were several times I wanted to abandon this story, but there were so many great reviews that I thought I just needed to hold out and the story would improve. The narrator was difficult for me to listen to; often boarding on cringy. The premise of the story has so much potential that it's a shame that the main plot and none of the characters are fully developed. The problems and solutions are presented so quickly that I got whiplash. The "twist" was not a surprise at all. It seems like the author had great ideas for the story but I would have enjoyed this book more if they would have taken their time and allowed me to fall in love with the scene and the characters.