Small Change

Small Change, Book 1

De: Roan Parrish

Narrado por: Jo Raylan

Ginger Holtzman has fought for everything she's ever had - the success of her tattoo shop, respect in the industry, her upcoming art show. Tough and independent, she has taking no crap down to an art form. Good thing, too, since keeping her shop afloat, taking care of her friends, and scrambling to finish her paintings doesn't leave time for anything else. Which...is for the best, because then she doesn't notice how lonely she is.

Christopher Lucen opened a coffee and sandwich joint in South Philly because he wanted to be part of a community after years of running from place to place, searching for something he could never quite name. Now, he relishes the familiarity of knowing what his customers want and giving it to them. But what he really wants now is love.

When they meet, Christopher is smitten, but Ginger...isn't quite so sure. Christopher's gorgeous, and kind, and their opposites-attract chemistry is off the charts. But hot sex is one thing - truly falling for someone? Terrifying. When her world starts to crumble around her, Ginger has to face the fact that this fight can only be won by being vulnerable - this fight, she can't win on her own.

Contains mature themes.

©2017 Roan Parrish (P)2019 Tantor

Deep

This entire series is a very intensely emotional read but this one and particular is very striking and very intense and deep and a bit dark. It was an amazing thing for me to listen to but it was so intense at times that i would actually have to stop listening because I was taking on the characters anxiety. But that's one of the things that makes this book so great.

This is the only book in the series so far with a female narrator. I usually don't like female narrators because they tend to sound very fake or too high pitched or they're trying too hard but this one is just the perfect sound and she totally fits what I imagine the character to sound like, which is difficult to nail since she's such a badass.

I think one of the things that makes this book so intense and identifiable is the fact that anybody can be a Ginger or Christopher, in the sense that we're all trying very hard to be where we are and to be better and to be loved and to be accepted. we all want to have things go our way and to feel like we belong but we don't always know how to do that and we can really mess something up on our journey to find these things we want so badly.

I highly recommend this read but I also recommend that you prepare yourself emotionally.

Best Romance I Ever Read

This book changed something in me. It changes how I think about romance as a genre and what these books can contain, how deep it went with the romance and also the true love these characters feel for each other.

As a queer / pansexual woman in a relationship with a man, it was wonderful to read a story that featured this relationship dynamic. Bisexuals often feel left out of the LGBTQ community when they are in straight-presenting LTRs. Ginger being queer was part of her life and it meant she always paved her own path. Her queerness was part of her innately and not about what relationship she happened to be in. She's a fully realized character I could relate to so much. Christopher is strong and masculine but he's truly the nurturing one with his caregiving and instincts to feed people and keep in touch. He also truly admired creative people like Ginger and Jude. Just that dynamic was beautiful to witness.

Roan Parrish writes so beautifully and with such lyricism and emotional depth and insight. I'm in awe of how much he puts into this story. The surrounding characters felt real, the world and her tattoo shop felt lived in. The descriptions of how Ginger sees the world as a painter blew me away. I will be mourning the end if this book for a while and I hope Roan writes more MF relationships and maybe even a FF.

Jo Raylan narrated this beautifully. She read differently than I've experienced, acting out the emotions with her voice, really embodying the dialogue both interior and between characters. Her voice is a deep alto and sexy af and she does a great job with the male voices too.

Read this book and let it heal your little queer heart.

Female Empowerment!

I must be all in my female empowerment feels lately bc this was another great anthemic feeling romance where the struggles of being a woman in a male dominated field are highlighted. I loved the grumpy x sunshine vibes and the focus on mental health, the representation of the queer community and the found family vibes. It was such a nice collective of impactful topics while still feeling all the warm and fuzzies if a romance read.

I’d definitely explore more books by Roan Parrish.

I laughed, I cried, it was really good.

I felt more of myself in this book than I think I ever have in any piece of writing. This series has been one of my favorites.

Such a great book

Great author, great narrator with a moving alt girl lifestyle romance. Definitely going to get more novels written by Roan.

Good until it fell off a cliff

I wrote this review when it initially came out. It’s been some years since & I like the author so I gave it another go. Once again I was enjoying it until the record scratch moment at 8h10min in. Then I knew for sure I’d not only read it but reviewed it but he review didn’t make it to audible. Here it is again with only minor edits.

A prickly tattoo artist falls for a guy who makes sandwiches, but he falls for her faster & harder. There was no serious impediment to their relationship except that Ginger would lash out at or blow off Christopher occasionally, often due to learned responses from her past. (I had more patience for Ginger the second go round. She was actually trying to sort herself out.) When it was just her being snarly or in overwhelm, that was recoverable because she couldn’t cope. Somehow there’s angst but it’s engaging while we’re rooting for them. There’s a whole hashtag war as sub plot, There’s some good stuff.

But in the second to last chapter, she turns on Christopher and says something truly unforgivable. It says to me that when she hurts, she thinks it’s ok to gut him, and it’s not. If that one sentence was removed it would be a 4+ star book. As it is, I’m being generous with 3 stars because up until that point, I thought they were good for each other, if a tad trying. When she said the unforgivable thing, my mouth dropped open & I couldn’t breathe. It was the emotional equivalent of a roundhouse punch. If it had happened earlier or I didn’t know the author’s other books, it would have been a DNF right there. I gave it the chance, and she realized she was out of line but I don’t think she got what a violation of trust she perpetrated. The thing about romances is you wind up with a pair that should never use the other as target practice. They need to be the other’s safest person, and with this showstopper, Ginger shows that her greatest fear is true, she is unsafe for Christopher to give his heart to. That the brother would still think she was good for him baffles me. Would you tell someone you love to get back with someone who punched them in the face?
No. Same thing here; it crossed a line.

I have the book paused while I decide whether or not to finish, again. Maybe the words will hit different this time?
Christopher’s very forgiving so this will likely work out in most readers’ heads, but does not in mine. It didn’t help that there were unnecessary jealous fits over imagining him happy without her. That seemed controlling rather than caring. I hoped there would be realization on her part about why that was not ok, not safe, & just didn’t get the sense that Ginger thought it was fundamentally damaging. It was a direct hit, not just a misstep or collateral damage.

I do like her general friendliness with people she herself feels safer around. Life gets better as an adult because you can separate from toxic people. But you have to, yourself, not be willfully toxic to your loved ones & found family.

Steam: Med M/F on page, with some detail. fun.

Narration: While generally good when voicing Christopher, when voicing Ginger there was a lot of phrasing that trailed off into yearning whispers. They were still audible but became a melodramatic, pining tone, overused in many places that didn’t call for wistful pining, and not at all a match for Ginger’s personality. I found this irritating the second time around as well. I can tell they’re a pro, I don’t like this choice.

Synergy

Absolutely wonderful audiobook, extremely meaningful- sometimes we cannot find those special words until it’s nearly to late .
Beautiful words by Roan Parrish added with one of the best female narrators Jo Raylan , who has such a sensual voice .
Brilliant brilliant brilliant...

A perfect narrator

If I could have chosen someone to be the voice of Ginger, I would have picked the same person! The complexity and loveliness of this FMC comes out in her art, but being in her head is a privilege that Roan Parrish offers freely! I loved this revisit to an old friend! Happy Reading!

💯💯💯😍😍😍🔥just wow! So refreshing and real!

Loved the story so much with great themes of love, acceptance, mental health, family issues and what not. I’m a super fan of Jo Raylan’s narration but content matters. She did such an amazing job I didn’t miss my usual dual narration. Please keep it up!
PS: why hadn’t I heard of this amazing author before?…not right.

Major Snooze Fest!

I was very let down by this book, the story, and the reader. I love every other Roan Parrish book.