Close Enough to Touch

By: Victoria Dahl

Narrated by: Genvieve Bevier

For makeup artist Grace Barrett, Hollywood isn't the land of golden opportunity. It's the land of difficult divas, cheating boyfriends and unemployment. So when her great-aunt offers her a free place to stay in Jackson Hole, Grace thinks she'll spend a little time in the sticks to figure out her life, and then move somewhere exciting to live out her dreams. But it turns out that there are a few more thrills in this small town than Grace was expecting….

Cole Rawlins is a rugged Wyoming cowboy born and bred. Yet he can't help but be drawn to the fascinating big-city girl who moves in across from him. He wants to get close enough to Grace to see past her tough facade, but if he does, she might see the real Cole. The one with a Hollywood history gone bad. As they discover a sizzling attraction, it becomes harder for him to keep his demons at bay - and those fires from long ago may burn them both.

They'll need more than scorching-hot passion to make this opposites-attract affair work. But if they can learn to trust one another enough to reveal their secrets, they just might have a chance at forever.

©2012 Victoria Dahl (P)2012 Audible, Inc.

Cute Story, Weird Narration

How did the narrator detract from the book?

The men's voices were so old it sounded like Grace was falling in love with an 80 year old. It was really distracting.

Raw and Raunchy, but real...

The narrator suits the characters and the character development is good. Different, but worth the credit.

The heroine was a little rough

Any additional comments?

I liked this book although the characters emotions seemed a little juvenile sometimes. The narrator was pretty good, not amazing but good. I liked the ending and the secondary characters. Overall, it wasn't Victoria Dahl's best efforts in my opinion. I enjoyed her other books much more; "Real Men Will', "Bad Boys Do", and "Good Girls Don't".

Was it just the narrator or . . .

Victoria Dahl is on my "must buy asap" list. I have loved her other books. I am sad to say I was disappointed by this one. I have never had a problem getting into one of her books before but this one it took me 3 tries before I made it past the 45 minute mark.

As always the characters were well developed and while Grace and Cole were interesting I really didn't connect with either of them. I was more interested in the secondary characters than Grace and Cole. They both seemed more like late teen/early twenties kids than late twenty/early thirties adults. Cole's emotional baggage in particular seemed disproportionate to the trials of his past. Still, I will read the next one because I really want to know Eve's story.

But if Genvieve Bevier is the narrator I will get it on Kindle instead of from Audible.

I think that may be my biggest problem with the book. Ms. Bevier's delivery was so overwrought and angst filled I felt like I was being yelled at a good half of the time. Grace and Cole sounded very similar to each other especially during the trademark hot sex scenes. Many of the sex scenes in this book were more raw than romantic. I guess that is what Ms. Bevier was trying to express. However, to me they sounded disgusted during the sex scenes not turned on. Raw passion shouldn't sound like you just realized you stepped in horse poo in your favorite Jimmy Choo's. Victoria please call Wanda Fontaine or Lauren Fortgang for the rest of your books, they both rocked your work.

Not Her Best

I really regret that this book was not up to Victoria Dahl's usual standards. However, I was entertained and I'm not sorry I bought it. I hope her next book is much better.

Not her best

Would you try another book from Victoria Dahl and/or Genvieve Bevier?

Absolutely by the author, not so sure about the narrator

If you’ve listened to books by Victoria Dahl before, how does this one compare?

Not nearly as good as her other series.

What didn’t you like about Genvieve Bevier’s performance?

Male voices were not quite believable.

Did Close Enough to Touch inspire you to do anything?

Not really. I was really looking forward to another Victoria
Dahl romance. I thought there were lots of loose endings and didn't like that Cole and Grace didn't really express their feelings for each other. That aside the sex scenes were hot. Dahl always delivers on that note.

One of my fav authors but the narration....

Would you say that listening to this book was time well-spent? Why or why not?

It was the most difficult book I've ever listened to. Victoria Dahl is at the top of my "must buy" list. I really enjoy her style and stories. I also really enjoy series books and she's got some good ones. This narrator was so wrong for this book. I felt like the narrator was yelling the book at me in an angry, gruff voice of an 80 year old, two pack a day, smoker. I realize the book is about cowboys and the setting is Wyoming, but this was too much. It was just so hard to get into the plot because the narration was so distracting. But because I really like series, I pushed through.

What did you like best about this story?

It is hard for me to say what I liked best about this story because the narration was so distracting.

Who would you have cast as narrator instead of Genvieve Bevier?

Victoria Dahl's other narrators have been great including Lauren Fortgang, Wanda Fontaine. Karen White who has narrated for both Julie James and Jill Shalivs.

Any additional comments?

Please have this book re-narrated. I'd love to listen to another narrators take.

Narrator isn’t great

The narrator sounds like she is 60 years old and it doesn’t match the storyline. I only listened to about five minutes before I returned the book. It sounded like a good story but I’m not wasting my time being annoyed by the narrator not matching the woman in the book