Good as Gold

By: Sarina Bowen

Narrated by: Jason Clarke, Lessa Lamb

A swoony, heart-wrenching small-town romance from USA Today and Wall Street Journal best seller Sarina Bowen!

Leila:

What I meant to do: quietly divorce my lout of a husband and then have a child all on my own.

What happens instead: my crush comes back to town when I’m at my most vulnerable. After too many cocktails, I ask him to be my baby’s father.

In my defense, it’s been a rough couple of months. Seeing Matteo Rossi again after 14 years has done a number on my emotions. And my libido.

In the morning, I’m hoping he’s forgotten the whole thing. But no such luck. In fact, Matteo has a few clarifying questions. And a few naughty ideas, too....

Matteo:

What I meant to do: visit Vermont for my brother’s wedding. Make amends to my family, and mourn the loss of a friend.

What happens instead: a hot affair with the one who got away. But it can’t last. My life is 2,000 miles away, and Leila deserves everything. She’s as good as gold.

©2023 Sarina Bowen (P)2023 Sarina Bowen

Oh Matteo, my heart!

Good as Gold is Sarina Bowen's newest romance set in Vermont! It's a second chance story of sorts. Ya'll this is Matteo Rossi's story! We have loved his siblings, and now we get to know why he left home and why he stayed away so long. Matteo and Leila were friends in high school. There was always an attraction there, but they never acted on it. Now Matteo is home for the summer to see his family and runs into Leila. After Leila gives him hell for staying away so long, they spend some time together. A drunk Leila asks Matteo to be her baby's father. Matteo can't stop thinking about what Leila offered. He's willing to help her out though, I mean, what's some sexy times between friends. Seems like a win-win. But his feelings become too much to handle when he has to go back to Colorado and his business. Leila didn't admit how she really felt when Matteo left, but it doesn’t matter. She can have this baby alone. Will Matteo realize he can't let the only woman he's ever loved get away again before it's too late? Oh man! I freaking love Matteo. Wow. From the long hair and the soulful brown eyes to the sweet words and kind gestures. He won my heart from the very beginning. I feel for Leila, she's been through a lot and never expected to see him again. It's sweet, swoony, spicey and fun. I loved seeing the Rossis and their loves again! I'm hoping we get Nash's story soon!

Audio: Jason and Lessa were perfection. I love the emotion they convey with their sweet and sexy voices.

WHAT AN EXPERIENCE!

I’m absolutely in love with this book. The emotions I felt and life lessons that were snuck in there were so relatable. The character development was amazing, although the flashbacks caught me off guard sometimes (but trust me, you’ll get why there are flashback scenes towards the end). Such a great job closing the circle! Kudos to Sarina Bowen!

Oh and , Jason Clarke and Lessa Lamb, bravo… as usual.

Small town, friends to lovers, pregnancy!

Good as Gold is the first book in a new series by Sarina Bowen! It does exist in the same world as her True North series so you definitely see characters and familiar places make appearances. This is a small town, friends to lovers, with the heroine asking the hero for help in having a baby!

Leila, Matteo, and Rory grew up together in Vermont spending their highschool years snowboarding together. Rory noticed Matteo interested in Leila and ended up making a pact with him, that Leila was off limits to both of them. Matteo ended up leaving Vermont after graduation and Rory and Leila got married! We then jump to 20 years later.

Matteo Rossi hasn’t been back home to Vermont for 14 years, but decided to come back for his brother’s wedding. He finds out Leila and Rory got divorced recently and when he runs into her again, all those old feels are still there. While babysitting his nephew he needs help and reaches out to Leila, who is also a preschool teacher. Leila and Matteo end up spending time together now that he’s back in town. His best friend and business partner back in Colorado was killed in a slope accident while Matteo was filming him on the slopes, so he’s taking a break back home in Vermont helping out his family with their businesses. Leila ends up telling Matteo she wants to have a baby, she’s 35 and already looking at sperm donors. But one night she gets drunk and asks Matteo to impregnate her!

This had some great mutual pining, both have been into one another for so long and it was fun seeing them finally give into one another. I loved how much his family and her family, the Giltmakers, were in this. The flashback chapters did throw me off as they’re told in 3rd person POV, while the present day chapters are 1st person. This story definitely focuses heavily on pregnancy and Leila’s fertility journey of trying to have a baby. The chemistry between Matteo and Leila was really good and I just wanted him to get the girl already. The audiobook was really good, Jason Clarke and Lessa Lamb, definitely delivered! I feel like we got a good setup for her brother having a book next and I’m just excited for more in this new series.

Adorable!

So so so happy to be back in Vermont. I adored this second chance and even felt a type of way about Rory. Can’t wait for the next one I can see coming!

Heartwarming Gold

I love the flow of this audiobook. The narration perfectly portrayed both of these characters, the story was a beautiful and the very realistic friendship and love story. What I love the most was how tender Matteo was with women in his life from the very start. His character was genuine and Jason Clarke did an incredible job with his performance. Lessa Lamb is becoming one of my favourite female narrators. Sarina Bowen has done it yet again. She is an automatic purchase for me and this trio is perfection for this story. The internal struggle these characters work through together and apart feels very real life and relatable. You don’t need an abundance of angst to keep the reader interested and the solid foundation this couple has speaks volumes about Sarina Bowens writing and her gift to pull you into her books from the very first chapter.

One of my top 10 favs

I absolutely loved this book!! It is now on my top 10 favs.. all the feels.. I laughed, cried and felt the love along with the characters! Amazing job!

Great Story!

Loved this story and this world Sarina Bowen has made. Jason Clark was wonderful but the female narrator sounded like she was over acting , she wasn't terrible but it was annoying.

Small town Vermont & Second Chance ❤️

I love being back in the True North world. Yes, this is its own story but we see characters from True North. And I feel like we’ll be getting some more books in the world of the Giltmakers/Rossis and I am here for it.

Leila and Matteo were best friends growing up. They were also attracted to each other but never told each other. So this is one of my favorite tropes: a second chance romance.

Matteo returns home after being gone for over a decade. Leila is recently divorced and looking to have a baby since she’s getting “old”. After a drunken night she asks Matteo to help her get pregnant the old fashioned way. This forces them both to face their old feelings and come to terms with what they want in life. Matteo is also dealing with the loss of his best friend in a tragic snowboarding accident.

This is such a hard story to review/talk about. It’s very emotional. It was definitely harder for me to read about Matteo dealing with his grief. They both have heavy stuff to deal with, his just hit me harder at this point in my life. The decision to have sex with the intention of having a baby added an interesting dynamic. I’m not sure I’ve read something like that before. It made the pacing odd. Not bad odd, just odd. Those scenes were hot and emotional but were prompted in a different way. Also because of that, the emotional beats for the romance just felt different. Again, it’s hard to explain. I think as a romance reader you kind if expect certain plot points at certain times and this was varied.

This was a beautiful love story and I’m so happy to be back in Vermont with Sarina’s characters. You can easily jump in here and read it as a stand alone or read this after the True North books and love all the mentions if characters we already know.

Sadly, Jason Clarke carries this audio. Lessa Lamb just doesn’t connect as well. It isn’t un-listenable, but I recommend reading by ebook if that option is available to you.

Female narrator didn’t do it for me.

Good story, love Jason, wish they had gone with a different female narrator. Looking forward to the next book in the series.

I REALLY wanted to love it…

Unfortunately, because of the female narrator, it was an absolute whip to finish this audiobook. Serena Bowen = auto by. Jason Clark = auto by…, however, Lessa Lamb = hard pass. It was the first book of hers I’ve listened to and it will be my last, I ended up having to skip over her chapters and read them in Kindle instead. I honestly hope she reads these reviews, not because I want to hurt her feelings or anything, but I think she has the potential to be good if she would not over enunciate and over act the entire time. The part didn’t sound natural… it sounded acted which ruins it for me. Her male voice was almost as bad as Savannah Peachwood.
The story itself was great, I really liked it. I like all of Serena Bowen stuff. The only complaint I would have is that Leila was not nice to Mateo when he was trying to be helpful. Also, any couples in these types of romance novels where they have such a lack of communication, it’s annoying. What could’ve been cleared up with one short conversation, didn’t happen until the end. I get that the book needs some kind of drama or angst, but when the characters won’t tell each other how they feel a lot of stubbornness is very annoying.

All in all, I’ve got book though if you can deal with a female narrator otherwise I’d recommend reading it