I Love You, Luke Piewalker

By: Eliza Gordon

Narrated by: Carly Robins

If you find yourself talking to writer Jayne Dandy, keep the conversation on comic books and Star Wars - best not to mention men, dating, or S-E-X. Her crippling fear of intimacy has made relationships a big no-no, but hiding behind her laptop isn’t going to get her lightsaber lit.

When her therapist recommends that she write erotica as a form of exposure therapy, Jayne is hesitant. But when she is unexpectedly downsized at work, she adopts a pseudonym and secretly publishes her sexy stories to make ends meet. Meanwhile, her adorable long-time friend Luke, co-owner of the popular Portland food truck Luke Piewalker’s, hears she’s been demoted and insists on hiring her to sling éclairs and turnovers at his side.

As Jayne tries to juggle her growing secret career and her newfound feelings towards Luke, her entire life is about to send Jayne and her X-Wing into a tailspin that will either make her face down her neuroses or trigger a meltdown of Death Star proportions.

©2019 Eliza Gordon (P)2019 Blackstone Audio, Inc.

Sweet Story

Overall, I did like the story. The conflict was a bit blown out of proportion - I know that it usually is, but this really went beyond what I thought was believable. Also, the Gretchen/Jane conflict felt really manipulative. If I knew Jane and Gretchen, I’d tell Jane that Gretchen was way out of line.

For performance, I think there was an issue with the sound mix or something. That coupled with the narrator’s tendency to whisper certain lines as part of the performance, made some sections impossible to hear unless I was wearing headphones.

A pleasant but boring character journey

This book was recommended, as I’ve been on a romance kick recently. I was hoping for another smutty entry into the romance annals, but I was pleasantly surprised when the book seemed to be more of a coming-of-age tale.

Unfortunately, though, I quickly determined that the book didn’t know what it wanted to be. It failed as a good romance, and it failed in developing its main character’s motivation and ultimate triumph. There was no triumph except for a predictable romance ending that didn’t do justice to the weak (but present) journey the main character had been on.

The narration was tough to get through, particularly when voicing the main character’s best friend. WARNING: the shouting is migraine-inducing.

In short, a pleasant, PG romance that is a decent palate cleanser from some smuttier romances, but there’s probably something else out there with a little more substance than this bland eclair.

Great premise, badly written...

It was hard to make it through this one. I’m a self-professed nerd so I was excited for this one! I was expecting a sweet, cute, funny slow burn, but what you get was a whole lot of plot holes, badly written characters, and nonsense. Narrator was great but the story made little sense and after sitting through about 7 hours of this book with little to no story progression and constant whining from the main character, I just couldn’t anymore and switched to another title (and I ALWAYS finish books even if they aren’t great so that’s saying something).

Very nice indeed.

This is a sweet story, well told. The actor's performance was excellent, with a pleasant variety of speech patterns to characterize each of the roles. All without sacrificing diction; I never had trouble understanding her.

A pivotal scene at a comic con is what you might expect: Love growing between adorable super fans, in costumes. Star Wars references aplenty.

One thing I enjoyed was how the heroine and the hero both have their issues to work on. The hero has issues with lying. The heroine, with shame. The heroine's issues lead to her lying to our hero, which generates more shame.

My favorite part: The heroine asks for help whenever she has a problem. Some of the help she gets is actually useful (from the psychologist & from the hero), while other bits are counterproductive (almost anything done by Gretchen or by the secondary love interest).

My biggest complaint: The heroine was too much of a wimp. Throughout this story, many people push her around. Her mother is the absolute worst. Her friend Gretchen is something else. Backbone. The heroine needs a backbone.

Loved this!

The characters were awesome and I loved this narrator! Such a funny and cute story. I’m going to see what else the author has written next! Very creative!

What a great story!

I enjoyed the story and narrator so much. I looked forward to listening, not just in my car which is my normal practice.

Entertaining listen.

3.5*
I Love You, Luke Piewalker was an entertaining listen. It was fun, while also being slightly frustrating. I liked Jayne and all her awkwardness, I thought she was an endearing, quirky, character, although she did have her faults. Actually, most of the characters in this book had faults of their own- but don't we all!
Although Jayne is a write of erotica, don't expect any of that to show up on the pages of I Love You, Luke Piewalker. This is a slow burn romance, more along the lines of womens fiction/chick-lit, as there is no on page sex.
The bulk of the story focuses on Jayne and her writing and dealing with her fear of intimacy, the romance really does take a back seat. Which I didn't really have a problem with, I just would have liked to have seen more of Jayne and Luke on page. There was a lot of pining on her side, and not having Luke's pov made it hard to really feel the connection between them. And with him acting the way he did at one point made it even harder.
I did like seeing Jayne's growth over the course of the book- she really started to finally take control and stand up for herself.

There were just a few things that I wish had played out a little different, to make this a strong 4* read. But overall it was engaging and entertaining listen.

Carly Robins is a terrific narrator, I enjoy listening to her. She was a good choice to bring Jayne to life- she made Jayne feel like a real person, not just a character on the page. She also does a nice job with the secondary characters as well. I'm glad I decided to listen to I Love You, Luke Piewalker instead of just reading it, as I thought the narration added a lot to the story.


***Audible Plus

Adorable Allusions!

As the sister of a mega-Star Wars fan (who just informed me that Yoda is not, in fact, "The Child" in The Mandalorian), I found all the geeky references very endearing. The sexphobia is a bit heavy-handed and the dialogue is stiff sometimes, but Jane is a lovable, cringy character all the same. Definitely a fun read with a satisfying ending!

Jayne and Luke are geeky flirty fun.

Great story for Star Wars fans. As one who collects rubber ducky’s, that was a cute bonus.
Jayne writes, Luke seems to be her muse, running his food truck called Luke Piewalkers. They’re good together but haven’t figured it out together, while Jayne has an issue with intimacy, she can’t talk about it, but she can definitely write about it. Maybe she can write herself a good story.

Recording skipped around

My chapters didn’t line up with the recording. Seemed glitchy. Narration was ok, but slightly predictable storyline. The character’s issues were weird and unfounded. Likeable characters.