It Had to Be Him

It Had to Be, Book 1

By: Tamra Baumann

Narrated by: Kate Rudd

Even though Meg Anderson's hell-raising days are over, coming home to Anderson Butte isn't easy, especially when her impossible-to-please dad is the mayor and her do-gooder siblings run the place. But with another job lost and the gorgeous father of her daughter trying to make contact after disappearing three years ago, a break is definitely in order. Hopefully the little town filled with big, juicy secrets can help.

After being off the grid for years, Josh Granger, a man with his own secrets, wants Meg and his daughter back. But first he has to get past townspeople as protective as a pack of rottweilers. He's not the man Meg thinks he is, but he can't tell her why... not yet.

As Meg slowly warms to Josh, it's clear the old spark is still there. But when his secret is exposed - along with Meg's own shocking revelation - will it tear their family apart again, or bind them forever?

©2015 Tamra Baumann (P)2014 Brilliance Audio, all rights reserved.

Lose the love scenes, this is a pretty fun book

I loved the town, the characters and the story, but I could have done without the detailed love scenes. Those scenes added NOTHING of value to the book and they just felt forced. I would have given this book 4 stars without those scenes, only 3 with them.

Very Enjoyable Chick Lit

No big surprises here, but a little romance, mystery and family drama made this an enjoyable listen. The narrator was good and did not distract from the story. The ending delivers, so no complaints or disappointment.

Fluffy

This was a fluffy story with some adult times and a tiny town that lies to our h. What could go wrong? 🤔

A new audthor for me!

I took a chance and bought the audible narration with Prime Reading with Amazon. It opened me to a new author. I got transported to the town and characters and didn't want to stop listening. I went and bought the rest of the series. I'm glad the author participated in the Prime reading because I might not have stumbled on her books. The narration also was perfect for the book. It all worked well. Looking forward to working my way through all the author's books!

Possible Spoilers..

This had a few good twists to it but I’m not so sure I like the characters, any of them except Josh and two and a half year old Haley. On the other hand I liked the characters a lot. It was such a screwy story at times. What it amounted to was: Meg came back to town, her jerk of a father told the whole town they were not to help Meg in any way, even Meg’s brothers and sister, and everyone went for it because dear-old-dad ran the town. Then Meg finds out the family, all of them, lied to her her whole life. And she was really mad at them, for about a second. Josh, our hero, lied to her because he was undercover and had to leave her to save hers and Haley’s lives and then he came back and she fell for him all over again and when she found out he lied she told him to move out because he lied to her and she would think about him seeing his daughter Haley. WTF? The author mad Meg seem so stupid. I got the other books in this series and I will move on to the next. I just hope the heroines are written better than Meg was. This was somewhat of a mystery so that made it more enjoyable, much better than just the same old romance that’s pages and pages of angst and misunderstandings.

There was explicit sex in this book but not really any sexual tension. And there was swearing, too. But it wasn’t too bad.

And, I must admit, I cried at the awesome ending.

As to the narrator: I know that 99.9% of female narrators who do men’s voices pretty much have all their men sounding alike, and I’m sooo OK with that. I couldn’t care less if they sound alike as long as they DO sound like men. AND I like the way Ms. Rudd’s men sound. The women all sound different, from old to slutty, whatever is called for. But mostly I love Ms. Rudd’s emotions when she reads. I mean, she really, really laughs when it’s called for, whispers, yells angrily, it’s just amazing. I’ve always said that Katherine Kellgren could give lessons in being an excellent narrator but now I have to add Kate Rudd to my on-going list. I don’t know about too many older audio books because I’d start to listen then the men would sound just like a woman and I’d have to stop. From 2014 forward some of the female narrators got better but some really don’t care if their men STILL sound like women or not.

Kate Rudd is always a pleasure.

As an avid romance reader who starts at 3 stars when a book is average, it's saying something that this one rates a 4 for me.

The plot here is an interesting one. At the outset, we know that Meg is a single mom who's returned to her hometown. She is a free spirit whose antics gained her the disdain of most of her small town - which is essentially owned and run by her family. Her guy Josh has left her as soon as he found out she was pregnant and she's running from him so she won't lose her daughter. The idea here that she was going to fall in love again - with him, the guy who had hurt her so badly - was something I wanted to see an author pull off. I was pretty skeptical.

I was really surprised when she did it. This speaks to the writing, which has a strong emotional punch. The plot is so-so. There are a lot of elements included that require suspending your disbelief: Meg is a helicopter pilot? And so is Josh? Meg takes Josh back when he continues to lie to her? Their daughter immediately loves her daddy? Meg's old friend hates her so much that she publicly shames her?

Despite those flaws, Baumann gave us a small town to love. Close knit, a town that keeps secrets and defends their own fiercely, even when the one they're defending is someone they don't hold highly. It's full of cliches but not the standard cheesy ones. A wise grandmother with a gun was just the right mix of gruff and protectively loving. Meg's dad never changes too much to become unreliable; he stays true to his initial character. And while Meg seems to trust far too quickly and for the wrong reasons, it works because of her own insecurities and past.

All that said, you really do have to suspend your disbelief and just be entertained. If you're looking for a realistic story here, you'll be disappointed. But if you just want a quick, fun read that introduces you to an interesting town full of great characters, you'll be pleasantly surprised.

Kate Rudd is fantastic (as usual) as the narrator on audio. She voices each character with the exact amount of emotion and mood. Their personalities are distinct, probably more so because of the way she relates them. This book is likely less believable in print; Kate Rudd brings a lightness to the story that is easy and fun without being silly. It was a pleasure to go right along with things and not question them because of her narration.

This story introduced me to a town that I'm interested to know more about. Bring on the companion novels. I'm in, especially if Kate Rudd is narrating!

It had to be you

Great e - book,this story was great. It was so real, sad, loving with so much family emotions and the love with in a forgiving town. Good job, this book is a (MUST READ)

Fun Story, Excellent Narration!

I really enjoyed this story quite a bit. It was fast paced and and had some great characters.
I really liked Meg and Josh. They had some good chemistry together.

The story line and plot was good. I really liked Josh's back story. Not going to spoil it here. It was good. There was a lot of dialogue throughout the entire book. Not full of filler nonsense at all. There are some great secondary characters too. The story flowed very well and was very easy to follow.

As for the narration, Kate Rudd did a great job. The men sounded like men, everyone had their own distinct voice and you knew who was talking. She read with emotion and has a very nice reading voice.

great book

enjoyed listening to this book. look forward to more books in the series. ... ...

I absolutely entertaining

First book by this author that I've read and I loved it. I loved Meg right from the beginning. Great story line with all kinds of fun twists. Strong characters. this book sets up everything you need for a great series.

Kate Rudd did a fantastic job an I hope she narrates all the rest of the books in this series