Kissing Games of the World

By: Sandi Kahn Shelton

Narrated by: Myra Platt

What if the one person you can't bear to be with is also the one person you can't bear to be without? Jamie McClintock is a free-spirited artist and single mother who has at last found peace and freedom sharing a farmhouse with an elderly man and his young grandson. But when the old man dies suddenly her idyllic country life comes to a halt as the old man's estranged son, Nate, returns to claim the house and his child. Jamie can't stand Nate's sick, arrogant, salesman-like approach to parenthood, and Nate is irrated by her laid-back, earth mother view of life, not to mention her fondness for artsy knitted vests. This is definitely not love at first sight. But as they try to work out the logistics of raising their two little boys - reluctantly enduring everything from games of hide-and-seek with Daddy's Blackberry to breakfast of headless teddy bear pancakes - their lives becaome hopelessly intertwined. It's not until they've gone their separate ways that they both realize that sometimes love sneaks through the door you were sure you'd slammed long ago, and that rescue from the past can come from unlikeliest places.

An acclaimed author, Sandi Kahn Shelton has been on Wall Street Journal Radio Network, All Things Considered, CBS Evening News, NBC Today Show, Good Day New York, and The O'Reilly Report to promote her two previous books, Sleeping Through The Night...And Other Lies and You Might As Well Laugh. She is a feature writer for the New Haven Register and used to write the monthly Wit's End column for Working Mother magazine. She is a frequent contributor to several women's magazine's, including Women's Day, Family Circle, Redbook, and Ladies' Home Journal. This is her second novel, after What Comes After Crazy.

©2008 Sandi Kahn Shelton (P)2008 Listen & Live Audio, Inc.

Cute Story

This is a very cute, well written love story that just makes you smile. It’s not too sappy with perfect characters living perfect lives saying perfect things. It’s real life.

A fun read

This is a lovely light book for those times that you don't want to get into anything too heavy.

Not sure

Not sure if I would have liked better to read vs listen. The narrator made everyone besides Jamie sound like idiots with the chosen tone. Story ending rather abrupt.

Liked it but felt like a slog for too much of the book

Having experienced this author before I realized that this book felt a lot more tedious than her other offering. I also felt that Nate and Jamie’s attraction to one another and the first encounter seemed to “come out of nowhere” which was strange to me considering that we were getting both of their perspectives, I.e. so we should’ve known as things were brewing, right? I liked the journey, just think it could’ve been tighter so it didn’t feel so tedious for the reader\listener.

Great Writer, Great Narrator ! Loved it!

What I liked about this book, aside from the humor and lack of cliches, is that the characters have flaws but you love them anyway. I don't always like contemporary romance plots,but this story is great . The plot is fresh and I got emotionally involved with the love story. This is my first book by this author and I can't wait to try more.

Such a pleasure

I loved being transported in this story! Great storytelling. Superb reading with expression. The combination was wonderful! Thank you.

Characters Lacking

I did not like the characters, and it was hard to listen to the book. I gave up less than halfway in; maybe it gets better.

Not worth listening to even if it's free

The narration was so bad I began unintentionally blocking it out before the first 5 minutes were up. I gave the story a 3 because I have no idea what it's about since I couldn't listen to it for even 5 minutes.