Rival Radio

By: Kathryn Nolan

Narrated by: Gabriel Spires, Maxine Mitchell

These two on-air enemies can't stop rubbing each other the wrong way in the booth...and the right way in bed.

Theo

Whoever said "keep your enemies close" never had to share a small, dark sound booth with her. Daria Stone is the infuriating host of "Choosing Yourself." The name is almost as ridiculous as the concept. Permanently single? Please. The woman's made a career out of rejecting everything I stand for.

I'm looking for 'the one'; the right woman who's ready for marriage and a lifetime together. Not some sultry, stubborn vixen who makes my life a living hell and insists a husband can be replaced by a curated collection of bedroom toys. And I know she's wearing those skin-tight leather pants just to annoy me.

Daria

Dr. Theo Chadwick is a professional pain in my...workplace. Sure—on the outside, the man is gorgeous. But he's also obsessed with finding his better half and getting his radio show, "True Romance," syndicated so he can give false hope to lovelorn listeners everywhere.

He keeps pushing my buttons with his arrogant 'expertise' about how wrong I am. I just want to see him snap. Maybe that's how I ended up here, pinned against a wall with my legs wrapped around his waist...whoops.

Can these enemies put their feud on hold and play nice in a shared time slot to save their popular beach town radio station? Or will their sparks burn everything to the ground?

Rival Radio is a standalone workplace romance for fans of forced proximity, breakroom bickering, one-night stands, a rag-tag crew of DJs, and beachy, retro boardwalk magic.

©2022 Kathryn Nolan (P)2023 Podium Audio

Warm

I was excited for this forced proximity with extreme opposites attract sort of story.

I’ve never listened to Gabriel before. I like him, I think. His narration of a $€x scene will seal his fate on my listening picks list. And…. He passed with flying colors! Pure heat. What a relief to find a new narrator I can tell I’m going to enjoy.

I love the relationship she had with her mama. I like how they just talked, it reminds me of my own with my two grown daughters. Helping, when requested, them navigate life. That personal connection makes this rate higher.

It was hot but got monotonous quickly though.

all that banter is just a smoke screen

Theo and Daria…they may sound like they hate each other but with these two there is really a fine line between love and hate. I just love all that banter between the two. They really were enemies but underneath it all they started to crush and crush hard on each other. Especially when their boss combines both their radio shows into one. I enjoyed reading their story with that funny banter, competition, and yes at times dealing with their underlying issues.

Performance: they picked amazing narrators for this story. I always enjoy Maxine Mitchell. Gabriel Spires is a new to me narrator and OMG was he the perfect fit for Theo! He definitely had a “radio” voice. His voice was very reminiscent of Casey Casem. Together, these two really brought Theo and Daria to life!

Fan Freaking Tastic

Everything about this screams amazing! Story, voices and the whole not overdoing it! Looking for more by this author now

opposites

Overall: 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟 /5
Spice Level: 🌶🌶🌶.5/5
Recommend: Yes!!
Re-read/re-listen: Yes!!
Trope: Enemies to lovers, Office Romance, opposites attract
Narrators: 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟/5.
Maxine Mitchell and Gabriel Spires.


• Characters: Daria Stone and Theo Chadwick ♥️

•Story:
What do you do when you find yourself having to co-host a radio show with someone who has the complete opposite of your views when it comes to love? Grin and bare it. Daria is against marriage and soul mates. Theo can't wait to fond his HEA. Can these two work together, or will they forever be Rivals?

• Favorite parts:
You can not be quantified. You can not be studied or measured. I couldn’t distill the magnificence of who you are into a pithy piece of advice if I tried for a hundred years. You are a marvel, and I love you. I’m in love with you. -This right here was everything. I loved this so much.
I also loved this as well. You could live in a cold house with stoic parents receiving the bare minimum of affection, and then, years later, it could appear in all the places you never even thought to look. Love was persistent like that.

• Thoughts:
This book made me soooo happy. I loved every minute of it. I can say this is probably my favorite Kathryn Nolan book. This book hit different in the relationship department. A true testament on what listening and being hibest in a relationship can mean. This book should be a 101 before entering into a relationship. It was just perfect, and I could not say enough great things about this book. Read it!! And truly grasp the meaning. This is a fun book that touches on what opposites feel about love.

Narrators:
Maxine is straight up a queen! She can do no wrong in my eyes. This book is no exception
Gabriel Spires is a new to me narrator and he just gained a fan! I loved him! Loved him!!!!

Rival radio

I loved the plot super fun, definitely will read more books by her if there is any

Three stars, but get this for the narration!

Parts of this book were very off-putting, but there IS a great romance to be found here. It's like the author had an inclusivity bingo card and decided to win a game of full card cover with this book alone. This book is brought down by shoehorned inclusivity/political statements. I dismissed the negative reviews referencing this when buying this title because I assumed it would be things mentioned here and there and people were overreacting (as is often the case.) Unfortunately, they were not exaggerating. By chapter 21, I wondered if the author had gotten bingo yet. Listen, inclusivity is great. I am a proponent of inclusivity. But forced inclusivity messes up the flow of a story and jolts the reader out of the story. An example I like to use is Bridgerton. Bridgerton is inclusive without ripping viewers out of the show as you watch it. Everything fits together seamlessly, as the story unfolds on the screen. The audience doesn't feel like they are being hit over the head with political statements.
With that being said, Theo and Daria's story is enjoyable, with a lot of great communication and hot sex scenes. The beginning was a little rough for me because I didn't understand why they were drawn to each other, but it soon became clear they had a mutual respect and attraction. I enjoyed the psychology aspect brought into this story.
I'm giving this story three stars, however, I highly recommend the audiobook for Gabriel Spires' performance alone. He rocketed to the top of my favorite narrators list with this title and I will be searching for more titles by him.

Loved reading it and loved Lisa just as much

I thought this book was fun and sexy and wonderful as all of Kathryn Nolan’s books. It’s very true to who she is as a person as well.

Swoon

I really liked this book. It was a little slow at first but once it got going I couldn’t put it down. Gabriel Spires was a new to me narrator and all I can say is WOW. Chapter 19 was 🔥. I’ve already purchased another audiobook narrated by him because 🫠. And i love anything narrated by Maxine Mitchell. Overall 4 stars. I recommend this one!

Chapter 19, Need I Say More

While I haven't read this author's entire backlog (yet), what I have read so far has not disappointed. It's steamy/spicy contemporary which is probably my favorite subgenre in romance. A great enemies-to-lovers story with a natural progression that seems just right for the story. The secondary and tertiary characters were the cherry on top to bring the story together, helping to bring on the tough love and comedic moments.

Maxine Mitchell is a queen and one of these best female narrators out there. Her vocal range to differentiate between different female characters and male characters is always delightful to listen to. Gabriel Spires was new to me, and his voice gave me Casey Kasem vines, which is perfect for story that takes place at a radio station. However, Gabriel's ability to adjust his voice to convey different character voices just wasn't doing it for me, especially his female voice. I would like to hear him narrate a duet, I think that would be more suited for him because he did a nice job with conveying emotion. With that said, once I hit the infamous Chapter 19, well let's just say, there were no complaints from this lady.

Good overall

Mostly what carried this story were the strong characters. The expression of the characters, however, would have been better, in my opinion, if the two narrators, instead of each reading their own chapters, had kept the character voices more consistent throughout. Even if recording separately, I'm sure they could have spliced the narration together enough so that the character voices would remain the same throughout. It would have been more effort, of course, but I believe would have been a vast improvement.

As for the general plot, it was predictable and felt too didactic. While I can agree with some of the concepts preached, I had to fight the feeling of being lectured to in a way that seemed almost condescending at times. It felt as if the story was created as a vehicle to push an agenda, hard, rather than a real, human experience being shared. Strong, interesting characters were the saving grace.