Wild Hearts

By: Adeline Knight

Narrated by: Azizi Donnelly, David Berry, Hazem Shammas, Rohan Nichol, Blazey Best, Ed Oxenbould, Keith Scott

It's been three years since Bo Sullivan lost her dream job as one of the producers of the hit wildlife docu-series, Wild Hearts. Three years since her twin brother Max started battling cancer and she returned home to Lord Howe Island and put her life on hold. Three years since Griffin Marr, one-time crush and partner-in-crime, stole her job to become the lead producer of Wild Hearts.

With Max now in remission, and Bo with a surprise podcast hit on her hands, it's time to start living again. Especially when Wild Hearts, now struggling in the ratings, comes to Lord Howe Island to film a special series on its unique environment and wildlife. This is the chance Bo's been waiting for – get her job back, broadcast the plight to extend the island’s marine conservation area, and get revenge on Griffin, all in one fell swoop.

But with Bo’s experience as a producer, she should know that there’s always more to the story than meets the eye. Maybe the Wild Hearts job isn’t the quite the dream scenario she thought it was. And maybe Griffin isn’t the villain she’s assumed him to be. As Bo and Griffin work together behind the camera to produce the special, she realises that maybe there’s room to rekindle the old magic between them as well – and this time, not just for Wild Hearts.

©2024 Adeline Knight (P)2024 Audible Australia Pty Ltd.

I heart Wild Hearts!!!!!

Loved this audiobook, such a beautiful listen. Great story, loved the Australian setting, wildlife and narration. Highly recommended!!!

Top notch

Simple and sweet, short but it draws you in. The reading performance is layered and well done.

Entertaining if not perfect

I really liked the story and the setting. It had me google the location and I enjoyed learning about the local wildlife. I liked the male narrator and for the most part the female narrator was okay, but her intonation was often off, putting emphasis on the wrong word in a sentence or having too much empty air between words. It was distracting. And she mispronounced a few words incorrectly all together. One of them was bouquet. It’s correctly pronounced “boo-kay”, which she did say once and then she went on to say “Bo-Kay” several times right after. It’s just distracting. Plus normally good audiobook narrators are good at accents, and they’ll lower their voice for the man’s voice and she didn’t do that so some scenes were a little confusing as to who was saying what. But all in all, it was enjoyable with a great setting ( boy, I’d like to visit there one day, it sounds idyllic!), a conservation message and likable characters.

Loved this novel - its mix of nature, romance, and career challenges

Unique book about Bo, a nature activist with a podcast and a past with regrets and anger. Enjoyed the background of aspects of nature she covers on her podcast and the TV show she returns to. Satisfying romance. Recommended!!

Almost

The mix of natural history and Victorian style lovers who silently long for one another could have been great, but instead it had a few delicious moments of using animal behaviors as commentary and then veering back into maudlin yearning.

Aussie Gentleness

I liked how this story just rolled. There's a simplicity to the romance itself, but the novelty of the location and nature moments made it gently shimmer. The secondary characters don't feel like props; they feel fleshy although Knight doesn't really go on tangents that don't support the central story. The main female character would be unlikable because she works off a lot of mean, assume-the-worst, baseless suppositions about the male lead, but her passion for conservation and care for her family and other islanders redeems her to a degree. The male lead is a bit soft and unrealistic in that his own disappointment in an unrealized relationship and her lack of loyalty to him never leads to any anger. He's a bit of a besotted punching bag. But, he's an artist with a camera and she's his muse in the full Greek sense, there's an element of worship here, so I guess that's the dynamic. But, I'd definitely listen to stories by Knight especially if unique settings and natural desriptions continue.

Sidenotes: The female protagonist has a masculine name to which I never adjusted. I am going to scour other reviews to see if this was just me. I just kep forgetting that they were talking about her. Also, the male actor sighing contentedly and humming ascent during her podcasting seemed unnatural.

Narration carries this story

This story is so short that it misleads you into believing there’s no way it would repeat itself. However, this is 4 hours of 0 character development until 2 minutes before it ends.

Fun format and great actors

Excellent storytelling by a talented cast. Love the storyline and build of the story. Great read!

Australia

This was a cute story. I enjoyed listening to it. The characters were engaging and quirky.

Skip this one.

I can't believe I made myself finish this story. So unbelievably boring. I kept waiting for it to get better.