Narrated by Lauren Fortgang

The Publisher’s Blurb: When Keri Daniels’s boss finds out she has previous carnal knowledge of reclusive bestselling author Joe Kowalski, she gives Keri a choice: get an interview or get a new job.

Joe’s never forgotten the first girl to break his heart, so he’s intrigued to hear Keri’s back in town—and looking for him. He proposes an outrageous plan—for every day she survives with his family on their annual camping trip, Keri can ask one question.

The chemistry between Joe and Keri is as potent as the bug spray, but Joe’s sister is out to avenge his broken heart, and Keri hasn’t ridden an ATV since she was ten. Who knew a little blackmail, a whole lot of family and some sizzling romantic interludes could make Keri reconsider the old dream of Keri & Joe 2gether 4ever?

My take on the story: This is the first in a series – the Kowalskis – with a bunch of good looking fellows, brothers and it seems, later in the series, cousins – all of whom need their happily-ever-afters.

The books are Harlequin/Carina Press offerings. I can’t really tell for sure from book 1, but I’m guessing this is going to be a series based on the small-town life of the Kowalskis whose business is Joe, the bestselling author, but in the next few books there will be the local family-run B&B. I guess what I’m saying is, it’s pretty standard fare – a family (extended) full of great guys and a small town surrounding them.

In Exclusively Yours, the author examines the “high school sweethearts find love again some 20 years later” trope. I liked that Keri left her small town life and small town boyfriend because she wanted to be HER – not someone’s girl, someone’s mother, someone’s daughter. It wasn’t the crush of a small town life, so much as a desire to be something on her own. This was a legitimate reason to me, even more legit than the usual “went to Hollywood to make it in the movie biz” that often accompanies this trope.

Joe took her post-graduation rejection pretty hard – in fact, he turned to alcohol and dang near ruined his career and his life. But now that he has what she wants – the exclusive story of his reclusive life – he’s going to try to win her back. Or is it “make her pay”? It’s both light fare and a little darkness, like the best of good Harlequin.

I will probably listen to the next one in the series before deciding whether I want to keep up with the Kowalskis – it’s a fun rom-com kinda break, but not so intriguing or engrossing (yet) that I can’t move on.

My take on the narration: Lauren Fortgang is one of those B-list narrators with a lot of experience and a lot of it in Harlequin narration. When I say a lot, I mean she has 276 listings at Audible (ok, 200 of them are horoscopes under 1 hour, so let’s just say 76 listings of books). She has a young sound, with an expressive tone and she is able to differentiate characters. Her tone of voice always indicates what is going on – she has wry and sarcastic and emotional and sincere down pat. She does a wide range of ages (3 generations in this book alone.) It’s a middle-of-the-road narration – good but not inspiring. Her male voices are not pitched very low; in fact, one of the brothers is the hero of the next book and he sounded awfully young in this book. That’s always an issue for romance listeners, so if you’re looking for basso profundo manly men, you’ll have to look elsewhere.

If the storyline interests you, this book is a free eBook at Amazon right now. Also, since it’s a series, you can probably snag it discounted at Audible when they do that First in a Series sale they do every now and then. Am I implying it’s not worth a credit? Not really, just thinking if you were on the fence, there are some options…

Melinda

Narration: B-/C+

Book Content: B-/C+

Steam Factor: Glad I had my earbuds in

Violence: none

Genre: Contemporary Romance

Publisher: Carina Press