Narrated by Rebecca Tripp

There are two really great things about this audiobook – the story is typical Gibson, with plenty of laugh out loud moments as well as a terrific makeup scene at the end, and the narrator made what was a pretty good but typical story even better!

The book was published in 2000, and makes reference to “the nineties”‘ but there is nothing else in the story to date it. I didn’t even really notice the lack of cell phone and Internet references. Gabrielle Breedlove is the slightly New Age aromatherapy-loving partner in an antiques and curio shop, where she and her business partner are suspected of fencing stolen goods. Joe is the cop assigned to tail Gabrielle and catch her in the act. The opening scene has Joe jogging behind her and is from his POV. It’s a great reveal and Tripp manages to infuse the narrative with Joe’s disposition, using a dry, cynical tone.

It’s a classic Dharma and Greg, opposites attract type of story – she is nothing like the woman he is hoping to meet and marry; he is not at all her type, although she does admit that what her mind wants and what her body is attracted to are two different things. When his cover is blown, Joe uses the pretend boyfriend angle to investigate her business partner and that is when the real fun begins

Tripp has wonderful and distinct voices and even attitudes for Gabrielle and Joe, and uses these well when shifting POV. Ok, she doesn’t have a very deep range so those of you who need that truly male basso profundo might be disappointed, but I was not. Her regular narrative is a medium low for a woman, but she pitches Gabrielle higher so there is more contrast between Gabrielle and Joe, even if his voice isn’t particularly low. She’s even called upon to voice Joe’s parrot several times, which was pretty funny, complete with squawks. I did a little googling and could not find anything else by this narrator. I’m not sure if that means she’s new, or maybe uses a pseudonym, although her voice didn’t sound familiar to me. I hope to see more, or rather, hear more of her!

There is an OOP cassette version of this book with Richard Ferrone narrating which I own but never listened to. I liked his narration in Hot and Bothered by Susan Andersen, but Lea says the older recording of It Must Be Love is not worth a credit. However, if you’re a big Gibson fan and need your heroes voiced low, you might seek it out – he does have a very low voice!

This was truly an A experience, up from my 3 star rating for the book in print a few years back. Clever writing and plotting, and great delivery by a new-to-me narrator – who can ask for anything more?

Melinda

Narration: A

Book Content: A

Steam Factor: Glad I had my earbuds in

Violence: Minimal – some cop stuff at the beginning

Genre: Contemporary romance

Publisher: Harper Audio

It Must Be Love was provided by Harper Audio to AudioGals for review.