Narrated by Tim Paige

Having enjoyed Avery Flynn’s Parental Guidance, the first book in her Ice Knights series. We were introduced to the hockey team in Tomboy – that book’s hero, Zach Blackwood, was an Ice Knights’ defenceman – and here, we meet Caleb Stuckey, another Ice Knights player who needs to rehabilitate his public image. A video in which he’s seen NOT shutting down his team-mates when they start talking like a bunch of misogynistic arseholes goes viral, resulting in a chewing out from his coach, the team’s PR manager AND his mother (a famous junior hockey coach) – which is how he ends up agreeing to do something “…to change the narrative and give everyone something else to talk about besides what dickheads you all are. “

That something is a publicity stunt
involving the Bramble dating app. The deal? He has to go on five dates with a
woman his mum picks out for him; afterwards, he and his mum film a little
post-date chat, his date and her mum do the same, and Bramble can use the
videos in their publicity. After all, if, after the disastrous video, they can
make Caleb dateable, they’ll be able to do the same for anyone. Right?

Zara Ambrose is a miniatures artisan. In
the sense that she makes miniatures – although at barely five-feet tall, she’s
heard all the jokes before. Her recently-engaged best friend Gemma has been
urging her to ease back on the work a bit and take some time for herself for
the past couple of years, but Zara is focused on her work, on making a name for
herself – and besides, she likes being able to do things like pay bills and
eat. When Gemma brings up her lack of work/life balance – again – Zara changes
the subject by telling her about her dad’s latest get-rich-quick scheme; he’s
going to become a character actor. For that, he needs to get his Screen Actor’s
Guild card – and to obtain that, he needs to be on TV; but he’s got a plan. Zara
will do an online dating reality TV thing
where parents pick their kid’s date and then offer advice about finding true
love – and as her only parent, he’ll get his TV hours in – easy! But this
is merely the latest in a long line of similarly quixotic adventures which
usually involved Jasper putting everyone but his family first, and Zara has no
intention of enabling him to go off on yet another one. Until Gemma offers to
take Zara to an upcoming charity gala and introduce her to Helene Carlyle who,
as well as being the area’s wealthiest woman also happens to be one of the
world’s best known expert on and collector of miniatures – provided Zara helps
her dad out and goes on a few dates.

Well, we all know where this is going –
although refreshingly, Caleb and Zara actually bond – sort of – over their
desire not to date for real. They’ll go on the five required dates because that
will get them both what they want, they’ll have fun (maybe they’ll even have
sex, maybe not) but what they won’t
do is view what they’re doing as the prelude to a relationship, and there won’t
be any dates beyond the fifth.

Right from the start there’s a palpable
chemistry between the pair. Caleb likes Zara’s take-no-crap attitude and Zara
is quickly able to see that there’s more to Caleb than the stereotypical
arrogant jock who shags a different woman each night and doesn’t bother to
remember their names. After their first date – during which they argue about
the benefits (or otherwise) of mashed potato (!) – they both find themselves
actually looking forward to the next one… and bonding further when that date
turns out to be a team-building obstacle course experience and discovering that
they’re both intensely competitive

I liked both Caleb and Zara, although I
felt Caleb was the more well-developed of the two, especially when it came to
the insecurities resulting from his dyslexia, and his relationship with his mum.
Zara has grown up with a dad who was always chasing one dream or another and as
a result dislikes any kind of uncertainty or disorganisation in her life; and
while I could understand that attitude as a reaction to her father’s
unreliability, using it as a reason for the way she treats Caleb when he makes
a misstep – from the best of intentions – was a massive over-reaction.

I enjoyed the real sense of camaraderie the author built between Caleb and his teammates, and the friendship between Zara and Gemma – and if you’re a fan of dogs in romance (I can take ’em or leave ’em) then you’ll love Zara’s Great Dane, Anchovy. (Although I had to question the wisdom of someone who lives in a small studio apartment keeping a Great Dane!) But my biggest issue with the story as a whole was the weak premise. I appreciated that Ms. Flynn addressed some important points about the toxic nature of that whole ‘boys will be boys’ locker room culture, but Caleb’s so-called fuck-up just didn’t seem like it was sufficient to warrant his rehabilitation by dating app. None of the guys who actually made the shitty comments about puck bunnies seemed to have to do anything to redeem themselves, and that didn’t make sense to me.

It’s rare, these days, for the audio
version of a contemporary romance told from the points of view of both
protagonists to have a single narrator – and a male narrator at that – but I
was actually drawn to this title for precisely that reason! Tim Paige is a new-to-me
narrator, and I’m pleased to say that I was impressed with his performance,
which is well-paced and expressive. He has a good range of character voices and
is able to differentiate effectively between all the characters – leads and
supporting cast – by means of a variety of pitch and timbre. His portrayal of
Caleb really brings out his kindness, his humour and his inner vulnerability,
and with Zara, he’s able to emphasise her toughness and her insecurities; and their banter is well-timed and nicely
nuanced. I definitely intend to listen to him again.

Parental
Guidance is a quick and easy listen, a fun, sexy
rom-com with appealing characters that’s perfect for when you want a
light-hearted story without a lot of angst or drama. I wasn’t keen on the
flimsy premise, however, which brought my content grade down a bit, but Tim
Paige’s strong performance is worth the price of admission, and earns the
audiobook a recommendation overall.