Review copy was received from Author. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
Starfish by Lisa Becker Narrator: Erin Mallon, Sebastian York
Published by Self-Published on December 10, 2019
Genres: Contemporary Romance
Length: 8 hours, 33 minutes
Format: Audiobook
Source: Author
Goodreads
Amazon, Audible
Ambitious graduate Marin Collins accepts a four-month internship at a prestigious public relations firm to work on a tech account, but her plans are derailed when she’s assigned to go on the road with touring rock band Kings Quarters, hailed by Rolling Stone as the next big thing.
Enter Brad Osterhauser, the reluctant rock star who would rather be coding computer games than penning Grammy-nominated songs.
Traveling by bus, city to city with a group of practical joking bandmates and a greedy manager, Marin and Brad forge a friendship and forbidden romance over a shared love of Seinfeld episodes, stolen moments and Red Vines.
But when Marin’s accused of betraying her company and the band, will Brad come to her defense or believe she was disloyal to him for the sake of her career?
I don’t read many rockstar romances but I love music so they appeal to me. There is the difficult part of dating a rockstar, usually a guy, who can get away with a lot and always have women after them. I liked it not being the big issue in Starfish.
I loved Marin and her sense of humor. Her roomie, Grace, is the best. Marin works hard, does all the right things, and doesn’t get enough credit really from Brad or her employer. I understood her reluctance to get involved in a work environment which was temporary.
Brad was less likable for me. He cared about Marin but didn’t really understand many of her issues or how to support her in them, more only caring about getting what he wanted. He’s a smart guy, and I thought he could do better. I thought his internal descriptions were a bit low-class since he is educated but maybe that’s the rockstar raunchy slang. He did do well with his grand gestures though.
I enjoyed the story with its business aspects of public relations and doing a tour. The band’s antics, pranks and support like family was enjoyable. I was glad the “problem” and blow up of issues was not the typical misunderstanding about some groupie being seen in a compromising way with Brad. The plot was well-crafted with realistic emotions for Marin, although Brad seemed a bit too much at times.
Narration:
Erin Mallon and Sebastian York are highly talented and well-known narrators. I enjoyed their narration. As Mallon voiced Marin’s chapters, and York performed Brad’s chapters. Their voices for Brad were quite different and that is a reason I prefer the lesser used duet narration. Mostly, it is that I have heard quite a bit of Mallon’s narration so particularly for one of her male voices, I kept hearing him as a character from another book, but I still enjoyed the performances. I listened at 1.25x speed which is a slower than my usual 1.5x speed.
Listen to a clip: HERE
About Erin Mallon
Erin Mallon is an actor, writer and voice artist in NYC. Her naturally warm personality and youthful sound have proven excellent tools for the many young adult and romance titles she narrates. She has originated roles in the theater with Ensemble Studio Theater’s Youngblood Company, The Drilling Company, Mabou Mines, Incubator Arts Project and many more. Erin is a devoted volunteer at The 52nd Street Project, the voice of many TV and radio commercials, and was one of BACKSTAGE’s “Career Dispatch” columnists for 2012.
About Lisa Becker
Lisa Becker is an award-winning romance writer who spends her time like she spends her money – on books and margaritas. As Lisa’s grandmother used to say, “For every chair, there’s a tush.” Lisa is now happily married to a wonderful man she met online and lives in Manhattan Beach, California with him and their two daughters. So, if it happened for her, there’s hope for anyone!
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I read all types of books but my favorites are urban fantasy and romantic suspense.I like some romance and some action / adventure / mystery in everything.I like sex in my books but please, only between TWO people.Intimate conversation is equally important to the sex in a book.It lets me see the characters.The other thing I enjoy is humor.
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Reading this book contributed to these challenges:
- 2019 Audiobooks
- 2019 Releases
- COYER Friends
I read and enjoyed one of her other books and meant to read some more of her stuff. Good to know this isn’t a typical rockstar romance.
I thought it was well done and enjoyable.
I don’t read a lot in this genre. Not crazy about the rockstar image thing. But this sounds like it won’t have that problem and could be fun.
Yes this took a different approach and I really appreciated that.
I’ve done that before where I keep hearing a particular narrator as a character they’ve done before. This was especially hard for me when there was a narrator who did a fantastic middle grade voice, and then I heard the same narrator do a YA character who was supposed to be sort of cool and manly and I just COULD NOT think of him that way!