Review copy was received from Author. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
What I'm Looking For by Karen Grey Narrator: Karen White, Joe Arden
Series: Boston Classics #1
on June 16, 2020
Genres: Contemporary Romance
Length: 9 hours, 31 minutes
Format: Audiobook
Source: Author
Goodreads
Amazon, Audible, Libro.fm, Barnes & Noble, Apple
Recipe for a Boston Classic Cocktail: one part finance geek, one part starving actor, two shots of stubborn and a healthy squeeze of passion. Shake well and serve in a vintage glass.
When Kate Bishop walks into Boston’s famous Bull and Finch pub, all she’s looking for is one guy from her investment firm that she can trust to have her back—a tall order. With a salesman at her side, maybe stage fright won’t paralyze her completely when she presents her meticulously prepared research to clients. And maybe she can save her job.
Romance is the last thing on her to-do list, but a meet-cute with a Shakespeare-quoting bartender has her speculating on the value of diversifying her life portfolio.
Will Talbot is not a fan of the slick financiers who cram into his bar after each day’s closing bell. With their calls for Harvey Wallbangers and their Hermès ties, they’re all the same.
Except for a certain beautiful, buttoned-up brunette with fire in her eyes and a storm in her heart. They’re totally wrong for each other. He should be focusing on his upcoming audition, not coaching Kate on how to act like she's a bona fide member of the Gordon Gekko club.
Problem is, they can’t seem to stay away from each other.
The course of true love never did run smooth, but in this 1980's sweet-and-sexy rom-com, returns on love can’t be measured on the S&P 500.
What I’m Looking For is a unique sort of romance, not quite contemporary and not historical, set in the 1980s. I was actually about the age of the characters during this time period. The chapters all begin with an answering machine message. I don’t remember using that at all. I had messages from secretaries at work and by the mid 1980s I had a car phone with voicemail. Based on Kate’s job and traveling, she might have had a car phone rather than a pager.
Kate felt very realistic to me. Some women of this time period, wanted to have careers and be independent. I did. While they might also want to have a relationship and eventually marriage, it wasn’t always easy. Certainly, some men were creeps professionally and personally. I also experienced being the higher paid person in the couple. But in addition to all these male/female turbulent changes happening and misogyny in the workplace, Kate had her own issues.
Kate and Will had both experienced bad breakups so they wanted to have a monogamous relationship without the strings so they wouldn’t get hurt, which is nearly impossible and hard to be the longer they are together. Each had some family issues as well. Kate’s family was well-meaning but a bit old-fashioned with more of a focus on getting married than her career. Will’s family was broken and left him with financial anxiety.
I appreciated the growth in their characters and the honesty they had with themselves and each other. For the most part, they did communicate and they didn’t try to ignore what they were thinking or feeling. They had areas where they did not agree or some misunderstandings but everybody has those. I liked the way they supported and encouraged each other in their careers and to think more broadly in their personal perspectives.
The Boston Classics series is just beginning and I’ll be interested to see which characters are the focus next. The epilogue shows this couple five years in the future which is satisfying and makes me think they won’t be the main characters in the next book.
Narration:
Karen White is a long-time favorite so it was easy to listen and feel the emotional timbre of her performance. Her narration of the Kate point of view sections seemed like a larger percentage of the book. I am long aware of Joe Arden but I guess I haven’t listened to him before. He was wonderful and handled the voices well. I listened at my usual 1.5x speed.
Listen to a clip:
About Karen White
Karen White is a classically trained actress who has been recording audio books since 1999 and has well over 150 books to her credit and is a proud member of SAG-AFTRA. Honored to be included inAudiofile’s Best Voices 2010 and 2011, she’s also an Audie Finalist and Best Audiobook of the Year winner for 2009, 2010 and 2011 (The Hemingses of Monticello by Annette Gordon Reed, Too Good to be True by Erin Arvedlund, and Everything That Rises Must Converge by Flannery O’Connor) and she has earned multiple Audiofile Earphones Awards, recently for and You Had Me at Woof by Julie Klam and Inside of a Dog by Alexandra Horowitz. Publishers Weekly says of Nothing to Envy by Barbara Demick, “Karen White delivers a stunning reading, her character interpretations are confident and well-rounded, and she forges a strong bond with the audience.” Speaking of Audiobooks says of her, “Karen is one of my auto-buy narrators – if I think a book may interest me, her narration will sway me to give it a try.”
KAREN GREY is the pen name for award-winning narrator Karen White. A stage, screen and radio drama actor in Boston, New York and Los Angeles in the late 20th century, she started recording books in 1999. Now back in her home state of North Carolina, she shares a home with her family and (probably) too many pets, where she continues to narrate audiobooks as well as make up stories.
About Karen Grey
KAREN GREY is the pen name for award-winning narrator Karen White. A stage, screen and radio drama actor in Boston, New York and Los Angeles in the late 20th century, she started recording books in 1999. Now back in her home state of North Carolina, she shares a home with her family and (probably) too many pets, where she continues to narrate audiobooks as well as make up stories.
Karen White is a classically trained actress who has been recording audio books since 1999 and has well over 150 books to her credit and is a proud member of SAG-AFTRA. Honored to be included inAudiofile’s Best Voices 2010 and 2011, she’s also an Audie Finalist and Best Audiobook of the Year winner for 2009, 2010 and 2011 (The Hemingses of Monticello by Annette Gordon Reed, Too Good to be True by Erin Arvedlund, and Everything That Rises Must Converge by Flannery O’Connor) and she has earned multiple Audiofile Earphones Awards, recently for and You Had Me at Woof by Julie Klam and Inside of a Dog by Alexandra Horowitz. Publishers Weekly says of Nothing to Envy by Barbara Demick, “Karen White delivers a stunning reading, her character interpretations are confident and well-rounded, and she forges a strong bond with the audience.” Speaking of Audiobooks says of her, “Karen is one of my auto-buy narrators – if I think a book may interest me, her narration will sway me to give it a try.”
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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:
- COYER-20
Ahh the 80s. I remember answering machines! I had one at home for years. Not sure I want to read about that time period, though, lol.
I enjoyed it, other than the answering machines and no Internet it wasn’t so different. But it didn’t feel lacking in the Internet since so much related to their personal relationship and conversations.
We had answering machines in the 80s too, lol. I didn’t get a cell phone until the 90s. I think it would be hard to stay “no-strings” if you’re involved with the same person for any length of time, too. Nice that they had an epilogue five years in the future. I like seeing a couple happy in the future. Glad to hear you enjoyed this one, Anne.
It had a nice nostalgic feel to it. But mostly it felt like a regular contemporary romance because the focus was on the people. I liked it.
Excellent review, Anne? I like how you contrasted your life during this period to those of the characters. It was clear you were looking for that connection. I’ve got this coming up next month and am looking forward to listening to it.
I really enjoyed the characters and the relationships. I especially appreciated how honest they were with themselves and each other. I hope you enjoy it too!
I remember answering machines..although I was seven just leaving the 80s. I might pick up this book just to go back in time. I have a lot of nostalgia.
It’s interesting to look back at it that way. I hope you enjoy it too.
Sounds like all the fun ingredients are in this one. Thanks for the wonderful review.
I like the stretch from contemporary romance a bit into life fiction which makes it more realistic. It’s also fun to look at things at that point in time.
This looks interesting and I love both narrators.. Ha…almost historical with an 80s setting, Hehe.
It’s different and I like it. Like any book, it comes down to world and character building and this was well done.