I just like being near you. I like how I feel when I’m with you, Beth.
Lainey Davis
Inspection
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Format:
Audiobook
At the time of this review Davis has a Kickstarter featuring the Brady Family series:
Additional retailers:
Note: Books 1-3 have also been combined into a box set.
Publisher’s Synopsis:
I closed off my heart when I lost my wife. She is trying to start fresh. Can we rekindle an old flame?
I’m just fine, thank you. I run my family business. I cook family dinner and I take my vitamins. I even get plenty of exercise. So when my daughter suggests I need to “get back out there,” I brush off her comment and get back to work instead.
But then I see her.
Elizabeth Burns.
She and her son move in across the street from me after all these years. What are the chances she’d look twice at her old boyfriend?
The thing is, I’m a man now, but I come with man-size baggage. It’s better if I just get to know her as neighbors rather than try and start a new chapter. I know how this story ends. I can’t risk heartbreak anymore.
Not again.
But sometimes, I wish Elizabeth and I could just close our eyes and pretend there’s still a future for us…
Point of view:
1st person. Alternating chapters between Beth & Kellen’s perspective.
Rellim’s Thoughts:
This is book 3 in the Brady Family series by Lainey Davis. While you can enjoy this on its own, I think it’s best enjoyed after Foundation & Suspension.
I love, love, love that Davis is writing older characters falling in love. Both in their early 50s, Kellen and Beth were once high school sweethearts who reunite after 30 years. Kellen is widowed and Beth recently divorced. In addition Beth has a teen autistic son, Jake.
I could not have been more thrilled at how integral Jake was to the story and that the goal for (almost) everyone in his life is compassion, understanding, and supporting him. While Kellen does have to work to find ways to support Beth without overstepping and she works to let more people in, their relationship is fairly low angst. Most of the tension comes from Jake’s dad.
As always, the Brady Family is funny, loving, and encouraging. Kellen and Beth get a great second-chance romance and do a wonderful job of blending their families.
I’m looking forward to Cal’s story, Vibration.
Narration:
I know I keep gushing about them – but Carly Robins and Tom Taylorson are a fantastic match for each other and Davis’s writing. This one was even better because the main characters are older than those in the first two books … Robins and Taylorson are themselves yet sound a bit more mature, but without dropping into a cheesy elderly affect. It stays consistent throughout the whole audio. They are both terrific at the secondary characters as well. These are super easy to binge.
About the author:
Lainey Davis lives in Pittsburgh with her husband, her feral sons, and rescued rabbits. She writes steamy, contemporary love stories with grouchy heroes, strong heroines, and plenty of fiascos. She’s excited to find out how much coffee is too much.
You can connect with Lainey Davis here:
About the narrators:
You can connect with Carly Robins here:
Tom Taylorson is a veteran voice actor with decades of experience in commercials, video games, animation, and audiobooks. His clients range from Hyundai to McDonalds, from Blizzard to Warner Brothers Games, to Disney and LucasFilm Animation and beyond. He’s also an award winning audiobook narrator.
My Favorite Quotes
““I hate people,” I remind him. Mick sucked every extroverted gene out of our mom’s womb. I’m perfectly content with my work and my family in my life, even if those two circles overlap quite a bit.”
“Have you been mating with one of the Bradys?”
“I just like being near you. I like how I feel when I’m with you, Beth.”
“I love this about Kellen Brady. He’s not nice to us because he wants to get in my pants. He’s just nice to us. He’s nice. And that makes me want to let him in my pants.”
“I’m terrified and insatiable.”
Rellim Reads 