I thought this would be romance but ended up being more in the women’s fiction lane. That’s fine, but I thought it was romance.

I really enjoyed the characters and the story overall. Big content warning for dementia—this is a primary plot point. There was a moment I was in tears because of a conversation our main character has with her grandmother, whose health is rapidly declining.

It was fun to read about two audiobook narrators as well.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Things I loved:
🎧 Sense of humor
🎧 Opening scene in the airplane 😂
🎧 Banter between characters
🎧 Blah and her happy hours
🎧 Multiple tropes within the story

Thank You for Listening was a fun book to try as an audiobook as the story itself follows the industry of publications, audiobooks in this case, which helped give even more life to the characters. Nick and Sewanee have more connections than they know of, making this one of those meant-to-be stories from the beginning.

Loved the building of the characters throughout the story. It was not a swept me off my feet type of story but a real one with life challenges affecting your day-to-day life. Sewanee is on a new career path after going through a traumatic accident. She has been learning to find her path and maintain relationships and support her grandma along the way. Loved her relationship with Blah (Grandma).

I don’t want to share much because going into the story blind with the main characters is the best way to go at it! Highly recommended the audio version.

🎧 Question: Do you listen to audiobooks? If so, what speed do you use?

I (Yani) only listen between 1.5x - 1.8x 😅
can’t do slower than that!




Feelings are temporary. They stick around as long as you believe in them and then they're gone, waiting to be believed in again. If they were permanent, then we'd only have to say I love you once and be done with it for the rest of our lives.

Regret haunts you for the rest of your life. It’s like a ghost that refuses to leave your house.

You think you can get through life avoiding regret, avoiding failure. Spoiler alert! Life is regret. Life is failure. But like that ghost, you’ll learn to live it it. Because failure makes success matter.

Take the risk. Fail. And let regret come along for the ride. A passenger… not the driver. I’ve seen too many people get into mid-life crisis territory, wondering where the time went and why they didn’t do anything with it.

We break in many different ways, but it doesn’t mean we are broken.

i went into this story with no expectations whatsoever and came out of it with a whirlwind of emotions!

granted, some of that came from the subject matter — specifically in sewanee's relationship with her ailing grandmother. when something like that hits home with you and is written in such a beautiful, believable way that's also equal parts heartwarming and heartbreaking, it says something spectacular about the author and how they write said character's voice.

sewanee is not a perfect heroine in the story, yet it's in her imperfections that she comes to feel far more human than written. she physically wears her insecurities and guilt and while you feel for her, you can also grow aggravated with her for how she carries herself. you watch her navigate her life, wanting her to be more than what she feels is hindering her, and yet you also understand it enough to feel for her. i came from it rooting her on as she enjoyed the ups of life and joy while also gasping for air during the lows of the book.

her support group in the form of her friend and her grandmother's ragtag, mischievous girl gang— as well as her growing feelings for a voice actor she gets to work alongside of, makes for a romance that might be lacking in steam, but has plenty of romance and heart to balance it out in a well-rounded tale.

Thank You for Listening was much deeper and thought provoking than I expected. Honestly, I started reading because I thought it would be a light romance. I would actually categorize the book as more women's fiction than contemporary romance. I know Whelan as an audiobook narrator, so I loved that the main character has the same career. The romance was very sweet too and Brock was an excellent love interest. The book did drag at times, especially toward the end, but I still really liked it.

A really fun read for a beach vacation. There were lots of behind the scenes stuff about audiobooks, publishing, and romance to keep it from being too light but enough of the other stuff to keep it interesting.

I never knew I needed a book about audiobook narrators, and yet this was one of my favorite romances in a long time. Great characters and an interesting look into publish and audiobook recording.

This was such a hilarious and authentic story! I listened to the audiobook, which was narrated by the author and I would highly recommend that medium. Considering the fact that it is about an audiobook narrator, and that the author is a well-known audiobook narrator, it added so much to the story.

I really enjoyed this book and definitely the perspective of an audiobook narrator. Strangely enough, I enjoyed the middle of this book the best. I enjoyed the correspondence between the characters on the Internet and texting I think more than I did when they were in person. I overall really liked the book but didn’t love the ending.

I'd heard great things about this book before reading it, and man it did not disappoint. It seemed like this book had everything in it: heartbreaking back story, ill family, love, conversation on race and work ethic in America, friendship, and found family. There was also fun twists regarding the love story (though somewhat predictable, in a good way!). Sewanee is a former actor turned renowned audiobook narrator, but she refuses to narrate romance anymore. But when she is approached to narrate a specific author's unpublished work posthumously - she can't come up with a reason to say no to the money.

Frankly this book was perfect. The writing is beautiful and Sewanee is unapologetic in an acerbic, biting way. She is a strong, confident woman - except when it comes to the accident that took her eye and left her disfigured. Her best friend is amazing as a background character and their friendship is pure and beautiful. The details given to the audiobook narration portion was very interesting for someone who doesn't know how everything works. It truly felt like this book covered everything possible without feeling too long or underdeveloped.

Highly recommend for those who enjoy romance and Women's Fiction. There is enough romance for the purists and enough Women's Fiction for those who don't love romance. It's a good hybrid in my opinion, and I generally don't love Women's Fiction stories.

**Thank you to Avon and Netgalley for an early copy in exchange for an honest review**

Julia Whelan is one of my favorite audiobooks narrators and I was so excited to read her book about, surprise, 2 audiobook narrators! Sewanee and Brock are two romance audiobook narrators who record a book separately, communicating as penpals, leaving eachother notes as they record the book together. Without spoiling the plot, they decide to meet and that's when things take a twist!

I thought these characters were well developed and complex. I loved Sewanee, and felt a connection to her immediately. Brock, despite the name, is sexy and mysterious but also funny and kind. With Julia writing about this career she knows so much about, I feel like we really got a peak into the audiobook world; I felt like an insider!

This book was delightful, though a bit predictable, but I loved the romance and peak into the audiobook world. Definitely recommend!

Sewanee Chester found herself narrating audiobooks after an accident ended her acting career. She stopped doing romance after making a name for herself and moving onto bigger and better things, but when a special project comes her way narrating with famous romance narrator Brock McNight, she can’t refuse.

With a little bit of romance and steam on top of deeper issues like self-worth and family drama, Thank You for Listening has something that will appeal to readers of all genres. Parts of this novel were pretty predictable, but it was a fun read nonetheless. I really enjoyed this one and would recommend to everyone.

Julia Whelan is my favorite audiobook narrator, and I was so excited to finally be able to read this!

Not only is this a solid romance, but audiobooks are my favorite way of consuming books, and being able to get a bit of an inside view of an audiobook narrator was fantastic,

I would absolutely recommend adding this to any valentine's day displays for 2023.

Thank you, Avon, for providing an advance copy of this book. Since its publication, I have obtained my own copy of it and am woefully behind in providing comments through NetGalley.
Julia Whelan is, of course, the best audiobook narrator ever. I’ll listen to any book project she takes on just because she’s selected it.
It’s a pleasure to glimpse a bit behind the curtain through her fiction that no doubt reflects some real life inspired moments.

This book was so great, as expected! Sewanee has really been through it and in a pretty low spot when she starts to connect with Brock. I loved seing their relationship with each other and with themselves bloom! Though my favorite characters may have been the nursing home friends!

What an amazing story by one of my favorite audiobook narrators! I loved the overall story and the relationship between the MC and the love interest. There was so much yearning and it was great!

I loved this book! It was such a fun read and I really loved the characters. I found them to be very easy to relate to. I highly recommend and I am looking forward to this authors next book.

Such a wonderful story about accepting who you are and moving forward. With just enough heat and romance!! Loved the characters. I also loved reading about narrating audiobooks.

Omg Julian Whalen is just so amazing! I had the privilege to alternate between the ebook and audiobook! Julia does such an amazing job with narrating 😍 my fave! Definitely recommend!!

when an esteemed audiobook narrator writes a book (that you mostly listen to on audio) about two audiobook narrators narrating audiobooks… 😜

this was so cutie!!! and had such a delightful and charming cast of characters! loved the behind the scenes glimpses of what it takes to narrate audiobooks, and the inclusion of so many little/big/important/often ignored things in books (disability after tragedy, memory loss with aging, healing after loss and change, etc!).

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️— really liked this one! and highly recommend listening, because… come on. you have to.

I absolutely loved this book. Julia Whelan is one of my favorite narrators and this book was no exception! She is an excellent writer and this book made me laugh out loud. Julia's voice is flawless and entertaining. I will be adding My Oxford Year to my TBR list.