How could I resist an audiobook about an owner of a romance bookstore who falls in love with an audiobook narrator?

Gigi, Listening was entirely different from Instamom, Guertin's previous book, but even more loveable. Gigi was such a fun protagonist. She's a bit of a homebody, a bit scattered, and a bit stuck, but when her friends gift her a trip to England for her 30th birthday, she steps out of her comfort zone and takes it. (Can I just take a moment to say, where do I find friends like this?? I've never been gifted an international vacation!) Gigi grows significantly as a person throughout the course of the trip.

The romance completely charming, and the references to other beloved romance books made it even more fun. I've read almost all of the romances that Guertin references in the book, which made it a blast to read.

The side characters were also lovely. The backstories of all the different tourists made for fun detours throughout the story, and there was definitely one little twist I didn't see coming.

Make sure to add this fun, lighthearted travel romance to your TBR this spring.

To begin with, my gratitude to @netgalley for introducing me to this charming story.

Gigi is a thirty year old book shop owner in a small town in US. She inherited the shop from her parents and turned into a romance-specific bookstore. She was looking for love through dating apps but nothing matches to the bar created by Zane (sounds like Zayn?). Gigi's love for Zane remains unrequited until her group of friends gifted her a ticket to a ten-day bus tour in London where Zane is guide. She remained delusional and misguided in the "guided" tour and realized that her new journey means so much more. On the surface, he fellow passengers an epitome of normalcy. As the journey progresses, she learns the magnitude of their problems. What seemed like a group of odd people coming together, soon became an inseparable family.

The book is a hurricane of emotions in every page, and every sentence sometimes. The description of locations, funny and relatable metaphors in serious situations, conflicts and reconciliations, this book has all the flavors and every flavor has its own identity. I loved how it deals with grief, trauma, and realities of life that make or break a human being

In conclusion, read it if you love the authors like Cecelia Ahern who have mastered the art of writing her imperfect women characters in a way that they seem perfect all the time, their flaws become their beauty.

This is a simple and fun meet cute that takes place in England on a guided tour.
Gigi’s fascination with the audiobook narrator, Zane, of the book her parents fell in love over is why she took the tour, a bit cringe, but anything for love right? Especially since GiGi runs a book store her parents left her that she changed to be a romance novels only store.
However there are 9 other people on the trip and Zane isn’t one of them, at least at first. But that’s ok, there’s another person that takes up Gigis time. Everyone on the bus has there own background and reason for being on the trip and I absolutely loved getting to know the other characters. Francis with his fun facts was one of my favorites, definitely teared up over his story.
I loved how the book was broken up into days, almost like a travel journal. It felt like I was reading something that could be a real travel day, but it’s romance, so it could never happen in real life, right?
Definitely suggest this book to my fellow hopeless romantics who also love an HEA

I want a story. If I can’t have a story, I’d rather be reading my book.

Thank you so much to netgalley, Kensington Books and Chantel Guertin for giving me this eARC in exchange for an honest review.

This is Gigi's story, a girl who loves her parent's love story, they met because of a book and then fell in love and happily ever after. Years later, she is obsessed with this book, more specifically with the audiobook and the guy who narrated it. On her birthday, her friends sent her to England to meet the guy, and here's where I stop talking about the book because here is where the magic begins.

Definitely I wasn't expecting the curse of this story, but this was so good, this book was cute, easy to read and a light rom com. I was in a little reading slump and reading this one helped me because it is a quick read. The characters were really interesting, I loved Gigi and another person I won't tell you about because of the S word. But the best part were all the descriptions in the book, it was really easy for me to make a picture in my head of what she was seeing during this road trip.

I give this book 4/5 because it was really cute, but I think Gigi's obsession with this guy's voice was a little too much sometimes.

4 stars! Thank you so much to NetGalley and Kensington Books for an advanced copy of Gigi, Listening.

Gigi's is a hopeless romantic, owner of the Love Interest bookstore (FANTASTIC name for a romance book shop, by the way), and is on a quest to meet her soulmate. Zane narrates an audiobook that holds sentimental value to Gigi, and her friends gift her a bus tour of the English countryside that Zane just so happens to guide.

Immediately this book reminded me of one of my fave romcoms, "While You Were Sleeping" starring Sandra Bullock. Chef's kiss!!!! Anyone that reads this book and calls Gigi a stalker has never been a fangirl. For me, it's so easy to suspend my disbelief when reading romance, and there's a special kind of fantasy that goes into happy endings. Gigi felt relatable — she loves all of the books I love, she's a daydreamer with an active imagination, she's fun and good, but she's also flawed! This is a story about believing in love, but also making the mistake of loving the idea of someone, and not the actual someone.

A great adventure from start to finish, and would recommend to romance fans :)

I made it 27% into this book and decided to DNF. The premise was so cute so I am really bummed that this one ended up not being for me. I had a hard time connecting to any of the characters, but especially the FMC and it was taking too long to get ANYWHERE.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for allowing me to be an early reader!

I want to like this book because 1) It was such an easy read. The story was paced well and kept me engaged 2)The audiobook is narrated by Natalie Naudus. So. Duh. 3)The love story was actually rather sweet in the end.
But, what in the EAT PRAY LOVE was that plot?! Our main character is coping with a traumatic event in their life in what I would argue is an EXTREMELY unhealthy way which all her friends and family support to the point of spending thousands of dollars for her to take a trip across the world.
Also, this book has clarified that I HATE books about books. I swear our main character mentioned a different book every other page.
I would highly recommend this to anyone that says #momlife unironically or considers drinking wine a personality trait.
Thanks to netgalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Such a sweet and fun book! I really liked the road trip love story feel and was a play on the holiday movie! Makes me want to visit England! A super fun, cute and quick read!

It just didn't hit the notes I was hoping it would. It feels very quirky hallmark, which I think will be just the ticket for many readers, but not for me. While I enjoy wordy stories in general, I think there is a point where describing to excess minuscule details that are ultimately unimportant to the world building or plot does more to remove you from the setting than place you in it. The book sort of dragged, and I found the main character unlikable and - at times - downright creepy.

🦇 Book Review 🦇

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐

❝ Mishaps make memories. ❞

❓ #QOTD If you could travel anywhere in the world, where would you go?❓

🦇 Gigi Rutherford doesn't just love love stories; she sells them in her romance-themed bookstore, where her parents had their very own meet-cute years ago. After finding an audiobook of the novel that brought them together, Gigi falls in love with the narrator's voice, keeping her now-deceased parents alive by listening to it on repeat. On her 30th birthday, her friends send her on a surprise bus tour through England, where the audiobook's narrator acts as the tour guide. Is this Gigi's chance at a happily ever after?

💜 Chantel Guertin does an amazing job guiding us through Gigi's tour of England. Every stop in Gigi's tour is captured with vivid detail, sweeping readers out of their seats and onto cobblestone roads. We accompany Gigi on every step of her adventure. Even more beautiful is the diverse cast of characters alongside her, each with their own history, story, and desires. The other tour attendees help Gigi on her adventure toward self-discovery in different ways; each person is there for a reason. The premise of Gigi seeking a love story that mimics her parents' meet cute is heart-warming. We see how hard she's worked, how much she deserves a story of her own, and can't help but root for her happy ending.

🦇 While it's always fun to see the title snuck into a book somewhere, we're hit on the head with the "Gigi, listening" concept way too many times in the final portion of the book. There's strength in subtly that was lacking here. There were also moments of unnecessary repetition we could have done without. Show, don't tell. Perhaps the biggest issue for me was Gigi's lack of self-awareness. She's smart, logical, and organized, but her love of romance novels has created an obvious blind spot. She's projecting her parents' own love story onto her own life, which is a great way to start the story, but she should have been aware she was forcing herself to fall for the wrong guy sooner.

🦇 Recommended to anyone searching for a comfy love story or an escape through England without ever reading your reading chair. If you were a fan of the 1995 film While You Were Sleeping, this one's for you.

💕 (Kind of) Grumpy/Sunshine
📚 Book References
🧭 See the Sights
🏳️‍🌈 Lesbian Ship

🦇 Major thanks to the author and publisher for providing an ARC of this book via Netgalley. 🥰 This does not affect my opinion regarding the book.

I adored this road-trip love story that sees romance book store owner Gigi getting gifted a bus tour around English guided by the audiobook narrator she's convinced herself she's in love with. While the premise is a bit out there, I was completely invested in Gigi's journey to discover real life can be even better than fiction or fantasies and the cast of characters on the tour with her just warmed my heart with each of their different stories.

Great on audio narrated by one of my favourites, Natalie Naudus and highly recommended for fans of Thank you for listening by Julia Whelan. If you're looking for a feel good read with memorable characters and a sweet, PG/Hallmark style love story you need look no further!

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for early digital and audio copies in exchange for my honest review. This is my new favorite book by Canadian author Chantel Guertin - plus all the romance novel references were so on point and enjoyable for this romance bookstagrammer!!

CW: Sudden death of parents, grief, loss

While Gigi’s tour might have begun for one reason, life had some other plans.

"Mishaps make memories."

This tour through the English countryside was exactly as quaint and beautiful as it should have been. Members of the tour added the quirk and their diverse stories add a lot of dimension and interest. The need to continue knowing about the lives of all characters even after the book ends is possibly the biggest accomplishment of any book. This definitely is one of those books.

There is so much we hold on to, and we so easily think extremely highly about someone without even really knwowing them. When we finally face reality in both these cases, that is when we gain the missing perspective of life.

Thank you, @netgalley for my advance copy.

Gigi is a hopeless romantic
Runs a bookstore
Obsessed with the audiobook narrator of her favorite book Zane. She loves him, dreams of him, and compares him to everyone she meets that's why she is 30 and single.

Zane's family are the owners of a bus tour guide company in England and the tour guide is none but Zane himself. So when Gigi is gifted a trip on one of the tours for her birthday, she feels like she has been gifted the world. However, will her dreams become a reality and she and Zane end up as a couple? Or fate has other plans for her?

This book is perfect for fans who love to read books about books and also set in England especially as this one takes us on a tour throughout the beautiful touristic sites and bookstores there😉.

I like it and recommended it  so make sure to check it out when it's published.
Thanks to @NetGalley and the publisher for granting me an ARC of #GigiListening in exchange for my honest opinion.

Xoxo💋

I absolutely loved this book. From the gushy and sweet love to the friendships formed along the way. Every single character was rich and felt three dimensional.
The love story was well developed and executed in an amazing way. I’m very glad I got to read this book.
Definitely keep an eye out for its release!

This book was like living out a dream! It reminded me a lot of that movie "The Holiday" which is such a sweet and playful romcom! This book was a great time, I recommend it to everyone.

Thanks to netgalley & the publisher for an e-arc of this book in exchange for an honest review!

This was a fun, sweet and silly rom-com. I loved the whole premise of the book, and it being set through ten days on a tour of England. I actually enjoyed the whole audiobook narrator plot, although the obsession did go a little far, I thought it was a nice touch considering Gigi was into books!

I thought the side characters were done really well too, I liked how we got to see little glimpses of them and they were developed well. At points I was more interested in them than Gigi, her character felt almost a little too forced? But by the end I did grow to like her!

I adored this book. There was something just so magical about this tour group and setting. It made me feel like I was there and made me vividly remember my bus tour through Ireland. I loved how the romance between Gigi and Taj developed, especially how Gigi resolved her original feelings and need for a full circle moment. I was also awestruck by how well developed the side characters were. They felt like real people with their own motivations, not just people there to serve the main character. I would definitely love to go on a tour with the group and highly recommend this read when it comes out!

I wasn't sure about this book when I realized she goes on a tour to meet a man because she likes his voice from listening to an audio book he recorded. But, the author does a good job of connecting the book back to her parents and how they met. This helped me feel like this plot line might actually take place.

The characters in the book are great! I love the tour group and all their differences. Overall, this is a quick read with a nice story that has a happy ending.

This clean romance drew me in with the blurb but failed to deliver. The pacing was very slow, there were too many underdeveloped characters, and the travel descriptions were told instead of shown to the reader.

I personally found the main character to be quite immature for a 30 year old, and overall the book fell flat for me.

Thank you to NetGalley for a copy of this book in return for my honest review.

Thank you to NetGalley & Kensington paperback for the opportunity to preview this uncorrected proof in exchange for my honest review. This book reads like a Sophie Kinsella rom com. It’s silly, sweet, likable and yet an easy, fun read. The reader takes a tour with Gigi, a single book store owner who is gifted the trip of her dreams to tour Britain by bus. The caveat, is the narrator of the tour is Zane, the narrator of her favorite audiobook, with whom she’s fallen in love with via voice alone. I loved Gigi's character, but I loved the character development even more. It was so refreshing to read as an avid romance reader. The story had a lot of depth to it and had some cute little tropes thrown in, which I loved. I definitely recommend this one if you love a good romance book! This is a quick, fun, and cute read that is perfect for romance lovers.