I loved Gigi, Listening! To fall in love with the idea of how you think someone is and all to find out how you thought them to be is nothing compared to how they truly are, can be just as bad as a real life break up. I loved the characters and how the romance developed at just the right pace!

Thank you to Netgalley and Kensington for the advanced copy!

Gigi is one of us. She loves love stories. She owns a romance book shop. She is secretly in love with the narrator of an audiobook. So, when her friends surprise her with a trip to meet the narrator of her dreams, she is hoping she is about to meet her soulmate.

This book is very cute. It has such a lovable cast of characters and a main character that is just the right amount of delusional to make her relatable.

This book was written for you if:
1. You love a London boy
2. You are an audiobook girlie
3. Or you want an adorable clean romcom for the true romantic

Thank you to Kensington Books and NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to read an advanced copy. GIGI, LISTENING is the perfect title because Audiobooks plays a role in this story.

This is a witty novel about a young woman who takes an impulsive trip to meet the man behind the audiobook narrator that she has fallen for. Gigi Rutherford loves stories. She reads the books and sells them at her romance bookstore.

The illustrated cover is perfect because it shows Gigi listening to an audiobook with iPods in her ears while holding a book to read.

This book has everything I love from romance to English locales.

Loved the character development.

3.5⭐️

Romance bookstore owner Gigi is gifted by her friends a ten-day bus tour trip throughout the English countryside for her 30th birthday. Splendid, right?! Yes, but what makes this even more of an amazing gift is that her favorite audiobook narrator Zane is leading this tour. Zane, the leading man starring in all her dreams and fantasies. What starts off as a quest to go after the man of her dreams, ends up being much more.
 
This book was so fun and enjoyable to read. The premises was interesting and definitely intriguing. At the start, I sensed it was slow-paced dragging a bit, but toward the second half of the book, things start picking up and I started warming up to the characters which made up for so. I thoroughly enjoyed the descriptive parts of the scene’s settings. It gave me as a reader an eye into all those amazing places they visited and activities they did during their tour. My mind was constantly transporting me there alongside them from the comfort of my own bed. A free travel with no physical hassle; sign me up!
 
I like how much Gigi grew through this story & the self-reflection journey she went through. She relaxed and stopped being stuck in her head and started enjoying and living the moment she’s in. In other words, experiencing REAL life. Sometimes what we think we want and have mentally hyped up in our mind turns out to be not the right thing for us. Which is fine. Life has a funny way of working itself out cause best things in life come to us when we are not looking for. However, what is important is to always have an open mind and heart.
 
I feel the real gain of this journey for Gigi for sure was the friends she made along the way on this trip. A rewarding irreplaceable gift to take back home.
 
For me, the secondary characters were the ones that held up this story. They were as much heartfelt and enjoyable to read as Gigi’s. A group of misfits with an array of personalities and backstories that got revealed bit by bit during the journey. Each of them had their own moment to shine, purpose to be there, and fair chance to leave an impact. I wished if their stories were explored a tad more, but hey, that’s the greedy side of me talking.  
 
Thank you Netgalley for providing me with this ARC!

"Gigi, Listening" was a great refresher from the normal romances trope. I loved the idea of have the main character enjoy an audiobook because of the voice she was fell in love with. Once she met the person behind the voice, she was not to intrigued in the end and he did not turn out to be the person she believed he was. Instead she fell hard for the other male character. I also loved all the diversity in the book, although it might not seem much due to the almost all white characters. There was diversity in able bodies and sexuality. There was a mixed family in terms of a lesbian couple and one of the wives daughter from a previous relationship. There was also the couple that was still finding it's way back to loving each other. Then there was the older lady who wasn't even trying to find love, but she ended doing so. Then lastly the older male with early on set dementia. This book captivated everybody with it's different stories.

Okay, so I'm just going to dive right in. I was not "loving" this book. It was a weird sort of vibe from the beginning for me. Georgia "Gigi" Rutherford runs a romance only bookshop in Michigan and has been obsessed with the audiobook version of the novel that brought about her parents "meet-cute". The book is narrated by Zane, and he looks as good as he sounds to Gigi. She convinces herself that they are soul mates and her awesome friends chip in to send Gigi on a tour of England that just happens to run by the tour company Zane's family owns. She is booked on the trip that Zane himself guides and she's just going to let fate take over.

Up to this point I was still into the book but once she gets to England and things don't go as expected, she begins to get on my nerves. I had a hard time relating to her because she came off whiny and slightly stalkerish. Taj is introduced and it's pretty clear that there is some chemistry at play between them, but Gigi just can't stop feeling sorry for herself and she also misses out on a lot while being so selfishly stuck in her "Zane Bubble". It does finish in a HEA and I was very content with the way it played out.

This is a solid 3 stars for me. The cover is adorable, and the writing style is really great. I just felt that some parts went a little too long and the author could have dialed back just a smidge on how obsessed the main character was. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher, Kensington Books for the ARC. All views discussed are my honest opinions.

This book just was not for me, whether I was in a bit of a reading slump or it wasn’t my kind of book, im not sure. I did DNF this book however I am willing to try again, perhaps in audiobook form.

Thank you for allowing me to review this book :)

I loved the premise of this story, and the outline of our protagonist on paper. Bookish, witty, a little caught up in romantic notions but for deeper emotional reasons. But the character and prose just didn’t deliver for me.

Gigi Listening is a great light hearted quick read. I would have liked to have a bit more steam as it's very much a slow burn. Overall, a great weekend read.

Thank you to Kensington Books and NetGalley for this ARC! I read it well after the pub date, and I'm kicking myself for waiting so long to finally pick it up. Gigi, Listening was heartwarming, quirky, funny, and so sweet. My favorite aspect of the book was the group trip setting. The cast of characters, especially Angus and Charlotte, were so dear and added such dimension to the story as a whole. Each had their own backstory and personality that you get to know and love as the trip went on. The love triangle added another layer to the story that while predictable, made it that much more rewarding in the end. I enjoyed seeing Gigi grow and mature during her trip, and heal some old wounds that she had carried with her for so long. Overall, a great book that I will recommend to other readers!

This had one of my favorite endings that I've read in a romance in a long time. It was Notting Hill satisfying. A lot of books give you one long chapter for the conclusion but it doesn't feel well thought out. I can tell the author put a lot of thought into the end and it pays off.
Gigi is a die-hard romantic and had become her certain that she is destined for the man who narrates her favorite audiobook. This particular audiobook does have a legitimate reason for being so meaningful but it really doesn't make this particular story line any less weird or annoying. This story really excels whenever Zane is nowhere near the author physically and mentally. The secondary characters are adorable and I loved their stories so much. The actual love story was wonderful and I wouldn't change a thing. The 10 day tour through England was a clever and the perfect setting for this story. I think this is the perfect book if you are looking for a sweet love story with a unique premise.
Thank you to Kensington Books Publishing for the ARC

Thank you Netgalley for the opportunity to read and review this.

I have mixed feelings about this book, so my overall rating is 2.5.

While I enjoyed some parts of the book, the one thing I didn't like was the main character, Gigi.

Gigi is given the opportunity to travel to England to meet the man behind the voice she’s fallen for, Zane Wilkenson. She convinces herself that the smooth-voiced narrator is her soulmate.

But not everything goes according to plan when Zane (due to circumstances) does not turn up. She soon finds herself clashing with the bus driver, Taj. When Zane does turn up, she soon learns that he is not quite what she envisions, and in my opinion, constantly throws her ideals of him towards him, to change him into her dream man.

I found Gigi super judgemental to almost everyone she meets and found it very difficult to want her to have a happy ending.

I think I was attracted to the cover and the title of the book, although I must have paid some attention to the blurb as well since it is in the realm of the books I usually read.
Gigi is an anglophile who has been iterating her parents' meet-cute in her head, and when she falls for the voice of the man who narrates the very book that brought the two together, she sees it as a sign. Her friends push her to take a bus tour in England to figure things out, and she sets off.
I have always enjoyed the combination of characters that make a tour group - solely as a writing tool, not in person. My husband and I recently took a bus tour in Scotland and were extremely happy not to have to interact. My parents had to be a lot more social when they spent a tour for a couple of days in Switzerland.
Gigi wants to get to know and continue to fall for the tour operator who does not show up initially. There are a lot of side stories of the people on the tour, some of which I enjoyed.
Overall, the couple were believable, and some of the resolutions worked well. It moved slower than I had hoped, even if the book was not a big volume. I liked the concept more in theory, although it was a pleasant sequence of events.
I would recommend it to the more hard-core fans of the romance genre, the personality development arc had some focus, and Gigi has some more soul-searching to do by the end.
I received an ARC thanks to NetGalley and the publishers but the review is entirely based on my own reading experience.

Thank you netgalley and Kensington publications for providing me with ARC of Gigi, listening by Chantel Guertin.

"People think being alone is lonely but sometimes, being in a wrong relationship can be lonelier. "

Frankly I enjoyed this book quite a lot. This book was a whole package. There was emotional drama and turmoil. There were laugh a loud moments too and I ugly cried towards the end. The book starts with Gigi short for Georgia on a blind date which is going horribly wrong. As we go into the story, we get immersed into the world of Gigi which is also a world of books and library and audiobooks. What else a reader can ask for!!!

Gigi goes on a tour which is a gift from her friends but that's not all it is about. This tour to Britain is special for some other reasons too. On the tour, she meets whole lot of interesting people who are going to be with her as fellow passengers and then there's guide Angus and bus driver Taj. But Gigi is waiting for someone who she hopes is going to swoon her and make her dreams come true. Yes you got it, Gigi is die hard romantic.


The characters felt quite real and although I wasn't fan of Gigi in particular coz frankly she felt over the top but I liked other characters especially Taj. I was kind of expecting a twist at the end as the story had lot many hints. In my detective mind, I had already solved the case. Alas there wasn't anything like that.

I am glad to have picked up the book as the whole tour felt like an amazing experience, the journey amidst the various parts of Britain. I enjoyed the whole book very much but the second half was even better, first half being slow paced and constant whining of Gigi of her disappointment. Many a times I felt like screaming at Gigi, just enjoy the tour and forget the rest. But sometimes we have to follow heart. Haven't we all been there?

The thing I loved most about this book is that all the references of the books used in it did not feel forced. They felt very natural and subtly installed throughout the book. When I checked the list of books mentioned in the end of the book, I was amazed as I didn't realise there were so many references.

I will definitely recommend reading it to everyone who loves reading Rom-coms.

Thank you, Kensington Books & Netgalley for the ACR in exchange for an honest review!


This book was honestly a big DNF for me. I tried, I really tried but I just could not care less for any of this book’s characters, let alone Gigi (the fl) and her very bland problems.

I’ll try to give this author a chance with other books in the future but that day is not today.

A fun rom-com featuring a main character who loves romance novels and is obsessed with her favourite audiobook narrator. Ultimately, this book wasn't for me and that's mainly because I didn't love the main character. I do appreciate that she has a 30-something-year-old perspective on dating, which I expected to be a bit more mature and realistic, but that went out the window due to some of her actions. She was also very judgmental and rude at times. I could forgive that if she was more self-aware, but she wasn't. She has her positive traits, and she does grow/gain a new perspective by the end, but I don't relate to obsessive or stalker behaviors. The setting descriptions of England were very well done and transportive. The author's writing style flowed smoothly for the most part. Certain chapters were a bit of a chore to get through, but that's no big deal. Furthermore, there was little-to-no drama, which is like breath of fresh air in contemporary romances. Overall, I can see this being a fun rom-com with no spice for those interested in the premise. I wish I had liked it more, but I am grateful to have been given the opportunity to read this story.

Premise of this was cute, all the makings of a perfect romcom amidst amagical English setting, but, at the end of the day I was a little underwhelmed. A little [lot] predictable, a main character who, let's be honest was a spot uptight and kinda negative, and a very rushed/sum everything up before the ending, I just wish this book had a but *more* heck even an epilogue would have helped!

Also, for the bookstagram Fandom. I know we all have our favorite audiobook narrorators, I think there could have been an amazing opportunity for someone absolutely fabulous to narrate this one, maybe that would have helped with the story line? Like have it be a book that was really meant for audio?

I think there's going to be some that positively love this story, and to them I say, curl up with your favorite hot beverage in your favorite mug and have it!! And then try to make it through all the novels mentioned throughout the story! 😊


Thank you Netgalley and Kensington Books for the ARC in exchange for my review!

Gigi, Listening was a fun, travel romance novel set in a great locale and featuring a wonderful and engaging cast of side characters. Gigi is a romantic and believes in soulmates, and thinks the narrator of her fave audiobook might be the one; so her friends book her a bus tour in England led by the same guy. Once there, she is going to learn how destiny and soulmates might actually work, and how all is not always what it seems. I think the story is especially enhanced by the side characters on the bus tour, I loved each of them and I really hope they all keep in touch after the tour ends. I liked Gigi, i liked how her grief and loss was handled and how she grows a bit during the 10 days. And I really enjoyed reading about Zane and Taj, the men on the tour who are so different and interesting in their own ways. A fun summer vacation read.

These first two chapters were intriguing. I like where the story was going and the characters already. The reading is fantastic. I’m excited to read the rest of GIGi, Listening soon!

This book was cute, but fairly forgettable. I recommend it for a quick, fun read if you need a palate cleanser.