This book had a little bit of everything. At its heart is a very nice romance full of every trope you can think of. We also get a behind the scenes look at audiobook narration. Both plot points kept me very interested.

This was such a cute love story, and just what my heart was craving right now! A coming-of-age story that features a former actress turned audiobook narrator, with themes of friendship and love, and I couldn’t put it down!

I actually ended up listening to the audiobook while reading, and was fully immersed in the story of Sewanee, and loved it from start to finish.

*many thanks to Avon/Netgalley and Harper Audio for the gifted copy for review

I listened to almost two hours of this book; I just could not get into it. I didn't care for the narrator or the storyline.

Julia Whelan is my favorite audiobook narrator, so I picked this one up with zero hesitation, and I’m so glad I did! Loved the premise (former actress turns into romance audiobook narrator) and loved the characters and their interactions. Definitely read it!

This book is marketed as a romance but I would say it’s half romance half fiction (I really hate saying women’s fiction but that’s what I would categorize this as). This book isn’t a super light hearted and fluffy romance. Grief is a major aspect of this book, but not in the way you think. Sewanee, our FMC, suffers a life changing injury and a lot of this book is Sewanee grieving her old life and her inability to move on from her own dreams. It never felt preachy, as some books do, it was a beautiful story of living your life in spite of possible failure. As for Nick and Sewanee, I just never really felt their connection. They seemed like wonderful friends… that’s about it. Julia is the best audiobook narrator I have ever listened to and I wonder if I enjoyed this as much as I did, because I enjoyed her. The story jumped around a lot but you can’t help but love a majority of the characters. Sewanee’s relationship with her grandmother was so personal to me and made me miss my Grandma. Sewanee unfortunately felt a little hysterical from time to time, possibly from the way she was portrayed in the audiobook. I don’t think I would have read her character as emotionally as Julia did. I feel like this review is really wishy washy 😂 but I would recommend it, especially the audiobook. Now BRB while I find every book on my shelf narrated by Julia.

Unfortunately not for me. I tried to get into it multiple times and just couldn’t get past how a lot of it felt unnecessary to the story. I was extremely bored.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for providing a free advanced copy of this audiobook in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you to Avon, Libro.Fm, and Harper Audio for the ALC in exchange for an honest review

CW: parental infidelity (past), death of loved one, grief, strained parental relationship, hospitalization due to exhaustion (secondary character), FMC's grandmother experiences memory loss/has dementia (multiple episodes on page), FMC has a near death experience/injury related to an airplane (past), suicide attempt (side-character), discussions of end of life care

I would recommend if you're looking for (SPOILERS)

-m/f contemporary romance
-one night stand
-you've got mail elements
-epistolary

I am trash for a good epistolary and this had it in spades. I highly recommend the audiobook. This book is just all about appreciating the art that is audiobook narration, finding fulfillment in your career, and romance novels.

This had me cackling so much. Sewanee's antics as an audiobook narrator, her one night stand that haunted her in all the best ways. Brock was sawoony and I'm gonna say it again but their messages were just my favorite part of this book in the lead up to them finally meeting. I love how they accidentally gave more information away about themselves.

A wonderful book about family, biological and found and just finding love and acceptance in yourself and others. And appreciation for narrating a good steamy romance novel

Steam: 3

You may know Julia Whelan as the Audie Award-winning narrator (recently called the "Adele of Audiobooks" by The New Yorker), but she is also a novelist who writes smart, fun novels with strong female protagonists. Her latest follows Sewanee Chester, a sought-after audiobook narrator navigating her career, coping after a tragic accident, and looking for her own happily-ever-after while also believing there's no such thing. This is a delightful read full of twists on the same old rom-com tropes. And, of course, I highly recommend the audiobook!

Is Julia Whelan enjoying the fact that she has a mind blowing range as a vocal actor? Yes. Should we all sit back and let the woman play? Absolutely yes. Whelan knows her romance tropes. She frolics with them, delights in them. All of her characters are sincere, thoughtful, and genuine. You want to be friends with each of them. Whelan lets us watch people grow together. The plots develop in a way that feels genuine to each of them as people. Fights and celebrations are equally grounded in how these people think. It's also just absolutely a delightful bit of fun and will definitely benefit by listening.

Thank You For Listening by Julia Whelan
Narrated by Julia Whelan
4.25 Stars
Thank you NetGalley for providing this audiobook for review.

I love books that take place in the book world. Since I read mostly audiobooks, I was super-excited to read one that takes place in the audiobook world and written by a top audiobook narrator. I especially love it when a narrator narrates their own book because they will tell the story exactly the way they intended.

Thank You For Listening by Julia Whelan is a cross between women’s fiction and romance. Sewanee is a Juliard-trained actress who turned to audiobook narration after she suffered a disfiguring accident. She is one of the most popular narrators in the field, but she no longer narrates romance.

There is a big side story (amongst several) about her Mallomar-loving Aunt “Blah-Blah” who has Alzheimers and needs to move to the expensive memory-care unit of the nursing home she is in. So Sewanee is forced to accept a lucrative offer of co-narrating a romance with a sexy-voiced narrator who nobody has ever seen in person.

They had to communicate about the project, and did so via text and email that quickly became flirty, but neither knows what the other looks like. I loved this part so much! Flirty correspondence is my kryptonite, and it was done well here, and I enjoyed the way the romance progressed though the banter.

Besides the romance and the Alzheimers, there are numerous other side stories happening, which, to me, made the story feel a little busy and long. I felt like two book ideas may have been merged together, and the author’s note at the end (must read) seems to support that feeling.

Likes:
•I love books that take place in the book world, and there was a lot of insight into romance books and audiobooks and the fans surrounding it. I loved those details.
•Mallomars! I am a Mallomar freak, and will be in my nursing home with them as well.
•I loved having a disabled/disfigured heroine. It was handled very well in my opinion.
•I loved Blah Blah (though I hated the nickname) and thought she stole every scene.
•Made me LOL a lot, even though there were sad parts as well.
•I love texts/emails and there was a ton!
•Behind-the-scenes peek at audiobook production.
•Best sexual innuendos ever.
•A very unique story filled with common tropes.
•The author's note at the end.

Dislikes:
•There were too many side stories. Though I did enjoy them all, it made the book feel too busy for me.
•The names: I know this is nit-picky, but Sewanee, Adaku and Blah Blah were three of the main characters. I find overly unique names distracting in my reading. If I listen, I wonder how its spelled. If I'm reading, I'm wondering how it's pronounced.

The Narration:
Well duh, of course the narration was fabulous. There is nothing like a narrator narrating their own work, and Julia Whelan is always fabulous.

The Down & Dirty:
There is a bit of everything in Thank You For Listening by Julia Whelan. I loved the romcom parts and I loved the Alzheimers storyline. Romance readers, especially romance audiobook lovers, will love the behind-the-scenes peek at the business. This is a romcom that made me laugh out loud, but it also covered a lot of serious and difficult topics, and Julia knew just when to come in and lighten it up. My only issue with the book is that there were a lot of side stories that distracted from the main one. A few were necessary, a few were not and just made the story a little too large and overwhelming. Still, I highly recommend Thank You For Listening, especially for romance audiobook lovers.

Rating: 4.25 Stars, 3 Heat, 5 Narration

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Harper Audio for my copy of Thank You For Listening by Julia Whelan Narrated by Julia Whelan in exchange for an honest review. It published August 2, 2022.
First off, Julia Whelan is a fabulous author, and narrator! I truly could listen to her read a grocery list and enjoy it. And the way she weaves a story is wonderful.
That being said, this book wasn’t for me. I wish there had been a trigger warning for the near pornographic language for those of us very sensitive. I skipped over as much of the sex talk as I could, as I am one sensitive to this topic.
Overall the story was cute, albeit predictable, but with books like these, it’s often the travel, not the destination.

Julia Whelan is the queen of audiobook narrators. I’ve listened to multiple books narrated by her and I’ve loved so many. It was truly a joy listening to a novel that she wrote. The emotional growth of the characters was very relatable and made me really root for them. It was a very nice slow burn romance. I hope she writes more books in the future and of course narrates them.

Thank You For Listening was not at all what I was expecting. I was expecting this to be a light-hearted romcom, but that’s not what this was. There are, of course, moments of light-hearted romcomness, but really this book was a women’s fiction emotional rollercoaster. Have I mentioned how much I hate the term “women’s fiction”? That’s something the main character and I have in common. This book seriously has it all – romance, heartbreak, family issues, friendship, etc. Get ready to laugh, cry, and swoon.

Swan (nickname for Sewanee) has been going through the motions of her life since a tragic accident ended her acting career years ago. Turning to the world of audiobook narration, she has found a new version of herself within it. But she keeps others still at a distance, including her friends and the chance for romance. Instead she spends her time consumed with her work and spending time with her grandmother who is slowly losing her memory to Alzheimer’s. When a romance author who gave Swan her start in audiobook narration passes away, she leaves her final book to Swan to narrate along with the romance industry’s hottest (and anonymous) narrator, Brock McNight. Swan has refused to narrate romance in years, but the opportunity to make some extra money to help with her grandmother’s care pushes her into saying yes.

There are scenarios in this book that seem a little unrealistic (enter light-hearted romcomness), but the emotions in this book were so real it hurts. Swan is such a relatable character and it was so easy to see pieces of myself within her. Dealing with the aftermath of an unimaginable accident, which crushed her dreams for the future, she really puts on a tough exterior that masks her true emotions. And on top it, the one person in her life who has always been solid is her grandmother and seeing her diminish in front of her eyes is heartbreaking. Anyone who has had a family member who has/had Alzheimer’s or dementia can easily relate to this, along with those who have watched their loved ones slowly fade away. Despite the dread Swan faces in taking on this new narration project, she ends up finding pieces of herself that have been missing since her accident thanks to the deep relationship she builds with Brock. They don’t know each other’s real identities, but they share more with each other then they do with the people around them. Swan and Brock are so funny and the relationship they build is sweet and swoon-worthy.

Although this book was not what I was expecting, it was what I needed. I got all the feels and thoroughly enjoyed listening to every minute of it. Yes, I listened to the audiobook – very fitting, right?

Rating: 4/5

For someone that typically doesn't pick up romance or light reads, I am OBSESSED with THANK YOU FOR LISTENING! Of course, when I saw that this was written by Julia Whelan (my favorite audiobook narrator) and also narrated by her -- this was an automatic ask!

I was pleasantly surprised with how much I loved the story and the characters. Books about books are my sweet spot and Whelan did a fantastic job incorporating parts of the audiobook-narrator life into this story.

I will definitely be recommending to fellow readers that enjoy books about books, witty banter between characters, and a good balance between rom-com and rom-rom, if you know what I mean.

Sewanee began a successful second career as an audiobook narrator after a disfiguring accident ending her acting career. When she agrees to co-narrate a final posthumously released romance by a giant of the genre with a famous male narrator, they develop a deep connection over emails, texts, and calls.

Thank You for Listening is a love story for anyone with a favorite audiobook narrator (Scott Brick!) that plays with many elements of romance fiction: mistaken identities, correspondence, love triangles, and enemies to lovers.

I will recommend to audiobook fans and to readers new to romance, looking to try out the genre.
Thank you to Netgalley and Avon and Harper Voyager for a digital review copy.

First off, thank you NetGalley for the ARC of Thank You For Listening!!

I have been a long time fan of Julia Whalen as a narrator (she’s my favorite, actually), and her first novel, An Oxford Year, is in my top five books of I've read this year thus far. With such high expectations going into her second book, I had my fingers crossed for another showstopper, and she did not disappoint!

I’m an audiobookophile—is that a thing?? So the fact that the plot of this book was about the behind the scenes creation of an audiobook, that checked all the boxes for me. Sewanne and Brock, relationship was perfect, Blah was the most fabulous character in the book, and the interconnectedness of the characters was so well written that my emotions took a journey right along with them.

This book is incredible, and I cannot recommend it enough. I can’t wait to see what she has for us next. ❤️❤️

Let me just say before I even begin to voice my thought process while listening to this book, that 0.5 star of this audiobook is for that author’s note. It’s been my most favorite author’s note so far, it’s real, it connects you with the author and narrator of the audiobook and makes you understand the amount of hard work and determination put into creating this beautiful end result. So just wanted to start the review by one big kudos to Julia Wheelan for this 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻!
Thank you for listening is an audiobook that is definitively different from the romance novels we’ve all been used to reading but it’s this difference that makes it stand out from others. The emotions portrayed are raw and make the characters scenes so real that there were times the hair on my hands rose. There are a lot of themes packed into it; there’s the relationship between grandparents and their grandkids, the main character with a visual impairment and how that correlates to her choices or life, difficult or strained relationships with one of the parents being some of them.
Sewanee is an audiobook narrator but that hasn’t been her dream. She was an actress but due to a skydiving accident, she lost one of her eyes. She’s content with her life as an audiobook narrator and a different opportunity knocks on her door when she hears that the world’s most loved romance author wants her to narrate her latest romance novel with a male narrator who is well known as well. It’s the story of self discovery and love that blossoms when you truly know a person. For me, I found it interesting to know the life of an audiobook narrator and small things they pay attention to like pronunciation of a word depending on ethnicity of the character or even action words like sigh, oh, and so on. The way Sewaenee and Brock’s relationship progresses was handled beautifully and showed how the progression went as they truly understood each other.
A book I would definitively recommend, let me know your thoughts about this one!

If you listen to audiobooks, you definitely know the voice of Julia Whelan. Turns out I love her voice as an author just as much as her fantastic narration! Thank You for Listening is a “meta romantic dramedy” (🚨 new micro-genre alert 🚨) about Sewanee Chester, an actress-turned-audiobook narrator who returns to the Romance genre one last time when she receives an offer she can’t refuse. Her counterpart in this dual-narration undertaking is fan favorite Brock McKnight. Both narrators choose to keep their true identities hidden behind pseudonyms, but they connect through emails, texts, and audio files. Readers of Thank You for Listening will have great fun watching Sewanee and Brock’s relationship develop, smirking from the sidelines as we wait for them to figure out what we already know. This one is sassy, smart, and heartfelt. Details from inside the audiobook industry (the Audies! 🎧 Green apples! 🍏) and particularly Sewanee’s special bond with her beloved grandmother, BlahBlah, make it extra special! And don’t worry, of COURSE the author reads the audiobook, and she hits all the right notes, accents, and emotions!

I enjoyed listening to this book. It was cool that the author narrated the book.

This book follows Sewanee. A former actress turned audiobook narrator finds out that the biggest author in romance wants her to narrate her last book. The only problem is Sewanee doesn't buy into the whole romance thing. Through the process, she falls in love with her co-narrater. The chemistry between the two main characters was excellent. This book was a delightful read. If you get the chance I recommend you listen to the audio version instead of the book.

I have enjoyed many books about books, libraries, bookstores, publishers, and authors, but this is the first book I have read about audiobooks and narrators. Thank You for Listening is a great story that deals with family relationships, moving on in life, friendship, romance and loving what you do. Sewanee Chester, Swan, originally dreamed of being an actress, but after an accident left her with one eye, an eye patch and a bad shoulder, she gave up the dream. Still using her talent, she became an audiobook narrator, who progressed from romance books to literary fiction and "important" stories. While at a convention in Las Vegas, she meets Nick, an Irishman with a great sense of humour and they have a one night stand, but there is a lot of chemistry there. When she is offered a job narrating an episodic book with a well known male audiobook narrator, she takes it to honour one of her mentors. This leads her into a long distance relationship with Brock, her co-narrator and lots of fun ensues.

I really enjoyed this story. Julia Whelan is a veteran audiobook narrator and one of my favourites, so it was interesting to hear about the ins and outs of the business. The characters were all wonderful, and I loved Swan's relationship with her grandmother, Blah Blah. It is very poignant and heartfelt. Swan's best friend, an actress who hit it big has her own issues and she and Swan also have a very special relationship. They have supported one another since acting school and they not only encourage one another, but are there when they are needed. Brock and Nick also play a very important role and you will be surprised as you learn more about them. I really enjoyed this well written story. There were some laugh out loud moments, some sad ones that had me teary, and some angst, but all meshed together well. I loved the chapter titles, each was a different trope that I have learned about as I read more. The narration was performed by Julia Whelan which was perfect. I always enjoy when an author narrates their own book, as they know what voices they were thinking of when they wrote the book, as well as the emotion and emphasis. I recommend Thank You for Listening for an entertaining read or listen.