Thank You for Listening: A Novel

I *adore* Julia Whelan as an audiobook narrator, but, man, she blew me away as an author.
Thanks for Listening is a perfect romance and MUST be read on audiobook.
This woman is Pure Talent is so, so many ways.

One of my favorite audio books of the year, by one of my favorite audiobook narrators. Julia Whelan has written and voiced her sophomore offering as an author in her own right, about something in which she’s well-versed - the audiobook industry. The main character is Sewanee Chester, a former on-the-rise actress who experiences an unfortunate accident with a propeller, losing one of her eyes. She’s washed-up as an onscreen actress, but blazes a new path as an audiobook narrator. And she’s quite in-demand under the psuedo-name of Sarah Westholme. While she’s in Las Vegas at an audiobook convention, she meets a man with an Irish lilt in her hotel bar, ‘Nick’, before he’s scheduled to fly home to Dublin. She introduces herself as ‘Alice’, with a southern accent. They hit it off with all the requisite sparks flying, before they have to say goodbye. But, gosh darn it, Las Vegas gets a freak snow storm, closing the airport. And with no place to stay, because Las Vegas is booked for the night, Alice invites Nick to stay in her luxurious suite at the Venetian, supplied by her best friend and former college roommate who is becoming a star on her own, Adaku Obe. Adaku was with Sewanee at the time of her accident, and was due to be at the Venetian suite as well, but she had been taking a meeting in LA and couldn’t get back to Vegas because of the storm. So, Alice and Nick enjoy the benefits of the suite, and each other. After returning back to LA, Sewanee is scheduled to start a new romantic audiobook series with the hottest male voice in the business, Brock McKnight. No one knows who he is, as he is very secretive in protecting his identity. Sewanee as Sarah records her portions of the series in LA, while Brock records his sections on the East coast somewhere. They establish a texting relationship, to talk about the book and the characters’ motivations, really hitting it off. They agree to meet up at some point to voice their characters together in the same studio. But Sewanee, as Alice, still thinks about Nick, and wrestles with her growing feelings for Brock, though Sewanee, as Sarah, and Brock haven’t met yet. This book contains every romantic trope possible in this amusing story. And it’s done with full awareness of all these devices, tongue-in-cheek firmly planted by the author. So much fun for the listener/reader, and the author, as well!

The banter MY GOD THE BANTER *chefs kiss*

Really didn’t like ending. Otherwise would have been a 4.5 or 5 star.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ / 5 stars

I had a library hold for this since August and it was so worth the wait!

I've only been listening to audiobooks for the past few years but Julia quickly became my favorite narrator. When I learned that she was releasing a fiction about an audiobook narrator I was immediately sold.

In Thank You for Listening Julia proves that her talents go beyond acting and narration; she's definitely got the chops for writing an entertaining story.

I thought the main characters were likable and well developed, the side characters were interesting and added to the depth of the storyline, and I grew to appreciate Julia's narrating prowess even more with the multiple characters voiced in this one audio.

This is primarily women's fiction but I love that woven within some of the more serious subject matter (disfigurement, dementia, self-discovery) is a delightful romance with a generous dose of comic relief.

If you're on the fence about print or audio for this one, audio is a must in my opinion.

“Cover up whatever you please for the world, but in intimacy? Hide nothing. In intimacy, everything is beautiful” Since I am not a regular reader of romance, I was really expecting a HARD eye roll (52 Book Club Mini Challenge for April 2025) on this but I actually had a great time with it. It was very cute and cheesy and heartwarming. There were some serious themes (dimensia, self-esteem, jealousy in friendships, abandonment, etc.) and some not-so-serious themes (the difference between smut and romance, how many audiobook narrators it takes to change a lightbulb). So many funny moments filled with clever dialog. One of my favourite passages is when Sewanee and Adaku encounter two louts in a hotel bar: Chuck, oblivious, stepped closer to Adaku. "You're special. That 'It' thing. You twinkle. All mischeev-i-ous and shit." "Mischievous," Sewanee said in that well-trained voice of hers, which despite it's low volume made people listen. "Mis-che-vous." Chuck looked at her for the first time, surprised to find her there. "That's what I said." "No. You said 'mischeev-i-ous'. It's 'mischievous'." "So?" "Mischievous is a word. Mischeev-i-ous is not." Chuck struck a theatrical pose of contemplation, stubby finger on his scruffy chin. He turned to his buddy. "Hey Jim-bo. Is 'bitch' a word?" He looked back at Sewanee. "I say that right?" At times, there was some mild spice, but it was nothing that you would be embarrassed to have play on full volume while sitting next to a child on a plane (if you know you know). Between the fun supporting characters and the clever banter between love interests (real or fictional), I was having such a good time that predictable plot-twists and not-surprising surprises were totally fine by me.