This one just did not live up to the hype for me. I think it's really weird to write a romance novel where the heroine actively disdains the genre after making a ton of money off of it, for one. And I just didn't find it that well-written: Sewanee is kind of self-centered, she and Brock text like Boomers and not like people in their early thirties, you could have excised the whole sub-plot about her grandmother and lost nothing for it (which is not a great thing for a major sub-plot!), and there's a couple of fat jokes & suicide jokes I definitely could have done without.

I know Julia's a beloved audiobook narrator, and certainly those elements felt true. But I don't think I've ever listened to her narrate a book before, so I didn't already have that emotional tie, and this book certainly doesn't have me tripping over myself to pick up her first.

Julia Whelan is one of my favorite audiobook narrators, so I was really excited for Thank You for Listening. But...and I need to say this first off, I hated the main character’s name so much! Sewanee. All I could hear was Judy Garland singing “Sewanee, how I love ya, how I love ya. My dear old Sewanee!” But I did chuckle because there’s actually some detail in the book about how the grandparents/parents only agreed on the name because of its elegance. (Insert big sigh and eye roll).
Sewanee (now you’re hearing the song too, I’ll bet) Chester is a former actress, who had a disfiguring accident, now narrates audiobooks. After a convention in Las Vegas, she has a one-night stand with a stranger during a freak snowstorm that shuts everything down!
After her return to LA, Sewanee agrees to narrate a romance, a genre she left behind year ago. But Sewanee agrees because her grandmother needs to be moved to a memory care facility, and her father is unwilling to pay for her to stay in her current residence.
Her co-narrator is mysterious Brock McNight, who is a star in the romance audiobook narrator world. The dialogue between Brock and Sewanee is absolutely delightful. Ms. Whelan definitely knows how to right a romance. The flirting that goes on between them via email, then later text, then telephone is so charming.
Between the backstory of Sewanee’s accident, and her trauma from that and losing her acting vocation, the family storyline, Sewanee’s mother’s storyline, the handsome stranger in Las Vegas storyline, and the Brock McNight romance storyline, Ms. Whelan has packed every storyline I think she’s ever narrated into one book. I think this was done purposefully, but it was a lot.
I think this book could have used some editing in places. A little bit could have been cut and the story would have been just as good.
Overall, I enjoyed the stories, and I enjoyed learning more about how audiobook narration works. I would recommend this on audio, which I had pre-ordered so I was able to both listen and read the advanced e-copy I received.
Thank you to #NetGalley and #AvonBooks for the advanced e-copy of #ThankYouforListening by Julia Whelan.

I really enjoyed this book! Swan is an audiobook narrator who used to be an actress and narrator of romance novels, but after a tragic accident leaves her disfigured, she pulls back because she doesn't think that romance can exist for her anymore. As a favor to her boss, she attends a book convention in Las Vegas to lead a panel discussion. On a celebratory night out, she meets suave Nick who doesn't tell her the whole truth about what he does but she feels drawn to him. After Swan's friend has to leave, Nick and Swan spend the night together when Las Vegas has a freak snow storm and they get snowed into their hotel. A few months later, the author that Swan had done a lot of romance audiobooks for passes away and she is contacted with one last request- the author wants her and the most sought after male audiobook narrator, Brock McNight, to collaborate on a serialized romance project that will make both of them a lot of money. Swan's grandmother, who she adores, is in the early stages of Alzheimer's and she realizes that her care is only going to continue to get more expensive so she takes the job. As the project continues, she and Brock get closer despite never having met. At an awards ceremony she runs into Nick again and finds that she is still very attracted to him. She's conflicted with her growing feelings for Brock but she is still haunted by the connection she had with Nick, but an unexpected twist throws Swan for a loop and makes her question everything she knows about love.
Some other things I really enjoyed with this book- it was humorous with a lot of witty banter. I loved getting the behind the scenes look at how audiobook production works. I also really liked how this book touched upon lots of different romance tropes and overall it was just a really fun read that I enjoyed immensely.
Thank you to NetGalley and Avon for the eARC in exchange for my review, all views are my own.

This was a lovely book. Written and narrated by Julia Whelan herself, who is one of my favorite narrators. Personally I enjoyed listening to this one more than reading it. She really has a talent for voice and emotion and quite an insight into how to write characters so that they feel like very real people. I loved that the main character was learning to come to terms with the accident that upended her career and life and her journey felt very authentic.

This was my first book by this author and I am utterly charmed. I couldn't put it down and read it in one day. The characters were well rounded, the tropes were adorable, and honestly it was just so fun.

Sawanee suffered a terrible accident that ended her acting career. She narrates audiobooks now and starts a new project narrating one of her favorite authors with the industry's favorite male narrator. They become friends and maybe more but she's still a bit stuck on the guy who gave her a wonderful night in Las Vegas.

Nick is the guy from Las Vegas. But there's so much more to him that Sawanee doesn't know yet and he wants to be brave enough to go for what he wants. They meet again unexpectedly and their relationship takes a new turn in such a great way.

I don't want to spoil this book because I really enjoyed the plot building. I liked everyone, especially Sawanee's grandmother BlahBlah. I loved seeing Sawanee recognize herself in her new place in life. I definitely think this will be on my re-read list.

I loved this RomCom about two narrators for audiobooks by the queen herself, Julia Whalen. It’s perfect for a fun and quick read over the weekend. Highly recommend!!

This one was so good!! I also got the libro. fm ALC and I strongly suggest listening to it!! Julia Whelan is an amazing author and narrator. She has a very wide range of voices and characters that she does and is so talented you believe they are different people. I loved the whole idea of this book! Check this one out asap.

Sewanee Chester is living a life she never wanted- her beloved grandmother is in the throes of dementia, she isn't acting due to a horrific accident, and she doesn't want to narrate romance novels again. But, when the opportunity to make a lot of money narrating the last book of a famous romance novelist, she sees the chance to take care of her beloved BlahBlah (I love this name!). This book was so much fun- I loved the chapter names (romance tropes) and the meta look at audiobooks. Julia Whelan really knows how to dive into characters and this was a great read.

Julia Whelan is my absolute favorite audiobook narrator. It was so fitting for her to write this book and it was done impeccably.

It was absolutely delightful to read this book. So much playful banter with a little bit of spice. Such a feel good book. Highly recommend.

Thank you to Avon Books and Netgalley for the ARC!

Julia Whelan is my favorite audiobook narrator and I loved her debut book, so I eagerly plunged into this one. Sewanee Chester is a former actress and audiobook narrator who has been taped to read alongside the romance world’s biggest male audiobook reader for a new series.

As she falls for the mysterious Brock, who lives across the country and only communicates via text, she can’t stop thinking about her one-night stand in Vegas.

Additionally, she’s navigating a grandmother with Alzheimer’s and a possible chance to relaunch her acting career. But now that the dreams she had for so are in her grasp, are they really what she wants? And why does she feel so drawn to Brock?

THANK YOU FOR LISTENING review

⭐️⭐️⭐️/5

🎧Like most people who listen to audiobooks, Julia Whelan is my favorite narrator. When I saw she had a new novel where the main character is an audiobook narrator, I was so excited! Unfortunately, this one didn’t quite live up to the hype I had built in my head.

🎧Here’s a summary of the plot:👇
Sewanee is an audiobook narrator who starts a job recording a romance novel with the infamous Brock McKnight. Brock is a pseudonym and no one knows his true identity. As they record their book remotely, Sewanee begins to feel a deeper connection with Brock. But how can she fall for someone when she doesn’t even know his real name or what he looks like? As her feelings grow, secrets are revealed, and Sewanee discovers that she might know more about Brock than she originally thought…

🎧This story is broken up into multiple parts, which is something I typically enjoy. Part One was definitely my favorite, I laughed out loud reading the first chapter. However, it felt like all of the parts were their own separate story and they didn’t seem to flow cohesively together. I started this one as an ebook but hiiiiigly recommend it on audio. It’s a book about an audiobook narrator written by the audiobook queen herself. Seems like a no brainer to do the audio on this one. 😉 I also had a hard time with the romance aspect of it. I never felt like the two main characters had much chemistry. Overall, this one was just okay for me. I liked the premise, but the story fell a bit flat.

Sometimes in life we can be stuck while seemingly moving forward. After a tragic accident forced Sewanee Chester to abandon her lifelong dreams of acting, she pivoted and became a highly successful audiobook author. Sewanee is respected and in-demand in her new career, but in her heart she has never truly moved past the accident and accepted herself for who she is now. Thank You for Listening is a beautiful multi-layered story about a woman who realizes that although she may have considered herself to be broken, that she is still, in fact, very much whole.
I really enjoyed this story and every single character in it. Even those as minor as "taco dip Birdie" at Seasons added something meaningful (and not just a few laughs and a recipe for shockingly delicious dip). There were so many great relationships in this book: the bond between Swan and her grandmother Blah, the banter between Swan/Sarah and Brock, the true friendship between Swan and Adaku, and even her difficult relationship with her father. This was a beautiful story and I am sorry that I missed out on Julia Whelan's first novel, My Oxford Year (which I am now on the waitlist for at my local library). I love finding new authors, and I would recommend Julia Whelan and Thank You for Listening to fans of Mhairi McFarlane, Katherine Center, and Emily Henry.

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.

Such a fun, meta romance about audiobook narration, women's fiction vs. romance, literary snobbery, and fighting for love when you know it's right. Julia Whelan is doing a LOT in this novel, and some of it landed really well while some felt like too much. I loved the side characters and side plots; the trip to Italy felt a little too long and drawn out for me. I'm a big fan of meta books, so much of what Whelan was exploring was right up my alley.

Thank You for Listening by Julia Whelan was such a fun read. As a novel about an audiobook narrator voicing a romance novel, it’s no surprise this book is packed with innuendo and sexual references. However, the story itself is full of humor and wonderful characters. After an accident forces her to change her life plans, Sewanee is full of anger and hurt. Yet, over the course of the story, she learns and grows in amazing ways, finding healing in some unexpected places. I loved the depth and heart in this book and thoroughly enjoyed reading it.

*Thank you to Julia Whelan, Avon Books, and Netgalley for an e-arc. All opinions are my own.

Thank You for Listening is a really interesting book that straddles the line between "women's fiction" and romance very strongly. I would argue that for me it landed more strongly on the side of women's fiction, although the sort of You've Got Mail esque situation with Sewanee corresponding with someone you KNOW has to be the cute Scottish guy in Vegas even though I could NOT figure out how they were the same person, is strong enough I wouldn't argue with anyone who disagreed.

Essentially though, this book is a very meta experience, especially if you listen to it, which I did because Julia Whelan is hands down a favorite narrator for me. It follows Sewanee who agrees to narrate a romance novel one last time for financial reasons and those reasons are really heavily explored. Sewanee's grandmother, Blah, is in an assisted living facility and needs to move into a more advanced stage of care for memory care. This entire storyline is honestly heartbreaking. Anyway, the point is though, Sewanee is really anti-HEAs at the beginning of this book. So she goes on a whole journey with romance and whether or not romance novels are something that deserve to be celebrated (obvs) and on a journey to romance herself. I really loved the romance storylines in here, for the most part, though perhaps unsurprisingly I would have liked even more. But honestly, Nick was a gem. I really loved him. And the way the reveal happens? Excellent.

Anyway, at this point I feel like I'm just spoiling the book if you're reading this and aren't familiar with the tropes of the genre, but basically, trust in Julia Whelan and you'll have an emotional reading experience that will hopefully leave you feeling encouraged to follow your dreams at the end of it as well! Because that's the other thing I forgot to mention, a lot of this book really is about figuring out what and how to go after things that you want, especially when you've convinced yourself you can't have it anymore. All that to say, I enjoyed this one a lot and would recommend!

I'd read the ARC of Thank You For Listening by Julia Whelan last month! I was quite excited when I started it as I hadn't read any of her books before. Well, I did like it but I wouldn't say I loved it.
It follows Sewanee, an audiobook narrator whose life was completely changed because of an accident a few years back. And well, she doesn't really like narrating romance books but she gets the chance to work on a romance audiobook with another famous narrator - Brock McKnight, and since they're offering her lots of 💰, she decides to accept the offer.

From the moment I started reading this, the author had my attention, but there was this lingering undercurrent of sadness in the narration(does that make sense to you?) because of who Sewanee is as a person. It takes a while for us to know what happened to her, and it did make me feel very sad. I mean not everyone can be positive and upbeat all the time when life keeps pushing you down.
But, I didn't really like it when she kept talking about the romance genre and HEAs though. I mean I'm the world's biggest cynic (not that I show it on here) but I love romance not because of the HEAs but because of the comfort it gives me. So yeah, that made me feel a little annoyed(so it's a me thing, nothing wrong with the book). And the love interest Nick also doesn't like reading books(or romance?)🤣

I did enjoy Sewanee's journey and her grandma and friends, but I wanted more from the romance! The email/text exchanges were very cute though! But, I think you'd enjoy this if you're looking for something fun+emotional with more relationships!❣️✨

*I was provided with an ARC via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review*

I love audiobooks! And as someone who does love them, I can't tell you what a difference the narrator can make on my perception of a book. Julia Whelan is a great narrator. I have listened to at least 15 books she has narrated and have always appreciated her interpretations. I was intrigued when I learned that she was also an author. Thank You For Listening was my first experience with her in that role. As a reader who does not love romance unless there is something deeper than the typical tropes, I was not as confident as I sometimes am when requesting an egalley. However, I did not need to worry. Thank You For Listening is definitely a romance, However, it is an elevated romance.

Sewannee is the main character. She has been physically disfigured at some point before the book starts, which ended her up-and-coming acting career. Since the incident she veered into audiobook narrating. She rose to fame under a pseudonym narrating the Romance genre, but her cynicism over the "happily-ever-after" trope caused her to quit that genre and now only narrates other genres, winning awards along the way as she is apparently an amazing narrator.

Sewannee's best friend, Adaku is by her side and has been since childhood. And Sewannee struggles to keep her own jealousy and resentment at bay as Adaku rises to fame as a film actress as they both dreamed together as kids. Adaku is a wonderful best friend character: funny, supportive, empathetic, encouraging.

Sewannee also has some family in the book that make good side-storylines. Her grandmother who is in a care facility but her memory is declining so rapidly that she may soon have to be moved to a more extensive unit, re: more expensive. Sewannee's dad, who is emotionally distant from Sewannee and her grandmother, who is also his mother, and does not want to pay for the more expensive care. Finally, Sewannee's mom and her mom's new-ish boyfriend who are traveling the world together, but make time for Sewannee whenever she needs advice.

All of the above are in addition to the "Romance". Sewannee has a whirlwind romantic night with a man in Las Vegas early in the novel, but has no expectation they will ever see each other again, and that makes her a little sad. She is also being lured back into the Romance audiobook genre for one last hurrah as her involvement was a beloved author's dying request that Sewannee and popular male narrator, Brock McNight narrate the author's last work together. Long distance friendship ensues with Brock, which leads to maybe more feelings, but Sewannee can't forget her night with her Las Vegas man, and is also distracted by her family issues.

Will Sewannee get her happy ending?

Its a cute. quick read, even though it is pretty long. There are times where I got tired of the cynicism and negativity of Sewannee, but I reminded myself that it probably is pretty realistic given what she has been through. I enjoyed this book so much, I need to run out and get My Oxford Year now, too!

This is my first Whelan novel, though I’ve recently started to absolutely love her as a narrator! I was super interested in this because I am fascinated by the audiobook process and thought it was such a fun and meta idea for a book.

I’ll be honest and say that I originally did not think this book was for me, and my original 3 star rating was just a case of bad timing and poor judgment. But after listening to the audiobook, which I think is a much better format to devour this book, I LOVED IT. So so soooo much fun that I immediately had to run here to edit this review. It made me look forward to my work commute everyday because the narration was so great and I loved the characters. I cackled out loud multiple times and even cried a bit too. Absolutely awesome.

Thank You for Listening by Julia Whelan is written by my favorite audiobook narrator. As soon as I figured that out, I realized I should have listened to her read it! Anyway, I read it myself and loved it, it kept me coming back for more. I appreciated the tidbits she shared of the behind-the-scenes of narrating an audiobook (this was all part of the story). Thank You for Listening tells of Sewanee Chester and Brock McNight, both at the top of the heap of narrators. The two of them have never worked together, but now have a chance, unfortunately for Sewanee it is a romance novel, something she has given up narrating. Some personal things happen and she ends up deciding to do it, this is when things start to get really interesting. I would highly recommend this book and now need to get the audiobook version so I can have Julia read it to me.