Julie is a fan favorite as an audiobook narrator and she’s clearly equally talented at putting words onto paper.
This was such a fun read as it took us behind the scenes of the audiobook world with the main character an audiobook narrator who was a former actress still coming to grips with an accident from years ago and how it molded her and her relationships today…which is not necessarily where she wants to be.
Great characters, romance, friendship, behind-the-scenes and plenty of twists to keep the pages turning!
Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

08/02/22 New Release!

Please hear me out on this one before coming at me 😬

1. I was over the moon excited to listen to this after seeing the rave 4-5 ⭐️ reviews on here!

2. I was even more hyped that the MC Sewanee was disabled! ( being chronically ill I believe that romantic partners with disabilities should be written about WAY more often!) I am ALL FOR romances with characters that aren’t cut from a cookie cutter mold.

3. I know that Julia Whelan is a beloved Audio Book Narrator & Actress. I’ve enjoyed her voice a good amount of times as well so I was intrigued!

However this book was a total miss for me.

A. The romance between Sewanee & Brock always seemed forced.

B. I don’t think either character had a very enjoyable personality.

C. The twists that come out were quite cringe (spoiler free so I’ll keep this basic & say for instance why he really approached her to begin with)

“Why had he chosen her? She realized her hair had fallen forward in a way that had hidden her eye patch.”

D. The back & forth banter wasn’t very humorous for me, but a bit dull.

E. There were FAR too many side stories : her grandmother in the nursing home, her strained relationship with her father, her best friend’s career, her mother & stepfather’s romance, June’s backstory etc.

F. In comparison with another book that I listened to about audio book narrators, “The Ex Talk” it wasn’t nearly as good.

G. There were zero steamy parts IMO. 😬

H. The book was too long & repetitive. I actually sped up the last 15-20% so I could be finished.

I. The odd names were very distracting Seawanee aka “Swan”, “Blah Blah,” Adaku…

“The human voice is the thread that connects one soul to another. “

“I don’t know when but eventually you’re gonna to have to stop thinking you’re nothing more than a damaged
version of yourself.”

Thank you #partners @librofm @netgalley & @harperaudio for a #gifted ALC in exchange for my honest review. I know this one is loved by many !
📖📖📖📖📖📖📖📖📖📖📖📖📖📖📖📖📖📖

💭As discussed in Chapter 2 what would your stripper name be?
Name of your first pet & the street you grew up on.
👉🏻Mine would be Sassy Maine -I think it’s kinda sexy! 💁🏻‍♀️

The lights flashed, the coins rattled, the people cheered; some in elation and others in frustration. Vegas had an allure about it that just drew her in. It wanted to capture every little piece of her, but she didn’t have any pieces left. She sat at the bar and sipped her drink, the ice clinking against the glass when she returned it empty to the counter. She felt a presence sit next to her; another human being caught in the Vegas seduction.

Thank You for Listening just captured every little piece of my heart. Sewanee’s character is an audiobook narrator, who after starting in romance has now abandoned the genre. She doesn’t believe in happily ever afters anymore. That is until an opportunity she can’t refuse lands in her inbox.

This book is an emotional roller coaster that will leave you breathless and believing in love, and reiterate why romance isn’t always about the happily ever afters; it’s about the connection we as humans crave. Plus, it has You’ve Got Mail vibes throughout the story and I couldn’t keep myself from smiling. It’s not all light and fluffy romance though and there are some tough topics navigated in this book, so please go in with a bit of caution.

I highly recommend giving this book a read if you’re a romance fan (forced proximity, second chance, snowed in tropes), a You’ve Got Mail fan, and just want a wonderful book to read.

This newest release by Julia Whelan (also, the best audiobook narrator out there) is 5 stars!. Her first book, My Oxford Year, left me wanting more and this book did not disappoint.

Sewanee is an actress turned audiobook narrator. Starting her narrator career in romance, Sewanee transitioned to realistic fiction after an accident left her believing that “happily ever after” endings aren’t an actuality, but she gets pulled back into the romance world when she received an offer she can’t turn down.

There are some books that give you all the feels, and then there are others that GIVE YOU ALL THE FEELS, and for me that is Thank You for Listening by Julia Whelan. She narrates her own audiobook (I mean why wouldn't she), and I think you should for sure listen to this in order to get the full experience. She is my favorite narrator, and now I know she is going to be one of my favorite authors as well. I was laughing one minute and crying the next, and this took me on a ride of emotions like no other. I loved every single one of her characters, and while I know the story offers just a tiny taste of what it's like to be an audiobook narrator, I couldn't have been more fascinated. There is really a ton of work that goes into it that I hadn't thought of and being that Whelan is so good at what she does, I'm sure she does her due diligence just like our MC Sewanee.

Besides all of the audiobook greatness that permeated this read, I loved Sewanee's grandma and the ladies at her care home the most. The voices Whelan created for each of her characters, not just them, were spot on and amazing, and she still does the best male voice of any narrator I've heard. Thank You for Listening also runs the gamut when it comes to different tropes packed into one book, and I thought it was a nice touch the way Whelan acknowledges that. I felt very seen when they mention readers who listen at 3x speed as well and nuggets like that permeate the entire story. There is also a great section after the book titled "On Autobiography", and I was very glad she included that part in the audio as well. Make sure you don't miss that or this gem of a book that is romance but so much more. If you don't love straight-up romance, Thank You for Listening is a great choice since it's about a whole lot more than that. Now if only I could be friends with Whelan...

Thank you to the publishers for my advanced listening and reader copies of this book. All opinions and thoughts are my own.

Bleh, I struggled with this book a lot and didn’t finish it. I am a voracious romance reader, and I just felt like this story had too many subplots going on and I couldn’t get into the romance that I thought I was getting with this book.

Unfortunately, this was a bust for me.

I received a complimentary copy via NetGalley and voluntarily left a review.

LOVED this one! Main character Sewanee was injured in an accident 5 or so years before the book began, in which she lost her eye. Unable to continue her budding acting career, she has become a successful audiobook narrator, but has kept herself a bit apart from the world, especially from pursuing relationship. But an uncharacteristic encounter in Las Vegas, and then a growing correspondence with her new co-narrator of a romance book, has her considering putting herself out there again. But just as much as the romance plots, the book is also about her relationship with her grandmother whose memory is fading, her divorced parents, and her best friend who she adores but can’t help being jealous of.

All the characters were just terrific, and the book hit all the emotions from funny to sad but always heartfelt and entertaining. It’s also very meta - Whelan herself os a famous audiobook narrator, plus it’s meta because Sewannee has voiced many romance novels so the characters make lots of witty references to romance tropes, plus the chapters are titled with plot structure words and start with both real quotes about writing and faux quotes from a romance writer in the book! If I had to compare this book to the style of other authors, I’d say Katherine Center, with a pinch of the meta romance references of Book Lovers by Emily Henry.

I might be the only person out there who has never listened to an audiobook narrated by Julia Whelan - only because I have never listened to an audio novel! But now I really want to listen to one of hers! Plus go back and read her first book, plus anything she writes in the future.

4.5 stars

This would have been a great book to listen to – Julia Whelan is an amazing narrator, plus it being about an audiobook narrator, come on! but I didn’t get the audio from netgalley, and what was I supposed to do, wait for it??? when I had the ebook from netgalley??? As if. And I’m glad I didn’t wait, the ebook was fabulous and I adored it. loved every single thing about it. I loved the two main characters, I loved the side characters (Blah! Adaku!), I loved the relationship between Sewanee and Nick, loved all the tropes, honestly just loved every single second and highly highly recommend. Swan is probably one of my favourite main characters ever. I hope they make this into a movie…..

I rarely listen to audiobooks and had not previously heard of Julia Whelan (who is apparently a well-known actress and narrator) but I adored this wonderful love story. It had pretty much everything I look for a good romance - wonderful, well-rounded characters who had real faults and concerns, humor, heart, amazing chemistry between two people who, as far as they knew, had never met IRL, a great slow burn, sweet consideration between the two leads, and an in-depth and knowledgeable look at the nuts and bolts of audiobook recording. Plus bonus points for the epistolary sections and banter. The book also did a great job in putting MCs on equal footing in their personal lives, wanting to move on to new challenges, yet somewhat stuck in their present circumstances and outlook.

In addition to the central relationship, there was plenty more going on with Sewanee’s best friend really starting to break through in her acting career, and her grandmother slowly sinking into dementia. At one point in the book, there was a humorous discussion of the difference between women’s fiction and romance and I feel like the author did a great job straddling that line while still keeping more to the romance side of the fence. Although there was a lot going on, the plot lines felt well fleshed out and vivid. The book was a pleasure to read and now I’m thinking I should probably check out one of the author’s audiobook titles and give it a try. My thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for an advance copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions in this review are my own.

Everyone has been raving about this book for weeks now, so you already know that I have high expectations for this book. And yet, I was disappointed. Let me explain.

First, I had high expectations for this book. Everyone was saying this book was a solid romance book. It has all of the tropes with its slow burn romance and second chance trope. But none of these tropes apply to this book. It was more of a you got mail movie vibes.

Second, the pace of the book was too slow for my taste. I was fifty percent in, and still waiting for something to happen. There was not much romance happening. It was more toward the end when we get to read about the romance, which is disappointing.

Third, the main characters were not appealing to me at all. I found them a bit boring to read. Nothing in their personality attracted my attention. They both needed something more. Don’t know what, but something.

And last, I kept finding myself bored with this book. I know it’s bad to say, but I just wasn’t entertained. I tried my hardest to keep reading on. It just wasn’t for me.

2.5/5 stars— Having retired her Romance narrating days, former actress turned audiobook narrator Sewanee Chester finds herself back to her old roots. How you may ask? Before she passes on, one of the biggest names in romance, June French requests that Sewanee co-narrate one of her romance series with none other than THE Brock McKnight, the swoony male heartthrob in the Romance audiobook industry.

What happens when hard truths are revealed between them along the way? I enjoyed the banter between Sewanee and Brock. Sewanee is a nonbeliever in everything romance stands for but Brock attempts to break through her cynicism. I wouldn’t say I fell in love with them as a couple but the roles they played in each other’s lives showed when it came to their own individual healing.

Now, I requested this one on a whim due to the buzz I kept hearing about it. The story itself is very meta as the author is known as THE audiobook queen in real life. Unfortunately, I didn’t vibe with this one as much as I would’ve liked. It just didn’t feel cohesive, too many side stories being incorporated that made it feel haphazard at times and not as fully developed. The storyline of the ill grandmother and deadbeat dad, the more successful actress best friend, the mom and stepdad in another country, etc etc. At one point, literally one chapter was just hours of mainly dialogue between the two main characters which definitely threw me off a bit.

Once we got to the last third, I really was feeling the disconnection and detachment from the book. I practically was skimming through the rest just so I could finish it.

I don’t know if my experience would’ve been better if I listened to this on audiobook instead. But the fact that I’m not much of an audiobook person to begin with, I don’t really think it would’ve changed my mind all that much.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publishers for providing me an e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Okay… how do I describe this book without doing it a disservice? Thank You For Listening by @justjuliawhelan is a beyond amazing new release book that you all need to read.

I went in completely blind with this one only hearing a couple times how much people were loving it and how it was a must read. Let me just say, this book was all that and more, it was an instant five star read for me because not only were the characters amazing and so easy to love but… the female lead Sewanee was incredibly relatable. This book made me laugh out loud, tear up and just.. made me so happy like only a handful of authors can do with their books.

I’m sure as you read this you’re thinking, okay but what is this book about? Why will we love it? All I can say without giving things away is that you’ll love the relationship Sewanee has with her grandmother (tears here too), the friendship she has with her best friend Adaku, ALL the book talk (this book made me love audio books even more) && because we can’t have a book without a leading man.. or men.. well, there is plenty of that.

So, go into this book completely blind and enjoy the heck out of it, because just how I loved it, I know you all will too.

I thoroughly enjoyed Thank You for Listening! This book was witty beyond belief. This peek into the world of audio book voice recording artists is invaluable and unforgettable. Although, I am not an audio book fan, I now, more than ever, believe that the patience and talent it takes to record them is remarkable.

Sewanee, the heroine of this story and Brock, the hero have chemistry that is enviable. The conversations these two audio book narrators have via email and text are hilarious. They had me laughing out loud in places where it was not appropriate. The situations where Sewanee finds herself are so unexpected.

What I admired most about Sewanee was her indefatigable spirit. No matter the circumstance, she found a way to push through and fight for what she wanted. She turned her disappointment, hurt, and anger into weapons that helped her succeed in life.

Brock is a force of nature. His good humor and unwillingness to settle for less than he desires helps him to win his happiness. I absolutely love his spirit of forging ahead in the face of the unexpected.

Together, Sewanee and Brock provided hour of entertainment for me. This is a book I will read again. It was my first Julia Whelan experience, but definitely not my last.

Julia Whelan is my absolute favorite audiobook narrator and her debut novel "My Oxford Year" was a 5 star read for me, so I was absolutely ecstatic to be able to dive into "Thank You for Listening".

Sewanee "Swan" Chester is an audiobook narrator that had big screen dreams that were dashed by an unfortunate accident. Swan purposefully does not narrate Romance audiobooks anymore, but she is drawn back in by a posthumous request by one of the world's most beloved romance writers who requested that Swan and the hottest most mysterious male audiobook voice, Brock McNight, narrate her final book.
What ensues is a behind the scenes look at the audiobook process peppered with so much witty banter (my favorite). Although I loved Swan's budding "relationship" (which is via emails and texts only) with Brock, I was also drawn in completely by her relationship with her best friend Adaku, her relationship with her parents, and most of all, her relationship with her beloved, ailing grandmother BlahBlah.
Although I really loved this book - and could not put it down at the end - I really cannot wait to pick up a copy of the audiobook and listen to Julia's narration. I know that without a doubt that her performance will be nuanced and engaging.
Thank you to NetGalley, Julia Whelan, and Harper Collins Publishers for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. Publication Date: 8/2/2022.

Sewanee Chester is an audiobook actress who goes to a convention at the beginning of the story to fill in for her boss. While there, she has a fun one night stand with a mystery man. On the way home, she is asked to record the narration for a romance novel with a popular male narrator Brock McNight. In the past, Sewanee was an up and coming movie actress who had a terrible accident that left her with one eye and a belief that her happy ending could never come. She had sworn off narrating romance because she felt like the happy ending idea was fundamentally a lie. Her grandmother is in need of special care so Sewanee decides to take the job in order to make more money. She and Brock develop a fun, intimate relationship through email and text as they work on the narration together. I really enjoyed the story and the behind-the-scenes glimpse of recording audiobooks. All of the characters felt lived in.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC in return for my honest albeit late review.

Swooooon! 💕 
I love Julia Whelan! If you haven't read her book My Oxford Year, you must! I loved it and thus had such high hopes for her newest book, Thank You For Listening. And let me tell you... it delivered. ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

I have on occasion chuckled while reading a book (hi every Abby Jimenez 👋) but have only truly belly laughed out loud a few times: You Deserve Each Other by Sarah Hogle (loved it) and THIS ONE! I laughed so loud while reading and working out at the gym and did not even care that people were looking at me. The first 70% of this book is hysterical and endearing. The last part had me in tears. Happy and sad. It was just so good. The supporting characters are amazing and Nick is now one of my book boyfriends. 

Julia is not only an author, but she is an actress and narrates audiobooks. In this book, the main character Sewanee is a well-known audiobook narrator. I have never listened to an audiobook, but this one made me want to. I have heard Julia is a goddess at narrating books. She has covered Emily Henry, TJR, Abby, Linda Holmes, Kristin Hannah... basically all of my favorites.  

Thank You For Listening came out last week and I highly recommend. It is romantic, funny, and tugs at your heartstrings. ❤ Thanks to #netgalley and Avon for the copy!

Thank you to the publisher!! I am a Julia Whelan fan and loved her previous book. This was so fun and I really enjoyed the story. It was a cute romance! Definitely recommend.

I loved this! It’s a unique take on “a book about book that was fresh and meta and a nod to IFYKYK. Audiobook listeners will love this so hard, and I can’t wait to recommend it to my patrons.

First, thank you to @avonbooks for the ARC of this book in exchange for my review!

Okay now back to the review. This book was an adorable, meet cute, coworkers to lovers, quintessential romance.

Sewannee, the former actress turned audiobook narrating superstar has never quite gotten over the accident that changed her life forever. While others can see past the physical changes in her, that’s all she can see about herself.

When she has a one night stand with a man in Vegas after her best friend abandoned her in the middle of a freak snowstorm, it boosts her confidence a little bit, but she realizes it’s just a one time thing.

When she’s asked to narrate a romance novel with the bad boy of audiobooks, Brock McKnight, all she wants to do is turn it down. Unfortunately she also had a grandmother who’s her best friend, and suffering from dementia, and she needs the money to help take care of her!

When the work conversations between “Brock” and Sewanee, or “Sarah” as her fans know her, get a little more intimate, what is she supposed to do?

I honestly loved this book. From the disability representation, to the real life issues it tackled, it tugs at your heart strings and makes you fall in love with the entire crew!

What a delightful surprise of a book!

I had no idea what to expect when I started reading this, and picked it based on my interest in the audiobook narration business. What I got was a sweet, interesting and wonderfully written tale of a woman who’s life isn’t what she planned for and wanted and what she ends up making of it.


There are romance tropes, a terrific epistolary aspect, and strong female relationships. I thought everything about this book was so well-done: the patience of the pacing was perfect, the elegant writing and the characterization of the heroine and the secondary characters. I would have liked dual POV and more of the hero’s character development, but overall it’s a wonderful and light-hearted read with substance.


Thank you to NetGalley for an ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review.

#ThankYouforListening #Avon #NetGalley #Romance #ReadingRomance