Add THANK YOU FOR LISTENING by Julia Whelan to your summer TBR. This book pleasantly surprised me. It’s such an engaging, in-depth look at audiobook narration and all the hard work and talent that goes into it. It’s fun and engaging the entire book. You’ll be rooting for the characters along the way. I may need to re-read once it’s available as an audiobook to appreciate it even more. Julia Whelan has proven herself as bath a talented author and audiobook narrator.

This was such a fun read! I loved the characters, the pacing, the heart of this book! I couldn't put it down. I loved a fictional look at the world of audiobook narrating because it is so unique. I found myself laughing out loud at parts, which is a rarity for me and always a joy when it happens. So witty. Such a delight. I can't say enough positive things and can't wait to force all my friends to pick this one up!

I absolutely LOVED this book!!! The way Julia Whelan writes such important romance books with bigger themes and messages gets me EVERY time! I loved how this book pokes fun at the romance book genre, and still teaches such important messages about love and loss- mourning a life you thought you may have and learning to embrace the one you've got. It was so well written, funny and swoony. Could not recommend more!!!

Julia Whelan, Queen of Audiobook Narrators, wrote a romance about audiobook narrators?! Immediate yes. The banter (especially via text messages) was spot on in this ode to audiobook narrators and lovers. We also got family drama friendship, past trauma, and uncertainty about the future, all interacting well with the main romance storyline. Julia definitely knows her romance tropes and her use of them in Thank You for Listening was fantastic. Some of the chapter/part transitions were a little choppy (I didn’t realize we went back in time at the start of part 4), and I did think part 3 could’ve used some chapters since it was the longest one. But this was an enjoyable read regardless and as an audiobook lover, I really appreciated Julia’s POV on audiobook narration shining through in this story.

I enjoyed the unique premise of this book! The author clearly knows a lot about the audiobook industry as well as romance novels, and it results in a winning combination. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

Julia Whelan is such a good writer! Loved this new book and these characters. She develops them so well and has great dimensional stories. It's funny and sweet and surprising. :) I love when authors write in different formats in the same book and she definitely does that! For sure recommend this one!

Thank you NetGalley and Julia Whelan!

I don’t read many romances anymore. I used to! When I was in my teens, 20s, and 30s, I couldn’t walk by a cover with a shirtless Highlander on it. But year by year, my love for them fell away. I had written them off 😉 until last year. SEVEN DAYS IN JUNE showed me that romance could have fully fleshed-out characters and feature more relationships than just the “romantic” one. So I started testing the waters again.

I’m looking for a story, not steam. I want characters, not cardboard cutouts. I submit for your consideration: THANK YOU FOR LISTENING by Julia Whelan. Whelan is the award-winning audiobook narrator of over 500 titles, and our main character is in the same profession.

This! This is the love letter to romance readers that BOOK LOVERS promised to be and didn’t deliver. (Sorry. I’m in the minority here.) Okay, maybe it’s a love letter to those who dabble in romance but still roll their eyes at obvious tropes and obnoxiously steamy scenes that don’t advance the plot. And if you are an audiobook fan? These are your people.

You don’t have to be an audiobook fan to love this book. You’ll gain insight into the business while enjoying the story. (e.g., No cream in your coffee when you’re recording. Who knew?)

Even though the standard tropes applied (repeatedly and varied), they were delivered tongue in cheek. At one point, the main character says, “It feels like we fell out of a Romance tree and hit every trope on the way down.”

THANK YOU FOR LISTENING is a fun and smart RomCom with bonus points for a bookish setting. Send more of these my way!

I was soooo excited to receive this ARC, seeing that Julia Whelan is my favorite audiobook narrator! To see that this book is inspired by her own journey from child star to audiobook narrator was so fun.

Sewanee, or Swan, was a child star that turned narrator after circumstances lead her to leave TV. While she finds contentment in her job, she has always refused to narrate romance books. When she is tempted with an offer that she can't refuse, to narrate with the mysterious but well-known Brock McNight, she decides this is the time she will break her rule.

This book was fine! The banter was cute, and the topic is any book lover's dream. I think where it fell short for me was the format/structure of the story. I had a hard time following trains of thought because the choppy paragraphs. Overall, if you think this sounds fun, definitely give it a go!!

The plot line sounded interesting. It just didn't work for me. DNF



**************************I received an ARC for my honest opinion from NetGalley.**********************************

The queen of audiobooks wrote about audiobooks and I love that! If you’re unaware, author Julia Whelan is the gold standard for audiobook narrators.

Okay. Now to this book. Sewanne “Swan” is a former rising star actress. But after a terrible accident she turned her career into narrating audiobooks. Though she started her career in romance, Swan has a strict “No Romance” rule. That is until one day she’s offered the salary and romance job she can’t refuse. Which ultimately has her working with romance legend Brock McNight.

The banter in this book was top notch. Think Emily Henry level banter but about sexy romance books. 🫣😂 I adored both Swan and Brock. I adored the ode to audiobooks.

I did find the format odd and a bit lackluster. But overall a fun read!

Thank You for Listening is a romance novel for those who do and don't like reading romance. I absolutely LOVED it. Julia Whelan's writing is smart and she takes clever jabs at romance novels while writing a rom com. Her characters (and supporting characters - I loved the grandmother) are well developed. Her heroine, Sewanee, models Whelan's own career as an audiobook narrator, and if you have a tendency to have literary crushes like me, then Nick is going to steal your heart. Another thing I loved about this book is that lack of communication does NOT lead to the crisis between the love interests in fact their dialog is entertaining, laugh out loud funny, pokes fun at euphemisms in romance novels, and (mostly) honest. I also loved the deep dive into what it takes to be a skilled and quality audiobook narrator. This book is my first by Whelan and my only complaint is that it's only the 2nd novel she's written so I don't have enough backlist titles to read now. I have pre-ordered the audio version for a reread. Many thanks to NetGalley, Avon and Harper Voyager publishing , and Julia Whelan for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for a copy of “Thank You for Listening” in exchange for an honest review. There’s a lot I liked about this book. I enjoyed the meta nature of referring to romance novels and the HEA. I appreciated how there were different relationships that I was invested in, other than the protagonists’ romance. This novel has a depth that you don’t always find in romance books. I also enjoyed reading about the experience of audiobook narrators. Despite subplots, there were moments that I felt like the story was a little slow. I was more invested in some of the characters than others and, with the different plot lines, felt myself thinking of the adage that sometimes less is more.

What a fabulous book!

I have come to know and love Julia Whelan as a superb audiobook narrator, and I thought her book, My Oxford Year, was outstanding. It is so fun to see her incorporate her experiences as a narrator into this new book!

This book is packed with so much great content! There’s a lot going on, but it all works.
Some of what Whelan gives to her readers here includes:
- A fun look at the world of audiobook narration
- Las Vegas antics including snow and romance
- Dealing with a past trauma
- Supportive friendships
- Family drama
- Tough decisions about the care of an elderly family member
- Funny side characters
- Career challenges and decisions
- Secret identities
- Text and long distance romance
And so much more.

Somehow the book has a wonderful combination of fun and lighthearted situations with lots of comic relief, and plenty of depth and challenging situations. It’s both heartwarming and heartbreaking. A big part of the overarching storyline is about a romantic connection, but it’s so much more. I became invested in the characters and cried a lot.

This is truly such a great book. I’d definitely recommend it!

I love Julia as an audiobook narrator so this was a fun insight into that through her authorship. It was a nice romance with some deeper themes that I really enjoyed.

3.5⭐️Thank You For Listening follows Sewanne, a former actress who, after an unfortunate accident, became an audiobook narrator. After a one-night stand in Vegas with a charming stranger, she is presented with an opportunity she cannot say no to; one of the world's most popular romance novelists wants her to record her last book. Despite not recording this genre for years, Sewanne accepts the position, ultimately to support her Grandma's care. The catch is that she has to record with the mysterious and popular male narrator, Brock McNight, and record under her former ghost name.

What I loved:
-All the commentary on audiobook narration. I learned A LOT!
-The story was laugh-out-loud funny, especially during Part 3 when the interactions were primarily via texting and email
-How Sewanne and Nick had great communication and even better chemistry
-Hearing Julia Whelan's voice across the pages
-How each chapter title was a common trope or theme in romance stories

What I did not love:
-The five separate parts felt like different stories, and I wish they were woven together a bit more seamlessly
-Along with that, the timeline hopped around too much
-How Sewanne called her grandma "Blah"

Thank you Avon and NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review. Pub date: 8/2

When I first started reading this title, I was a little confused by how she went from character to character for some reason, but once I picked up on the cadence, I was off and running.

I thought it was perfect that her main characters were audio book narrators. Sewanee and Nick meet each other by happenstance one night in Vegas. They have great chemistry and an amazing night together before going their separate ways.

Sewanee has sworn that she is never narrating a romance book again when she gets an offer she can't refuse in order to help her grandmother stay in her current retirement home. It is going to be in dual narration with Brock McKnight. Sewanee gets to know him as Sarah Westholme which is her narrator name. They talk through text only as they are in different locations recording. They, too, soon realize they have a great chemistry and decide to meet in person.

There are many dramatic turns of events and even quite possibly the dreaded HEA. Not only do you have their relationship, but you find out Sewanee's aka Sarah's back story as well as her grandmother's and Brock's. Once you get to part 3 where it becomes largely epistolary through texts, you won't want to put it down.

I really enjoyed Whelan's writing and hope to read future novels as well.

The Oxford Year is a hard act to follow, but Julia Whelan has done it again with Thank You for Listening! I loved this book. Loved it from the first page to the last and especially the relationship between the characters. Highly recommend!
Thank you to Netgalley for the arc in exchange for an honest review!

3.5⭐

After a tragic accident forces Sewanee “Swan” Chester, a graduate of Juilliard and former up-and-coming actress, to forgo her dreams of an acting career, she ventures into the world of audiobook narration, a profession in which she earns repute and a respectable income. However, memories of her accident and subsequent disfigurement and her unrealized dreams cast a shadow on her present life. Initially, she gains recognition as a popular narrator of romance novels (under an assumed name) but has since moved on from the genre (she detests the unrealistic and impractical tropes and the promise of HEA in romantic novels!) to more serious books and is presently a successful audiobook narrator, under her real name. A chance meeting with a handsome stranger at a book convention in Las Vegas leads to a very interesting night for her and provides a welcome change from her monotonous life in LA.

Upon returning to LA she is offered the chance to perform the last novel of a famous romance writer, who has recently passed away, with the elusive and extremely popular narrator Brock McKnight. Initially reluctant, she ultimately accepts the offer as it would enable her to afford an upgrade in her grandmother’s care at a swanky retirement facility. The audiobook is scheduled to be released in episodic format and what follows is a collaboration between Swan (using her previously discarded pseudonym) and Brock, lots of humorous communication, sharing and attraction which also brings its share of tension, misunderstandings, secrets and other challenges. As the narrative progresses, we see how Swan tries to balance her personal and professional aspirations, deal with her grandmother's failing health and navigate her way through tension with both her father and her well-meaning best friend who is a successful actress trying to help Swan revive her acting career, all in an effort to move on from her disappointments and allow herself to finally be happy.

Julia Whelan’s Thank You for Listening is an entertaining read with loads of heart and humor. Yes, the usual tropes (the chapters are actually named after the more common tropes in romance novels) make the story predictable ( it is a rom-com, so no surprises there), but the cast of interesting characters, their backstories and the humorous banter over emails and texts between the main characters (reminiscent of one of my favorite Meg Ryan/ Tom Hanks movies) make for an entertaining read. Though the story did drag in a few places (400+ pages is a bit too long), it still managed to hold my interest. What upped my rating (from a 3 to a 4) was the inside look into the hard work that goes into the process of audiobook narration and the challenges faced by professional narrators. Also, reading a romance novel that pokes fun at the genre and the concept of HEA, while the narrative progresses in a similar direction was an amusing experience.

May thanks to NetGalley and Avon and Harper Voyager for providing a digital review copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

A sweet love story with a literary twist! I loved the relationships between the characters and especially the friendships.

Just, wow. I loved this so much. I fell in love with Julia Whelan as the narrator for many of my all time favorite audiobooks (if you haven’t listened to her reading, go find her. She is on so many major books). When I saw her book I knew I had to read it immediately.

While this was fiction, I could tell her personal expertise as a audiobook narrator infused the details of her writing. It was real and I could picture it all.

The banter between the main characters was pure gold. They were hilarious, sexy, and perfect. All of the characters were rich and truly came alive on the pages. The epistolary structure worked well for the sections it was featured and made the characters more tangible for me. I loved this moments full of euphemisms and connection. It completely enthralled me.

This book had it all: romance, friendship, heartache, self-discovery, banter…. Seriously everything.

I 100000% will be listening to this very soon when it comes at as she is narrating it herself and I know it will be absolutely phenomenal. I cannot get enough.

Thank you NetGalley and Harper Collins for my ARC in exchange for my honest review.