Great fun and a lot of laughs! One instance of too much information in a sex scene, but otherwise lovely. I was just about to get annoyed with Sewanee when she didn't seem to get how in love Nick was, but the author deftly departed from that line and caught me up again as Swan moved forward, not staying stuck (thank heavens!). Thanks, Marilyn, for pointing this one out to me. I, too, liked the inside look at audio book production. The author made a wonderful narrator and her afterward was entertaining also.

Not sure why I didn’t review this already, since I read and raved about it immediately. All the feels. So steamy. My perfect kind of romance!

Thank You For Listening by Julia Whelan is a love letter to audiobook fans everywhere. We get the story of Sewanee, a former actress and current audiobook narrator, who has had her fair share of hardship over the last couple of years. An accident has left her feeling not like herself, and Sewanee has to relearn how to live herself again. She finds a friend in Nick, a stranger she spends one Vegas night with, and she begins to realize that in order to be happy, she has to be the one to decide to be.

What I loved:
-Tropes: Snowed in, One night stand, email writing/texting, Mistaken identity
-the texting/emails. This is when the story really hooked me 😍
-the Hollywood/Vegas settings made this read feel escapist
-Blah Blah, Sewanee’s quirky, theatrical grandmother, was so sweet. Her friends at the nursing home were funny too!
-Adaku was the most supportive bff ever. Julia needs to write a book from her POV next.
-the mistaken identity in the book was one I saw coming but also didn’t at the same time.
-the lessons in the story about loving yourself even despite the hardships life has handed you were amazing. I loved that both main characters had to wrestle with that, so the intimacy/steam was not the forefront of the story. I didn’t miss it though 🤷🏻‍♀️

I can’t wait to see what Julia Whelan writes next. Now my next goal? To finally listen to one of her audiobooks. I hear she’s amazing!

This book was amazing! The love story, the family tension, the behind the scenes look at being an audiobook actor. All the stars!

Cute romance with a few more serious storylines. I loved the look into an audio narrator's career. I enjoyed the print version, but this book is probably best on audio. Julia Whelan herself is an audio narrator, so I've heard the audio version is amazing.

this was fantastic, I actually listened to it and then read it because I enjoyed the story so much. and loved the meta of it all.

Julia Whelan novels are like a warm hug from a friend or your favorite sweater on a rainy day: comforting and uplifting. Thank You for Listening had unexpected emotional depth, likable and relatable characters, and a fun and funny storyline. I won't hesitate to pick up whatever Whelan has up her sleeve for the next novel. A solid four stars from me.

This is a book that needs to be listened to instead of read with your eyes. The narration is incredible and helped me connect with the characters more than just by reading the words on the page. The humor is great and I found myself laughing out loud multiple times. Yet my heart also broke at the appropriate times.

This was my first book by Julia Whelan, and I quite enjoyed it. It definitely leaned more towards general fiction than it did romance, as there is a lot of introspective moments about the lead character figuring out some very personal and traumatic things. I loved that the book was influenced by the author's life, and I loved that the main character had lost an eye in a bad accident and wore an eye patch. For some reason it was incredibly refreshing to read about, and read about how the character dealt with everything that came with the accident (unworthiness, guilt, etc), because I don't think I've ever read a book in which a female (especially in a non-fantasy book) has that kind of physical disability. I thought the book was well-written, unique, and fun, and while the romance isn't the biggest plot point in this book to me, it's still prevalent enough where she gets her happy ending.

I ended up listening to this on Audiobook and enjoyed it so much! It seemed like a no brainer - an audiobook about an audiobook narrator falling in love with another audiobook narrator written by an audiobook narrator.

The story itself was really fun, I enjoyed the characters and the unique set up. Sewanee and Nick were such fun MCs and I really enjoyed getting to see them both open up both to themselves and to each other. The book was full of tropes, but in a way that felt like a love letter to romance lovers rather than full of cliches.

I can truly see this being one of my favorite romances for 2023.

I enjoyed the book on a personal level but I would not recommend this for the classroom or a school library. There is too many sexual innuendos that some students might not understand. I liked the idea of the main character trying to overcome a disability and discover who she is though. The story kept me engaged.

GOSH this was so good 🥹 Definitely one of the best and most heartfelt contemporary romances I've read in a while!

I was completely invested in the many different subplots, all of which were so well-written and developed and incredibly realistic. The family dynamics, coping with the decline of a loved one who has Alzheimer's disease, forging career paths... wow.

The cast is highly memorable and I loved the main leads. The banter over texts and emails had me gushing like a fangirl, while the smutty recordings made me LOL.

Yet there are also plenty of emotional moments here as the author takes us through Swan's trauma and grief. I wanted to cry with her (can't recall if I did) when she broke down and I felt her pain so deeply. Nick was equally fleshed out and I really enjoyed all their conversations, from the light-hearted to the heavy.

I am not an audio person so I read a physical copy, but I really enjoyed being taken into the world of audiobooks and learning about how it all works behind the scenes. This book is also a wonderful ode to the romance genre.

An absolute gem and delight indeed!

This story was fascinating. I love the peek in to the world of narration, written by a narrator! I love Brock a lot. My favorite part of the book was their text and email exchanges. The friendship built naturally and kept me invested in the characters. Each character in this story is so rich and complex. The story isn’t fluffy at all. Definitely not a romcom, but the romance is sincere and sweet. Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC to review.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read this novel. Ultimately, this one did not really work for me as a reader. The tone was not what I was expecting and it was not as light or as romantic as I hoped.

I don't even know what to say: I just loved it.

I've listened to Whelan narrate other peoples' books but it was a real treat to read hers. Thank You for Listening had everything I want in a story: a lovable protagonist down on herself, a funny hunky love interest, misunderstanding hijinks, a die-hard best friend, lovely family moments, and such amazing fun dialogue that I could hear the characters' voices in my head. Swan and Nick have amazing chemistry and I just loved every single moment of them.

There's so much in this book in terms of character development too. It's brimming with it. As a LA girl, I loved seeing my city in here (finally a non-NY book!) and it's a real love letter to anyone who is a fan of romance, of audiobooks, of tropes, and texts as dialogue. The plot is pretty full too and covers a lot of ground.

I can't say enough good things about this book. In fact, even though I got a free review ebook of it, I'm going to go get myself a physical copy. This is one I want to add to my shelves and read again someday. It just felt *good* to read, even at it's hard, real-life moments. That's magic.


Note: I received a free electronic edition of this book via NetGalley in exchange for the honest review above. I would like to thank them, the publisher, and the author for the opportunity to do so.

Loved this book! Being inside the world of audiobook production was really interesting to me. The romance was intentionally predictable and that worked well. The best friend, the grandma who is both spunky and sympathetic, the author orchestrating the main character's life through her last wishes - all the perfect elements of a good romance. It's all very meta and I'm here for it.

Wow, as a debut novel this was a hit! I love seeing stories about people with disabilities. I love how real and raw their emotions are and watching them heal is so beautiful. I adored how witty this book was and was rooting for the female lead the whole time. I did feel as though it trailed off into side stories that weren't completely relevant, like sometimes I considered skipping over certain parts, but overall I really adored this book!

This is absolutely one of my favorite books I have read in recent years. I listened to it, actually - the audiobook is narrated by Julia Whelan, the author of the book and a very well-known and well-respected audiobook narrator. This has quickly become my most recommended book of 2022/2023. The main character's journey is explored in a way that does great justice to the character's overall arc. I was rooting for her the entire time. I have not always been a fan of books that fall within a "rom-com" type genre, but I absolutely loved that this book took several of the tropes you see in that genre and turns them on their heads. I will read anything Julia Whelan writes! This story was mesmerizing and I would love to see it turned into a movie one day.

This is a book of fiction but I loved the glimpse of the behind the scenes of an audiobook narrator. The story was raw and emotional – with struggles of relationships, family and career. I loved following along Sewanee, she is a relatable character and the character development was excellent. There was romance but this is more of a story about dealing with the ups and downs of life. Overall I really enjoyed it!

I really enjoyed this one. It was fun that Sewanee is an audiobook narrator. I thought this was so well written. I will definitely read more by her!