**Updated Review**

Narrator Sewanee Chester has sworn to never go back to working on romance audiobooks. Just when she needs a way to pay for her grandmother’s care, an offer comes from an author from her past.

I inhaled this book! Julia Whelan has been one of my favorite narrators for a while and her writing is just as exceptional. I originally read an ARC of Thank You For Listening back in February (2022) and I promptly pre-ordered the audiobook. The day before the release, I was sent an early copy of the audiobook and immediately started listening to it even though my own copy was going to show up the next day.

Thank You For Listening has just the right of romantic tension that compels you to keep reading (or listening). The plot is quite unique for a romance novel and does not rely on all the typical tropes. Sewanee’s loyalty to her family and friends makes her so relatable. The author weaves those relationships throughout the plot with just as much importance as Sewanee’s romantic relationships.

As great as the written book is, get the audiobook! Julia Whelan narrates her own books and gives life to them in a way no other narrator could.

I think Thank You For Listening would make a great option for book clubs.

I voluntarily read and listened to advanced copies of this book and audiobook. All thoughts and opinions are my own. Thank you to NetGalley, Avon and Harper Voyager, William Morrow & Harper Audio!

"Cover up whatever you please for the world, but in intimacy? Hide nothing. In intimacy, everything is beautiful."

The beauty not to be hidden is the perfection of Thank You For Listening by premiere audiobook narrator, and author, Julia Whelan.

I stayed up to 3 a.m. listening to the author bring to life with pure talent the fantastic characters she created with obvious love. It was a 9 hour movie come to life and I enjoyed every moment.

Sewanee "Swan" Chester is an award winning audiobook narrator who studied acting at Jilliard and was on her way to getting notice by Hollywood but a horrible accident leaves her with little self worth and physical impairments. She stays in her safe solitary world with visits only to her dementia suffering grandmother (the scenes between them are at times hilarious and then devastatingly heartbreaking).

A trip to Las Vegas with her best friend who is rising to stardom changes everything. She meets sexy, funny and very charming Irishman Nick. They have a steamy what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas night and it gives her self esteem a much needed boost.

When her grandmother needs more care Swan takes a high paying job doing a romance serial with the sexiest voice of Brock McNight. They develop a relationship texting and emailing. Their banter is pure comedy gold. Swan realizes it may be time to meet Brock in person but on the night that plan to meet she has a surprise run in with Nick. Let the romance tropes begin.

The brilliance of this book is it's a true love letter to the author's fans, fans of romance, romcoms and readers alike. You will laugh, cry, squeal (at least 3 times!), and smile at the "inside" jokes for reviewers, editors and book lovers. Most of all you will thank me for recommending you listen to this perfect audiobook.

I received a free copy of this audiobook from the publishers via #netgalley for a fair and honest review. All opinions are my own.

What a fun book and it was made even better because it was narrated by the author! Fun romance based on the audiobook profession/world. Made me laugh out loud many times!

Julia Whelan is a phenom! Literally this book is one that needs to be listed to. The audio is fantastic because the story is written and narrated by one of the best!

Sewanee “Swan” and Nick are just two characters you know from the start are meant to be together. Their meeting is so swoony, and the banter is electric, but of course Swan doesn’t believe in all that lovey dovey stuff. Can Nick be the one to change her mind? Swan is an aspiring actor turned audiobook narrator and lets just say life imitates art in this book. Seriously though, this book will give you all the feels of those fabulous late 90’s, early 2000’s golden era of rom com movies. The accents are exceptionally done! She had me hooked with Nick’s Irish lilt!

Short review because I will spoil this one if I gush too much. I thought it was fantastic, I loved the premise, the characters, and I even shed a couple of tears. It’s funny, witty, and definitely gives you an inside look into the world of audiobook narrators. This book is for romance lovers at heart and those that are skeptical of the genre. I dare you not to fall in love with Thank You For Listening. 5/5 stars

I received an advance copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

I love Julia Whelan as a narrator and now I love her as an author as well. I read Thank You for Listening in about two days. It was super cute but more than that. Everytime I thought I knew what was going to happen something extra was thrown in in the best way possible. The characters were absolutely adorable. I especially loved Brock/ Nick. The story about Sewanee's eye added a lot to the story since we did not learn what happened until near the end of the book. I also loved the scenes from the nursing home, it made her even more human. With the narration, JUlia Whelan was amazing doing accents and just her beautiful voice. I have already recommended this book to friends.

I received an arc of this audiobook from NetGalley for an honest review. Interesting read about an audiobook narrator. This book kept me wanting to listen more, and I ended up sitting in the car way longer than I needed to.

Julia Whelan is an amazing narrator but I had no idea she was such a great writer! This romance was so much more than I was expecting, I wish I could listen to it again for the first time...LOVED it!!

Julia Whelan is one of the few audiobook narrators who I will immediately listen to a book if I see them listed as a narrator. "Thank You For Listening" is a much stronger novel than "My Oxford Year". It is obvious that Whelan has worked on her writing, as the character development and the plot are well fleshed out. One thing that popped out to me was how Whelan's writing has become stronger from narrating so many stories in her career. This is definitely a book where I think you have to listen to the audiobook over the print edition to get the full experience.

Julia Whelan is a revelation! I mean, she was my favorite audiobook narrator before this, but male voices, female voices, Irish, Italian, Boston, New York and Southern accents, is there nothing this woman can't do?! This book perfectly showcases her many talents.

If you are a romance lover, read this, if you are an audiobook fanatic, read this for the behind the scenes look into an audiobook narrator's job. Julia Whelan discusses it all, the Facebook fan groups, pseudonyms, the romance community, no stone is left unturned. And she does it all with intelligence, wit, and most of all, a healthy dose of SWOON.

Readers want to know if Sewanee's life parallels Julia's but the author dispenses with that in the Author's Note. Sewanee became disillusioned with Hollywood and turned her acting talents to audiobook narration. She is hugely popular and very successful, and is very reticent to return to her romance audiobook roots when an opportunity presents itself. Sewanee has also become very disillusioned with the idea of romance in real life.

When she meets Nick, a devastatingly handsome stranger, in Vegas, she decides to throw caution to the wind for just one night, and, using a pseudonym, spends one amazing night with the Irishman.

He looked quickly at her dress then had the grace to look away. He muttered, almost to himself, “If I knew you better I s’pose I’d be ashamed.” After a moment, he dared to look at her. “But I don’t. And I’m not.”

I loved when Sewanee tried to explain to Nick the differences between the romance and women's fiction genres. Their banter is absolutely priceless and when listened to in Julia Whelan's low growl, completely swoony.

“I’m curious,” Nick said. “Do they talk to each other in these Romance novels of yours or just get straight down to business?” “Of course there’s talking. Talking is foreplay. The other stuff doesn’t work without the talking.” He smiled slowly. “You don’t say.”

There are wonderful and fully imagined secondary characters that each play an important role in the story. The epistolary format of one section is just perfection. And it's funny! I am sure this book is just as enjoyable in book form but the audiobook was next level. One of my favorite books of the year!

“Cover up whatever you please for the world, but in intimacy? Hide nothing. In intimacy, everything is beautiful."

(I received an advanced listening copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.)

What a meta listen! An audiobook about audiobook narrators, which was written and performed by an audiobook narrator. As Julia Whelan clarifies in an author's note, this is not autobiographical, but her knowledge of the audiobook industry infused the novel with more reality than you might find in a standard romance. In addition to a fully realized main character, Sewanee (a former actor turned romance narrator turned anything but romance narrator), there is an amazingly created supporting cast: a best friend who is living their Hollywood dreams, a grandmother who is facing dementia, and many more.

Julia Whelan is in top form reading her second novel and gives each character their own personality and voice. It's fun listening to her vocal dexterity as she pokes fun at it in the prose. If you love audiobooks, you'll love this one!

When a popular romance narrator writes a and narrates a romance about narrating you listen to it, right? Listening to the audiobook is the clear choice and the narration was fantastic.
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Now as for the storyline. The romance is secondary, not the main plot line and there were many, many, side stories happening.. actually, maybe that was the point. There was a bit of women's lot vs romance humor throughout the book... Did this book float back and forth as well?

Every bit of praise that can be heaped on Julia Whelan as an audiobook reader has already been done, but I don't think people realize what an excellent writer she is as well. I loved her debut novel MY OXFORD YEAR and have been looking forward to THANK YOU FOR LISTENING for months. It does not disappoint. This one felt even more personal and autobiographical. The story is funny and sweet but it will also break your heart. Her narration is just brilliant, as usual. I'm getting a hardcover copy of this book so I can re-read this gem again and again.

Well, that was simply delightful! It was a bit predictable, but still fun and I enjoyed every minute of it. And it was obviously excellent on audio because duh, the author is an audiobook narrator queen!

This one was such a delight. I highly recommend you enjoy it as an audiobook because Whelan is a simply amazing narrator. The characters were charming, relatable, and had depth. The banter was witty and swoon-worthy. I wanted to spend every waking minute listening to this and was so disappointed when it was over. All in all a wonderful, magical blend of rom-com, women’s fiction and family drama.

Thank you to NetGalley and Harper Audio for the advanced copy.

This book will be catnip for audiobook lovers and more specifically for romance audiobook lovers! There is a lot of fun inside baseball about the industry and a romance that manages to be both grounded in real life issues while at the same time a bit meta about all of the romance tropes it manages to cross off the list through the length of the novel (the two leads are romance narrators after all). Julia Whelan is a delightful and varied narrator as always and for obvious reasons this book lends itself well to the audio experience.

I have never wanted to immediately re-listen to a book until now. This genre- blending, laugh-out-loud, grab a tissue novel is masterfully voiced by the author/narrator Julia Whelan. After a tragic accident ends her life as an actress, Sewanee Chester becomes an audiobook narrator. While not the life she dreamed of, she enjoys her work, and her success means she can refuse to narrate the romance novels, in whose HEAs she no longer believes. When her beloved grandmother’s failing health requires a more expensive level of care, Sewanee reluctantly agrees to resurrect her romance pseudonym and record the last book of top-selling author. This means working with the genre’s leading -and secretive- male narrator, and they develop a relationship through emails and texts. When real life breaks into their relationship, secrets revealed make for an anything-but-safe way through. Highlights of this book for me include the insights into audiobook narration, witty banter, characters with depth and the impeccable timing and voices created by Whelan. If you don’t listen to audiobooks buy the e/book. If you do listen, this is a can’t miss! Highly recommended.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an advance copy; all opinions expressed are my own.

Thank you for Listening!
by Julia Whelan
Pub Date: August 2, 2022
This is a great listen! You cannot go wrong with this book narrated by the author. All of the books that Julia Whelan narrates does just that!
5 stars

I love reading rom-com but they are typically predictable once you know which trope the author chose. This book however, I must admit, had my jaw on the floor. I chose this book because I had previously read My Oxford Year and loved it. This one did not disappoint at all. I especially enjoyed the fact that Whelan used some relatable and sometimes serious situations interwoven in the love story. The authors note at the end made it even more special to know why she included different personality traits, flaws, the heart of the main character, and the time period she wrote it. It was also interesting to read about the audiobook industry and then for her to go into detail about that in the authors note. The narration is wonderful. Whelan is fantastic in her craft!

You cannot go wrong with this book narrated by the author. All of the books that Julia Whelan narrates does just that!

For someone who is always listening to a book, and almost always chooses books that Julia Whelan narrates, this was a no-brainer. It did not disappoint. For starters, Whelan insists in her author’s note at the end that this story is NOT autobiographical. What made the book for me was 1) the backstory that kind of gives you a glimpse into the world of an audiobook narrator. I found that cool. 2) Julia does voices so well-there are so many at play here. I got lost thinking about how she does it. 3)the love story-I don’t want to say too much for fear of spoiling anything, but I loved the main characters in this book and I was rooting for them the whole time. I also loved the whole stepping outside the book (or the book within the book) that addressed romance novels and HEA endings. If you love Julia Whelan, this is definitely a must listen. If you don’t know who Julia Whelan is-get acquainted!
Thank you @harperaudio and @justjuliawhelan for this utterly unique audiobook which comes out on Aug 2.