For me, the narration really makes this story. I loved listening to the narrators and it really helped me with the story.

Many thanks to High Bridge Audio and NetGalley for providing me with an ALC in exchange for an honest review.

The First Date Prophecy had a ton of potential to be spectacular. Ultimately, it fell majorly flat. There was little to no character development. There was no romantic chemistry between the characters. Everything from the romance to the humor felt forced. Also, the pacing was very off throughout the book.

Lucy Minninger wants nothing more than to have it all: be a successful writer and have someone with which to share her life.

Former child star Rudy Riziero has had trouble transitioning to a successful acting career as an adult. Using stand up comedy as a way of staying relevant, Rudy also wants to have a special woman in his life.

When Lucy and Rudy match online, their first date does not exactly go as planned. Ending with a psychic's prophecy that has the potential for either success or failure, will Lucy and Rudy find what they are looking for in each other?

The First Date Prophecy is a cute book, but pretty transparent as to the ending. Narrated by Danny Tamberelli and Mara Wilson, the audio version slightly edges out the printed book in my opinion. With two perspectives given voice by professional actors, the narration is polished and well read. The print copy falls a little flat, which surprises me because I much prefer reading books to listening. Overall, The First Date Prophecy is a meet-cute novel with two likable characters.

Disclaimer: I had the chance to listen to the audio version of The First Date Prophecy by NetGalley and the publisher. Additionally, I won a copy of the print version courtesy of the publisher. This review was written entirely by me and was not a condition of receiving either copy.

This was such a great surprise! I didn’t know what to expect and honestly picked it because of the cover. The story was fun and original, I didn’t want to put it down.

Another premise that sounded so fun but fell flat for me. The characters droned on and on, making it difficult for me to get into the story, which, when I have a trillion books begging me to read them, makes it all to easy to put a mediocre book down. I'm normally one who sometimes enjoys suspending disbelief, but so much of this story felt over the top that I really struggled to care. Not for me, but probably for someone else.

DNF @50%

From what I understood, this book is based on the real life/love story of the authors Kate and Danny Tamberelli but no matter how much I tried, it just didn't keep my interest going. I liked the parts narrated by Mara Wilson but not so much the parts narrated by Danny Tamberelli. Danny Tamberelli is supposed to be a former child star who starred in a popular show in the 90s and even though I have watched quite a lot of popular shows over the years, I never heard of the one he starred in. I tried to give this a go but couldn't finish it.

My thanks to NetGalley, the publisher Highbridge Audio and the authors for the ALC.

Lucy is struggling in New York City to make do so that she can eventually work towards her dream of being a rom-com novelist. To get some inspiration in the romance department, she gets on a dating app, where while swiping she finds former child star, Rudy's profile. She mistakenly swipes his profile away and pays to to try to see if they could be a match. Rudy hadn't been on the app in months when Lucy found his profile. He decided to go for it and asks Lucy to meet him at a restaurant where there would be a fortune teller (based on their opening conversation). They decide to get their fortune told and are in the middle of receiving their prophecy when the fortune teller keels over dead. Lucy and Rudy decide to try to work towards a relationship but will the prophecy make or break their relationship. It was an interesting and entertaining listen which was loosely based on the authors' real life story and the narrators do a great job imbuing humor where it's called for in the story.

4 stars!

"The First Date Prophecy" by Kate and Danny Tamberelli is such a cute, quirky, funny contemporary romance book! Millennials may remember Danny Tamberelli from the 90s TV shows "Pete & Pete" and "All That," as well as one of the most quintessential 90s movies ever, the classic "The Mighty Ducks." This book is apparently based on his relationship with his wife and co-author, Kate. This is a relatable story about 30-somethings using apps to find dates. Rudy and Lucy are both excited when they get together for a date, and though it goes terribly wrong, it may change the course of their lives. They go on a bunch of different dates in order to fulfill the "Elvira prophecy" that was foretold by Elvira, a restaurant psychic, before she keeled over and died in front of them. The dual perspectives really made this a compelling, intriguing read as Lucy and Rudy navigate their mutual feelings for one another over the course of several weeks and months of spending time together. It felt refreshing how honest and candid they both are and want each other to be.
Some readers may find the humor here juvenile, but it did not bother me. In fact, quite the opposite. I found it to be a fresh concept! Kate and Danny's writing had me laughing out loud and is immensely relatable to people my age. I usually hate third act break-ups, but I think the one here is handled extremely well, complete with a terrific grand gesture I won't soon forget! My one complaint is this book feels a little long, chaotic, and overly drawn out from time to time. If it had been a bit shorter, it would have been perfect. Finally, I think 90s child actor Mara Wilson and Danny Tamberelli himself do a spectacular job with the audiobook narration! It was refreshing to hear their voices lending their charm to these characters. Love!

Thank you to NetGalley, Kate and Danny Tamberelli, and HighBridge Audio for the complimentary ALC of this book. All opinions are my own. I was not compensated for my review.

thank you to netgalley for the advanced reading copy. I really enjoyed this and will be getting copies for my shop.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the audio ARC! As a 90s kid I couldn’t believe that Danny Tamberelli and his wife, Kate, were releasing a romance novel. This was absolutely adorable and I highly enjoyed it. So much fun, lighthearted and a quick read! I can’t wait for their next book!

DNF at 25%

I did not enjoy the male narrator for this audiobook. His pacing was off (slow at some points and really fast at others), and of a different pace to the female narrator so I couldn't quite figure out the speed I was comfortable with. I kept having to pause, rewind, slow down, and speed up multiple times which took away from my reading experience.

I was not enjoying the prose as well. The audiobook is almost 11 hours long and I feel like it could've been cut to half its size if the prose was more focused. A lot of the text seemed rambly and quite unnecessary. There was a part where the male character talked for a length about all the details of random burger joint he went to as a kid and it really just wasn't relevant to anything.

As a personal ick, I did ultimately decide to DNF if after reading this line narrated by the FMC:
“I’ve never cared either way in dating about how our chins and shoulders do or don’t line up, or who wears bigger clothes. I’ve dated every body type, every skin color, every hair color, every religion, every kind of person, really.”

It gave me similar vibes to people washing themselves off of accountability for their isms and phobias when say "oh I have a friend who is xxx so I'm not _ism/_phobia"
Every skin color? really?
Every religion? Did you date people from the Flying Spaghetti Monster religion or an Amish person (who only date within their religion)?

I also did a little bit of research and couldn't find any information regarding whether or not these authors are Queer. As this book is based on Kate and Danny's true life love story, I am very loosely assume that the MCs in this book are similar to them. Kate Tamberelli also has previously published under Katelyn Detweiler and a *very brief* glance into her other books show that she doesn't write queer main characters, but please feel free to correct me if I am wrong.

So in writing "every person," it just reads a little off to me. Is the FMC bisexual or pansexual? I feel like there were better ways to say this or hint that in her previous selections in finding a partner in the whole first portion before the first date. I might have missed it but the FMC's dating app search seemed to be limited to cis men - there was nothing that spoke out to me that the FMC was open to dating other women or members of trans and intersex community. If the FMC is *not* queer, then the "every person" line would just then refer to every cis person of the opposite sex and that just presents a little off.

The line overall was just really worded very weird to me and I didn't think the rest of the book was worth my time. Saying that the FMC didn't really have a specific type and that she didn't mind that the MMC wasn't taller than her could've been said much differently.

Thanks to netgalley and HighBridge Audio for the ALC in exchange for an honest review.

A quirky tale. I listened to the audio. This story had lots of details and was slow to get started. It was almost two hours in before the characters met in person. There were fun elements and I think overall this was a nice story.

Let me start off by saying that I'm a 90's child and I didn't watch All That... I know... it's okay though. Anyways, the male author was one of the character's from All That. This book is actually based off his true life love story with his wife, which is pretty cool.

Honestly, I didn't really connect with this one. I listened to the audio, and the narrators were fine. The male narrator is actually the male author, so that's awesome that he narrated his own book. But the female narrator was good. The characters, I didn't really care for. I mean, there was nothing wrong with them, I just didn't love them. They were just okay to me.

The plot was fine. The flow of the book though really threw me off. I just felt like the book didn't flow well overall and was a little all over the place. However, the story wasn't bad overall. And I actually went on a walk so I could continue listening (even though I had the physical book; I could have just read that).

But if you are a 90's lover who also loved All That, then you might enjoy this book.

This was unfortunately a miss for me. I couldn’t connect with the characters and felt like the main characters had no chemistry. I liked the multiple pov in the beginning but by the end it seemed like they were just rambling. Elvira was the best part for me, this was almost a dnf.
2.5/5

I was so excited to get this one! it was so super cute and I loved the characters. I can't recommend this one enough.

Lucy has had a lot of first dates. Not so many second dates, but her stories are hilarious. She now has a catalogue of first date stories. Lucy has her first dates planned and uses HeartThrobs to find the next first date. When she sees child TV star ‘Rudy Riziero’ she just has to swipe up.

Rudy has a disastrous date with a superfan. After coming home to an empty house he decides to reinvigorate his HeartThrobs account. He sees Lucy and it’s a match! After chatting on text, they decide it’s time to meet, and Rudy has the best first date planned. A restaurant with a psychic.

How does the first date go? What impact will it have on their future? Will they end up together or does this first date spell disaster?

I am not sure if I would have read this book but I really enjoyed listening to it. In particular the narration by Danny Tamberelli was the star of the show. He was great! So animated! There was a lot of fun and pop culture references in this story. If you like stand up comedy, the hilarity of first dates and New York, you will like this story.

Big thanks to NetGalley, HighBridge Audio, and Danny and Kate Tamberelli for this early release copy of this audiobook.

Thank you NetGalley and HighBridge Audio for this audio ARC.

I grew up watching Danny Tamberelli and Mara Wilson on tv and in movies. I adored them then and I absolutely LOVED them reading this story. (I still can’t fathom when they and myself “grew up”)

This story. I finished the audio weeks ago. I needed to ruminate on it a bit. I honestly did not foresee it lingering in my mind’s eye as it has. Lucy and Rudy were just so much fun and I’m certain I would be friends with them if they were real. I cannot recommend this book enough and am anxiously awaiting Kate and Danny’s next book!

Danny and Kate Tamberelli combine forces with their novel The First Date Prophecy. Based loosely on their own experiences with dating, this rom com will keep you laughing. I enjoyed the characters, I liked the balance of Lucy and Rudy and the constant flow of banter.

I felt at times it got a little too wordy and felt long which is why I knocked of a star.

Overall I loved the narrators and thought they did a great job with their characters.

I found this book to be quite endearing. I was provided the audiobook through NetGalley. In my honest opinion, I would fully recommend this book. The narrators did a wonderful job, capturing the characters personalities and wide range of emotions. The story line was funny, heartfelt, and complex, without being too heavy. The perfect romcom! I definitely could see this being turned into a movie! I will be adding the physical copy to my library and look forward to reading more books By: Kate and Danny Tamberelli

I only got this audio because I revived the book in the mail, it really doesn’t fall under my interests to read, but I still tried to listen to it. I didn’t find anything that grabbed me to made me want to indefinitely put this down, so maybe someone that’s very interested in the book would vibe with this.