Angela Dawe Narrating, Maybe This Time by Jennifer Cruise

Maybe This Time
Narrator: Angela Dawe
Brilliance Audio
10 hours 58 minutes

Author Jennifer Cruise

Angela Dawe

         




Audio Book Review

Angela Dawe has a nice strong voice. She reads without over enunciating, no overly long pauses. Her characterizations are excellent. She manages the nuances of the conversations. She really does enhance the book. I liked listening to her. 

For me, Angela Dawe makes this mediocre book much more interesting. I have not listened to many of Jennifer Cruise's books so I'm not comparing, Maybe This Time to any past books about Andie Miller Archer. I felt like her ex husband was fleshed out as much as necessary. At least as much as I needed. He's a handsome workaholic. His brother called Sullivan, nicknamed. Southie is a Peter Pan type, that has little regard for anyone outside himself. He has some charm like so many Peter Pan's do.

Maybe This Time stretches incredulity to it's limits. Andie, is planning on getting married to Will Spencer, she visits her ex at his law offices to return 10 years of un-cashed alimony checks. Goodness, does anyone get alimony these days? I thought that was a thing of the past. Why he was paying her alimony must have been covered in a previous book. As was, why she never cashed them. Hang on to your hat, because after not having any contact with each other for ten years, Andie and North seem to still have a thing for each other.

Therefore, there is much rehashing of their past relationship. Ten years, is a long time in the divorce world and a contrived reunion seemed very silly. Too many years have gone by to rekindle an old flame. Even five years would be a stretch, but more believable. Her new fiancee Will Spencer gets the short end of the stick because he is clueless about Andie's rekindled feelings for her ex. No surprise there, because after being divorced for ten years most people would have moved on.



During the very brief time Andie and North talk, he has wrangled her into going to a backwoods house to straighten out the problems of his two wards, Carter and Alice. Many live in nannies have left after very short stays and North is frustrated with finding each new replacement. Andie has a strong personality and is forth right when dealing with people and gets things done. causing him to think she, of all people can find out why nannies keep leaving and what is going on with his wards.

When Andie arrives at the house it is hard to get to, in very bad condition and being looked after by a very old and testy woman. The children are strange, difficult, and well, just bratty. Andie is up to the challenge though and with indomitable fortitude she immediately starts unraveling the problems one by one. She stands up to the old woman who was very obnoxious and unpleasant. But, Andie not being a hired nanny was able to do that, as the hired help had their hands tied.



All the living people were more easily dealt with than the dead ones. But Andie sorts them out too. Later, Southie, brings his wannabe journalist girlfriend, a camera man, and some other crew, and just shows up on the doorstep and bullies his way in. Andie is not easily bullied and only relents and lets them in when she finds out one of the crew is a parapsychologist.

She thinks she will find out more about ghosts from him. So with a full cast of characters and ghosts, Andie is up to handling them all. If you like ghost stories you may like this one. If you are looking for romance you won't find so much of it in this story. My sympathies are with Will, the poor dupe of a fiancee.