Love Again at the Heart of Main Street (A Nestled Hollow Romance)

CONTEMPORARY:  As the audiobook opens, the close community spirit of Nestled Hollow, Colorado, becomes evident when a storm brings a tree down on the local coffee shop, "Love a Latte". Within minutes, neighbors and friends are there to protect the building and ensure everyone is safe; within hours, there are volunteers to move the tree and help with repairs. Tory is a divorced mother of 4 children, and the proprietor of the damaged shop. Her livelihood depends on this shop, as her ex gave it to her in lieu of child support payments. With grit and determination, and a lot of help from builder Nate Elsmore, she faces her uncertain future stoically.

Tory’s children provide moments of zany normalcy tempered with nearly unattainable perfection!  Tory takes parenting to an elite level at times, yet she still struggles with feeling unworthy and insecure. Nate still bears scars from his failed marriage, where his ex manipulated him for her own selfish agenda. He has to fight off that negative voice within as well. This leads to clearly-defined conflicts for each protagonist and some low-level tension throughout the story. Nick finds help and healing through therapy and working hard, but mainly through the practice of naming gratitudes, which provides an unexpected element of beauty to this audiobook.

Liz Krane narrates this audiobook beautifully. Each character has their own unique sound, and male as well as female adult and child voices are rendered believably. There are no noticeable stops or starts within the production, and there aren’t any unexpected external or mouth noises evident in this audiobook either. The coffee shop’s name comes out sounding like LaVolatte at times, but once the listener sees the written name, it’s easier to hear it correctly. 

Carey Sullivan