Christa Comes Out of Her Shell

By: Abbi Waxman

Narrated by: Jesse Vilinsky, Jonathan Todd Ross

Length: 11 hrs and 32 mins

Publisher's summary

Just when she thought she’d gotten far enough away . . . a life-changing phone call throws an antisocial scientist back into her least favorite place—the spotlight. A hilarious and insightful new novel from the USA Today bestselling author of The Bookish Life of Nina Hill.

After a tumultuous childhood, Christa Barnet has hidden away, both figuratively and literally. Happily studying sea snails in the middle of the Indian Ocean, Christa finds her tranquil existence thrown into chaos when her once-famous father—long thought dead after a plane crash—turns out to be alive, well, and ready to make amends. The world goes wild, fascinated by this real-life saga, pinning Christa and her family under the spotlight. As if that weren’t enough, her reunion with an old childhood friend reveals an intense physical attraction neither was expecting and both want to act on . . . if they can just keep a lid on it. When her father’s story starts to develop cracks, Christa fears she will lose herself, her potential relationship, and—most importantly—any chance of making it back to her snails before they forget her completely.

©2024 Abbi Waxman (P)2024 Penguin Audio

Critic reviews

“Abbi Waxman has done it again! I laughed out loud, I swooned, I … unexpectedly learned a lot about snails? (And they’re awesome, by the way). I live for Abbi’s awkward, lovable-yet-socially-anxious heroines, and Christa Liddle is hands-down my new favorite.”—Colleen Oakley, USA Today bestselling author of The Mostly True Story of Tanner and Louise

"If I could go on vacation inside Abbi Waxman's books, the utterly charming Christa Comes Out of Her Shell would be the centerpiece of my itinerary. Waxman's witty voice, complex and oh-so-loveable characters, and knack for writing romance that's both swoony and sexy absolutely shine in this hilarious, tender story about family, fame, and marine mollusks. I'll definitely be screaming about this one to anyone who will listen!"—Sarah Adler, author of Mrs. Nash's Ashes

"While the will-they-won’t-they love story between Christa and Nate is definitely a through line, it seems safe to predict another romance too—that of readers losing their hearts to the eccentric, larger-than-life Liddle clan."—BookPage (starred review)

highly recommend

twists, turns, spice, intrigue, romance. this book has it all. Jesse Valensky is one of the best narrators I've ever heard. she does the best voices. I swear I forget she is doing the male voices and find myself thinking the mmc sounds so hot. I hope she does way more books. she is the only narrator I can think of that doesn't need a male narrator so duet narration is not needed. the story was really good. crazy though. you definitely need to listen to this book.

Feels like a different author

I have really enjoyed all of her other books. This one lacks character development and the love story feels contrived- it seems like someone else wrote the book. I’m super bummed.

Won't pre-order her again

Why do I get the feeling that some editor/publisher/agent told Abbi Waxman to get increase readership she needed to add more romance/sex to her story. I used to read a lot of romance, and occasionally still do read straight romance stories. However, I've branched out and like stories that build on other relationships. So the pages and pages of mental lust was just an irritant. That is not what I come to expect of an Abbi Waxman book.

There were so many missed opportunities here. More exploration of Crista relationship with her mother, or sisters, or even her snake of a father. Instead it seems Nathan was the focus. There were some nice moments -like when he took her to a private beach but other wise, honestly, I didn't see why Nathan liked her. He called her a bad-ass. I thought she was immature and ridiculous. Nathan offers help when the press blanketed her house. She almost jumps out of the car to show she can handle it herself. If they were a real couple I would give the relationship 2 years before it fizzled out.

Not only did Crista's immaturity grate, honestly I sort of got tired of her Jeopardy knowledge. Yes, I get that she is a geek and it must have taken a ton of research to add all those miscellaneous fact but in my opinion it was more distracting to the story then a bonus. I will never remember any of it so it was just noise to get through to get to the actual story.

I reached about chapter 24 and then just jumped to the end, tired of the story, tired of Crista, interested in the Jasper scenario but not that interested to continue listening for almost 20 more chapters.

Next time, I will wait for the book release, and listen/read the samples provided.