Overseas

By: Beatriz Williams

Narrated by: January LaVoy

Length: 15 hrs and 45 mins

Publisher's summary

A passionate, sweeping novel of a love that transcends time.

When twenty-something Wall Street analyst Kate Wilson attracts the notice of the legendary Julian Laurence at a business meeting, no one’s more surprised than she is. Julian’s relentless energy and his extraordinary intellect electrify her, but she’s baffled by his sudden interest. Why would this handsome British billionaire—Manhattan’s most eligible bachelor—pursue a pretty but bookish young banker who hasn’t had a boyfriend since college?

The answer is beyond imagining - at least at first. Kate and Julian’s story may have begun not in the moneyed world of 21st-century Manhattan but in France during World War I, when a mysterious American woman emerged from the shadows of the Western Front to save the life of Captain Julian Laurence Ashford, a celebrated war poet and infantry officer.

Now, in modern-day New York, Kate and Julian must protect themselves from the secrets of the past, and trust in a true love that transcends time and space.

©2012 Beatriz Williams (P)2012 Penguin

I would give 11 stars

best book I have read in a while. Wonderfully written with well developed characters. Kept me reading well into the night.

Julian = Edward Cullen

Move over, "50 Shades", there's a new Twilight fanfic in town! I'm really surprised that no one has mentioned this yet but Julian is basically a British Edward Cullen. He's an overbearing, filthy rich piano prodigy who is so beautiful that Kate can't stop talking about it. Kate is Bella Swan. She's a swooning damsel-in-distress who is gorgeous but doesn't realize it and although book smart, does a ridiculous number of frustratingly stupid things. That's not to mention how many plot points seem to be a direct rip-off of events from "Twilight". I won't list them out to avoid spoilers but trust me, it's true - especially in the first half of the book.

Other than "Twilight", it also reminded me of "The Time Traveler's Wife" and "My Name Is Memory" mixed together. I enjoyed how descriptive it was (all of the gushing over Julian's looks aside) but the plot is pretty iffy. The impetus for the time travel is farfetched and bizarre at best. And while it was nice that everything wrapped up neatly, it was annoying that it all happened via a conversation between two characters.

I seem to be in the minority here but I didn't like the narration at all. The voice she does for Alicia seems like it would have fit Kate better. Kate sounds a little too old. And her male voices are terrible. Charlie sounds like a surfer. Julian sounds a little stodgy - definitely nothing like the leonine god he is described as over and over.

Overall, this was an OK listen. If a sequel came along, I might give it a shot although I'd definitely read it rather than listen to it if the narrator remains the same.

I will order more B Williams books

I enjoyed the back and forth between the 1800's and present day. It was easy to follow and the characters connected well. I thought I figured the end, but not quite.

More than love could express!

This book gave me a sea of emotion that I loved and hated at the same time! I took breaks of frustration but ran back to it for the excitement of what's to come! The story was so beautiful and imaginative! I smiled, I laughed, I cried! I recommend you read again and again.

Rare Find!

It's not very often that you come across a book that has everything, mystery, love, good flow, and an amazing narrator but this one has it all! I decided to get this book on a whim, not having read anything by the author before or knowing much about the storyline. I can only stand amazed at the beauty of this book. Time travel romance has been getting popular in the past few years but it is hard to find books that have good enough flow to really convince the reader. Outlander and The Time Travelers Wife both were able to do this beautifully, and now the Overseas story is going to join those prestigious ranks. This story is wholesome without smut although I was a little surprised by the amount of cursing due to the fact that the author was very conservative for the love scenes. None of the love scenes were described in much detail, just the before and after but it does flow nicely. Leaving the details to the imagination of the reader/listener. I, myself usually like a nice steamy love scene and although I was a little disappointed none were included I still enjoyed the reading. The story is classically romantic and the narrator is absolutely AMAZING! January LaVoy has the ability to really bring this story to life. I think it was the first time I've been able to really feel the teasing affection between to characters in such detail. I was very impressed with her, the writing was excellent but January LaVoy really made the story live and breath. I highly recommend this book for anyone that likes classic romance without a lot of detailed love scenes.

A SWEET OVER-THE-CENTURY ROMANCE

Although romance isn't the genre I usually read, I still enjoyed this one. It is very, "vanilla" by most romance standards, but still has an interesting twist and likeable, if not terribly developed characters. The author also managed to tie up most of the lose ends and answer most of the questions posed in the story by book's end (something I especially like author's to do.)

The book wasn't "Outlander" caliber, but then it didn't take days to read (or years waiting for the next part of the story either). I'd call it a "doughnut" book- a sweet treat, enjoyable every once in awhile.

Interesting look at time travel

Though I'm normally not a fan of time travel concepts I decided to pick this up due to a review. Overall the blending of the current and the past store lines were well done in my opinion and very interesting. The author did a great job of giving just enough to keep the reader guessing as to what exactly was going on while providing a smooth continual flow of the relationship developing within the current timeline. The writing style worked well to keep the story fresh and interesting.

I will say that towards the last half of the story Kate became a bit annoying. Though I'm sure not intentional, January (narrator) influenced this as she did a great job of expressing Kate's emotions. Don't take this wrong - January did a great job as narrator and I hope to see/hear her in future works. My feelings of annoyance link directly to Kate and her reactions to situations that I feel go into overboard status. Additionally I feel that as a character Kate was in constant argumentative mode at that stage of the story.

Overall the story is interesting and did not have a predictable ending as I thought it would. Kudos to the author for her style of blending and creative touch to making this an interesting story.

A Vettriano painting in print

The love story was lyrical and magical; the narration by January LaVoy was handled with great style. I loved the romance, but the underlying plot and character growth was not as strong as I would have liked. Beatriz Williams has great potential as an author - hopefully we will have a chance to watch her style grow.

Enjoyable and a little unexpected

Where does Overseas rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

Overseas started out rather predictable and a little confusing, but the action and surprise picks up from the middle onward. It's a fun read.

What was one of the most memorable moments of Overseas?

It's a time traveling novel, and as the story unfolds, events that seemed inconsequential at the beginning, suddenly take on plot-thickening significance.

Which character – as performed by January LaVoy – was your favorite?

Julian. I love the way Ms. LaVoy did his voice.

Who was the most memorable character of Overseas and why?

Again, the hero, Julian. He was believable (o.k., and desirable, too)

Any additional comments?

It's a great summer read. If you're a little bored at the beginning, press on; you'll be glad you did.

not all that great

i am getting so tired of novels where the heroine just does what ever she wants. in this novel the male lead begs her repeatedly to trust him and she never does. it became tedious listening to her justification and reasoning's only for her to turn the situation around where he was the one who was in error. it became boring and predictable after a while. as far as the time travel goes the way they time traveled was so unbelievable that i found my self rolling my eyes with the explanation of it. however i may be biased on that issue from reading diana gabladons outlander series where the time traveling events were very believable.
the love story was wonderful though, to be loved the way he loved her made you sigh heavily through out the reading and left you with a "if only" kind of feeling wondering if that kind of love really exists or if it's just in books and movies.
i thought the narrator did a very good job with the narration of this book.
definitely not my favorite but i have listened to much worse.