Make Me Whole

Oil Barrons, Book 1

By: Marie Johnston

Narrated by: Lee Daniels, Tyler Darby

Length: 8 hrs and 27 mins

Publisher's summary

I had a perfect life. Schoolteacher. Married to my high school sweetheart. Little starter house that we called charming but was really just old. All I needed was the 2.5 kids, and I’d be living my perfect dream. Then my husband died.

After the funeral, I had a breakdown that lasted for a month...or 12. But now I’m reemerging, healing, finding my way. It’s time to learn who I am now and whether or not I can fix a leaky sink. And by my side, the entire time, is my husband’s best friend, Liam. The single dad knows a thing or two about personal struggles and about how to replace faucets.

With Liam, I feel alive again. Confident. Capable. Liam has become my best friend, too. Except if my parents, my in-laws, and the rest of the town had any say, I’d stay far away from him and his bad-boy reputation.

How do I admit to them what’s so hard to admit to myself? That I’m starting to look at him like he’s more than a friend. That the heat in his eyes when he looks at me is far beyond friendly. That like it or not, Liam makes me feel whole again.

©2021 Marie Johnston (P)2021 Marie Johnston

Enjoyable

Having read a number of books by Marie Johnston I was happy to learn that she had a new series, Oil Barrons releasing. This was an emotional story that drew me in and held my attention throughout and this is Kennedy and Liam’s friends to lovers story.
After her husband dies she turns to single dad and her husband's best friend Liam for strength and support, despite those around her advising her to keep away from him.
However as she slowly comes to terms with her grief and her mourning she begins to have feelings for Liam as he brings light back into her life. It is also obvious that Liam has feelings for her too as they both struggle to come to terms with their feelings.
Ms. Johnston handle the subject of grief and mourning well. As secrets are revealed and loyalties tested, Kennedy and Liam will be tested as will those around them.
The narrators Lee Daniels and Tyler Darby were both new to me. They did a good job in expressing the emotions and grief that the characters go through. Their voices were pleasing and easy to listen to and they brought the story and the characters to life for me.
My emotions were all over the place reading this story, there were times that I was angry , frustrated, moved to tears and my heart just about broke for this couple. Make Me Whole was a well written, heart warming story and I cannot wait to see what the author has in store for this series.

Beautiful story and fantastic narration

📖This is my first Marie Johnston book and I really enjoyed it! The love, angst and heartbreak are so beautifully written and spoken through these characters. Liam is a hard working single father who’s had his share of heartache. He’s a good man who takes care of others and is a talented artist. Kennedy is broken - heartbroken, physically and mentally broken. She has suffered an immense loss. She is trying to move forward and her husbands best friend is helping her along. Liam and Kennedy’s friendship is so beautiful and loving…but can it stand the test of time? Marie writes about grief, mourning and finding your way back in such a loving and respectful way. You will be filled with emotions while reading this story.

🎧The audiobooks is fantastic. Lee Daniels and Tyler Darby execute a beautiful narration of Make Me Whole. The emotions for both characters, from each narrator, is masterfully delivered with tender and soothing voices. Each event the characters experience is delivered with the right tone and emotion. This is my first audiobook from Lee and Tyler - I look forward to listening to more of their books.

Congratulations Marie, Lee and Tyler on a beautiful book. I received a complimentary copy and I am leaving my honest review.

Great start to a new series!

Make Me Whole will set you on an emotional journey of healing and opening your heart again. It’s a friends to lovers romance that follows a young widow trying to pick up the broken pieces of her life after a year of mourning her husband who died suddenly and far to young. And a single dad who has been outcast by a town due to his father and scandal that he is an innocent victim of. He was also best friends/cousin to the man Kennedy our heroin has been grieving for. This is not an easy love story of two people meeting and falling in love. Both have their own pains and baggage. Liam really steps up to help Kennedy start to move forward and that’s when deeper feelings start to develop.

There is a lot I enjoyed about this listen. One was that nothing felt glossed over or forced. I loved the friendship of Liam and Kennedy as much as the love between them. I loved that Liam let her set the pace in her process of moving on from her grief. There was such a realistic raw element to it that made me so emotional on a personal level. Sometimes the simplest tasks can seem like climbing mountains when you are grieving someone. Like packing their belongings,  or going to a hardware store to fix something that was usually done by the person you lost. And a feeling of victory when you can say one day I’m okay. I also loved that Liam was a hard working single dad who did what needed to be done to care for his boys and grandma. I was also intrigued by other characters in the story and that has made me anxiously waiting for the next in the series.

The narrators were perfectly cast for these characters. Lee Daniels really brought Kennedy to life in all the layers of emotions she went through. And Tyler Darby is a new to me Narrator I really loved his deep voice that was gentle in all the right places with a bitter edge in others Tyler really gave balance to the voice of Liam and after Listening I could not picture the character being voiced by anyone else.

Overall a fantastic listen. I enjoyed these characters, I loved the drama the touch of angst the friendship and love.  it’s a story I could listen to again and again

Awesome listen!

Make Me Whole by Marie Johnston pulled me in from the very beginning. The story has so many feels and wonderful characters. I felt so sorry for the young widow Kennedy trying to figure out her feelings for Liam. Small towns can be huge influences on one’s choices. The narrators, Lee Daniels and Tyler Darby both brought the characters to life with their voices. They each added the right emotions to them and I could envision so many details. I loved how the story flowed and felt like I was seeing things through their eyes. Definitely a great beginning to a new series!

An emotional friends to lovers romance!

Make Me Whole is a heartbreakingly beautiful, emotional friends to lovers romance, about finding love after loss, healing and beginning again. This is my first time listening to Marie Johnston and it will not be my last. Kennedy and Liam’s story captivated me from the moment I begin listening. There are some tough moments of grief and pain for Kennedy as she finds her footing again after the loss of her husband, Derrick. She is mourning him, but is strong and determined to gain back her life and return to some normalcy and turns to Liam, Derrick’s best friend and cousin. Liam is Kennedy’s rock. His is strong for her, when she cannot be, he is supportive and patient and as she works through her grief. The romance between Kennedy and Liam is slow burn but the pacing and timing was perfect for their journey. There is a forbidden aspect to it, so rushing it would have felt unnatural and unrealistic to their story. Lee Daniels and Tyler Darby’s voices were perfect bringing Kennedy and Liam’s story to life. Their pacing, pitch and tone was perfect. Their storytelling is natural and flowed well. Both Lee and Tyler are new to me narrators and I will be looking out for more stories narrated by this duo in the future.

Heartfelt Small Town Romance

Marie Johnston writes beautiful, tug at your heart, slow burn, steamy romances. This slow burn, friends to lovers romance was the perfect weekend listen. Liam and Kennedy’s story was wonderful. They both have missing pieces in their lives and are struggling to fit in a town who sees Liam as a bad guy and Kennedy as the helpless widow. Liam has been in love with Kennedy since they were in High school and now that she is ready to move on from her husband’s death, Liam is the only man who makes her heart flutter again. They both struggle with their growing attraction and feelings toward each other, especially, since Kennedy was Liam’s best friend’s wife.

I’ve read Marie Johnston’s books before and really enjoyed them, however, on audio it was just as delightful. Lee Daniels and Tyler Darby narrate this story. They are new to me narrators who did a lovely job bringing Liam and Kennedy to life. At first, it hard for me to getting into the narration, but as the story progressed I started to feel the connection between the characters and narrators. Overall, this angsty, melt your heart, slow burn, a bit forbidden friends to lovers romance was a nice change of pace from all the mafia romance I was reading. It made me appreciate the slow growing connection between two characters who have a lot to loose, but along the way find something even better that will complete them in ways they never thought possible. This was the perfect start to the Oil Barrons series, and hope to read/ listen to more.
I would definitely recommend this story and any other Marie Johnston book.

A Heartwarming Small Town Romance

Marie Johnston is a new-to-me author and I’m excited to continue this series! The story is a sweet, heart-wrenching small-town romance. I loved that the author intertwines the relationships between Liam, Kennedy and Derek. Given that Derek and Liam were best friends and Kennedy and Derek were HS sweethearts, the relationships were fundamentally woven together. Marie wrote the developing feelings between Kennedy & Liam in a lovely way that is respectful of Kennedy and Derek’s marriage and her grief around his death. I thought this was a genuine, heartwarming book. Kennedy’s character arc is beautiful as she works through suffocating grief, builds her confidence, opens her heart, and falls in love again. Her journey is not about getting over her husband’s death, but learning to live her own life while remembering the past with fondness. Liam’s approach to navigating their new feelings is respectful of his friend’s memory and tenderly mindful of Kennedy’s emotional journey. I got a little tripped up with all the Barron family members and world building in the beginning, but I’m looking forward to more HEAs in The Oil Barrons series! The teaser at the end hooked me for the next book! It’s going to be SO good.

Tyler Darby & Lee Daniels are both new-to-me narrators. I enjoyed their voices; their character voice ranges were great. Lee packed heaps of emotion into her performance of Kennedy as the grieving widow-turned fierce champion of early childhood education. The pacing of the narration was a bit slow for me at the beginning. As the book progressed, the lightening of emotional hardships and family drama in the plot paralleled a shift in narration style and speed. It was a lovely shift to hear. I can’t wait for more Barrons!

Many emotions to work through. Obstacles to overcome. Can love of friends grow into another love?

This story is full of so many emotions; retelling months and years, lifetimes really, in a few hours. The will theys or won’t theys keep you on edge through this slow intense burn of best friends with tragic pasts that tie them together but threaten to break under the strain of the past, the future, and the very present scorn and judgement of an overbearing Barron family and an overly worried mother.

Liam Barron has plenty on his plate. From his twin sons just nearing school age and his grandma who raised him to working far away from home and spending weeks at work just to make ends meet and provide for his family. Juggling a side business, fixing up the old farm house and shop, maintaining the property and fence lines, and about a million other things he could probably think of to do he’s added one of the most challenging responsibilities the last couple of years.

What’s a man to do when his best friend, who was also his cousin, dies young and leaves a brokenhearted widow behind? Step up and be that best friend she needs. Be that guiding light in the dark. Be the reminder to do the simple things, the daily things, take care of herself, and then challenge her to challenge herself. Then challenge her to live again. To not forget her husband, to not forget the past, but honor them and still find her new joy. And, maybe, just maybe, he could find a new joy for himself.

Kennedy has been through rough times. Growing up a sickly kid limited so many things and gave her the support of a hovering mother… who admittedly smothers a bit in her mothering. She married her high school sweetheart, got her teaching degree, and enjoyed teaching children at the local school; until her world crashed with her husband. His young life ended all too soon with an aneurysm and Kennedy forgot not only her joy, but so many things without him; including her responsibilities. His best friend, Liam, becomes her reminder. His father, working through his own grief, also becomes her rescuer, but struggles to let go when she doesn’t need rescuing anymore.

Both Kennedy and Liam need to find balance in their lives. I recommend reading or listening to this book to find out what tips the scales and changes their lives once again.

I did, very frequently, want to give the main characters a supportive push to speak up for themselves more, but without their doubts and concerns there wouldn’t be the story. Liam wasn’t a weak man, as someone said, but he focused on what was important, did the right thing, and admittedly let others say too much and treat him awfully for too many years. His growth through the story is hard earned. Honestly Kennedy should have been less soft spoken about many matters, for years. But again without lessons learned this story would not have been the same. Folks do this in real life; be hesitant to talk about matters for fear of what will happen or what others will think.

I was pleased with this book, even though I don’t love it as much as “King’s Country” and all the Oil Kings series, but I am looking forward to the next Oil Barrons book and hoping for cameos. I do think the biggest thing is all the burdens and hurdles our characters have to overcome; it’s a lot. So prepare for those emotions.

As a side note, I was also pleased that I guessed a key to Laney’s backstory.

I have both the Kindle version and Audio Book version via Audible. The narrators for the audio do a fine job, though you may need to make volume adjustments if you are listening quietly when switching between them. That’s because Tyler Darby has a much deeper voice…and it’s very nice and very appropriate. Lee Daniels has an emotional range as well. Both narrators do variations when different characters speak. The performance is well done and brings the story to life. For someone whose main reading method is audio books good narration is essential. And this is narrated very well.

Loved getting to know these two!

What a sweet lovely story! I enjoyed the storyline and characters (both primary and secondary). One of my favorite things about it is how well we get to know both Kennedy and Liam. They each have some past issues and we get to watch them overcome and grow to become better people.

The secondary characters are delightful. There are all ranges from mean and spiteful to silly and kind. I really enjoyed getting to know them all.

I did listen to this on audio. The narrators are new to me and they both did exceptional! They really helped bring this story to life! I throughly enjoyed listening to this book! In fact one of my favorite characters gets her book next. I cant wait!
Comment

nice book

The book was pretty good and I really enjoyed listening to it. The narrators did a great job.