Before Jamaica Lane

On Dublin Street

By: Samantha Young

Narrated by: Lee Angel

Length: 11 hrs and 5 mins

Publisher's summary

The follow-up to the runaway best sellers On Dublin Street and Down London Road

Despite her outgoing demeanor, Olivia is painfully insecure around the opposite sex - usually, she can't get up the nerve to approach guys she's interested in. But moving to Edinburgh has given her a new start, and, after she develops a crush on a sexy postgrad, she decides it's time to push past her fears and go after what she wants.

Nate Sawyer is a gorgeous player who never commits, but to his close friends, he's as loyal as they come. So when Olivia turns to him with her relationship woes, he offers to instruct her in the art of flirting and to help her become more sexually confident.

The friendly education in seduction soon grows into an intense and hot romance. But then Nate's past and commitment issues rear their ugly heads, and Olivia is left brokenhearted. When Nate realizes he's made the biggest mistake of his life, he will have to work harder than he ever has before to entice his best friend into falling back in love with him - or he may lose her forever…

©2013 Samantha Young (P)2013 Penguin Audio

excellent narration

I think this is Samantha Young's best work. There are so many great lines and really funny retorts. I particularly liked the very sexy dialog. All the characters have well defined personalities. No one could ever top the narration of this book by Angel Lee. Her American accent flows seamlessly into a Scottish accent. I laugh every time I listen to the drunk wedding scene. Too good!

Nate and Liv Forever!

Liv quickly became my favorite character in this series, because I connected to her on a personal level. That being having experience watching my friends and the people around me getting into relationships and wondering when it will be my turn. Then dealing with the matter with sarcasm, humor and work. Not to mention similar body types and insecurities about said body type. And finding confidence overcoming those insecurities.

I read this book for the first time 10 years ago, and decided to reread it now. And 10 years later the book still holds that special place in my heart. I read it in a day before, but this time I wanted to take it all in, plus with the audio. Which added to the experience.

Nate and Liv captured my attention from page one. I was looking forward to seeing their love story play out. When he went off with the girl at the bar, I literally started screaming. I appreciate a good slow burn romance. Though like Jo said Liv and Nate had feeling for each other for a while. But disguising it has "best friend" status.

These two had me fangirling all 300+ pages. I love them so much! When he told her he had dreamed about her legs wrapped around him, I lost it! Literally screamed, and clitched my pearls. God Nate is everything and then some. Their first time together, I started kicking my feet, another screaming session. This book had me going through all the emotions.

I happy this wasnt a straight to happy ending book, Nate and Liv went through the motions with us. And showed how important it is to fix your issues before trying to fix other people's. Liv and Nate's relationship was beautiful to watch, friends to lovers. A trope that I don't read much, but certainly loved reading this. And look forward to reading Nate and Liv fall in love over and over again. Nate's gifts to Liv had me squealing like a teenager. Like that Ben was written as sweetheart and understanding, especially after catching on to the fact he was being used. And part of wonders what would have happened if he was given a real chance how this story could have played out.

This book is up there with being my favorites!

Now I'm off to book my flight to Scotland, to find my own Nate!

Great story, ok narration..

First: please note that this is a series and in this case I highly recommend you listen to the books in order so that you understand the dynamics of this group of friends. This story is almost as good as the previous ones. I guess my issue with this one was that it revolved too much around sex and the emotional part wasn't as intense as in the previous books. But yes it is a very intense passionate story that I would listen to over and over again. The author is truly talented and somehow always has a very emotional situation that makes me cry.

Narration: Lee Angel was not the best choice for this book. Each one has had a different narrator (I prefer the same narrator for the whole series). I guess she was chosen because a good American accent was needed but when it came time for her to do the Scottish accent, it was terrible! I didn't really like the way she did male voices either but not so much as to make me stop listening.
Considering how good the story was I recommend you overlook the ok narration and enjoy it. Hopefully Samantha Young will continue to add to this series and maybe bring back the original narrator.

My favorite book of the series

Would you listen to Before Jamaica Lane again? Why?

I have actually listened to this book 3 times.

What was one of the most memorable moments of Before Jamaica Lane?

The most memorable moment for me was in a flashback where Olivia is cooking a traditional Thanksgiving dinner and she ends up ruining it - Nate shows up and consoles her. The narrator brings so much emotion to this scene and is able to just devastate you. She made me cry.

Have you listened to any of Lee Angel’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

I have, but as Angelica Lee. She does a wonderful narration of Hero by Samantha Young.

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

This book made me laugh, it made me cry, it made me smile. Basically it made me feel a lot, which is one of the reasons I keep coming back to it.

Any additional comments?

This is the third book in the On Dublin Street series, but it most certainly can be read/listened to as a standalone. It follows Olivia who works as a library technician at a university in Edinburgh. She and Nate are best friends and one night after one of their mutual friend's wedding she reveals to Nate that she hasn't had sex in years, and only once. She was busy helping her mom through having and eventually dying from cancer and during her late teen/early 20 years, so basically she had sex just to get it over with and isn't that confident in her abilities. There is this guy that she really likes, but doesn't want her inexperience to disappoint him or herself. Also, she gets very flustered when she is attracted someone and basically can't talk to them. Nate offers to give her lessons and build up her confidence. And the chemistry between the two of them is off the charts.

I've read all of the books in the series but this one is my personal favorite. I love friends to lovers stories, and there's something special about this one. The character depth and growth is great, which probably helps. We get flashbacks from the beginning of their friendship to different points in time with key elements that made them bond. They really are friends first. And the sex scenes...oh my.

The performance is top notch. As I mentioned above, she made me cry. And laugh. And smile. And hurt. And smile some more. But I really ugly cried during the flashback scene where Olivia is trying to make a traditional Thanksgiving dinner in honor of her mom.

Worth the money? YES!!!!!!!!! Samantha Young delivers another great book that I know I will be listening to again.

Loved it!

What other book might you compare Before Jamaica Lane to and why?

If you loved the rest of the books in this series, then you will LOVE this book! The best so far!

Have you listened to any of Lee Angel’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

no

Excellent

This is my favorite of all of Samantha Young's books. Lee Angel does a wonderful job with the characters and their accents -- makes you feel their emotions.

Love this series

This is such a wonderful and heartwarming series. I am actually listening to the whole series for the third time. Just a great listen, with a great narrator. Start from the beginning of the series and listen all the way through. I hope she is planning more

Love it!!!

Would you consider the audio edition of Before Jamaica Lane to be better than the print version?

I don't know, Lee Angel did an amazing job narrating this story.

What was one of the most memorable moments of Before Jamaica Lane?

I loved how Samantha Young combined all the charaters from other previous books to this book. Finally the Wedding of Jocelyn and Braden it brought tears to my eyes.

Also, the emotion on Olivia wanted the same love feeling as her friends and how she told Nate what her expectation were.

Have you listened to any of Lee Angel’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

No, this was my first time. Lee was great! Especially with her Scottish accent.

Any additional comments?

The only thing that was left unsaid, I wanted to hear more of the details of Jocelyn and Braden on the falling out, the shocked that Jocelyn had when she found out it she was pregnant (I wanted to hear more about that). After all the series we based on them too!

Also, I'm hoping there will be another book on Cole and Hanna love story...

Loved This One The Best

While this narrator was great, actually brought tears to my eyes a couple of times, her Scottish accent sometimes sounded Russian.

Out of this trio, this one was my favorite. I will listen to it again and again.

GREAT

This is one of my favorites out of this series!! I felt every emotion that Olivia felt and wanted to cry and be mad every time she was. This book was purely awesome!!