Toys and Baby Wishes

Finding Mr. Right, Book 5

By: Karen Rose Smith

Narrated by: Johnny Peppers

Joshua is attracted to Alexandra, his aunt's new "friend" and doesn't want to be. But pretty Lexa teases his libido until he realizes he could lose his heart to her. He's playing for keeps but is she? Lexa has a secret that could destroy their chance at happiness. Can she trust Josh enough to find everlasting love?

True love is just a jingle bell away!

Includes consummated love scenes.

©2012 Karen Rose Smith (P)2012 Karen Rose Smith

This has it all

This book has it all: a dashing H, flawed but relatable h, the wise aunt, some humor, some romance, a lot of heat.

Enjoyed Toys and Baby Wishes!

Toys and Baby Wishes is another winner from Karen Rose Smith. As in so many of Ms. Smith’s books, family plays a big role, both in bringing the hero and heroine together and in complicating their lives. (Ms. Smith has a knack for creating heroes who will make great dads and heroines who will be giving moms.)

This story mixed humor with sensual romance so that there are light moments to make the reader smile as well as plenty to tug at the heart. There’s even a dash of Christmas that’s fun at any time of the year. (The hero owns a toy store!)

A new treat for me was getting to listen to this book in audio. The narrator’s storytelling voice was rich, smooth, and a pleasure to listen to. He captured the characters and the tone of the story perfectly.

Enjoyable story -

I really enjoyed this story, with well-developed characters that are engaging, to the interplay between Josh and Lexa, and even the pearls of “wisdom” sprinkled throughout the story by the seniors that provide a secondary story line, each character has a distinct level of importance to the story and its forward movement to the climax. While Alexa is very much the “good girl” who is very much invested in being needed, sorting problems and becoming a sense of strength for others, her underlying insecurities and determination to be independent are often influences warring within her. Josh is far less burdened by his past experiences, wanting simply to love and be loved in return, while being able to take care of his woman’s every need.

As the two start to explore their relationship and feelings for one another, Lexi realizes that she may finally be able to share her secret with Josh, yet she delays and procrastinates, allowing passion to take over and sex to speak for her heart as her lips remained silent. The sex scenes are beautifully written, if slightly retro in feel, bringing to mind a sensibility more suited to the 90’s: while that is never a bad thing, some of the references did bring a giggle.

Narrated by Johnny Peppers, there were some unusual moments that distracted and felt at odds with the story. Peppers has a beautiful voice, although there were tonal and voice adjustments that were meant to convey specific characters, many felt too ‘false’ to the character. While this is not the first (and will not be the last) male narrator I have heard voice a romance, his female voices felt more drag-queen and were distracting. Far more effective were the pacing changes, with slight distinctions in accent that distinguished the narration from the character voices, and I did notice several instances of multi-syllabic words losing a syllable. A dual narration utilizing male and female voice actors, or removing the focus from ‘sounding’ more female, and adopting those changes to concentrate more on volume, pacing and delivery would have made this a more enjoyable listen.

Overall, this was a good version, with a few voicing inconsistencies that distracted more than I would have hoped from the author’s very clever romance.

I received an AudioBook copy from the author for purpose of honest review for the Heard Word. I was not compensated for this review: all conclusions are my own responsibility.

Warm, loving story, great reader!

Would you listen to Toys and Baby Wishes again? Why?

Yes, I'd probably listen to it again. I really loved the reader's voice. It was different hearing a man read a romance, but he did a great job on everything from the narrative to the female voices. Of course, it helped that he had a wonderful story to tell!

What did you like best about this story?

I liked the romantic storyline as well as the very timely subplot regarding the way young adults view older people. The hero in this story quickly learns that folks in their sixties are still smart, contributing members of society--and older doesn't mean "elderly."

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

This is the first time I've heard him read, but I hope to hear him again!

If you were to make a film of this book, what would be the tag line be?

Warm, loving film full of spice, conflict and memorable characters.

loved it

Loved it !! this story. the narrator is so fantastic it's like your really there!! good overall

Man I really wanted to like this

I wish this book had better characters or a more unique plot but sadly the characters are pretty text book and the story is formulaic. Its all pretty bland with bland chicken and bland sauce with bland wine.