Make Me Whole

Oil Barrons, Book 1

De: Marie Johnston

Narrado por: Lee Daniels, Tyler Darby

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 two-point-five 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 twelve. 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

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.

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.

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.