A Reason to Stay

Oak Hollow, Book 1

By: June Stevens, DJ Westerfield

Narrated by: Meghan Kelly

Length: 1 hr and 26 mins

Publisher's summary

Ellie loves her hometown, job, and best friend Jake. But Jake is a ladies man that will never settle down. Ellie can't stand to see him with other women anymore, so she is packing up and leaving Oak Hollow and everything she loves to start over. A night of unexpected passion makes her start to think maybe things can work out between them, until she happens upon a secret Jake has been keeping for more than a year.

Will their friendship be forever torn apart? Or will Ellie find a reason to stay? This is a special edition of the best selling novella, A Reason to Stay.

©2014 Danette J. Westerfield (P)2014 Danette J. Westerfield

Warning! Author getting folks to write reviews

This author does this with her Amazon books - removes all the 2 and 1 star reviews and gets a bunch of folks to write amazing praise about her writing. Now she's passing audio copies out on Audible, so reviewers will feel compelled (or forced, who knows) to give her glowing reviews of her work???

Shameful! At least she can't remove my review like she does on her Amazon account!

Nothing against the narrator - just don't bother with this author's stories.

A Reason to Stay

Okay, so here are the technical details & Blurb
Written by: June Stevens, DJ Westerfield
Narrated by: Meghan Kelly
Length: 1 hr and 26 mins
Series: Oak Hollow, Book 1
Format: Unabridged
Release Date:06-13-14
Publisher: DJ Westerfield

Ellie loves her hometown, job, and best friend Jake. But Jake is a ladies man that will never settle down. Ellie can’t stand to see him with other women anymore, so she is packing up and leaving Oak Hollow and everything she loves to start over.

A night of unexpected passion makes her start to think maybe things can work out between them, until she happens upon a secret Jake has been keeping for more than a year. Will their friendship be forever torn apart? Or will Ellie find A Reason to Stay
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The rating on this one is hard for me, do I rate based on how the story was with narration or do I rate on the story itself…the hard part is, as an audio book the narration has a big impact on the telling of the story and while the narrator was not bad….there was something missing. I thought she did great with the actual dialogue, however on the narration between dialogue (not sure what to call it) it was almost to fast. I kept thinking take a breath and slow down. I think the other hard part for me was I did not feel the narrators connection to the story…..she did not become the characters for me. To me, the best audio books are the ones where the narrators really become the characters, they are not just reading you the story, they bring the story to life…..I’m not sure how else to explain it….but that is what was missing from the narration for me.

The story itself, a friends to lovers, was very sweet. I think this is one that I would have enjoyed more reading instead of listening. My one complaint would be that they waited so long to actually talk to each other about feelings….but then I guess we would not have the story…anyways that is just one of my “pet peeves” in romance books, I usually just look at my kindle or car stereo and think (or in some cases talk out loud) “Dude, just freaking talk to each other and quite wasting time”.

So, I think all in all a 3.5 that I’ll round up to 4 stars and would rate the story as written 4 Stars but the narration would be 3 stars

Enjoyed it but wish it was longer.

Is there anything you would change about this book?

A Reason to Stay felt like the last half of a longer novella. I want the beginning, the work up to Ellie moving. I would like to have learned more about Ellie and Jake.

What did you like best about this story?

I love romances where best friends are secretly in love with each other. It's one of my favorite plot lines in contemporary romances.

What do you think the narrator could have done better?

I didn't fall in love with Meghan Kelly's narration of the book. It was bad but it wasn't my favorite either. The biggest issue I had was her voice for Jake. I don't know how to put it... he didn't sound guy enough for my taste.

Do you think A Reason to Stay needs a follow-up book? Why or why not?

I don't really see how there could a be follow up book, since Jake and Ellie got their happily ever after and there was no other characters in the story to get their own book.

Any additional comments?

Great characters and I liked idea of the story. Just wish there was more than basically a two or three scene story. I wanted more.

for those who like their lust to turn to more

A quick and steamy read that brings us into the story of Jake and Ellie at a point of change. These best friends each hold a torch for one another, but for their own reasons, they haven’t acted on it. June Stevens sets the story and gives us the characters fully formed and set which speeds up the action and lead-time to steam.

Jake is a fireman, a ladies man who has relied (some would say leaned) on Ellie and her friendship since childhood. Never once has he moved toward a relationship with her- his type is willowy and tall, and that is SO not Ellie. Ellie is done with the small town and limited opportunities. Sure it will be hard to leave her life and connections, but the sale of her house offers her a whole new view. Not your typical romance heroine, Ellie is full-figured and curvy, and she’s tired of watching Jake’s parade of model-thin women. She doesn’t believe he could be attracted to her, no matter how connected they are in all other areas.

When they both take that chance in a last-ditch effort, sparks fly and ‘type’ goes out the window. Jake and Ellie are made for each other, they have the affection and history that makes relationships work and when they discover the steam that rises in an untested attraction, all bets are off.

Narration for this story is provided by Meghan Kelly and she manages to present the story with a pleasant tone and tenor that suits the characters and the plot. She doesn’t over-work the inflections or tones to deliver the characters, and she adds appropriate pauses, hesitations and emotion to the story that doesn’t distract or compete with the words. The start of a new series, for fans of romance with women who aren’t reed thin and like their lust to turn to more – this is a good option.

I received an AudioBook copy of the title from the publisher via AudioBook Jukebox for purpose of honest review. I was not compensated for this review: all conclusions are my own responsibility.

Yummy Quick Read

Such a quick yummy naughty read!! I love a curvy gal and a dishy firefighter!!!

The story is compact but holds a great smexy punch! A few steamy scenes that will have you begging for a cold shower. Oh la, that is some hot dish! Good lord the shower scene alone will have you loosing your panties!

The story is a typical best friends who are in love. It is great because it reduces build time for the feelings. I can totally believe that Ellie and Jake are in love.

I listened to the audiobook narrated by Meghan Kelly, who is terrific. She has a wonderful tone to her voice and keeps a steady pace. She added extra umph to the smexy scenes!! Oh my, did she every put energy into that part of the read!

This is one of those books that you wish were longer, you want to savor the delightful story. I really wanted more and can mot wait to see them again in the series!

Disclosure - I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts, opinions and ratings are my own.

A Reason to Stay!

If you could sum up A Reason to Stay in three words, what would they be?

Steamy romantic novella!

What did you like best about this story?

I loved when Ellie found the ring in Jake's desk, which made Jake admit how he really felt about her.

What about Meghan Kelly’s performance did you like?

I enjoyed the total performance. I like how the excitement was placed throughout the book. I also the voices Meghan used for the characters of Jake & Ellie.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

yes & I did read this book in 1 setting.

Any additional comments?

A nice novella where romance was there all along, but both parties didn't know how to approach the situation. A little steamy, but only in all the right places! I was pleased to see in the end, both Jake& Ellie were able to admit how they felt. I was afraid Ellie was going to blow it. Thankfully Jake held them together!

quick, sexy story

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

As this is a short story/novella, it would be easy to listen to in one sitting. The story felt complete for being only 1 1/2 hours long.

Any additional comments?

Ellie and Jake have been best friends for years, After Ellie's Grammy passes on, she decides that leaving her small town life and moving to the big city is the only way she is going to start over and escape her feelings for Jake. Jake has other ideas. One night leads to revelations of feelings.

Ms. Kelly does a good job as narrator. She gives both characters their own voice and draws you further in to the story. I would love to listen to more books read by Ms. Kelly and to read more books written by Ms. Stevens.

This is a quick and sexy short story. I would recommend it listeners 18+ who like their stories steamy.

Heartwarming, Sexy Love Story

Here is an audio book with a sweet story that grabs your heart. Ellie is a curvaceous young woman who is leaving her home town for the big city. Jake, her best friend since childhood is the reason she is leaving. Jake is a handsome, muscular fireman who has had many hearts on a string. These two characters are so well defined that the listener quickly starts caring about their pain and joy. June Stevens carries you along with their story. At the same time she spices up the action with passionate scenes that fit the story as well as Ellie and Jake.

I read "A Reason to Stay" in print form and was impressed with the combination of sweetness and heat. Hearing it read by the talented Ms. Kelly really turned up the temperature for me, while preserving the warmth of the romance.

Hot romance novella!

This book is a spicy contempory new adult romance that is about the difficulty of moving from the friend zone into the romance zone. The entire novella is set during one twenty-four hour period. Ellie is a girl with some curves and some insecurities who is moving to Chicago the next day. Jake is a firefighter who has been her best friend since high school. The book is well written and the characters' actions are very believable. The only issue that I had with the book is that it was over too quickly. I wanted to spend more time with Ellie and Jake. Since this novella is labelled 'Book 1', hopefully I will get that chance later. I would recommend this book to anyone that wants to escape their own life for 90 minutes and likes spicy romances.

I received this audiobook for free in return for my honest review.

Enjoyable and fun.

There were quite a few aspects to this story that I just loved. The inner dialogue of the main character is spot on for a curvy woman. I really enjoyed that her personality was relatable and realistic. I liked the story so much that I Wish there were more to it. I am secretly (not so secretly now) hoping that later on the author will write their backstory and release it. I loved the little tidbits of their history that we got a glimpse of, and think their story could be just as good.

I also found the narrator enjoyable. Her voice is soft, not harsh, so headphones weren't a bother. The only problem I had with her was when she was reading in the male perspective/dialogue. It wasn't bad by any means, but when she would speak in a deeper voice to help differentiate between male and female characters it just made me giggle, which was slightly distracting.

I received a coupon code from the publisher for this audiobook in exchange for an honest review.

Good story

I liked this book. The only thing wrong was that it wasn’t very long. I could’ve read on if there was more to read.