Stone Cold Kiwi

New Zealand Ever After, Book 2

By: Rosalind James

Narrated by: Emma Wilder, Tom Janson

Length: 13 hrs and 57 mins

Publisher's summary

Falling in love can be pretty bloody inconvenient.

Let's inventory, shall we?

State of my professional life: Brilliant, if counted in terms of sales of eight Poppy Cantwell children's books starring my often-confused blue hippo, Hazel; the very substantial proceeds from selling my Kiwi Adventures New Zealand glamping business; and any number of glossy magazine articles about my charmed existence. Of course, I couldn't seem to write or draw anymore, but that would pass. Surely.

State of my personal life: Murky. A mysterious siren I was not, in my nursing bra and only-kind-that-fits maternity panties.

My three redheaded children? Good thing. Good, exhausting, frustrating, terrifying, wonderful thing.

My marriage? Living with a failing marriage is like living with a toothache. It's not going to get any better, and eventually, it's going to get heaps worse, but who wants a root canal?

Beginning to fall for the much-too-charming, not-quite-available, stone-cold-beautiful Dr. Matiu Te Mana, on the day he delivered the third of those children on the grass outside Otago General Hospital, a few short minutes before my marriage began its spectacular and very public final implosion?

Possibly tricky.

©2020 Rosalind James (P)2020 Rosalind James

Rollicking fun - Great dialogue

Stone Cold Kiwi- love this book. The dialogue goes from rapid fire to deeply touching, to hilarious and back again. Recommend it highly. Thanks Ms James.

Wonderful story and narrators

I really loved this story and was waiting for it to come to audio bc my life is hectic and book reading is limited. The narrators we’re awesome. I think it’s a different male narrator from the first one I. The series and definitely preferred Tom Janson. Rosalind James wrote such real characters. Sometimes the feelings and scenes are so raw you need to take a break but you just come back for more. Can’t wait for book three to hit!

Beautiful story. Beautifully written

One of my favorite if James’. While I line most of her stories, like 98%, this story was just beautiful. The personal growth of the characters is what drew me in. It helped that I got to know the characters in other books from James. And the narrators were great. Loved them both. No spoilers here.

The Narrators make this book even better

I am so glad Poppy and Matiu got their own story in Stone Cold Kiwi! Ms. James writes the most amazing real life stories and when she adds these two wonderful narrators, well you have beyond perfection. I absolutely loved reading this book and the audiobook is just even better. Emma captures the children's voices so well especially Olivia, what a feisty girl she is! I am so glad Ms. James added a male narrator for this story, Tom Janson. Tom and Emma work so well together it was a seamless transition between scenes.

Poppy is a married to a man who she finds out after delivering their 3rd child is cheating on her. This book covers a strong woman going through postpartum hormones, breast feeding, divorce, falling in love again, and managing her kids, home and career. A man who is tired of being the playboy he's always been and wants to settle down and have a family. Ms. James captures all those mom moments so well, as well as those special family moments. We get to visit with Koro again who I just adore, he can never die-just saying. I highly recommend this not you typical romance book with a HEA. I love it for so many reasons, it's real, it's family and it has some hard topics. I will be listening to this book again very soon.


I received a free copy of this audio book in exchange for an honest review. I was not compensated for my review, and I was not required to write a positive review. The opinion expressed here is my own.

Hero 40+ Heroine w/3 kids ? Wow!!

Two very interesting characters meeting under very unusual circumstances makes for a wonderful love story under the New Zealand countryside

Let’s hear it for strong, independent women

This is the second installment of Rosalind James’ New Zealand Ever After series. It is as wonderful as her first book in the series. This is Poppy and Matiu Te Mana’s story. Poppy, who starts the story as a married, 37 weeks pregnant woman, about to give birth to her third child. Matiu, a fiercely single, gorgeous emergency room doctor. The book grabs you from the very beginning. It had me laughing and crying.

There are so many themes in this book, dealing with everything from marriage, infidelity, parental relationships, children’s responsibilities and of course wonderful Maori beliefs. Poppy shows her true colors as a strong, independent woman who finds that sharing her life with an equally independent Maori man is worth fighting for.

The amazing Emma Wilder and Tom Janson narrate this book. They do a fantastic job, blending Poppy’s and Matiu’s stories seamlessly. For those of you who have only read the books, now would be a great time to start listening. It makes me want to head out to NZ just listening to the beautiful accents.

For those of you who have followed Rosalind’s other series not only do we see Jax and Karen, Koro and Debbie duck, we also hear about Hope and Hemi.

I can’t wait for next installment of the series. Only question I have for Rosalind is when are we going to hear more about Karen, sister to Poppy and Jax?

Amazing, Emotional, heart-melting beautiful story

This story is narrated by Emma Wilder and Tom Janson, written by Rosalind James and set in New Zealand. This story features a woman on the verge of her life and marriage falling apart and handsome doctor with a Casanova-complex, some really funny secondary characters, relatives, a dog and a duck. Not necessarily in that order.

Poppy and her children, whom we met in the previous novel in the series, Kiwi Rules, is a successful entrepreneur, children's book author and illustrator, when her brother Jax - the hero in Kiwi Rules - and Karen were getting married. And at their wedding Poppy meets a handsome and unattached Maori doctor, Dr. Matiu Te Mana, a relative of Karen's side of the family.

Poppy and Matiu meet each other again in the crisis of the birth of Poppy's third baby, Isobel. She is in a very public place with her two young children and suddenly went into labor and it escalated to crisis point very quickly. My impression of Poppy were that she kept incredibly calm under the circumstances, and put her young children's needs above all else -to ensure they were not afraid and kept them safe. Dr.Te Mana comes on the scene right outside the emergency room of the hospital - on the grass where Poppy is about to give birth.

What Poppy will soon learn, just after the birth of her child, is that her husband of 8 years, and her children's father had been betraying her in the worst way, and her marriage is essentially over. The story begins with Poppy's world crashing into flames, and is all about how this woman rises out of the fire as a phoenix and overcomes her challenges, and explores a new relationship possibility - with the last person she thought she would be attracted to.

This story is so much more than a woman in a rebound situation, finding love with her doctor hero and savior. This story is so emotionally deep, complex, and rich, and becomes more symbolic of Poppy's journey towards her freedom of spirit and courage. Through this blossoming friends-to-lovers romance with Matiu - it ends up enlightening and changing him too - changing HIS views on himself and his expectations for female relationships, along with his sense of character and integrity. Matiu is a much deeper and a stronger character than he gives himself credit for.

The dynamics of the ex-husband-and the extended family members who are lovingly - or not-so-much - trying to interfere with Matiu and Poppy's emerging relationship. Some of these moments are hilarious - and some are heartbreaking as you see Poppy's inner strength develop and flourish, allowing her to stand up for herself and become the confident and bold woman she never thought she had in her. I love this vulnerability that Poppy showed-and how she overcame her internal self-doubts and self-image issues. I can sure relate to all of these issues. Poppy's story brings to light all the doubts of a new post-partum mother, with her body changes and challenges, explores her emotional responses to some very real horrific events. Ms.James really gets it right in all her descriptions of the physical and emotional exhaustion, the realities of post-birth issues, and the truths that all of us women who have been down this road instinctively know.

For the narration, you will love the two different perspectives being portrayed. I found it took a little getting used to at first, as there are times when of each character's opposite 'part' is narrated in the voice of the actor - not the other female or male actor. They portray the young children in the story beautifully! Very believable! All in all, great performances done by both actors. I enjoyed both very much. Note, if voice were the only criteria, Tom scores VERY high on the hot points!! I love his voice! Heartmelting warm Kiwi accent and the main character is sexy-as. Delish…

No cliff-hangers or other parts to buy after this story.. and though I highly recommend going back and reading the beginning of the series of books, "Kiwi Rules" (Jax and Karen's story), and check out the "Not Quite a Billionaire" series (Hemi and Hope's story).

Rosalind James is a wonderful American writer and has spent a considerable amount of time in New Zealand and Australia. She shares her amazing experiences with the New Zealand culture (and imaginative, creative story-telling) with us and we are lucky indeed to enjoy the results of her work. Another great one - and possibly my new favorite (it's at least in the top 3 now). This one will check off all of your boxes for a great romantic story! A job well done!

I received a free copy of this audio book in exchange for an honest review. I was not compensated for my review, and I was not required to write a positive review. The opinion expressed here is my own.

Love how grounded Poppy is

Love how this book really embraces the difficulties and benefits of the postpartum time. really loved how resilient Poppy was, and how she could be nurturing and still strong.

It's Complicated

Rosalind's stories are always true to life, but with a bit of fairy dust.

This tale is a bit more gritty - Wife having a traumatic baby delivery without hubby and finds out after delivery hubby was with his mistress. Worse, family-member-by-marriage is the delivering doctor.
The story line became cringey for me when Poppy becomes involved with said family-member-doctor, Matiu, within weeks of tossing cheating hubby out on his ear. However, Rosalind gives them a couple of years before they tie the knot.

The fairy dust part - everybody involved are rich - except soon-to-be-ex-hubby. Poppy has, honestly earned, $12 million that the scumbag-cheating-hubby didn't know about.

I was not so sure about using two narrators for the book. It was a mild annoyance hearing Poppy and Matiu voices read by both a male and female.

Brilliant & Authentic

As an American who has moved to New Zealand ten years ago, I know a (very) little more than the average person about NZ lifestyles and culture, and I have to commend Rosalind for her writing style. The thing I liked about it in this book in particular was she didn’t spend a lot of time explaining all the cultural references in great detail, it was unapologetically Kiwi to the core. I am not sure I would have understood all the Maori references though had I not lived here for 10 years though.

And her characters where so heartfelt and realistic, you could relate so well to their feelings and emotions. Narrators are Brilliant! I heard Tom Janson’s first book on Audible and immediately was clamoring for more and was so thrilled when I saw he had another one that I ordered Stone Coke Kiwi immediately, and now I see that Book 3 features him as well so I’m sold! And Emma Wilder is just the bees knees! What a master of accents she is, listening to this entire book I was convinced that she was from New Zealand only to find out that she is from the East Coast of America. She did not seem like someone who was struggling to maintain an accent that was foreign to her, her delivery was so fluid and natural, and she goes from gentle and tender to firey and passionate with such ease. She just became my favorite female narrator.