Birthday Suit

By: Lauren Blakely

Narrated by: Andi Arndt, Sebastian York, January Lavoy, Julia Whelan, R.C. Bray, Shane East, Joe Arden, Erin Mallon, Dion Graham, Savannah Peachwood, Jason Clarke, Robin Miles

Length: 7 hrs and 16 mins

Publisher's Summary

New York Times best-selling author Lauren Blakely is back, with an irresistible standalone romance in this all-star production. Revel in a full cast of 12 fan favorite performers—led by award-winning narrators Andi Arndt and Sebastian York.

Leo Hennessey, a charming but introspective executive at a chocolate company, is familiar with rule number one of the Man Code: No matter how beautiful, smart, and witty, never fall in love with your best friend’s woman. Lulu Diamond, for example, the now former wife of one of his fondest friends. Despite Leo secretly pining for this quirky and bold free spirit, she is definitely off-limits. Then Lulu decides to restart her life and fulfill her dream of opening a chocolate shop—and lands back in Leo’s life in a big, unexpected way.

Keep listening for an exclusive backstage conversation with Arndt and York, the electric duo whose chemistry as Lulu and Leo is too delicious to resist.

This audiobook is performed by: Andi Arndt (Lulu), Sebastian York (Leo), Erin Mallon (Ginny), R.C. Bray (George), January Lavoy (Kingsley), Dion Graham (Cameron), Shane East (Dean), Jason Clarke (Tripp), Joe Arden (Noah), Julia Whelan (Tabitha), Robin Miles (Mariana and Vivian), and Savannah Peachwood (RaeLynn). 

©2018 Lauren Blakely (P)2023 Lauren Blakely Books

ALL THE STARS

LOVED IT!! This book was great, the story was a fun, witty and had some serious situations too. A perfect blend of emotions for me. Lauren Blakely never disappoints, her books always leave me with a full heart. The characters were deep and witty and the chemistry was off the charts. I love the build up and this book had it in spades. I feel like Leo was a very stand up guy which I always love and he got exactly what he deserves since he was pretty hard on himself. Lulu was a fun and strong character, I loved that she didn't let the past guide her and just wanted to move forward.

Just a heads up, this book will make you want chocolate so much you may have to stop just to get some.

The narration for this book gets all the stars!!! So many amazing narrators recording in duet style and it flowed perfectly. The casting was amazing for every character. Lauren Blakely deserves everything for casting alone. And let me tell you, Joe Arden was so much fun with a silly character and Erin Mallon has an Australian accent... just in case you needed incentive to grab this one.

AMAZING AUDIOBOOK....AUDIE'S HERE THEY COME!!!

The best audiobook. EVER!

Birthday Suit is Lauren Blakely's newest romcom, but with a side of emotion and chocolate. Three of my favorite things: Lauren Blakely, romance and chocolate. Yes, please! Birthday Suit is a friends to lovers, best friend's girl romance. Only Lauren can combine so much goodness in one place. I read the book first and then listened to the audiobook. This is the best audiobook I've ever listened to. Ever. Lauren's words and this cast of narrators is pure perfection. I've said it before and I'll say it again Lauren Blakely is a genius! My ears have never been happier!
Leo fell for Lulu when he met her, but then she became his best friend's woman. He never acted on or spoke about his feelings, just went on with his life. Mostly. Now, Lulu's back in his life and a lot has changed over the last few years. Once he sees her all the feelings come rushing back. But he's a gentleman and a professional and when they start to work together, they rekindle their friendship. When a New York City wide scavenger hunt sends him, Lulu and a few coworkers out into the city, he falls for her all over again. But things are different now. Could they possibly have a chance? Lulu has finally gotten her life back on track. Her business is thriving, she's also working for Leo's company and having so much fun reconnecting with her old friend. Solving riddles and running around Manhattan is the most fun she's had a in a long time. She's finally let go of her past, the guilt and the pain. Leo is back in her life and she forgot how much she missed having him around. But, now that there's no one else around, she's seeing a new side of Leo. Was he always this handsome? This sexy? This thoughtful? Wow. What happens when her feelings of friendship quickly move into so much more. She wants Leo. Covered in chocolate. In his birthday suit. Uh oh! She doesn’t want to find herself in the same position she was in years ago with her career. Can she find the happy balance between her love of her work and this new found love of her friend, Leo? This story! Wow. It's full of happiness, emotion, pain, joy, sexiness, humor, riddles, friendship and chocolate. Oh, the chocolate! Lulu is adorable, fun, a little wacky and funny! Leo is sexy, thoughtful, handsome and just a really nice guy! I loved watching Leo and Lulu find themselves in each other. Enjoy being friends again. Eating delicious chocolate. Solving puzzles and falling in love!

Multicast Narration at its Finest!

What can I say about Birthday Suit? Firstly, it's groundbreaking in romance audio with the cast of 12 all star narrators. If you're wondering if all of those voices get confusing or hard to determine, DON'T. It's written and narrated superbly and there's never an excess of characters in scenes to cause any issues with "who's talking?". Secondly, these narrators represent the pinnacle of romance audio. #kingofauralsex Sebastian York and the Always Amazing Andi Arndt are flawless. They both use their voice acting skills to precision, bringing these lead characters to life with comedy, emotion and tons of SEXY!

Lauren's written a great layered story that lends itself perfectly to this large cast. While in her usual style of low drama, sizzling sex scenes, and quirky hilarious flair, I found this story to be unique and special.

January Lavoy, Julia Whelan, R.C. Bray, Shane East, Joe Arden, Erin Mallon, Dion Graham, Savannah Peachwood, Jason Clarke, and Robin Miles all bring their "A" game for the balance of the cast, all to different degrees, but never in a way that made you question which character they were. Shane East, Joe Arden, Erin Mallon, Savannah Peachwood and Jason Clarke are all romance audio favorites. Jason Clarke's performance (particularly at the end) will squeeze your heart just long enough to get you misty and then make you smile. Erin Mallon's Australian accent was hysterical and so well performed and Joe Arden's character (a human chihuahua of a character) will make you grin. The addition of all the new to me narrators make me hope that they expand more into romance audio. We always are looking for the next great voice to melt our hearts and rev our engines.

Overall, Birthday Suit is a must-purchase for romance audio fans. It's a listening experience that beginners to audio will be amazed by and veterans will thoroughly devour.

Lydia @ Aural Fixation

A producttion for all your senses, not just aural!

OMG! OMG! OMG! This was such an amazing story. I’ve never listened to an audiobook w/so many narrators, and it was like sitting in the audience of a play. Whenever I’d hear a new voice, I’d yell the names of the narrators I knew, and looked up audiobooks of the ones that were new to me. They’re all gifted in their craft.

I don’t want to tell too much, so you can experience this just like I did. It is a beautiful love story, but you have to work for that HEA. I loved all the emotions Lauren forced me to feel. I will tell you this: there’s chocolate, and lots of it!

Ms. Blakely has outdone herself w/this audio event. Sebastian and Andi are their usual awesome selves, and the other 10 narrators made some great aural magic. I’m hoping to revisit some of the supporting cast in a later book. See how I slipped that in there?

The post-story extras are wonderful. I want to hang out w/Joe Arden, and be Kingsley when I grow up!! Boss lady idol!

Utterly Brilliant

Being as I am a Lauren Blakely fan, I like the rest of her fans were waiting with bated breath for this release and boy she doesn’t disappoint!

Leo is someone you would want as a friend no joke, he even put his own wants and needs back before his friend. Even when things were in the clear he still protected his friendship. This is so admirable; it makes you want to root for him that much more.
I loved the interaction between all of the characters, the back and forth banter and the play on words it was fun and exciting and kept me interested from the beginning to the end.

Lulu what a strong character, she wasn’t shy or insecure. I loved that she was uniquely herself throughout the book. But also that she grew too.

OMG the narration, I have never experienced a full cast before and I am in awe of this book. The back and forth was awesome not once did I get confused as to who was who. It was BRILLIANT! I want more. I can’t even tell you who was my favorite OKAY that is a lie, its SebYo no joke he was incredible in this book as was everyone else. I want more like this!

WOW

I have never listened to a book with so many narrators--absolutey loved it! Great story! This is definetly in my top 10. And I just adored the interview after the book and the bloopers! I wish more books were done this way! Just great!

Loved the cast of characters

Thank you Lauren for putting together this wonderful cast of characters and having all my favorite narrators do the voices. I was so intrigued with the story I couldn’t stop listening. I hope that you will do another one in the future.

This audiobook was sheer genius! 5+ stars!

Did I forget to mention that I did a read AND listen combo for this? Yep. I had the audiobook preordered and decided to wait until release day to do this, and gah! Talk about being worth the wait. Based on the Lauren Blakely-penned stories that I’ve read, they’ve always translated well as audiobooks, thanks in large part to the narrators that have graced them. With Birthday Suit, however, we don’t get just one or two narrators—nope, we’ve got a slew of them! Yep, while Sebastian York and Andi Arndt headline the audio as Leo and Lulu, respectively, listeners also get—in alphabetical order—Joe Arden, RC Bray, Jason Clarke, Shane East, Dion Graham, January LaVoy, Erin Mallon, Robin Miles, Savannah Peachwood, and Julia Whelan. Whew! As many as the narrators are for this book, they all actually make it work quite fabulously! This was a first for me, and I was smitten by the whole experience.

This was an absolute gem of a love story, a friends-to-lovers tale that has enough of Blakely’s creativity and originality to make it her own and stand apart from the countless others that use the romantic trope. There’s humor, heart, and heat, which is basically what I call Blakely’s TFW—trifecta for the win—and she employs the three effortlessly to give fans and readers a contemporary romance that makes you smile and laugh while also giving your heart a workout from the feels, and when I say “feels”, I’m not necessarily talking about angsty ones, although yes, there’s a hint of angst here. With a kickass cast of characters led by a couple of main characters who truly had a bond based on friendship but were always meant for me. And that audiobook? Sheer genius! Lauren Blakely has outdone herself with Birthday Suit. Five-plus stars. PS: Make sure to have a chocolate or ten on-hand! ♥

⭐️ SUPERB STORYTELLING & FLAWLESS NARRATION ⭐️

Yet another wonderful love story from auto download author Lauren Blakely and it’s got all the usual things I love from this well respected wordsmith. However, what wasn’t at all ‘usual’ was the full cast of very talented narrators - and heading the cast of heavyweights were Sebastian and Andi who have, yet again, delivered another stellar performance side-by-side and it’s no wonder they’re often paired together.

This is a bitter-sweet feel-good romance that had been one-sided for ten years.. but finally their stars align and heroine Lulu is physically and emotionally in the right place to cautiously be aware of what has been right in front of her for years.. the unconditional and unspoken love of Leo, her deceased ex-husband’s best friend. Their delicious journey is told in dual POV chapters as Leo and Lulu tread new ground by working together.. by acknowledging their off-the-charts chemistry.. by owning up to their feelings.. by finally burying the past.. and by eventually moving forward together. The plot may have been a deliciously tender love story set within the decadent world of designer chocolates.. which was a tasty treat indeed.. but the real ‘audible’ treat was the exceptional cast of narrators whose duet style of dialogue made the story flow well, made each scene more realistic and made this book unforgettable.

Worth a credit? Oh absolutely yes.. it’s unmissable. However, I would use a credit just to hear the Bonus feature at the end where you can feel the friendship and symbiotic relationship Andi and Sebastian have as they talked together and answered a few questions from listeners.

I love what you did with this!!!!

The book is excellent and is only taken up a notch by the amazing narration! So wonderful!!!

I want a full cast for all audiobooks from now on.

Absolutely loved it. Such a sweet story. Leo and Lulu were great together. Kingsley was fantastic, Noah and Ginny were adorable (and erin mallon's aussie accent was awsome).
I really liked Tripps flashback chapter. Also I enjoyed Dean's character.
Another favourite from Lauren Blakely.

non reviewer

This book had a huge cast but it all came together seamlessly. I found it very amusing with a dry humour I don't usually expect from romance fiction

this book was awesome

what a fantastic book really good and real life story, the narration was absolutely top class ,well done to all you are all amazing especially laurens book 😘

Loved it !

I really loved this book and the narration style was brilliant ...i wish all books were read this way with the different readers for each character . I also liked the interviews at the end ..I think im even more in love with Sebastian York after hearing that and Andi Arndt is excellent as well.....the bloopers at the end are a brilliant touch to finish it off....well done everyone ..loved it !

Best friends

OMG this audio book is AMAZING!!! I love how all the different characters have a different narrator. It's a wonderful read and the narrator's elevate this story so very much. It's a must listen.

Chocolate for the ears

Really enjoyed it. Must say I loved the detail of the more passionate parts and Dean and Lulu are great characters. To be honest all the secondary characters are awesome. My only gripe would be that I didn't warm to Leo as much as I would have liked. For sure a character to lust over, but I still got jock vibes or maybe that says too much about me. The set up is fabulous. Love the chapter's being narrated by each character and when characters speaking it is done by individual actors. Definitely recommend. Especially if you want a slightly racier love story.

Loved the full voice cast

All of the narrators did a fantastic job with a funny and touching story.
I loved the story and also the interview and out takes at the end, both of which made me laugh a lot!
More audio books should come with out takes! 😁

I want a man like this.

I don't listen to audio books much, or at least I didn't used to. Lauren Blakely has changed all that for me. Birthday was was ab-so-lutely A-MAZ-A-BALLS. I freaking loved it. It was just like being at the movies, except the film was running in my head not on a screen. having a different voice for each character, inside each and every chapter made this story exceptionally good. I'm looking forward to the next one like this.

Wow... I want more audiobooks like that

Was a delightful audio fest with all voices and and playing was a colourful audio movie because of the voices and acting all of that linked around touchy-feely and funny story ... wow ... please keep doing ... love you all

Brilliant 5 🌟

The actors are brilliant, the script is brilliant and the extras are excellently lol amusing. Highly recommended.