Christmas Lovebirds

Have a Hart, Book 1

By: Rachelle Ayala

Narrated by: Jennifer Groberg

Length: 3 hrs and 50 mins

Publisher's Summary

If you love sweet romances (PG-rating), look no further than Rachelle Ayala's Have a Hart series. The Harts are a family of San Francisco firefighters. Their family motto is: Heart comes first.

Melisa Hart has a soft spot for her brother Connor's ex-best buddy, Rob Reed. Unfortunately, Rob slept with Connor's girlfriend and is no longer welcome with any of the Harts.

Melisa lends her pet lovebird for a Christmas Toy Drive, but a mix-up brings her face to face with Rob and his lovebird. Melisa is drawn into a whirlwind romance with Rob and discovers he hasn't told her the entire story.

Can two little lovebirds and Christmas cheer open Melisa's heart to giving Rob another chance?

Book One: Melisa & Rob, Christmas Lovebirds

Book Two: Jenna & Larry, Valentine Hound Dog

Book Three: Connor & Nadine, Spring Fling Kitty

Book Four: Cait & Brian, Blue Chow Christmas

Book Five: Jenna & Larry, Valentine Wedding Hound

©2015 Rachelle Ayala (P)2017 Rachelle Ayala Publishing, LLC

Sweet Romance

This is a light, sweet, romantic story with a few surprises intertwined. It took me a while to wrap my head around the fact that all the characters sounded feminine. Unfortunately I found the narrator, Jennifer Groberg lacking in her male voices. She did do a good job of the female ones though and the birds were entertaining. Once I got into the story I enjoyed it and was rooting for Rob and Melisa. There are quite a few secondary characters and it left me wanting to hear more about what happens with each of them, especially Larry. This book was given to me for free at my request and I provided this voluntary review.

Sweet Christmas Romance

This is a clean contemporary romance story with some adorable lovebirds! It is a heart warming sweet story about childhood friends and old crushes. It is a laid back listen for any time of the year. It is an easy listen with just under four hours of listening time.

Narration was very well done and brought the story to life. I enjoyed all the lovebird's sounds.

The main characters were interesting and kept me captivated all the way to the HEA conclusion.

I'm looking forward to reading more books in this series.

"I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review."

A cute story

If you are looking for a cute, clean, holiday story, this one is the one for you.
The Hart family are well respected and one filled with many firefighters. This first story belongs to the youngest sibling, Melissa Hart.
Single school teacher with a lovebird, she continues to have a crush with, Rob, once best friend of her brother Connor. A friendship that dissolved years ago when Rob supposedly slept with Connor’s girlfriend.
Rob , now and an ER doctor, and Melissa meet again when she goes to the ER after a fall. He’s been in love with her forever and seeing her again brought back all those feelings.
It was cute to see them coming together because of their lovebirds. Though the road to finding their happiness was a bumpy one.
A good audiobook for an afternoon of leisure.

How can you not love Christmas and lovebirds?

Melissa is an elementary teacher, who owns a lovebird. She takes the bird to visit her class on the last day of school before the winter break. After class is dismissed, the bird gets stuck, Melissa tries to rescue, but falls and ends up in the ER. Rob is an ER doc and former childhood bff of Melissa's bro...apparently he cheated w the bro's GF and the entire Hart family still hates him. Rob has always had a thing for Melissa and, as hard as he tries, can't resist her. Melissa and Rob attempt to start a relationship but her nosy family butts in...will Rob fight for Melissa? Will Melissa believe Rob that he did not cheat w her brother's ex?
Meanwhile, her family is pushing her towards former fire fighter and all around hero, Frank. There are some hilarious moments, as well as some where you really want to shake the entire Hart family!! Small cameo by Ella and Bri, from the Vet trilogy...yay...always love Bri.
Heart warming HEA...even for Melissa's lovebird.
I received a complimentary copy of this story in exchange for an honest review.

Good Romance

I really loved Melissa and Rob. However, I felt I was missing some backstory. A lot of references are made to the past and the past hasn't been described much. The narration was very well done.

Wonderful!!

Any additional comments?

This audiobook was given to me for a honest unbiased review. This was wonderful. I love me some firefighters. I loved that this was a clean romance, not many of these out there. This sweet romance will sweep you off your feet. I can not wait for the rest of the series.

Fun and sweet

The story is not straight forward, there are revaluations happening all over the place. Bad decisions made 10 years ago are threatening to unravel the present.

The characters show lots of development, they each have a history, individually and with the other key characters. The depth and complexity of these histories and relationships makes the story really enjoyable.

The narrator has done a good job with the character voices and the story flows nicely.

This book was supplied free by the author/narrator/publisher and I voluntarily wrote this honest review.

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Pretty Good Narration

Rachelle Ayala has the ability to tell such sweet and endearing love stories. For the most part, the narrator, Jennifer Groberg, brought each of the characters to life, but seemed to struggle a bit with the male conversation pieces of the story. However, I was still able to enjoy this story, same as I had with all her others. This is a sweet romance story, and I recommend it to anyone that loves a good romance and a HEA.

Charming and sweet clean romance.

What did you love best about Christmas Lovebirds?

I love a happily ever after and this was double the love.

What did you like best about this story?

The patience to wait a lifetime for your special love.

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

I laughed out loud several times which got me strange looks because I was wearing ear buds.

Any additional comments?

I recommend this audiobook to anyone who enjoys a clean romance, especially pet lovers. The birds in this story are adorable. I voluntarily reviewed this audiobook after receiving a free audiobook I requested. Thanks.

I Love Christmas In July

Christmas Lovebirds was a cute cozy. I couldn't decide whether to give this 4 or 5 stars but the birds won me over along with Melisa and Rob. The lovebirds, Cassie and Casey were a great addition to the story. I liked the protagonist Melisa. There were a lot of other supporting characters, including the cute birds and well, Rob.

I really enjoyed Rachelle Ayala's writing and look forward to more in this series.

Jennifer Groberg's performance was stellar. Her characterizations were excellent including the bird chirps. She made this a fun and enjoyable listen and I hope she continues to read the rest of the series.

"I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this honest review."

Chemistry laden, funny, drama-filled romance

Often clean romances can lack a little something-something. Not this story. Between the crazy family, the dating lovebirds (and I do mean birds), the muscled firemen, and plenty of history, Rob and Melisa's interactions exude tension and chemistry. The story is fast paced with loads of interesting characters and a lot of potential for the remaining books in this series. The story put a smile on my face, and I am looking forward to the next book!

This book was given to me for free at my request and I provided this voluntary review.

Love the birds!

Lovebirds...what a connection they have. This story of Rob and Melissa is a sweet, yet forbidden romance. Growing up as Melissa's brother Conner's best friend, Rob could never act on his feelings. Melissa being the younger sibling was always in awe of her brother's friend. When an injury and their birds throw these two together after ten years, all bets are off. But will secrets from Rob's past come back to haunt him and ruin the love they are finding? It took me a little while to warm up to these characters, but once invested, I was all in! The birds were a lot of fun, the protective nature of Casey and Cassie so much like the real relationship we watch grow between Rob and Mel. Rachelle Ayala portrays this story so well(and includes a couple firefighters too!) giving a satisfying listen.

Jennifer Groberg gives a well paced, warm narration. She can work a little on the differentiation of the voices between male and female, but all in all, it is an enjoyable listen.

Season's Greeting!

Christmas Lovebirds (Have a Hart, Book 1) is a cheerful romantic story with a few twists mingled in throughout this romance. Lovebirds Cassie and Casey play a intricate role in this novel and there performance is merry. Complex and in depth character's relationship's histories are fully bloomed. A adorable Christmas romance read fun to listen to while decorating the Christmas tree.

I didn't really enjoy the narrator's performance of this Christmas tale. The narator seemed to struggle with the male character's voices. The bird chirps were funny though.

I'm looking forward to listening the other books in Have a Hart series.

Not for me!

What disappointed you about Christmas Lovebirds?

This book is a contemporary romance so I expect a good romance and I fell I did not get this from this book.
The main character Melisa loves, and always has, Rob her brothers (Conner) best friend. Before they went to College their friendship broke up because Rob told Conner that he slept with his girlfriend.
There is a reason for this which you find out later in the book. What I find hard to believe is that Conner didn't try hard enough to find out why this happened between the two people he cared about and why Rob did certain things after this. I don't want to say because it would spoil the story. This showed that he either new and didn't care or he was very stupid. He said he loved Melisa all this time yet he didn't try and get in contact with her or her family. He just gave up. He went off sleeping with other women whilst Melisa stayed a virgin because she loved Rob.
I didn't believe in the love story at all. Only ten years later did he decide to give it a go and even then he wanted to give up at times!
I am not saying that he should have stayed a monk but he should have tried to get in contact and he should not have slept with the person he did. I can not for the life of me understand why he did it when it was the cause of all their problems.

This might be for others but it is not for me.
The narrator was good.

Any additional comments?

I was given this free review copy audio book at my request and have voluntarily left this review.