Coming Home

By: K J

Narrated by: Ruth Guice

Length: 10 hrs and 10 mins

Publisher's Summary

What would happen if your regular, ordinary, safe, everyday existence suddenly became...not any of those things?

When Samantha Markson, ordinary person, is thrust into the life of Abigail Taylor's, not-at-all-ordinary person, it proves to be an experience like she’s never had before. World famous actress Abigail Taylor is in Melbourne filming her new movie, and is accompanied by her nine-year-old daughter, Grace, because Abigail wants her to experience an Australian education for three months. 

Sam Markson is a teacher at one of the best schools in Melbourne, and is perfectly happy doing that, thank you very much, when she’s suddenly redirected from the classroom into the job as Grace’s teacher, a move so fast that even blinking would feel like slow motion. 

Sam has never met anyone like Abigail Taylor, and she starts to realize that her ordinary life might actually be missing something extraordinary.

Best-selling author KJ has created a beautiful, heart-warming romance.

©2019 KJ (P)2020 KJ

I absolutely LOVE this book!

I'm so glad this is FINALLY out of Audible jail and available to the masses because damn, it's good. First and foremost, it's major strength is the story. For me it is an ideal romance and I absolutely fell in love with it when I read the paperback last year. Australian school teacher Samantha Markson is hired for three months to tutor and care for American movie star Abigail Taylor's child Grace while she's shooting a film in Melbourne. Because Abby's shooting schedule requires her to sometimes go in very early or stay very late, Sam moves in to Abby and Grace's apartment during the shoot, which gives her the opportunity to get to know Abby and her child on a more than superficial level. There is an immediate attraction between the two and while Sam sees herself as too "ordinary" to possibly be a love match for one of the biggest movie stars in the world, Abigail Taylor soon recognizes how truly extraordinary Sam really is.
Sam is likely one of my very favorite MCs in lesfic. She is kind, generous, has a fabulous sense of humor and is a great teacher. And she's hot. Good luck with ANYONE not falling in love with her. I loved that Abby was unaffected by the trappings of stardom, kind and approachable, and that she had a fierce, protective love for Grace. There are really strong supporting characters in addition to Grace, including Sam's best friend Cath, as well as Abby's personal assistant and friend Tom.
This was Australian narrator Ruth Guice's first audiobook and the only tell of that was that she speaks quite slowly outside of the dialogue. A voice actor, she captures the personalities beautifully. I loved Sam's voice with a dreamy Aussie accent and she does a great job with Abby's American one, using a very low and incredibly sexy tone for her. Guice has a wonderfully soothing voice and while it did take some time to adjust to her slower delivery, she did a terrific job for her first go-round. KJ was understandably frustrated with how long this sat with Audible before being released, especially with it being her first audiobook. She also said she and Guice learned as they went along since neither had worked on one before. It is my sincere hope that now that this has been widely released that it will sell well and KJ will be willing to do another. She's such a terrific writer. I think Guice would be a wonderful voice for KJ's books, and if she makes that slight pace adjustment, could turn into a favorite. I would love to hear her do The Art of Magic next! Fingers crossed.

Nice reading, great performance

Loved the book. Very sweet and at the same time deep love story. I also loved the narrator!

Better than expected

Narration was super slow and made it hard to keep listening, but speeding it up A LOT helped. As far as the story, I was surprised at how rounded it was. Nice character relationship development, sexy and flirty.

Wow!

Oh my, this was so good! I am not someone who read the print novel. This audiobook was my first experience with this story, and I have no complaints. I found it to be a very sweet take on the classic ‘found family’ premise (which I’m a sucker for), with the addition of a small dose of celebrity fic (which I am also a sucker for). There were many reasons to enjoy this book. The characters were all extremely likable. The humor kept me laughing. The relationships were well developed, and the events had me running a gamut of emotions. A very fine reading experience all around.

As for the narrator, I’m shocked it’s her first book! I thought she did a great job. I can’t say I personally agree with other listeners who found her reading pace to be too slow. She doesn’t really read any slower than Abby Craden, who is possibly the most utilized narrator in lesfic, and whose reading style I find to be excruciatingly slow. Did I have to speed the pace up a little? Sure, but it’s no great sacrifice when the narrator does such a fine job of truly acting out the dialogue, differentiating voices, and producing good sound quality. I hope to see her name on more audiobooks in the future!

5 Stars for the story, 5 Stars for the narrator

5 Stars for the book, 5 Stars for the narrator, Ruth Guice

I already wrote a Goodreads review for the ebook in Apr 2020, so I won't give an in-depth review. In short this book is about a famous American actress, Abigail Taylor who brings her 9 year old daughter, Grace to Melbourne, Australia. She hires a gifted teacher, Samantha (Sam) Markson to be her daughter's teacher and because of Abby's long hours to essentially be a live-in nanny for the few months of their visit. Sam not only teaches Grace academics but also takes her around Melbourne to museums and galleries. After listening to this book, I've decided that Sam is one of my favorite Lesfic characters. She's a tall, attractive Australian Mary Poppins/Maria Von Trapp all rolled into one, minus the singing.

I don't know where K.J. found the Australian voice actress, Ruth Guice but I hope she uses her again in her next audiobook. As far as I could tell this is Guice's first audiobook. Her American accent is well done. I liked her distinctive voices for each of the characters from the Americans, the sexy, deep voice of Abby and the young 9 year old Grace to the Aussies such as Sam and her BFF, Cath. I was also impressed with her distinctive narrative voice such that there is no confusion with the character's voices. Her acting (as opposed to just reading) was excellent and not overly done.

Sweeter than most

How nice to hear a romance story without the usual melodrama. I almost didn't listen to this one cuz I couldn't care less about celebrities and movie stars, but glad I gave this story a chance. It's really about how we're all ordinary and extraordinary when we truly love one another. Refreshingly sweet! Hope to hear more from this author and also this narrator.

Loving Grace

Abigail Taylor is back in her birth country of Australia to film a movie. She brings her daughter Grace so they can bond and she can experience the school system. Sam Markelson is a very happy school teacher in one of the best private schools in Melbourne. Volunteered by her father and principal for the job she’s an ordinary person living an extraordinary moment with her movie crush and her wonderful daughter. Great narration and story.

Narration definitely needs work

Great story, pretty good character development but that was impacted by the narration. Quite a number of times too that pronunciations were not American.

Sweet and simple

Good story. Likeable characters. Sensual and intimate. Lots of chemistry and sexual tension that I personally would have like to have seen released a lot more. Especially considering how sexy and physically attractive the characters are described to be. Overall pretty good.

Great story!

I absolutely love this book! It’s intriguing, the character developement and humor is spot on! This was my first Aussie narrated book and it was AWESOME, the accents were really cool to listen to. My one and only gripe is the sexy/seduction hits the mark in my opinion, it sounds very robotic like the narrator lacked the passion in her voice

The whole package

Occasionally you come across an author who is completely new to you, and once you complete the book you sit in stunned silence wondering how you ever survived without experiencing everything contained within. No I am not exaggerating. At the beginning of the year I read G Benson's The Thing About Tilly and noted that I'd just read what I was certain would be one of my top reads of 2021, and I can now add Coming Home to that list.

Delicious slow burn, simmering tension, excellent pacing, beautiful phrasing and strong characterisation combine in a heartwarming and emotional story that I couldn't stop listening to. The narration is excellent and enhances the story that is unfolding in an unhurried way. The writing is subtle, all about the emotions, the tiny thoughts, feelings and actions of not only two people falling in love, but of a family coming together. The scenes between Sam and 9 year old Grace are particularly heartwarming and full of fun and affection.

I am running out of superlatives to describe how much I loved this. One book in, and I can pronounce myself a fan of KJ's writing. This single offering has elevated KJ to a list of authors that I will read without knowing anything about the subject matter, and includes the aforementioned Benson, Lee Winter and EJ Noyes. I think I may have a thing for Australian authors!

Phenomenal

What an amazing beautiful story.
I have ready many and this is the best story so far.
We need more from KJ.
The best narration I ever heard, it makes the book.
We need more of Ruth Guice, she is absolutely phenomenal.

So much sweetness

I loved reading this book, my first intro to KJ. Hard not to fall in love and root for Sam and Abby, I love how tender and sweet they are and the beautiful connection between Sam and Grace too. It is wonderfully narrated and I’m so glad because good writing deserves it. Great job Ruth. I look forward to many more KJ audiobooks.

Think I’m in love this book!

This is superb. Ruth Guice is fantastic as the narrator making Sam and Abby come to life. KJ’s writing is funny, emotional and descriptive. This is a wonderful romance. I feel all happy and gooey now it’s finished.

Falling in love with a celebrity

The story follows Sam who is an Australian teacher and Abby who is an American actress. When Abby comes over from America to Australia to act in a film for 3 months she decides she wants to bring her daughter Grace who is 9, but she needs a teacher for Grace. Sam ends up being that teacher but she is also like a nanny, as she has to look after Grace at night until Abby gets home or in the mornings when Abby goes to work early. They had chemistry right from the start and they start to fall for each other, there’s only one problem, Abby is only in Australia for 3 months then she’s going back to America.

I absolutely loved this book, it had lots of humour, a great storyline.

This book is from both Sam and Abby’s point of views which I love.

Would definitely listen to another book by this author or narrator.

A very sweet lesfic romance

A lovely heartwarming andwell written story. It has a believable plot and characters that are easy to identify with and become fond of.

The narrator does a good job alternating between Australian and US accents and conveying the emotion of the story. However, her reading is very slow, with strange breaks in her sentences, which often spoils the flow. I found her narration much easier to listen to when I used Audible's settings to increase the speed of the audio.