Rhythm and Bluegrass

By: Molly Harper

Narrated by: Amanda Ronconi

Length: 5 hrs and 57 mins

Publisher's summary

In the second e-novella in Molly Harper’s Bluegrass series of contemporary romances, two people determined to fulfill their own agendas come head to head—and find love in the process.

Kentucky Tourism Commission employee Bonnie Turkle is up Mud Creek without a paddle. When she gets permission from the state historical society to restore McBride’s Music Hall in Mud Creek, Kentucky, to its former glory, she thinks the community will welcome her with open arms. Instead, her plans interfere with a proposal to sell the property to a factory that would bring much-needed jobs to the town.

Even though Bonnie is trying to preserve mayor Will McBride’s family heritage, he is more concerned with the welfare of his people than memories of the past. Will finds her optimistic sentimentality extremely annoying—but that doesn’t stop him from kissing Bonnie senseless.

With an inspection deadline looming and local saboteurs ruining her restoration, Bonnie must find a way to compromise with Will to save McBride’s and the town…while hopefully winning a few more kisses in the process!

©2013 Molly Harper White (P)2013 Audible, Inc.

Fun!

Listened for Fun (Audible)
Overall Rating: 3.75
Story Rating: 3.50
Character Rating: 4.00

Audio Rating: 4.50 (not part of the overall rating)

First Thought when Finished: Rhythm and Bluegrass by Molly Harper was a fun romp with small town laughs that brought me back to my roots. As someone who grew up in a super small town, this reminds me a lot of the people I grew up around. The character were fun, the end was a little rushed, and overall I smiled A LOT!

Audio Thoughts:

Narrated By Amanda Ronconi / Length: 5 hrs and 57 mins


Amanda Ronconi and Molly Harper are one of those duos that I think work well together. Amanda gets Molly's humor and always knocks it out park.

Part of the Read It, Rate It, File It, DONE! Reviews

Fun series

Such a fun read. Love the comedic writing of Molly Ronconi and the expressive narration of Amanda Ronconi.

Another Great One

I love the humor in all of Molly Harper's books and one of the best narrators on audible Amanda Ronconi. Can't wait for her next book.

Molly Harper creates another WINNER!!

What did you love best about Rhythm and Bluegrass?

Well the wonderfully quirky Kentucky Tourism Office has brought a wonderful spin on Kentucky, making me want to visit!!

What was one of the most memorable moments of Rhythm and Bluegrass?

Finding out the Lurline story brought tears to my eyes!

What does Amanda Ronconi bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

She brought the characters to life.

Love Molly Harper books

They are light and fun, but I could do with a little less “yelps” and a little more complexity to the female characters. Her books always seem to only characterize about 4-5 different versions of both male and female characters to be honest but they are still really fun to listen to!! Amanda Ronconi really brings the books to life with the voices and the full on performance she seems to give these books!

Reliable Harper

I've listened to several of Harper's books now and they are definitely like comfort food. if you want something reliably light-hearted, witty, and adorable, Harper's books are your go-to. I've begun using them as palate cleansers after books I've disliked.

Rhythm and Laughter

Molly Harper wrote it and Amanda Ronconi read it, need I say more? These two just go together.

Its fun loving, laughable characters and situations keep you wanting more.

Funny, fun without being sappy!

I love Molly Harper! Her stories are always light and funny without being sappy. A real treat!

Pretty good addition to the series

3.5-4 stars

This was a pretty good story. I liked Bonnie and Will and enjoyed their story.

Bonnie works for the Kentucky Commission of Tourism traveling around the state working on projects. She's enjoyed this and the work she does but finds that she's wanting to get off the road. Her travelling doesn't give her much of a personal life (for friends or more) and she's asked her boss for an office position but at this point things don't look likely. Bonnie realizes that she'll really have to impress her boss to get a chance at what she wants. She's sent to Mud Creek, KY to pull all the items of historical value out of McBride’s Music Hall before it's demolished and she's hoping this might be the chance she needs to impress her boss. Unfortunately, things start going wrong as soon as she hits the town limits of Mud Creek, starting with her car catching on fire.

Will is the Mayor of Mud Creek and trying very hard to help his community. There isn't much work but he has the chance for a manufacturing plant to be built that will bring in much needed jobs (it's this plant construction that's bringing about the demolition of McBride’s Music Hall. Will is the grandson of the man that built McBride’s Music Hall but his memories of the place aren't great and he's more than willing to see it go if it'll bring much needed jobs to their town. He doesn't intend to let anything get in his way but he wasn't expecting the complications that show up when Bonnie comes to town.

When Will and Bonnie meet, her car is on fire and Will helps her save her belongings from her car before it's consumed. There's an attraction between them from the start and this complicates things when she finds out that he's the Mayor. Will's charming but Bonnie tries to keep things professional and doesn't give in to his charms easily. They strike up a friendship and work together well as she starts working on the Music Hall. Things start getting difficult when she finds that the music hall has true historical significance and she wants to preserve it as a museum. Knowing the city is counting on the plant being built, she plans to try to gain sponsors and funding to have the building moved to some nearby land and then restore it. Things go off the rail when Will finds out about the plan and (not really caring that she intends to move it and isn't trying to mess with the plant) acts out against Bonnie nastily, his actions tarnish her reputation, almost ruins her career and makes her hated in town.

Bonnie understands Will's freak out but his actions killed the progress she'd made and she has to start all over. She works on getting the museum funding for the building move and the renovations and despite very few people in town giving her the time of day, she goes out of her way to help the town out in other ways. Her and Will have a strained time and it's a while before they are talking again. They do straighten things out to an extent but the project is still an issue. Bonnie makes some bold moves and ends up being able to get the funding she needs for the move of the music hall and gets the plant being built back on track. Everyone is happy and things seem to be good with Will but then as the project come to a close Will starts pulling back. Bonnie gets her promotion and ends up going home to start her new job but misses Will. Fortunately, Will does pull his head out (of you know where) and goes after her. We end the story with a nice start to their HEA.

This was a pretty good story. I liked the Bonnie and Will and well as the secondary characters. To be honest it's a similar tone to the first book in the series so if you liked that one you'll probably like this one. I'd recommend it for someone looking for a light, humorous read.

I wanna move to Kentucky

I just love these comical, endearing, stories of friendship, betrayal , and love. The writing is superb and the performance of Ronconi is always wonderful! When I run out of books that Holly Black writes, I start looking for books that Ronconi performs. Please keep them coming