Heart Failure

By: Chris Zett

Narrated by: Lori Prince

Length: 10 hrs and 40 mins

Publisher's Summary

An enemies-to-lovers lesbian romance about daring to open your heart.

Dr. Jess Riley's life is perfect, ticking all the boxes - successful cardiologist, newborn daughter, and a luxurious condo. That is, until she suddenly collapses from acute heart failure. Her entire world crumples along with her exhausted body.

Jess is forced to face facts - she can't keep working endless hours, and she'll have to move back home to recover.

To her shock, her mother has already taken in Lena Walker, a struggling artist who isn't a stranger to heartbreak either.

At first, an unimpressed Jess resents Lena's cheerful presence. Gradually, though, the two women form a tentative friendship over tai chi, picking fruit, and evening walks with the baby. A sexy massage leads to friends-with-benefits fun. But is it all too soon? Should two barely mended souls try to risk a future together?

Contains mature themes.

©2020 Chris Zett (P)2020 Tantor

Wow so good!

This was such a great medical romance from Chris Zett. A little medical drama, a thawing ice-queen, and great chemistry between MC’s. Plus the narration from Lori Prince is just wonderful.

Romance , and learning to trust.

I wanted to read this for a long time. I love strong female doctor roles...who doesn't? This wasn't what I expected. It was slow to get into and a lot of disecting thoughts and each other. Things in real life that...well we do. But at times I felt it was long winded. Even with that it was very good and sweet. It was a slow burn but it needed to be. I didn't sigh at the end but I was very glad I read it.

Wonderful story, well-told.

I put off finishing this book because I didn’t want it to end. It's a good one.

Kind of lame

I struggled with finishing this one. It was too cosy and a bit boring. But it had something, some sparks and interesting stories and conflicts. Then it was the narration... When a narrator does'nt variate the tone of voice in the love scenes from that in any other ordinary talk, it is hard to follow (by emotions) what is actually going on. And, Jess sounded the same whether she was angry or happy. It was not a bad book, but I don't think I will hear it again.

Great

Loved the story and as always Lori Prince is wonderful at narrating the story. She is one of my favorites

What a touching story!

It dealt with feelings & communication & was quite endearing; & Lori Prince did a fantastic job!

Lori Prince

It took me to hearing this for me to value Lori Prince, on other occasions, I didn’t like the way she narrated stories it sounded robotic. But the story line was a good one and the sex scenes was great!

Why? Such. Odd. Phrasing and. Pauses. Throughout?

I wonder if I would have enjoyed it more with a different narrator, or if I had read it instead. My biggest complaint about Lori Prince, more than the breathy little girl voices, is her odd cadence. Breaks in the wrong places. Pauses. That change the meaning. Of things.
“Let’s eat grandma.” vs. “Let’s eat, Grandma.”
I come away with the feeling that she doesn’t understand what she’s reading.

That being said, I’ve listened to other titles where she absolutely nailed it. I should check publication dates. Maybe she has gotten better over time.

Anyway, this was not one of the successes. I spent so much time trying to mentally rearrange the pauses to tease out the intended meaning, I stayed distracted from the story throughout. No one just speaking would make these mistakes. Stuck in my head is a scene where someone bumps into the wine, almost spilling it, and jumps up. The person jumps up. But the pauses and inflection had me trying to make sense of wine jumping up? Was that how the author described a spill? Until my brain rearranged it and I realized the wine was bumped, the person jumped up.

Silly, stupid, little things, but peppered throughout hours of storytelling, they add up.

I liked parts of the story, but overall I did not enjoy this listen.

I notice audible has another title by Chris Zett. I think I’ll check the narrator and publication date before deciding about purchasing that one.

Keeper

Another great story by Chris Zett that has the perfect balance of a slow budding attraction with sweet yet honest moments that morph into steamy love between 2 likable characters. Worth a credit to add to my library permanently.

Great character development!

I loved the two main characters, as well as the supporting characters. Everyone in this novel felt like a real person. The narrator was great, too- she did a good job with Lena and Jess’ voices and cadence.

heartwarming

Such a lovely story, the kind that makes you glow on the inside. Another fantastic performance by Lori, all characters well defined and distinctive. Romance with a few scenes of passion.

Good read

Really enjoyed this book, had me in tears in places and smiling in others. Only downside is the ending for me but I rarely like the ending of books because I didn’t want them to end

Finding family

Although Heart Failure is a standalone novel, I enjoyed the links to Chris Zett’s Irregular Rhythm.

Heart Failure is a low angst romance about two very different people finding love and acceptance where they least expected or planned. It’s an opposites attract, enemies to lovers story which follows the very grumpy Dr Jess Riley through two life changing events. I really enjoyed how her character developed in complexity throughout the book, and equally liked Lena’s calm, steady persona. It’s well written and there is a sense of realism that is refreshing, especially in the intimate scenes.

I think Lori Prince does a great job of the narration, bringing both main characters to life.

A heartwarming wlw romance

Warning: Although this audiobook can be listened to as a standalone story, it is disappointing that the details given by Audible/Tantor Audio fail to mention that this is the second novel in a loosely connected series. Some of the characters from Chris Zett's earlier book, "Irregular Rhythm", appear again in this story, so you may want to listen to that audiobook first... I wish I had known this as I would have preferred to listen to her earlier title before this one.

I really enjoyed this story from start to finish. Chris Zett's writing is great, the plot interesting - never bland - and the characters engaging. As always, Lori Prince's skilled narration conveys every nuance of feeling and brings the story fully to life.