I Have Never: A Laugh Out Loud Romantic Comedy

By: Camilla Isley

Narrated by: Audra Cook

Length: 5 hrs and 38 mins

Publisher's Summary

Twenty-nine-year-old Blair Walker is a girl with a plan, or more like a girl with a list - a list of dos and don'ts to live the perfect life, land a dream career, and marry Mr. Right. But when Blair loses her job and gets dumped by her boyfriend all in one day, she starts to wonder if she's had it all wrong. And what better way to find out than experience everything the list forbade?

• Never lie
• Never pick a fight
• Never make a scene
• Never make the first move
• Never make impulsive decisions
• Never mix business and pleasure

With hilarious consequences, Blair will discover some items are trickier to tick off than she'd thought.

First Comes Love is a series of interconnected romantic novels. However, each novel in the series can be listened to as a stand-alone novel.

What fans are saying:

"Flirty, fun & fantastic!" (Rachel, Rae Reads)

"A fast paced sparkling romance." (Petra, Sparkly Word)

"With Blair rebuilding her life and defying against the list and accidentally falling secretly in love with her new boss Camilla Isley has written us a gloriously, fun filled romance. I loved it!" (Adele, Krafti Reader)

"A dishy boss, some fab new colleagues and a cute puppy made this a perfect chick lit with a dream like romance." (Chloé, The Chloé Douglas Blog)

"This book was AMAZING. Once again Camilla Isley has written and delivered us a funny, romantic, can't put down book. I loved every minute of it." (Kristin, A Beautiful Book Blog)

"If you like bubbly feelgood love stories I Have Never will probably make you laugh just as hard as it made me." (Anniek, With Love for Books)

©2017 Pink Bloom Press (P)2018 Pink Bloom Press

This office romance ended well

This audiobook was easy to follow and was a fun listen until I got the end. It was a happy ending but it reinforced that office romances can never remain secret and can make the workplace tense when there is a disharmony.

Blair Walker was a girl who followed all of society rules of how a refined lady should behave. Living by that good girl code led her to losing her dreams to another who was willing to use all in her arsenal to get what she wanted. So Blair decided that she will throw out her list and just live without those constraints.
Life as a rebel led her to entrepreneur Richard Stratton, who was looking for someone to help him grow his online business. Their professional relationship thrived and was smooth until they developed an attraction. That's when things got awkward. Should they risk it or play it safe?

I liked them together, but I am not a fan of office romances. They have a tendency to get messy when people have fights and/or break up. These sort of relationships are bad for business and it gets co-workers caught in the middle. There is workplace gossip as well as a resentment if there is a perception of favoritism.

I really liked the new Blair until she threw a couple of unprofessional fits at end of the book because of her feelings for her boss Richard. I was embarrassed for her and for Richard. The new Blair was empowered, likable and interesting. Her journey showed development and maturity even though she was likable even with the list too. Both Blair and Richard were fundamentally good people with a great work ethic.

Their relationship worked out in the end but I didn't like her doing the opposite of what her list would have told her to do. The list wasn't bad, I think she just needed to learn not to be so rigid. That is what life is about, having some flexibility in some things and being steadfast in others. Both Blair and Richard came to learn that in order to find true happiness, they had to be honest and true to themselves.

If you want an enjoyable and easy read, then I recommend this office romance to satisfy that need.

Miss Goody-Two-Shoos Experiences the "Other Side"

I Have Never by Camilla Isley is pure romantic comedy with entertaining characters and realistic conversations. Although this is the second story in the First Comes Love series, you don’t miss anything by not reading the first book in the series (although characters from the first book appear, they do not figure in the plot).

This story centers around Blair, a 29-year-old “Miss Goody Two-Shoes." Blair is attractive, liked by everyone, and successful in her career working at a magazine publishing house. She is religious about keeping her reputation pristine by keeping a list of dos and don'ts that read much like the Ten Commandments (don’t lie; don’t pick a fight; don’t make a scene; don’t make the first move; don’t make impulsive decisions; and don’t mix business with pleasure). Everything appears to be working out with a long-term boyfriend who is expected to propose marriage and a promotion that is practically assured.

However, Blair not only gets passed over for the promotion due to nepotism, she is then fired. If that were not bad enough, her boyfriend breaks up with her that evening. While packing up her desk, Blair seriously starts to doubt the wisdom of her list.

While rebuilding her life - and experiencing all the don'ts on her list - Blair falls in love with her new boss. I loved seeing how Blair and her boss went from a one-night stand (which was not consummated), to a traditional business relationship, and eventually to an engaged couple.

I listened to the audiobook version of I Have Never narrated by Audra Cook. She did a great job providing differing voices for each character. It’s what I call "brain candy" as it makes you feel light-hearted and happy. I also really enjoyed Camilla Isley's other audiobooks, “A Sudden Crush” and “I Wish for You.” Simply put, I recommend this audiobook and look forward to listening to other audiobooks by this author.

Terrible voices

The story line was boring, never found any humor. The voice of the narrator was terrible and the way she spoke in this super slow pace was ridiculous

Ruined by a lack luster performance

While the story has potential, the narrator completely ruins it. She has no voice inflection, very monotone! The male lead is supposed to be British. However, you only know that because the author mentions it. I wish, there were a different narrator, because I do think the story could be quite humorous. Unfortunately, it comes off rather blah. It actually put me to sleep a few times.

this book was computer read, it was horrible

I did not enjoy this book, it was read by a computer and horrible to listen to. The lack of inflection in the voices made it difficult to follow the dialogue at times.