If I Loved You

Harper Falls, Book 1

By: Mary J. Williams

Narrated by: Amy Robinson

Length: 8 hrs and 29 mins

Publisher's Summary

If you wanted only one night, would you take a chance on a man who wanted forever?

Rose O'Brian wants to spice up her love life, and Jack Winston seems like the answer. Sexy, funny, and with a killer smile, Jack is every woman's fantasy. All she wants is one night of passion, nothing more. But Jack has a secret that stops him from taking her up on her offer, stops him from having the one thing he wants more than his next breath - beautiful Rose O'Brian. Rose has her own secrets. Emotionally scared, she's never believed in happily ever afters. But for the first time she's met a man who makes her want to open her heart, to dream of love. When Rose's past rears its ugly head, can she finally let go and overcome the hurt? Can Jack convince her to take a chance and embrace a future with him? Can he show her that love is there if she will only reach out and take it?

©2015 Mary J. Williams (P)2015 Mary J. Williams

Jack and roses story

Ok this book has twist and turns all to be loved from jacks tattoo to roses fear of comment net it's a awesome book a must read

Story is engaging...

The story is good and holds the interest of the reader. The narrator was ok, and the production quality was ok as well. There were places where sentences were repeated twice, and places where the recording quality dropped off into ‘tinny-sounding.’

If you can see and listen past these issues, the story is good. Ms. Williams touches upon themes of abuse and acceptance; aloneness and community; sex versus love; and blame and consequences. The growth arc of the female protagonist is a wonderful thing to behold. There is a lot of good here, for those who can listen beyond the narrator.

Cute and Hilarious!

The story between Rose and Jack is cute and hilarious at the time. Rose can be a little off but
then that’s what Jack loved about her!

Glad I listened to this!

I’m so glad I listened to this audio! I love this story except for Rose’ demonic aunt for being evil
to Rose. Now poor Rose stopped believing in love.

Rose finally learns to love

Rose’ past was bad or should I say the worst that’s why she lost the idea of love and forever but
here comes Jack who tries to prove her wrong. Sweet romance. Great Audio!

Good book editing bad

The book was very good but they must have forgot to edit out all the oops the narrator did and the sounds in the background

Sweet story!

This is a sweet romance with a little mystery thrown in. I really enjoyed the story line, but was a little disappointed with the narrator. This is the first in the series and I will surely listen to the other 2 books.

Delightfully Sweet, Small-Town Romance!

What did you love best about If I Loved You?

IF I LOVED YOU by Mary J. Williams was a delightfully sweet, small town romance. It's the first book in a series about three friends - Rose, Dani and Drew - in Harper Falls, Washington, finding their happy ever afters. This was Rose's tale with swoon-worthy Jack Winston.

Who was your favorite character and why?

OMG! I can't pick just one! I loved both primary characters. Rose's tale broke my heart and Jack was such a perfect gentleman. He had earned a playboy reputation, but when he saw Rose, he knew she was THE ONE for him. He was strong, patient and so protective of her, but Rose understandably had some pretty secure fencing around her heart. I also really liked Rose's friends and Jack's family. His mother, especially, was just such an awesome character. The scenes with Jack's family were some of my favorites.

What three words best describe Amy Robinson’s performance?

PLEASANT, CLEAR, DISTINCT

This was my first time listening to Amy Robinson. She read the book; she did not perform it as there was no differentiation between her voicing of the characters. I was ok with that as the story was so good and Amy does have a pleasing, clear, distinct voice. However, there were numerous instances where she repeated herself or mispronounced words. At one point, you can hear something dropping in the studio that had nothing to do with the book; I actually listened to that section multiple times as I thought I'd missed something. These issues would not keep me from listening to her again, but I do wonder why she left the mistakes in and didn't take the time to correct them.

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

The conclusion had me holding my breath with a twist I did not see coming and then morphed into being jaw-dropping wonderful!

Any additional comments?

This tale was a wild emotional ride! I laughed, sighed and cried while listening to it. IF TOMORROW NEVER COMES, Dani's story, is the next book in this series and is already available as an ebook. I hope it will be released in audio soon as I would prefer to continue listening to the series. I highly recommend IF I LOVED YOU to anyone who enjoys fun, hot and sweet contemporary romances with great characters in a down-home setting.

Great story, but narration could have been better.

What made the experience of listening to If I Loved You the most enjoyable?

The story kept me engaged and eager to listen to more.

What did you like best about this story?

The story was very enjoyable. This was my first experience with Mary J. Williams books and I will definitely be looking for the next books to see what is going on with the side characters.

What did you like about the performance? What did you dislike?

For me, the performance was very disappointing. Ms. Robinson did little more than just read the book. There was no differentiation between characters, not even male vs. female. At one point you could here something drop in the recording studio. There were places where sentences or parts of sentences were repeated. Some of the fault was obviously with the editing.

Any additional comments?

There were obvious problems with the performance, but the story was so strong that they really didn't bother me too much.

Entertaining

Would you listen to If I Loved You again? Why?

Yes, I was enchanted from the beginning

What was one of the most memorable moments of If I Loved You?

At the ball and in the bar. The book kept moving through with exciting twists and turns.

Have you listened to any of Amy Robinson’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

No

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

When she met his family and that helped her know him more. It made the book real.

Struggled with the narrator

The first in the Harper Falls series, the story of Rose O'Brian - multi Grammy winning songwriter, and Jack Winston - former bodyguard and current multi millionaire computer whizz. Both looking for different things. Rose wants one night - Jack wants more; but due to a drunken bet he has to wait anyway...

In this instance I seemed to connect more with the male mc than the female mc. I couldn't warm to Rose, she just seemed a bit...naive on the whole. Jack on the other hand was a true gentleman throughout and I'd have liked a bit more from his POV.

Some of the scenes in the story felt like filler and I don't think added much to it. I really liked the scene setting though, Williams did a great job of putting a picture in my head and helping me imagine Harper Falls as a place I'd love to visit!

This was my first book by Mary J Williams but I would still like to read the rest of the books in this series.

AUDIO
I have to say I struggled quite a bit because it didn't seem like it was edited enough (can you do that with audiobooks?). At points the narrator was repeating herself, sort of like she realised her expression wasn't right so decided to say the sentence again. And there didn't seem to be much pausing between characters/chapters which confused me.