Life After Perfect

By: Nancy Naigle

Narrated by: Mary Robinette Kowal

Length: 9 hrs and 7 mins

Publisher's Summary

Katherine Barclift had it all: the perfect job, the perfect car, and what she thought was the perfect marriage. But when her entire world collapses in one stomach-churning instant, she hits the road and keeps driving until that so-called "perfect life" is just a dot in her rearview mirror.

A chance encounter leads her to make a pit stop in Boot Creek, a drowsy little North Carolina town where she can call herself Katy, soak up the peace and quiet...and drink in the bluer-than-blue eyes of Derek Hansen, a local doctor still wrestling with his own painful past. Both Katy and Derek are wary about giving romance another shot, but they can't deny the intense attraction between them. And if being in Boot Creek has taught them anything, it's to take life as it comes and never pass up a chance at true love...no matter how wounded your heart may be.

©2015 Nancy Naigle (P)2015 Brilliance Audio, all rights reserved.

Nice start to a series

A nice sweet story, but the narration was awful. I very much like the author and it is a sweet story of rediscovering who you are, but the narration made it quite difficult to listen to.

Terrible beginning

The description of this book doesn’t say anything about all the death and illness you have to read through. I had to stop reading because it was just too upsetting.

One star is too many for the categories.

the Narrator was awful and the story lacked depth

The Narrator was awful and the story lacked depth . The story story started out well but after the blackberry festival it was like the author gave up or had something else she focused on

The Narrator was awful.

Life After Perfect....

A very moving and passionate story.
I thought it would just be a nice easy fluffy, read to take me through Hurricane Matthew, but it turned out to be a lot more.

The story dealt with some very heavy topics such as infidelity, cancer, hospice care and the various stages of grief. But the concepts and emotions involved were so skillfully portrayed that the reader was not bogged down by the experience.

The voice of the male lead might not have been as we would imagined it, but all the voices were distinct and consistent. The narrator captured the mood and tone of each character's experience perfectly. This was a challenge in itself because there were quiet a number of characters.

It was also pure happenstance, that I was going through a real life Hurricane while reading about a possible coming storm in the story line.
I was totally distracted from the weather outside, as I rode out the storms of all the emotions pouring from each page.

A very emotionally satisfying read.

Will tug on your heartstrings

Beautiful love story about surviving an ending of one thing and finding a way to move forward. beautifully written, characters are well created and the story flows well. I teared up on several occasions for most of the characters, not just the H/h. The narrator does an excellent job of bringing this story to life. Very good book.

Narrator overplayed

I enjoyed the story although the narrator was distracting.
Mary Robinette-Kowel has a lovely reading voice. Had she relaxed into the read rather than trying so hard to give each character a distinctive voice I could have happily gotten lost in the story. My imagination is capable of creating character voices if given a chance. If MRK did a redo, I would gladly listen.

Good overall

I'd give this a good review. The story itself was very enjoyable. I might have liked it more had I read it on Kindle vs. listening on Audible. I hate to be negative, but I have to be honest. I think the voices the narrator attempted are what's throwing it off for me. In the beginning, I thought it was so bad, I almost deleted the book. The women sounded really snooty and the men came off as sounding like cave men. Some of them came off as completely ignorant. I didn't like that at all. Toward the end, either she got a bit better or I'd just adjusted to hearing it, because it didn't bother me so much and I was glad I didn't delete it because I enjoyed the story.

Terrible Narration

What did you like best about Life After Perfect? What did you like least?

This was not one of the worsst books I have read bu Nancy Naigle. The storyline was fair but the worst part was the narrator. She could not do a man's voice to the point I wantedthe men not to speak

If you’ve listened to books by Nancy Naigle before, how does this one compare?

So So

What didn’t you like about Mary Robinette Kowal’s performance?

Her man's voices

Did Life After Perfect inspire you to do anything?

not listen to this narrator

Loved it!

I want to hang out with Katy and Angie! I love a strong female lead. Nancy, this is my favorite, and in my opinion, your best writing so far. Can't wait to see what's next.