Merry Christmas Cupid

Hartbridge Christmas Series, Book 3

By: N.R. Walker

Narrated by: Glen Lloyd

Length: 7 hrs and 1 min

Publisher's summary

After a year of tragedy, 44-year-old Gunter Zuniga is leaving heartbreak behind and moving to the peaceful and picturesque town of Hartbridge, Montana. He buys an old house in need of some work, which he naively thinks he can manage now that he’s single and retired—he has nothing but time.

Clay Henderson runs the local sawmill with his dad, and it’s the busiest time of year. Firewood and Christmas trees are in high demand, and a delivery of firewood to the old house on Cedar Bark Road leaves him curious about the new man in town.

Clay has never had time for romance and Gunter certainly isn’t looking, but Hartbridge has a way of working its Christmas magic; the jingle of Christmas bells, snow, and love are ringing in the air. And Gunter and Clay are about to get the best Christmas gift they never asked for.

©2022 N.R. Walker (P)2022 N.R. Walker

Ugh Clay’s narration!

I loved the story! But but but the narration (voice) for Clay was horrible. Between the way he sounded and the poor grammar he used, I could not see the two of them together in any way! To portray him as this big, hulking lumberjack guy, a deep, resonant voice would have done the job very well. I know we were supposed to see how different they were but it just didn’t do it for me.

enjoyed it

📖 A sweet and entertaining story with an easy pace and low drama. The characters are likeable and their story was entertaining. I enjoyed watching Gunter learn the joys of small town living and Clay getting the opportunity to be his true self.

🎧 Glen Lloyd's was the right choice of narrator to keep this series consistent. I had no problem distinguishing characters, his rhythm, tone and inflections have done a good job bringing the characters to life and he kept good consistency with characters from previous books. I can't comment on the authenticity of his American accent, but at times it felt a little forced, hard to maintain, and Gunter's character came across as much younger than his 44 years - having said that though, none of it is enough that I wouldn't not listen to it again.

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How does it rate on my NR Walker "feels" scale: 2
{😁1:Henry [TWOIA] | 😊 | 😐 | 😢 | 😭5:Shelby [RDH] }

📌 Where does it fall on my personal scale? 7
• 1 not my thing • 2 didn't like the narration • 3 didn't keep my attention • 4 was good, but once was enough [3⭐] • 5 enjoyed it [4⭐] • 6 will listen again if i'm in the mood for the narrator [4⭐] • 7 goes on the "re-listen" list [4⭐] • 8 kept me up past bed-time [4.5⭐] • 9 recommended to family/friends [4.75⭐] • 10 own it in all formats [5⭐] • 11 keep a copy with me at all times [5⭐]

I Loved This Christmas Series

I love this book and all the characters in Hartbridge. The narration brought the story to life.

I love this series!

I'm looking forward to reading book four in which Christmas Cupid stikes again, this time for the policeman. Well, I suspect he will be next. If book four has already come out I have missed it.

I want to move to Hartbridge and be a target for Christmas Cupid.

Character needs all the help he can get

Isn't this character just about as typical of half the world as he can get? It's a story about all of us as individuals in the world--with a very good ending. Glen Lloyd lends his talents to another great story and makes it come alive.

This one was a miss in my book.

I really tried to like this book but I absolutely hated it. I don’t know if it was the story, the narrator or combination of the both but good lord this was hard to get through.

First, I was not a fan of the narrator at all. I’m sorry but his voice just grated on me. Also, the accents he was attempting to do, I think he was trying to do an Aussie ascent, I just wanted to yell: “for the love of god just stop please”. It was the worst.

Second, I’m usually one who loves a good sappy bi/gay romance story (I love me some bi guys) but the two main characters felt like they had nothing in common. The characters had no depth, I didn’t care about them at all as characters, they were bland and not interesting in the least.

Basically I wasn’t getting a connection at all between the two main characters.

Also, the character Gunter, seemed really pushy with Clay’s boundaries. Clay wasn’t out as Bi and Gunter says he wants to respect his boundaries but he came across as pushing Clay in a manipulative way. I don’t know maybe cause the story is set over the course of several weeks so everything seemed rushed. The bi guys I’ve talked to have never gone from, oh I’m bi but no one know to hey I met this guy and now we’re in a relationship and everything is pretty hunky dory and now everyone knows. Sorry I’m not buy it.

I feel like anything more than a one nightstand between the two just shouldn’t have happened.

Okay, because I’ve like other books by this author and I want to support them I would recommend the following by this author such as the Red Dirt Heart Series (I’ve read the first two books but need to finish the rest of the series).

Finders Keepers is a cute story.

Tallowwood I remember being decent and enjoyable.

Finally, my favorite book from this author so far has been, The Weight of it all.