Right Under Your Nose

A Christmas Story

By: Holly Tierney-Bedord

Narrated by: Chris Dillon

Length: 2 hrs and 41 mins

Publisher's Summary

This is a novella-length book. 

Ariadne Daniels seems to have it all: A successful career as a pastry chef, a Victorian home in a trendy neighborhood, and her dedicated boyfriend, Scott, who she's been with for years. 

Her life is great until the day she stops by Scott's apartment to surprise him and finds out that he's not so dedicated to her after all. Shocked and too depressed to celebrate, she decides to skip Christmas. Her best friend Jess does his part to convince her otherwise, but Ariadne's determined to wallow in her misery, at least until spring. 

Life has other plans for her, however. Some helpful meddling from a new friend at a local bookstore, along with some questionable behavior on the part of Jess’s girlfriend, turn Ariadne’s ho-hum holiday plans on their head.

©2015 Holly Tierney-Bedord (P)2019 Holly Tierney-Bedord

It's always found right under your nose!

What a fun story! This book is short, but is fast paced and full of love and hope. Ariadne is skipping Christmas this year since her relationship is on the rocks. Now home with her family and seeing her best friend Jess, there is a lot of coaxing. Jess is a great best friend, but currently in a relationship with Laurel, and she is a nightmare. Will she come between Jess & Ariadne? And what is the bookstore owner up to? With a little push, and some holiday magic, life is looking for a change. Holly Tierney-Bedord has a warm and happy story you will not want to miss.

Chris Dillon is a new narrator to me and I enjoyed his performance. He has a good variety of voices and his pace is easy to listen to. I loved his emotional feel with the portrayal of girls, he is spot on! A fun story and I will watch for more from him.

Always great when ppl get just desserts!

Pastry chef, Ariadne Daniels is recovering from a broken heart...that’s what happens when you catch your longtime boyfriend in the act!...so pardon her if she doesn’t feel like celebrating Christmas! She’ll just host her pity party for one in the old Victorian house that she bought in preparation for her future with the cheating SOB. When her childhood best friend shows up at Thanksgiving dinner with a new gf, Ariadne takes an instant dislike to her. Surely she’s not jealous, there’s jus something about her. She finds solace and comfort in an old bookstore, and the counsel of its elderly bookstore. Will Ariadne expose Jesse’s new gf before it’s too late and he pops the question? Is there more to her relationship with Jess than even she knows?
Wonderful Christmas story with large family gatherings and maybe a bit of Christmas magic...
I voluntarily accepted a complimentary copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

good storyline

Fun , realistic story about two best friends grew up and finding way back to each other , liked the touch of magic with the bookshop..sweet touch

A delightful holiday story to make you smile

I don’t want to give any spoilers but know this book has fun and whimsy and a hint of the magic and spirit of Christmas to warm your heart any time if the year. I enjoyed the whole story and it left me smiling and uplifted. Enjoy!

Great Read

Right Under Your Nose: A Christmas Story was a great read by Holly Tierney-Bedord. Ariadne is a successful pastry chef who has a beautiful Victorian home and what she believes to be her dedicated boyfriend. She decides to surprise him and finds him with another woman. She decides that she wants to skip Christmas this year. Until her friends decide to step in and get her in the Christmas spirit. I can't wait to read more by Holly Tierney-Bedord.

enjoyed it

Did the story keep me engaged: yes
Were there any parts I found annoying: it ended a little abruptly (and it felt like there were a few unnecessary dialog tags for audio)
Did I feel an emotional connection to the characters: not really
Would I listen to it again: it will probably come out again at Christmas!

Both the author and narrator are new to me and I'd be happy to listen to another book by this combo again. The pace was good and the characters were interesting, it's an entertaining holiday story with a hint of Christmas magic in the form of the book store. Right Under Your Nose has all the elements of a Hallmark holiday movie and was an easy listen on a Sunday afternoon.

Chris Dillon did a good job on the narration, the characters were clearly distinguishable, the emotions and intonations were all there enhancing the audio experience and his female voices were well done and not over the top (which can be a problem with some male narrators). I did need to speed the playback up to 1.25 but that was probably more because of the device I was listening on over anything wrong with the narration. I'll happily look for more from him in the future.

***I received a complimentary copy of this audio book in exchange for an honest review.***

Entertaining

Both the author and narrator Chris Dillon are new to me.

Right Under Your Nose is not particularly long book, but it was a sweet and entertaining listen.

I found this story to be full of hope, love and family; of strength and determination and all in all a heart warming read.

I liked Ariadne and her best friend Jess, although his girlfriend was a nightmare. Having been burnt by a relationship that ended abruptly, Ariadne becomes depressed and decides that she is going to skip Christmas this year.

There is something suspicious about Jess’s girlfriend and Ariadne is determined to have her best friend’s back, even if he doesn’t want it.
 
Stumbling across an old bookstore, she is intrigued with the elderly owner and the magic of the store. I enjoyed the interaction between them, it added an additional layer.

Will Ariadne and Jess realize what everyone else can see or will it be to late? Will the magic of the season create a Christmas miracle?

Enjoyable

I listened to the audio of this, the narrator did fantastic.

The bookstore made the book, for real! It was a magical little place.
I found myself giggling a few times at Adriadne's immatureness, like for real, grow up! But, I just laughed through it, no harm done hah. I liked the talks she had with her Mom. The talks she had with the book store owner.

Cute!

A cute short story of Ariadne getting over a heart break from catching her boyfriend in the act and then dealing with her Best friend's girlfriend that everyone seems smitten with. Add some Christmas magic to open your eyes and see what's always been there.

Cute story

the overall plot was cute, but there were a few things that bugged me. for one, the female leads name annoyed me. it felt like it was said a LOT too, but probably just because I hated it. weird personal preference aside, I'm wondering if the writing of the book didn't translate well with audio. there was a lot of Jess said, ariadne said, jess said. it made the back and forth conversations feel stiff in audio. I haven't read the book, so maybe on paper it felt more necessary. also, there was a scene towards the end that I thought was a joke because it came suddenly, and I realized after it was serious! like I said, overall a cute story, just a few things that were off to me. the narator did a great job though, he has a nice voice, and didn't overdo exaggeration on the females

Cute Christmas story

It’s a sweet romantic story set at Christmas. What’s not to like. I felt the last two chapters were a little rushed and the narrator was good but sometimes it was hard to know which character was which and it would have been better if there was more of a difference between characters. It didn’t prevent me from enjoying the book.

Short love story

I enjoyed this light and kind of cute love story. There was not a lot too it but it was lobg enough to keep interest and short enough to feel like a proper book. I did however not feel that a male voice should have read it, but it was still done well.