Stone Cold Kiwi

New Zealand Ever After, Book 2

By: Rosalind James

Narrated by: Emma Wilder, Tom Janson

Length: 13 hrs and 57 mins

Publisher's Summary

Falling in love can be pretty bloody inconvenient.

Let's inventory, shall we?

State of my professional life: Brilliant, if counted in terms of sales of eight Poppy Cantwell children's books starring my often-confused blue hippo, Hazel; the very substantial proceeds from selling my Kiwi Adventures New Zealand glamping business; and any number of glossy magazine articles about my charmed existence. Of course, I couldn't seem to write or draw anymore, but that would pass. Surely. 

State of my personal life: Murky. A mysterious siren I was not, in my nursing bra and only-kind-that-fits maternity panties. 

My three redheaded children? Good thing. Good, exhausting, frustrating, terrifying, wonderful thing. 

My marriage? Living with a failing marriage is like living with a toothache. It's not going to get any better, and eventually, it's going to get heaps worse, but who wants a root canal? 

Beginning to fall for the much-too-charming, not-quite-available, stone-cold-beautiful Dr. Matiu Te Mana, on the day he delivered the third of those children on the grass outside Otago General Hospital, a few short minutes before my marriage began its spectacular and very public final implosion? 

Possibly tricky.

©2020 Rosalind James (P)2020 Rosalind James

Great installment in series

I fell in love with Poppy in Kiwi Rules and Matiu in the series with his cousin Hemi Te Mana’s courtship of Hope. How absolutely wonderful to have both characters in this book and for bachelor Matiu to fall for a woman with 3 children. (And thank you for having Poppy smack her dad and her ex upside the head with her underestimated and ignored success with her books and glamping!)
James’ writes believable stories with characters you absolutely love!
Wilder and Janson do a really good job of narration.
Recommend on all levels!

Wow!

I loved this book, I was hooked from page one when I read it originally.
I can’t decide who I love most Matiu the hottie or Poppy the super woman, what strong characters. Ms James this one was spectacular.
However I thought the male narrator could have been a bit more Kiwi in his delivery.

This might be a work of fiction, but there are some real life lessons to be taken away from this book.
Cheers Michelle in Australia

Another hit!

Rosalind's stories get better and better. I started off with the Escape to New Zealand series and have been hooked ever since.
I honestly have not had so many times where I almost choked with laughter as I did with this one! Poppy's daughter Olivia is at the heart of most of them and Matiu is bowled over by the family he almost literally trips over. The narration is well done. Emma has been with the escape series for several volumes and Tom is great speaking for Matiu. I love that the various series are subtly tied together and yet each is a story all it's own without you having to read all previous books to enjoy them, though I highly recommend you do! I eagerly await the next in this line, Kiwi Strong. I know Rosalind will not disappoint!

Spectacular story

From the opening chapters of this book, you know it's going to be an exciting journey of the story of Poppy and Matiu. There is a lot of raw emotion in this book. The obstacles that Poppy and Matiu have to go through to be together are both tough and exciting. Tough in the sense that Matiu is dealing with his deep feelings for a woman, something he really has never experienced before and for Poppy, it's about doing what is right for her family. The excitement of these characters is watching how they get to where they need to be, which is, with each other.
I love when Rosalind has children in her stories. Hamish and Olivia are little spit fires! I love that we get to hear from previous characters, Karen, Jax, Koro, etc. Karen is such an exciting and blunt character. She brings such brutal honesty to the stories. And, Koro, the life lessons and words of wisdom he gives, is undeniably valuable.
I love the story. I love the journey of Poppy and Matiu. It is, once again, another heartwarming Rosalind James book.
It was a bit different this time with having a female and male narrator. I enjoyed it, but I must say, I've grown accustomed to Emma Wilder and her male character voices, and I enjoy those. So it took a bit to get used to Tom Janson as Matiu. It was a nice twist to the book, but I like when Emma narrates the whole book. It could be because she's done so many of them for Rosalind and she has all the different voices stored for use and Tom Janson is new to this author. Overall, it is a must listen to!

Let’s hear it for strong, independent women

This is the second installment of Rosalind James’ New Zealand Ever After series. It is as wonderful as her first book in the series. This is Poppy and Matiu Te Mana’s story. Poppy, who starts the story as a married, 37 weeks pregnant woman, about to give birth to her third child. Matiu, a fiercely single, gorgeous emergency room doctor. The book grabs you from the very beginning. It had me laughing and crying.

There are so many themes in this book, dealing with everything from marriage, infidelity, parental relationships, children’s responsibilities and of course wonderful Maori beliefs. Poppy shows her true colors as a strong, independent woman who finds that sharing her life with an equally independent Maori man is worth fighting for.

The amazing Emma Wilder and Tom Janson narrate this book. They do a fantastic job, blending Poppy’s and Matiu’s stories seamlessly. For those of you who have only read the books, now would be a great time to start listening. It makes me want to head out to NZ just listening to the beautiful accents.

For those of you who have followed Rosalind’s other series not only do we see Jax and Karen, Koro and Debbie duck, we also hear about Hope and Hemi.

I can’t wait for next installment of the series. Only question I have for Rosalind is when are we going to hear more about Karen, sister to Poppy and Jax?

Narration perfection! Poppy and Matiu were perfect

I am a huge fan of Rosalind James to begin with. I absolutely adored Poppy and Matiu’s book.
The wonderful, if not scattered, Poppy is a great character. I loved her as a character and as a mom. Matiu may have been a playboy doctor, but he has a heart of gold and so much love to give. I loved listening to their story as much as reading it.
As usual, Emma Wilder and Tom Jansen did a great job bringing Poppy and Matiu to life. I am a huge fan of their narration. They really bring Poppy and Matiu to life.

Loved this love story

I really like how this was a unique story. The characters were complex, but they went together well. There was so much imagery and it feels like i know what it's like to live in New Zealand. I still appreciate that this series comes from a book within a book.... very meta. But the story is great.
My only issue is with particular characters, as if they were actual people, lol. James wrote very realistic and believable people, and that's one of the reasons that i love her books.
The narrating was awesome! James always gets the best narrators for her books. I know Tom Janson is new to her stories and he did an A PLUS PLUS job.

Fans of James' work will be pleased and new fans are in for a treat!

Even better than the written word

Have you ever finished a book that is so good, you don't want it to end? And you don't want to share how good the book is with other readers because they may not love it as much as you do? I do because that is how I feel about Stone Cold Kiwi.

But this time it is even better. The audio book is even better than the written word. Normally I do not enjoy two narrators but in this case, having a male and female narrator is what this story needs. Having just read the story back in February, I realized during my listen that some of the things I loved the first time are even better this time. Plus I found more to love about this story in the audio version.

Most people have a slight fear of Friday the 13th including Poppy Caldwell since that is the day her life as she has known it implodes. She is 10 months pregnant (or so it feels) and already has 2 kids under the age of 6. Her husband is on a "business trip" and has promised to be there for the birth of this child. Poppy has had some suspicions that his business trips are not quite really business trips. But she doesn't want to upset the boat right now. Until things implode.

Poppy has taken her kids to the zoo and goes into early labor. She manages to find a way to get to the closest hospital with both kids in labor and ends up giving birth out in the grass in front of the ER. Her son, Hamish, is a hero and a very strong and responsible young man for 5 and is the one who goes into the ER to ask for help for his mummy even if it means crossing a busy street.

Hamish leads the doctor who comes with him across the street back to the park where his mother and sister are. Dr. Matiu Te Mana is the new ER physician at the hospital and he is impressed with the courage of a small young boy who did everything he could to help his mum. Matiu has moved to the South Island for a change of pace. Koro, yes, that Koro, has encouraged him to make the move because he thinks his grandson needs the change.

Poppy also discovers that her SOB of a husband is cheating on her right after giving birth when as she is being wheeled into the ER on a gurney from the park she hears him whinging as he is taken from an ambulance with his mistress. Just one of these things is enough to make most people really develop a fear of Friday the 13th but Poppy is stronger than she realizes and she soars high from this low. And she also discovers that the wonderful Maori warrior who is the man who helps deliver her daughter and saves her life after the delivery is the man she is meant to be with.

Matiu needs a little kick from his Koro before he wakes up to realize the gem that Poppy is. But he falls in love with all of her kids without any help from Koro. He just needs to work through a few issues first.

And I would like to state that one slightly odd thing I enjoy about Ms. James' books is that they lead me to new recipes. Matiu orders a salad of soba noodles and tiger prawns at one point in the novel and I now have 2 new recipes to try.

I did receive a copy of this audiobook from the author in exchange for a fair and unbiased review. But I always have her books pre-ordered as soon as I can.

This is just in the first chapter that this action takes place. Poppy and Matiu are two strong characters who show that there is a life after the tragedy of your life falling apart.

Listen and enjoy the children since they are really the scene stealers in this version.

Simply put Amazing. A must.

I absolutely loved this book. It gives you all the feels you are guaranteed from A Rosalind James book. The narrators do A fabulous job (swoon worthy accents/performance) having gone through what Poppy did my self its was nice to read/ listen to a HEA that could possibly, hopefully happen to me too, in my dreams. This book boy friend will do for now. It makes me want to move to New Zealand and find my self a kiwi man with all the strength, honor and family morals this book portrays... I just hope they do exist. It was beautifully written.

It's Complicated

Rosalind's stories are always true to life, but with a bit of fairy dust.

This tale is a bit more gritty - Wife having a traumatic baby delivery without hubby and finds out after delivery hubby was with his mistress. Worse, family-member-by-marriage is the delivering doctor.
The story line became cringey for me when Poppy becomes involved with said family-member-doctor, Matiu, within weeks of tossing cheating hubby out on his ear. However, Rosalind gives them a couple of years before they tie the knot.

The fairy dust part - everybody involved are rich - except soon-to-be-ex-hubby. Poppy has, honestly earned, $12 million that the scumbag-cheating-hubby didn't know about.

I was not so sure about using two narrators for the book. It was a mild annoyance hearing Poppy and Matiu voices read by both a male and female.

Brilliant

The most unlikely couple, in the most unlikely circumstances, brought together in a relationship that is so completely believable. It took me months to finish this book, because I was enjoying it so much that I kept on putting off listening to it because I just did not want it to finish. This is a fabulous depiction of motherhood in all its inconvenient glory, and a romance that developed against all common sense and logic. Made me laugh, made me cry.

Great book

This is a story about modern and real world family issues. It has characters that are so in engaging you just don’t want to stop listening to hear what happens next.
What I really love about this book is that not only do you get invested in Poppy & Matiu story you really get invested in them as individuals.
This book is about marriage breakdowns, children and the surprise of potential new love at the most inconvenient time and circumstances.
This book deals with hope for the future while still dealing with family change.I found it a really engaging and listen, well worth a download.