The Castaway

Shipwreck Key Book One

By: Stephanie Taylor

Narrated by: Virtual Voice

A President dies under mysterious circumstances, leaving a secret mistress and their twelve-year-old son…and also a loyal First Lady who has no idea what went wrong with their marriage.

Forty-nine-year old widow Ruby Hudson, the former First Lady of the United States, needs a fresh start. As she mourns the loss of her husband, she turns her love of books into a whole new career, opening a little bookshop on a charming, pirate-themed island called Shipwreck Key just off the coast of the Florida Panhandle. Her two daughters think she’s crazy, but Ruby can finally breathe again knowing that she'll never have to deal with the constant scrutiny and pressure that come with a high-profile life in the White House.

Just as she’s beginning to feel at home on Shipwreck Key, Ruby receives a visit from her husband’s former Chief of Staff: a tell-all biography about her husband’s presidency—and about their marriage—is in the works, and the author is none other than Dexter North, a young, hot, serious journalist with another scandalous book about a different President’s misdeeds already on the bestseller lists. Ruby worries that the book will destroy her husband’s legacy—not to mention her life—and she realizes that the only way to control the narrative is to cooperate with Dexter North.

Then, without warning, the President’s mistress shows up on the island with their son. Ruby doesn’t want to meet or talk to this woman, and when her late husband’s lover gives her a mysterious letter that he wrote for Ruby before his death, she's conflicted: open it and possibly find out what he had to say to her, or ignore it and live the rest of her life not knowing what was going on in his mind?

Can Ruby use the information in the letter to find the closure she so desperately needs, or will the President's betrayals haunt her for the rest of her life? Can a former First Lady ever really have a second act?

The Shipwreck Key Series

The women of Shipwreck Key are strong and resilient, and they all want the same things: happiness, friendship, and love. They bond through their book club meetings and their shared love of sisterhood, supporting one another through thick and thin, and honoring each other’s unique stories and personalities.

The Shipwreck Key series will be eight books long and will have intertwining stories and characters, both sad and hopeful moments, beautiful friendships, romances involving women of all ages, and plenty of laughter.

The series launches in June of 2023, and all books will be available in both digital and paperback formats.

Book One: The Castaway--out June 30, 2023

Book Two: The Runaway--out July 31, 2023

Book Three: The Throwaway--out August 31, 2023

Book Four: The Hideaway--out October 27, 2023

Book Five: The Breakaway--out December 19, 2023

Book Six: The Takeaway--out February 23, 2024

Book Seven: The Fadeaway--out April 26, 2024

Book Eight: The Holiday--out June 21, 2024

This Women's Fiction series is all about love, life, and found friendship on a tropical island. For fans of Jan Moran, Hope Holloway, Rachel Hanna, and Maggie Miller.

Virtual voice

The story was good, but I would recommend reading it instead of listening. Virtual voice means there’s no difference in the sound of the narration for the various characters; they all sound exactly the same.

Very entertaining book, okay Virtual Voice

This book has such well-written, interesting characters and a great setting. The story has angst and sadness but is really about a woman achieving peace and contentment over very difficult things in her life. I love the friendships in this book and the way the story unfolds. It's a very entertaining book. The Virtual Voice is pretty good but not as good as human performers. I had to work at ignoring the robot-like cadence in some places.

Decent story - awful narration

I am not done with this book, and I normally don’t write reviews, but the AI narration is not quite perfected yet. I hated it. The voice is nice, but the “reading” sounds like someone who just learned how to read. Zero inflection. And what the heck is with the lisp that materialized half way through? I’ve come this far so I’m going to finish but it is very distracting and if I could give it negative stars I would.

The constant squeek of the AL narrator

Narration thumbs down, constant squeaks in background of narration, I thought my car was making the noise, didn’t finish book

interesting story

I really do not like listening to a book using virtual voice. it is distracting and takes away from the story. I enjoyed the story line and characters, but I will pay closer to who is narrating.

The story was predictable except for the ending.

The use of virtual voice disappointing. Will not buy and listen to future books that have been narrated by virtual voice.

YUCK!!!!!

The computer generated narrator is TERRIBLE!!! I am so glad this was free- I will NEVER buy a book that is AI narrated.

I forgot it was virtual voice as I listened

Disliked the story end. Honestly, there were a few mis-pronounces because of robot. But really, live narrators do the same thing.
I won't hesitate to buy another story with virtual voice.

The virtual voice narration was terrible.

Good story but the narration lacked humanity and substance. Hope the sequel is read by a person.

loved the story, not the virtual voice

I enjoyed the story and characters. It was a little different than many I have listened to.
The bland virtual voice was hard to take. imAt times it was difficult to distinguish characters.