The Girl Most Likely

Class of '85 Reunion Series

De: Jana Richards

Narrado por: Leigh Linley

Cara McLeod, the girl most likely to have the perfect marriage, is now divorced and, in her own words, "fat, frumpy, and over forty." The thought of facing former classmates - and the ex-husband who dumped her - at her high school reunion terrifies her. Cajoled into attending by her kids and her best friend, Cara enlists help at the gym to lose weight and look great for the reunion. Personal trainer Finn Cooper is more than willing to help - but does he have to be so to-die-for gorgeous?

Finn thinks Cara is perfect just the way she is. She's everything he wants in a woman, except for one thing - she can't get past the fact that he's eight years younger. To Finn, age and weight are just numbers. But can he convince Cara the numbers she worries about add up to only one thing for him - love?

©2011 Jana Richards (P)2018 Jana Richards

It's an okay audiobook

Good audio book. Don't think I'll relisten to it
Four star. I think just reading it on your own is better than listening to it. But it's still a good book no matter what.

The Girl most likely

This was a very good book.I liked it a lot! Cara was the girl most likely to do a lot in high school.Now she has two daugters and is divorced.Her mom is a toxic monster,always telling Cara how ashamed she is of her.Caras 25th reunion is coming up,her ex is going.Can a hot gym instructor get her in shape? Leigh Linley was a great narrator. I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.'

Super cute story

I really enjoyed this story. Although the author's idea of overweight is a bit skewed, the story was super sweet and I enjoyed the back and forth. I really connected with the characters and couldn't wait to find out if it had the happy ending that I was expecting.

Great Contemporary Romance

This is a fairly short story with only 4 hours of listening time. The author did an excellent job developing the characters and they were so real and relatable.

Narration was excellent and brought the story to life.

I really enjoyed getting to know Cara and Finn. They are very different than most fictional romance characters. Both great people that are brought together by chance and there is an instant attraction but because of the age difference Cara tries to ignore their chemistry.

It is nice to listen to a story where the main guy is not a total loser and player! Finn definitely won my heart. The story is so well written and captivating. I absolutely loved the way things wrapped up at the end.

“I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review”

Enjoyable Story, Relatable Characters

The Girl Most Likely is about a forty-something ex-cheerleader housewife who is dumped by her high school jock husband and left to raise her two daughters alone. As her 25th high school reunion approaches she begins to feel dismayed about her 25 pound weight gain over the years and questions whether to go to the reunion where her ex-husband will be with his young, thin girlfriend. Through a series of fortuitous circumstances she is introduced to a hunky trainer, eight years her junior, who helps her lose weight and get in shape before the reunion. Romance ensues.

I enjoy older woman/younger man romances so was looking forward to this listen. The relationship between the two characters is believable, although I thought the hero fell for the heroine way too quickly...that felt rushed. Her doubts about their relationship were generally understandable and her own "forty something, midlife" doubts were relatable. I was discouraged, though that she made such a big deal about a 25 lb weight gain. While perhaps not ideal, that is not that much weight and I thought the story put too much negative emphasis on "bad" weight. Perhaps 50 lbs...but not 25. She also very unrealistically sought to lose 25 lbs in 6 weeks. Not only is that unlikely but it is also unhealthy. A poor message to send.

The hero was likeable and he was so sweet with the heroine's daughters. His history made him more than a pretty face and explained some of the relationship/attraction between the two main characters.

Overall, the story sent a message of increased self esteem, taking charge of one's life, making meaningful relationships and allowing oneself to love. At times these messages came across a bit preachy but I enjoyed the listen non-the-less. One point, however, bothered me. The heroine has an issue with her mother who is uber critical and demeaning. The relationship is described as toxic and eventually the heroine cuts her mother out of her life. This was concerning. It is important to remove toxic people from your life but her mother was her only family and I thought this could have been handled differently than totally stopping contact with her very abruptly and never even giving her mom a chance to change. Or perhaps the toxic person could have been someone other than her mother. Cutting family ties is hard but there are often ways to manage things without just giving up totally. I understood the message about getting rid of toxic people but did not like that it was the mother. Mom's are often portrayed as the "evil" one and I did not like that message.

The narrator had a lovely, soothing voice and I enjoyed listening to her. Her narration, however, came across as just that, a narration, not a performance of the book. This is not necessarily bad, many books do this, just what it was. She had little variation of voices of characters, more changes in inflection, and her male voices were nothing like male. I would get other books with her as a narrator, just be prepared for the delivery style. Listen to a sample to make sure you like her style.

At just over 4 hours, this was an overall enjoyable, fairly quick, listen and I am glad I listened to it. It was nice way to spend a roadtrip and I liked listening to a love story where the characters were flawed and closer to my own age and not just some 20 something beautiful girl/handsome man. I would listen to more stories by this author.

***Note - I received a free copy of this audiobook in exchange for my own unbiased review.