The Girlfriend Stage

The Extra, Book 2

By: Megan Walker, Janci Patterson

Narrated by: Lauren Ezzo, Alex Boyles

Length: 9 hrs and 41 mins

Publisher's Summary

In this stand-alone sequel to The Extra, Anna-Marie has never wanted to find love - but love’s about to find her.

Anna-Marie Halsey loves her job as a regular on the soap opera Southern Heat almost as much as she loves living the LA lifestyle: clubbing and partying and casually dating gorgeous men - most recently powerhouse agent Josh Rios. When Anna-Marie starts feeling more-than-casual about Josh - her signature cue to break things off - she finds a much-needed excuse to get away: a family reunion in small-town Wyoming.

In Wyoming, Anna-Marie remembers why she’s spent years avoiding her crazy family and claustrophobic hometown - and her ex-boyfriend, up-and-coming rock musician Shane Beckstrom, provides the perfect distraction. But when a Boy Scout troop films them nude in a hot spring, Anna-Marie finds Wyoming even more nerve-wracking than her paralyzing fear of commitment. To make matters worse, Josh Rios appears, and it’s clear that commitment is exactly what he’s hoping for. Anna-Marie isn’t sure what she wants, but being trapped in Everett, Wyoming, with Josh, Shane, and her crazy family when her impromptu sex-tape hits the internet sure isn’t it.

The Girlfriend Stage is book two in The Extra series, but it stands alone, and can be listened to first, without missing anything except the backgrounds of the side characters. It features PG-13 rated sexual content, no cliff-hanger, and a swoon-worthy happily ever after.

©2019 Megan Walker and Janci Patterson (P)2019 Blackstone Publishing

Just don’t!

While the story has a good message regarding how society judges women’s sexual behavior it uses a sledgehammer to make its point. It becomes so unbelievable that it turns into melodrama. It probably doesn’t help that the female narrator starts to sound screechy and whiny every time something happens. And a LOT happens. The narration becomes unbearable when the big drama happens. Also the drama is pretty over the top. *Spoiler Alert* At one point a fellow actor calls the female character derogatory names and divulges private sexual details. It’s pretty implausible any of his handlers would let him purposely commit libel. Fortunately the male character is happy to step in and save the day. Unfortunately this completely negates any positive message the book tried to impart.

I’m reading this book as the sequel to The Extra which was free with membership. It was a bit over the top but many sins can be forgiven if you don’t spend any extra money. I had to use a credit to get this book and it is not worth it. I’m not sure I would even choose it if it came with membership because of the plot and how hard it is to listen to the female narrator. She was fine in the beginning even though her male voices were bad. When the plot takes it’s big turn you’ll want to turn it off.

Lastly, it’s also pretty offensive that the majority of the Wyoming characters are backward small town stereotypes instead of realistic people. Either the author hasn’t spent much time in small towns or has a vendetta. The whole book could use better character development and a better plot.

Nowhere near the quality of the first book. Weak

Story is told as it's happening then rehashed in his/her view. Then retold to her friend and then again to his friends. I must admit, I do want to know how it ends, even though I probably know already. Halfway through but wishing I'd never started. Guess that makes me weak, too.

good story, male narration needs more

story line is typical, but the male narrator was lacking emotion on main character.

Lacking substance!

I couldn't stomach for the life of me how Ana Marie, who is portrayed as smart and sensible, rationalizes and even trivializes Shane's idiotic stunts. Or how sex-straved she is, using sex as defense and coping mechanism. Weird psychological dynamics, lacking substance and maturity. I like the narrator though- how she was able to make the story come alive.

Beyond frustrating to finish

If you’re looking for a whining & crying conceited tramp with severe daddy issues, that is super overdramatic and expects everyone to keep ignoring or rewarding her bad decisions, who learns nothing from mistakes, who uses and abuses a really good guy repeatedly, who mentally wears the tshirt that says “nothing I do wrong is ever my fault”...this is just your thing. Unfortunately, it isn’t mine. :(

Good Story

Good Story, overall pleased with this book but I really had trouble hearing Josh’s narrations in two different voices on ad off throughout the book. I felt like if they were going to have two narrators anyway then why not have the male do the male voices and the female do the female voices? It was so hard thinking of him as this sexy hunk when he sounded like he had adenoids when it was narrated by the female. Also weird that him and the dad had the same exact voice, which in my opinion was just the female narrator plugging her nose when she spoke). Big oversight in my opinion.

Didn't get past chapter seven

This isn't really a spoiler, but I can't deal with cheating. As soon as she did that I was done. Narrators are okay, but I can't do cheating. Death, divorce, etc. is okay but not cheating. The other thing about this book that eadd annoying, insulting and stereotypical was how she defined Wyoming and everyone in it. All racist idiots, with the average IQ of celery who's high point in live seems to be winning a golden hotdog award at the family reunion. In the almost 40 years I've been in Wyoming I've never seen a bat, nor a moose outside of a national park. So yeah, totally plausible scenarios. I truly hope she makes her Wyoming statistics up cause they shur don't match mine y'all....

Could have been a lot better

I was hoping for a good laugh out loud book. Unfortunately, this isn’t it. Romantic comedy this is not. What it is, is a tragic loss of 9 hours and 41 minutes of time. It might have been a good book had about three fourths of the whining been left out. I don’t think I will waste any more time on this author.

Girlfriend

Definitely entertaining. The way the aunt pronounces Josue was funny. Being a geek is okay and building things is not nerdy. At the end all ends well. My favorite character was the grandfather.

You Must Be Crazy to Finish

How can anyone finish this book without being either crazy or a glutton for punishment. For some reason this was so terrible and immature that I started liking it against my will and it did have a happy ending. The female performance was much better than the males but the male character was clearly the best and gave you hope throughout.

Addictive

Loved this book. I couldn't stop listening to it. So glad there is another in the series. Defiantly worth a listen.