The Inn at Netherfield Green

By: Aurora Rey

Narrated by: Keira Grace

Length: 8 hrs and 31 mins

Publisher's Summary

New York advertising executive Lauren Montgomery loses her job, inherits an inn, and moves to England - all in the span of a week. It’s not how her career or her life is supposed to unfold. But necessity is the mother of invention, and Lauren has a new plan. She’s going to spruce up the inn, turn the attached pub into a hot spot, sell it for a killing, and start her own advertising agency.  

Gin distiller Camden Crawley has a soft spot for the Rose & Crown - the pub where her parents and grandparents got engaged. But the opinionated new owner who wants to turn it into some trendy bed and bar? Not so much. The last thing she wants to do is stick her nose in, but that might be her best chance to save a place she holds dear. And boosting her new line of gin wouldn’t hurt either. 

It’s one thing to give in on the cocktail menu. But the very inconvenient, very mutual, attraction? That’s another matter entirely.

©2019 Aurora Rey (P)2019 Bold Strokes Books Inc

Long slog to the happy ending

I want a round of applause for lasting to the finish line. I couldn't relate to the heels and make up successful and sophisticated main character. Nor could I get interested in subjects of gin or marketing. The romantic interludes seemed stiff and staged. But I listened doggedly to the happy end. I'm supporting authors in this genre.

Sweet low angst romance

Keira Grace did a fantastic job narrating this low angst small town romance between Cam and Lauren. The progression from distrust from assumptions to working collaboration to friendship to lovers to love was both sweet and realistic.

Warm and Lovely

Aurora Rey audiobooks are the audiobook equivalent of putting on a warm sweater and finally sipping a hot tea on a chilly rainy day. I most often listen to audiobooks while I'm walking the dog, and now that there's (already!) snow on the ground, they're one of the ways I make it through winter—so I generally try to make the books last by only listening while I walk him. The Inn at Netherfield Green made me break my usual pattern, and I listened to it throughout the day, indoors and out, over the last three days or so.

It's delightful. There are a few key things that Rey does so incredibly well that I really adore in her books: one, the angst levels simmer on low, without robbing the "black moment" of any power. That's a delicate balance to strike, but for someone like me who really does enjoy a good love story where the impediments to the love aren't an onslaught of pain and misery, it's golden. There's a country-mouse/city-mouse vibe to Inn, but there's also more than that: Lauren is only in the UK temporarily, Cam's life (and business) is solidly (and immovably) there. There's enough stacked against them right there.

Second? Rey's characters are often a mix of backgrounds and connections and she doesn't shy away from giving characters less-than-stellar relationships with their families and then sticks to it, not forcing a reconciliation sub-plot. Lauren's family isn't close, her parents are more or less "meh" (at best) and Lauren knows this and is a fully functional adult. At no point are there lightbulb emotional moments in regards to Lauren's family, and though of course it impacts Lauren character, she is never the lesser because of it. As a gay listener, I cannot tell you how grateful I am for characters like this.

Third? Sizzle! Rey's characters connect, spark, and then sizzle. Her turn of phrase is often cheeky, very grounded in emotionality, and so sensual. You believe their attraction, and want the best for them, even when they're not communicating well and you'd also like just as much to reach into the book and give them both a good shake.

Lauren and Cam were a great pair—their personalities are such that they clash at the start in a believable, understandable way. This isn't a case of miscommunication so much as it's a conflict of point-of-view: Lauren sees the world one way, Cam another, and neither are wrong, exactly. Watching them compromise (especially Cam, who I adored because I'm all about the curmudgeon "change is bad" characters if I'm honest with myself for, y'know, reasons) was a genuine delight, and the cast of characters around them—another thing Rey handles so well, support networks existing via friendships—were charming, to boot. Also the reality of the little-English-village was spot-on, at least from my memories of little-English-village life.

The audio performer did a constant and decent job, and while I'm not always a fan of forcing accents for characters, keeping track wasn't an issue, and the cadence and characterization was on point.

The light at the end of the tunnel

This book is good in teaching that we can make lemonade out of the lemons life handed us. In some ways quite realistic, romantic and well developed.
Narration was OK not more than that.

Excellent!

I loved The Inn at Netherfield Green. A great story. Picking yourself up from disaster and moving on. Well, it helps if someone leaves you a hotel and a pub. Loved the characters. Kiera Grace did a great job with the narration.