The Isle Of... Where?

By: Sue Brown

Narrated by: Max Lehnen

Length: 7 hrs and 34 mins

Publisher's summary

When Liam Marshall's best friend, Alex, loses his fight with colon cancer, he leaves Liam one final request: buy a ticket to Ryde, on the Isle of Wight, and scatter Alex's ashes off the pier. Liam is tired, worn out, and in desperate need of a vacation, but instead of sun, sea, sand, and hot cabana boys, he gets a rickety old train, revolting kids, and no Ewan MacGregor.

Liam would have done anything for his friend, but fulfilling Alex's final wish means letting go off the only family Liam had left. Lost, he freezes on the pier...until Sam Owens comes to his rescue.

Sam's family has vacationed on the Isle of Wight every year for as long as he can remember, but he's never met anyone like Liam. Determined to make Liam's vacation one to remember, Sam looks after him-in and out of the bedroom. He even introduces Liam to his entire family. But as Sam helps Liam let go, he's forced to admit that he wants Liam to hang on - not to his old life, but to Sam and what they have together.

©2012 Sue Brown (P)2014 Dreamspinner Press

Kind of Funny story that transports you!

Where does The Isle Of... Where? rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

I have listened to better, I have listened to worse. I would listen again though!

What was one of the most memorable moments of The Isle Of... Where??

I like the 'englishness' of the characters and how this and they transport you out of the norm.

What about Max Lehnen’s performance did you like?

Fantastic job. Really engaging and his voice does not get in the way of the story. This is VERY important for me. I don't like overly dramtic, actorly reads and this one hits the mark.

If you could take any character from The Isle Of... Where? out to dinner, who would it be and why?

Liam. I like his sensitivity.

Any additional comments?

Buy it!

Fake accent ruins the book

If you could sum up The Isle Of... Where? in three words, what would they be?

story is good.

Would you be willing to try another one of Max Lehnen’s performances?

As long as he refrains from doing an English accent, maybe I might.

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

I have a pet peeve when it comes to the correct performance of a foreign accent. If it gets in the way of the performance...like it did in this book, then it won't finish the audiobook. I don't expect every performer to be as awesome as Williams James' narration in an Australian accent in the Lang Downs series, but it can't be as God awful as Max Lehnen's British accent was. It completely took me out of the book.

Any additional comments?

I will be returning this.

This was just a bit…clunky

This one missed the mark for me. There are a few issues at play, but first I recognize that the book was published in 2012-ish so it was a slightly different time for gays compared to now.
Overall, the basic story has a fine premise and everything is there to make a good story. But I just found the setup a little clunky. The main character, Liam is there to honor his friends final wishes, and while the story is sweet, the pacing of their relationship from that moment they met just seemed forced.
Second, back to my original qualifier, what is with all the random little homophobia and PDA references? There was a throw-away line that Liam is by nature a conservative person, but it was consistent throughout the book, and nothing really ever came of it. Those moments took me out of the story during times when I wanted to get into the story. Then to realize they were all really for nothing, made me mad.
Third, all of this was capped with the unfortunate choice of narrator. I just don’t think the narration was very good. The drawing out of phrases they would speak were weird and I never got over it. The song song up and down of the voices might have worked better if there was actual wit in the back and forth between Liam and Sam, but it never went anywhere, so you would get a high pitched retort and then nothing. It’s like the author either didn’t have the chops to make jokes or didn’t want to offend anyone.
But it all just left me wanting a little more.