Tough Love

By: Melanie A. Smith

Narrated by: Rachel Woods, Luke Parker

From award-winning and international best-selling author Melanie A. Smith comes a steamy stand-alone contemporary romance about life choices, love, and finding yourself in between.

Sometimes you need a bit of tough love to get where you’re supposed to be....

Mia Anderson has been living a life that was chosen for her. But her impending 30th birthday is the wake-up call she needed to stop wasting time on all the wrong pursuits. Just as she’s figuring out what she wants to do about it, her beloved grandmother falls ill and Mia drops everything to be with her. What she didn’t expect to find in her grandmother’s tiny mountain town is the courage to quit working for her father, supplied by a little tough love from her gran. Now faced with an uncertain future, the last thing on her mind is finding love.

Nate Edwards is living a solitary life deep in the Cascade Mountains of Washington. He’s content, or at least he thinks he is—until the granddaughter of a good friend shows up and he starts having feelings he thought he’d never have again. But Mia’s future isn’t in Alpine Ridge, so acting on it would lead to nothing but heartbreak. Still, their connection is undeniable and circumstances continue to push them together, despite their resistance. Will Mia stick to her decision to carve her own path? And if she does, will it be with Nate? Or is he doomed to an isolated life?

©2021 Melanie A. Smith (P)2022 Melanie A. Smith

Great Read

I enjoyed this story. The characters wes good and well thought out. It was interesting and easy to listen to. I received it as a gift and this is my voluntaary review.

Great story

I absolutely loved that the dual narrators narrated not only their chapters, but that they voiced their characters in all the chapters. I really dislike hearing what I would normally consider a gruff, sexy male voice trying to sound like a female. Oftentimes, it’s downright distracting. But not with this audiobook!!!! The narration was perfect!
I also enjoyed the story itself. Grab was fabulous, and I really liked Nate. I was kept wondering until the very end as to what Nate was hiding from. Mia was more complicated. While I really liked her initially and it was so easy to sympathize with her about her parents, I cringed when she jumped to the wrong conclusion. And then ran away. And she did it again.
Overall, a great audiobook with fabulous narration and a very good story!

I received a complimentary copy of this audiobook and am voluntarily leaving a review.

awesome

Loved it !! this story. the narrator is so fantastic it's like your really there!! good overall

Loved this story

Mia at 30 wasn't living the life she really wanted. she's a lawyer in her father's small practice . Burnt out after long hours working, she wants to walk away. Her parents are manipulative, disregarding her reasons why. Alienating her parents as they felt she abandoned them.
Nate Edwards left Los Angeles, to move the small town of Alpine Ridge. seeking , contentment in this quiet town.
When Mia's grandmother becomes ill, she dropped everything to be with her. Now her grandma is a wise, conniving woman, always putting in her two cents worth. By using her version of tough love, she secretly has a plan to put Nate and Mia together.
I thoroughly enjoyed lIstening to this amazing story.
Luke Parker and Rachel Woods narration is entertaining. They captured the spirit and emotions of every character.

Enjoyable Story and Enjoyable Narrators

The story is dual narration and dual POV, with all female characters/voices being voiced by the female narrator and same for the males. I thought they both did a good job with the characters and story.
I loved the meddling Granny!! This is one story where I actually don't mind that element being added. Dorothy was a breath of fresh air and handled what life threw at her with her spunk and I loved it! I also liked how Dorothy was a typical octogenarian, not one that still does fifty million things and maintains her health, but one that is old, and tired, and adorably meddling, and sick and trying to ease the burden for her grandchild.
I loved Mia's character development! She wasn't necessarily dealt a bad hand in life, she just needed a kick in the pants to figure out what she wanted, and maybe meet a handsome man in the process of figuring things out. Nate was more mysterious about his backstory and it was interesting to learn out that. I loved the chemistry between the two! Their scenes together were always entertaining and well written/narrated.
This story tackled some pretty heavy topics in a manner that I liked. Smith did an excellent job giving credence to both sides of the story without belittling either perspective.
The assumptions made by Mia multiple times in the story was a little annoying. It added unnecessary angst and was frustrating to me because it seemed a bit redundant. Though, sometimes Nate needed to pull his head out of his behind at times. This did detract from the enjoyment of the story.

All in all, it's a good listen, with good narrators, and a well written story!!