When August Ends

By: Penelope Ward

Narrated by: Sebastian York, Andi Arndt

Length: 7 hrs and 2 mins

Publisher's summary

From New York Times best-selling author Penelope Ward comes a new stand-alone novel.

What do you do when a sexy older man moves into your family’s summer rental? 

Well, apparently, you make a fool of yourself - over and over. Things didn’t exactly get off on the right foot with Noah Cavallari. Our first encounter was embarrassing, to say the least. 

But despite that, I found myself waking up every day with a newfound energy. Nothing exciting ever happened on the lake - not until Noah moved into the small boathouse on our property. He’d booked it for the entire summer...and I was still trying to figure out why. 

When my mother became ill, I inherited the responsibility of making sure our guests were well taken care of. I should have been in college. Instead, I was living my best life...as a maid. 

Dark, handsome, and mysterious, everything about Noah screamed forbidden. 

I knew he was just passing through town for the summer. 

I knew he was probably too old for me. 

Yet I was drawn to him. 

Not to mention he tried to save my life when he mistakenly thought I was drowning. 

I wanted him and made no secret of it. 

His own attempts to warn me away soon gave way to late-night moonlight chats by the lake. We were slowly easing into a friendship that was gearing up to explode into something I might not recover from. 

Because he’s leaving at the end of the summer. 

And I have no idea what I’ll do when August ends.

©2018 Penelope Ward (P)2019 Penelope Ward

Developed plot and characters

I’m in the closet about liking these kinds of books and can’t believe I’m writing my first review for one but this one was great.

No shock about the great performances (damn that Sebastian York...damn him DAMN him and his secret sexy self)...but the story had lots of little gems scattered throughout that made it extra appealing.

Ms. Ward very respectfully addresses the subject (sub-plot) of mental illness and I think realistically portrays the characters affected by it.

While these books are always formulaic (they need to be don’t they?!) her characters here including some of the peripheral ones are more developed, nuanced, believable. Being a 40-something female, I wasn’t sure how well I’d handle a romance about a young woman and older man (ugh) but hell I was once that ‘girl’ myself with the older guy and it was fun to be reminded - with a decent amount of accuracy - of the good feelings that come along with it.

Even though I’m a feminist and always appreciate strong women, it’s refreshing not to see (hear) another ubiquitous, annoyingly strong, ultra successful and stoic heroine. I appreciated seeing some vulnerability in the female protagonist, a little bit of desperation haha and flailing around for a change. She works hard but isn’t type A ad nauseam with three PhDs and a BORING amount of emotional independence like so many authors of this genre love to use these days. If I could identify with any of that I would most likely not be reading this type of book! ;)

Lastly, nice job on the beautiful build up of the A+ sexual tension! Gotta have that! :-p

Teen Romance novel at best!

This book made me lose all hope that there're original adult books out there for grown women with grown women fantasies. If your looking for a Saturday romance special well then you found it. If you're looking for a good story line with great sex search elsewhere. You've been warned.

One of the best

This book has it all! Omg I need Noah in my life! I will definitely be listening to this book again and again! Only thing I would change is the male lead. Please don’t get me wrong I absolutely love Sebastian York, but his voice no longer fits a guy in his 20’s or 30’s anymore. 40+ for him. So Zachary Webber, Jacob Morgan, Jason Clarke, teddy hamilton, Christian Fox.. that’s where we need to be on this age range. That is my one and only criticism I have and it has nothing to do with the book.. enjoy the book.. spend any amount because it’s worth it

✫✫ 4 Stars ✫✫

I really enjoyed this "May/December" romance. The chemistry between these characters was perfect and I loved that they tried to be friends and get to know each other first. I found myself rooting for them because they were both great people who helped others. There is a little twist in the story line and I was surprised but I have to say, I LOVED the way the author handled it! It wasn't a bunch of drama like it could have been. The ending was sweet and left me with a very happy heart!

The narration was perfect but that is no surprise with these two narrators.

Good, but not for me.

I enjoyed this book. It was intriguing and I wanted to know what happened next. But there was something about it that I didn't like.

SPOILER

HOnestly I did not like the relationship between Heather and Noah. I feel like Heather was almost obsessed with Noah at the begining.

As for the narration I think was good. Though I don't think was Sebastian's best work. But that's just me.

Overall I think this is a decent book.

Great Story

Great story. Enjoyed it very much. Any book narrated by Andi Arndt and Sebastian York is bound to be the best.

Romance with a bit of an age difference

A 34 year old photographer becomes involved with an almost 21 year old with an old soul. The young woman has had a rough life but is sweet and responsible except she fixates on her tenant with an overwhelming crush. He holds her off for about 70% of the book even though he also lusts for her. There is a slow build of their friendship which at times is tedious but they eventually fall in love and then give in to their deeper feelings. The best parts are the last 1/3 of the story. The narration is very good though Andi Arndt sounds a bit too old at the beginning for Heather. This story has a very sweet ending if you can speed through some of the fluff at the beginning.

Awesome

Great story line and as always Andi and Sebastian make it even better!!! Sequel Please

... a bit too slow for me

This is a cute romance that I would give my teenager to read. The story slowly builds and when I mean slowly... I mean slowly. We all know whats going to happen... but it takes soooooo long! There's not enough mature content.

The narration is by the perfect duo: Andi and Sebastian. They are awesome.

If you want a cute romance then this is for you.

Trite

This is a typical story. There are a lot of cliches and trite storylines. Toward the end, I just couldn't wait for it to be over.

Brilliant listy

This is a great story from start to finish the standard that the author always achieves and of course the narrators are first class as you come to expect from this duo I totally recommend and would give 10 stars if I could

Love the duet parts

I just loved this book, and especially the duet parts
these two narrators together is just perfect

Awesome story

Wow what an awesomely beautiful story. Loved the characters and the lovely way this story was written. Excellent narration.Would highly recommend this audiobook

Awesome!

Great read! I thoroughly enjoyed this book. lots of ups and downs, tears and laughter but ultimately a great story. plus my favourite narrators so that was a bonus

Good story

Enjoyed listening to this (as is always the case with Penelope Ward!) It didn’t grab me by the heart as much as some, hence the 4 stars not 5, but definitely good and worth a credit.

I loved it!

I loved this book. For me it had everything I like in a romance. First of all the age gap. Secondly Heather’s sassiness and her fearless honesty. Thirdly Noah’s brooding, standoffish behaviour whilst trying to keep his distance from Heather. I loved it all. There’s also humorous, sweet, and sexy moments in this wonderful slow burn romance together with a twist I didn’t see coming. I highly recommend it!

Amazing!

Well, colour me RAINBOW! I don't know why but I was drawn to this title more than once before I decided to lisren to it. but, I am so glad I did. it's the most amazing story that had me laughing out loud but also drew me to real tears. It's an awesome story that pulled me in. I honestly didn't want to stop listening. Please don't skip over it...Listen to it. You won't be sorry. Thank you Vi Keeland for this brilliant story. The narrators are amazing too. really giving the characters depth. my favourite readers so far. Sebastian York has the most amazing voice. I could listen to him all day long.

Loved it!!

Absolutely love this book! Couldn't fault it, once i started listening i was completely hooked.

Would highly recommend.

Sweet, funny and enjoyable

Aah, what a sweet, entertaining read. No angst, just pure unadulterated romance with an ultra slow burn and lots of chemistry. I just wanted Noah and Heather to get it on. Noah though, has other plans, he’s not going there with Heather. Heather’s a little minx, and oh no, no matter how much she tries for more, Noah is only willing to be her friend, after all, he thinks he’s way too old for anything else. NOT. He just needs to realise that himself and Heather are truly perfect for each other. Don’t worry. Heather can be very persuasive. Sadly it’s his extremely bad luck that actually gets him to see things differently. Sweet, funny and enjoyable angst free romance that lends itself perfectly to audible. Perfect.

Good story

with these 2 doing the narration it can hardly fail. they bring the story and characters to life.