Hate Notes by Vi Keeland & Penelope Ward

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Title: Hate Notes
Author: Vi Keeland, Penelope Ward
Published by: Brilliance Audio
Release Date: November 6, 2018
Format: Audiobook
Narrator: Sebastian York, Lynn Barrington
Length: 8 hours and 17 minutes
Genres: Romance, Contemporary
Source: Audible
Reading Challenges: Lenoreo's 2019 Audiobook Challenge, Lenoreo's 2019 Diversity Reading Challenge, Lenoreo's COYER Winter 2018
Find it: Goodreads ✩ Amazon ✩ B&N ✩ IndieBound ✩ iTunes
My rating:

Blurb:

From New York Times bestselling authors Vi Keeland and Penelope Ward comes an unexpected love story of secondhand hearts and second chances…

It all started with a mysterious blue note sewn into a wedding dress.

Something blue.

I’d gone to sell my own unworn bridal gown at a vintage clothing store. That’s when I found another bride’s “something old.”

Stitched into the lining of a fabulously feathered design was the loveliest message I’d ever read: Thank you for making all of my dreams come true.

The name embossed on the blue stationery: Reed Eastwood, obviously the most romantic man who ever lived. I also discovered he’s the most gorgeous. If only my true-love fantasies had stopped there. Because I’ve since found out something else about Mr. Starry-Eyed.

He’s arrogant, cynical, and demanding. I should know. Thanks to a twist of fate, he’s my new boss. But that’s not going to stop me from discovering the story behind his last love letter. A love letter that did not result in a happily ever after.

But that story is nothing compared to the one unfolding between us. It’s getting hotter, sweeter, and more surprising than anything I could have imagined.

Something new.

But I have no idea how this one is going to end…

My Review:

3.5 stars — I started off LOVING this story, but not really enjoying the male narrator (I’ll get to that).  And I’m not sure if it truly lost its luster, or if the narration grated on me, or most likely a combination of the two, but I found myself just wanting to get to the end of the story and move on…not a good sign.

So let’s start with the narrators.  What was wrong with them?  Objectively nothing.  Both narrators had great pacing, no unusual pauses, good inflection…just solid.  I actually enjoyed Ms. Barrington.  The amount of emotion she poured into some scenes had me crying along with her.  I was on the fence with her Iris and Reed voices; they didn’t annoy me, but I’ve had better (though, let’s get real…narrating another gender is just hard).  And then there’s Mr. York.  Again, talent-wise there is NOTHING wrong with his narration.  But there was a quality to his voice that just didn’t work for me…part of me wondered if there was a slight, barely detectable lisp?  Honestly, I don’t know, but the longer I listened to him, the less I liked his narration.  And it’s just a personal taste thing.  Most of the time narrators lose me on their other gender voices, but I didn’t even enjoy his normal voice.  Ah well.  Sometimes they just don’t click.  But I do think that it made it so that I enjoyed this book even less than I would have if I’d read it.  Bummer.

So on to the story.  I can honestly admit that I was for REALZ laughing out loud for parts of the beginning of the story, especially when they first meet.  It made me so excited, because I was anticipating a similar feel for the rest of the story.  But the laughs died down for the rest, and it got more serious.  Which is not a bad thing at all.  But I also felt like the story dragged in parts.  There was a lot of “deciding what’s best for the other person”-ness, which is okay for a bit, but it went on too long in this one.

Charlotte was a pretty quirky heroine, and I enjoyed the way she saw the world sometimes.  I didn’t always connect with her, and I’m honestly not sure why.  She really had no issues bounding into other people’s personal spaces (figuratively).  I think she was supposed to be more endearing than I actually found her to be…  I thought her issues with her past, and her family was an interesting side story…but again, that went on longer than I anticipated.  And is it just me, or is it weird that she doesn’t seem to have any friends?  Then again, neither does Reed.  Who are these people?

I didn’t really fall in love with Reed either.  I mean, he was a bit of a jerk off and on…and quite frankly, though his “secret” was intriguing, it really didn’t excuse his behavior for me.  Again, I’m not an alpha girl.  I’m just not.  He wasn’t a super alpha or anything, but there was definitely lots of possessiveness.  I know some women find that swoony, but alas I only like it in doses and particular circumstances.  And he took WAY TOO LONG to figure his shit out.  So I grew impatient with him.

And while I didn’t like either narrator’s voices for Grandma Iris, she amused me with her machinations.  A lot of what happened with all that felt unrealistic, but eh.  I was okay with that.

So basically, I should have given up on the audiobook and finished it by reading the ebook instead (I gotta stop pushing through, especially if I already own the ebook).  And the pacing of the story just didn’t work out for me…I felt like it could have been tightened up and I might have enjoyed it more.  Extra half star goes to their first meeting though…solid gold.