AUDIOBOOK REVIEW: Come Away With Me (With me in Seattle #1)

Come Away With Me (With Me in Seattle #1), by Kristen Proby
Published November 7, 2012
Publisher: self-published
Format: audiobook, purchased
Genre: adult contemporary romance
To Buy: Amazon * Barnes & Noble
 
Rating: 3.5 STARS

(From Goodreads) Being confronted on the beach by a sexy stranger wasn't part of Natalie Conner's plans for a peaceful morning taking photos. And why on earth would he think she's taking pictures of him, anyway? Who is he? One thing’s for sure, he’s hot, and incredibly romantic, feeding Natalie’s wounded soul.

Luke Williams just wants the world to give him a break, so seeing yet another camera aimed at his face has him ready to pounce on the beauty behind the lens. When he finds out she has no idea who he is, he's intrigued and more than a little tempted by her. Natalie has a body made for sex, a sassy mouth and Luke can’t get enough of her, but he’s not ready to tell her who he really his.

Natalie is a no nonsense girl who doesn’t do well with lies and secrets. What will happen to this new relationship when she discovers what Luke’s hiding?

If you need a super romantic, nearly completely angst- and drama-free read, you should definitely give Come Away With Me a try. I know I'm a little late to the With Me in Seattle party, but better late than never, right?







Natalie is confounded by the man she meets while taking pictures of the beach. He is beautiful, but angry and tries to steal her camera. She doesn't understand why he was so upset about the possibility that she was taking his picture. But, their initial meeting leads to another and then another, and before long, both are completely taken with one another. But, Luke's keeping what he does for a living a secret, and Natalie doesn't like secrets. 

After a few heavy reads in recent weeks, I have to say that Come Away With Me was a refreshing change. There were plenty of opportunities for Kristen Proby to take Natalie's and Luke's story to a dramatic place, but never once did she go there. The author could've introduced interfering paparazzi or a former lover gunning for Luke's affections, and both would've been perfectly reasonable and expected. But, neither happened.  

Natalie is a very private person, so when she finds out that Luke's a world-famous movie star and filthy rich, she's understandably mad and humiliated. That, and a misunderstanding toward the end of the book are the only real difficulties this couple has in the entire book, and both situations are resolved pretty quickly. All the other potential conflicts, like Luke's combative sister and Natalie's sexy client, are handled rationally and with love and support on both sides. Is it bad of me that there came a time when I actually WANTED them to have a real fight? 

Come Away With Me started to drag once Natalie and Luke got together and Luke's profession was revealed. The pronounced lack of drama and Natalie's and Luke's complete contentedness with each other got old pretty quickly. They were almost TOO happy. Every part of each others' body was "perfection," they screwed on every surface of both their houses and in every single car they rode in, and it was always completely mind-blowing. They reveled in their pet names for each other ("baby," "honey," "sweetheart," and the worst - "my love") and were always telling the other how hot, beautiful or sexy they are. 

I don't know. I just got kind of sick of the utter adoration, you know? Every couple has flaws. There's always something about the other that is less than their idea of perfect. The fact that this was not the case with Nat and Luke, frankly, irritated me. 

I got Come Away With Me for free for my Kindle, and then purchased the Audible version for only $1.99. Despite my irritations, it was most definitely money well spent. It's rare to find an audiobook that's this affordable, and for the hours of entertainment it brought me, I'd definitely do it again. The narrator, Jennifer Mack, did a really good job with the different voices. I really enjoyed the performance. 

This was my first Kristen Proby book, and while I definitely had my issues with it, there was a lot to like too. The writing was good, and the chemistry between Nat and Luke was well done. If you couldn't infer it from what I said earlier, there's a lot of hot sex in this book. That was a bit surprising, and frankly, one of my favorite parts. I really liked Natalie's best friend Jules, and was excited to see the next book is hers and Nate's story, which was kind of introduced in Come Away With Me. There was definitely enough to like to compel me to continue on with the series, and I look forward to doing that.