A Wonderfully Captivating & Heartfelt Romance!

Every once in a while you come across a book that grabs not only your attention but your heartstrings too and captivates both the entire time, “All About Us” is one of those books. Ashley Erin is a gifted author, I enjoyed her writing style and the characters and storylines she created, they are realistic, easy to relate to and connect with, it was also easy to feel for them and what they were going through. Emma was broken-hearted and her grief and guilt were getting the best of her and she ran back to a place where she thought she might find comfort, her childhood home and she winds up finding so much more than that, she found and rekindled old friendships and maybe even love. She grew up on her grandfather’s farm and was glad it stayed in the family she was also glad to see her childhood friends were still her neighbors, Lia, Dane and Ryan. Dane never forgot about Emma, he fell in love with her when he was a child and every woman who came in his life was compared to her, none of them measured up. Their first encounter was pretty funny, she makes a splash and he helps her out. The chemistry between them was evident the moment they met, but Emma was not in the best of ways, Dane sensed this and decided to take things slow. Dane was patient and understanding with her but he almost ruins it when Emma’s friend Alex comes to stay and he misinterpreted their relationship. Later in the book Emma almost does the same when she sees Dane’s ex getting a little too close for comfort. This is a beautiful story about learning to live again, to cope and get past the things in life that bring you down, grief, guilt, PTSD and other monsters that invade out heart and mind, calling out for help is ok and so is allowing yourself to love again. I loved how everything played out in this book, it is a wonderfully plotted story with plenty of drama, a touch of angst, loads of heartfelt and emotional moments and a slow burn but meaningful romance. Ashely Erin, thank you for this great story and emotional rollercoaster ride.

🎧📚🎧 And for the narration, Tracy L. Ortolano is a new to me narrator, she has a clear and pleasant voice that is easy to listen to. I do not know if it was the artist’s direction or choice for this book, but I found her lack of varying the voices for the characters disappointing and I think this book would have benefited if it was a dual narration with a male narrator voicing the male characters. Thankfully, the author noted which character we were hearing from at the beginning of the chapter or before a scene change otherwise, it would have been harder to follow along and tell who was who. In my opinion, character voices are important in audiobooks, regardless of how many points of view the story is told in, when you have to stop and think about which character is talking, it talks your head out of the story. Other than that, Ms. Ortolano is an entertaining storyteller and did a great job capturing the characters’ emotions and projecting them into her performance.

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