Next to You

By: Julia Gabriel

Narrated by: Alice Parker

Jared Connor lost his innocence at the age of 10 when his father poured gasoline around the family home and left his two young sons to die in the flames. Now an adult, he's carefully crafted a pretend life where he can hide his scars and his death row father behind the disguise of a caretaker's pickup truck and a pair of gardening shears. But when a beautiful woman with scars of her own barges into his quiet, solitary life, Jared finds it increasingly difficult to hide from what he really wants.

Phlox Miller was never the pretty girl and no magic mascara or secret serum was ever going to change that - not even one manufactured by her own company. When an accident at her country home burns her face and body, she spares no expense on her recovery and plastic surgery. Now she turns heads on the street, but can't recognize herself in the mirror - and can't convince the man she loves that he's beautiful, too.

Can two people see beyond their physical and emotional scars to find true love and lasting acceptance?

©2014 Julia Gabriel (P)2016 Julia Gabriel

transcending trama

Although the book was fairly good, I did have an observation. If this woman was so traumatized by her gas stove, why didn't she convert to electric? She certainly had the money for it. Other than that , the story was enjoyable.

A unique and lovely story

This book will capture your heart. The two people so need each other. The narrator is perfect. Will look for the next book in the series about her friend.

Not a fan of the narrator.

This was a sweet light romantic story. No hot and steamy sex scenes although there are limited encounters. What I did not care for was the plodding reading style of the narration which I felt lacked emotion. Can’t complain too much since I only paid $1.99 when I paired it with my free kindle book. I would read the author again but will avoid the narrator.

Fantastic listen

This is a great listen. Two broken people find each other and learn to live and love again. Well worth the listen.

Too... many... long... pauses...

I liked this book when I originally read it, but this narrator put in unnecessary pauses throughout the reading. Each paragraph ended with a long silence as though it was the end of a chapter. I found this very irritating. It's unfortunate because she had a nice voice and did well with using distinctive voices for the various characters. I eventually got used to it, but the first half of the book or so was difficult to get through.