Because of Him

Fortunate, Book 1

By: Jessica Roe

Narrated by: Ceci Garcia

Length: 8 hrs

Publisher's summary

Blair Ackerman is a girl with crazy hair and a bad attitude. She's a girl who doesn't care what anyone thinks of her. She's a girl with only a duffel bag and a car named Nancy to her name, and that's okay by her. She's tough because she has to be. Nobody gets inside her head, nobody gets inside her heart.

Silver is everything she's never wanted. He's a good guy, a smart guy, a guy who's never met a girl like her before. He's the kind of guy who loves history, who laughs at his own jokes, who kisses like a sinful dream. He's the kind of guy who might just break down her walls and get inside her heart and make her feel.

Too bad he's forbidden.

Because when Blair's mom dies and she's sent to live with the father she's never met and a family that doesn't want her, Blair and Silver cross paths in ways they never could have imagined, and they discover that even though they know they should, they can't quite bring themselves to stay apart.

Opposites really do attract.

©2014 Jessica Archer (P)2022 Jessica Archer

Sweet story ❤️

This was a new to me author and narrator. The story was not at all what I was expecting and I was a little thrown at first by the writing & dialogue, but once I was a few chapters in I was able to settle into the story. Between the writing and the content (good tension but all sweet, no spice) I would consider this YA instead of the general romance I believe it's currently classified as.

The story is interesting and I did enjoy the relationships the MC develops with not only the love interest, but the other characters in her world. I did find the wrap up on the climactic issue to settle too smoothly and quickly so I would have liked to see a little more depth there (the resolutions/apologies/forgiveness was too easy and unrealistic to me). Otherwise I enjoyed the story and the push/pull between Blair and Silver and their forbidden relationship.

I think the narration was well done. Ceci's tone and pace matched the age of Blair perfectly and I thought she was well suited for the character. There were some very well done emotional moments in this audio that brought on some tears, both from anger and sadness. A few times the male characters were a little difficult to distinguish, but overall it was well done, the story was easy to listen to, and aside from a few background audio noises/muffled in the last 40 minutes or so (could be just a glitch in Audible, who knows) I enjoyed the production overall.

3/5 story, 3.5-4/5 narration
❤️🎧❤️

Beautiful & Heartbreaking

This story was a beautiful, emotional rollercoaster. I loved every minute of it. Silver & Blair were so good together. They had great chemistry and were definitely an opposites attract couple. Not only was this an age gap romance, it was also a forbidden love and older brother’s best friend romance. Silver & Blair had to keep their feelings and attraction secret due to him being her teacher but I loved how they developed a beautiful friendship that was challenged at times due to outside influences. However, at times, Silver was a total jerk and made me dislike him a bit because he was supposed to be the one person Blair could trust and a lot of the time I felt he let her down. Blair’s story was so heartbreaking. My heart was in my throat the whole time I was listening to this story. Definitely angsty and completely tame compared to the romance books I usually listen to. This was my first book by Jessica Roe and first time listening to Ceci Garcia. The single narration was overall great, but at times I was confused as to who was talking because the female and male voices sounded too similar to me. Overall, the narration really captured Blair’s story and made me feel everything she was going through. I would recommend this book. It was a nice change of pace to my usual dark romance and definitely hit the ol’ corazon deeply.