Vegas to Varanasi

Fortytude Series Book 1

By: Shelly Hickman

Narrated by: Jazmine Ramay

Anna has never been the beautiful one; she's always been the nice one. So when the gorgeous man sitting across the table at a wedding reception remembers her from high school - and quite fondly at that - she's taken off guard.

Formerly overweight and unpopular, Kiran has never forgotten Anna, the one person who was kind to him when no one else could be bothered, and Anna's a bit flustered as she slowly comes to grips with his intense attraction for her.

In what feels like a romantic dream come true, all-grown-up, hunky Kiran invites Anna on a trip to Varanasi. But her troubled, whack-a-do ex-boyfriend starts interfering, creating drama at every turn, which begs the question, can nice girls really finish first?

©2013 Shelly Hickman (P)2017 Shelly Hickman

Cute read!

This is a cute read about finding love in your 40s. It's the perfect beach read to help you escape. It's light, funny, and lovable!

The narration was good, no major complaints.

Wonderful Mid-Life Romance

Kiran’s never forgotten Anna, a popular girl in high school, even though they barely knew each other. Kiran has never forgotten how she stuck up for him when he was a chubby kid at school. It’s been years since then and Kiran is now an Adonis and Anna’s been through the wringer. After finding out her ex-husband is gay they remain friends and Anna devotes her life to her kids. Now that they are grown Anna finds herself in yet another dead-in relationship with an aspiring writer with a drinking issue. Uncomplicated Kiran is just what Anna needs if she can keep her now ex-boyfriend from ruining everything.

I absolutely loved this mid-life romance story. It had a wry type of humor, a truly good guy hero and Anna’s a nice person as well. As a matter of fact, there are no bad guys in this story, just decent people who have issues, some more serious than others. The interaction between Kiran and Anna was magic. While Kiran is now a toned and fit man he still has the humbleness of when he was overweight and the idolatry he’s felt towards Anna all these years never wanes.

This audiobook comes in at just over 6 ½ hours and is narrated by Jazmine Ramay. Wow, she did an amazing job on this fully voiced production. This audiobook required someone with good comic timing and Jazmine really did pull it off. I laughed out loud several times.

Author Shelly Hickman has a real winner in this book, it has diverse characters and It’s a feel good story, in today’s climate that’s not a bad thing at all!

This audiobook was gifted to me in exchange for an unbiased review!

Enjoyable romantic read

What made the experience of listening to Vegas to Varanasi the most enjoyable?

The story line and the narrator had good infliction range of voices.

What did you like best about this story?

I enjoyed that the main character (Anna) was older in age and that there was a happy ending to all the drama. You often time will wonder what happens to your classmates and this book opens your eyes to just what could happen. That one guy that no one would talk to could be the next big thing (or your true love).

Which character – as performed by Jazmine Ramay – was your favorite?

The main character (Anna).

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

No extreme reaction.

Enjoyable

It was an interesting plot with good narration, but it was a bit confusing because the story moved from one point in time to another too quickly. I loved the characters, they were well written, especially the relationship between Anna and Kiran and parents with their children. It was full of teasing and humor, as well as cultural background and family relationships.


I received this audiobook at no-cost from Audiobookworm Promotions. The gifting of this audiobook did not affect my opinion of it.

Average girl plus hot guy equals tons of fun!

In the romantic comedy genre, the average girl paired with a hot guy who just adores her, is a pretty common theme. It's a wonderful fantasy many women have, and love to live through relatable characters. Finding a story that stands out is difficult, and there has to be more to it, to make it awesome. Vegas to Varanasi, definitely has something special.

Anna's life is a modern mess. Ex-husband, kids, career, and the struggles of dating in her forties. It seemed as though she had gotten everything settled down, and for a while, things were good. That's usually the time the other shoe falls, and all hell breaks loose. For Anna, that's an understatement.

Kiran has had a rough go of it himself, with a painful past and personal issues that give Anna a run for her money. Still, he's held a candle for her long after they parted ways years ago, and life throwing them back together unexpectedly, made for the perfect storm of drama.

I enjoyed Anna's honesty, and how real she was. The way she dealt with the blows given to her was completely relatable, and uniquely real. She wasn't overly dramatic, and she was truly a nice, kind-hearted person. That trait showed throughout the entire book, even in the little things, and made her easy to root for.

Kiran was also relatable, and in today's culture of the "fitness lifestyle" trends and weight-loss inspirations on every social media platform, his story made this situation a bit more modern. All that mixed perfectly, with his deep family roots in India, and the culture difference to give him far more depth than a lot of "hunky" male characters typically found in this genre. With his good heart and gentleman's personality, he had far more than good looks to fall in love with, and you couldn't help but want to push Anna into his arms.

The side characters were just as agreeable, although several did seem a bit less explored than they could have. I did wonder why Anna didn't do more to be involved with her kid's lives, especially when it came to relationships. Even when she saw them going down bad roads, her hands-off approach seemed a little on the extreme side, opting for more of a friend than parent, and even then, not a close friend. I didn't quite understand the boundaries there, with how close they were all set up to be, although perhaps that was meant to be more of a "modern" portrayal as well.

In the end, I enjoyed the story quite a bit. Every character was flawed, and even David was difficult to truly dislike. He was simply human, and had some issues to work out, same as the rest of them - his just happened to effect others more. They were all painted quite normally though, with their flaws and attributes explored and explained, with growth for most of them.

The narration was pretty good, although I did speed up the pace a few notches, as the pauses and overall flow seemed somewhat slow. Sped up, it was fairly enjoyable. I would imagine the book would flow nicely, and seemed as though it was well written. If there is a sequel, I would definitely be interested, and do recommend this to anyone who enjoys romantic comedy set in the modern world.

*I was given a complimentary audiobook copy of this title, from the author, to listen to in exchange for an honest review.

Interesiting but slow and to much filler

Started out good but went downhill fast. Way too much filler that really had nothing to do with the plot. One minute we are listening to what is going on and the next we are back in her college days where she didn’t go out much. After a little while the story just moved to slow. She married her childhood sweetheart but years later after the kids come it turns out he is gay. They stayed friends which I thought was great. This part was great. Then we go into a girl and guy live together he is a drunk they split which he is fine with until she finds a man from her past who steps up to the plate than ex wants her back and really is childlike. At times I thought her kids acted older than the adults. I even like how the boy from high school came back into her life with a complete makeover.

Ms. Ramay narrator for the most part was good, there are some noises with her mouth and breathing that needs some work. At times it just all ran together for me and was a little confusing until I took a break and went over what I had listened to. She puts lot of emotion into her voice and tones but needs to pause a little more between characters to let the listener catch up. Anna character was great with lots of emotions but at times she seemed more childlike. A lot of her character voices sound too much alike and too much like her natural voice which can be confusing to know who is talking. When the character is thinking the narrator should do a little change so you know it is thinking it gets confusing when she switches from thinking to talking so close together. There are no background noises, no repeating of words and no volume changes. If any breaks were taken I could not tell. It is a clean and clear audio that just needs a little more work. For the most part the emotions displayed were outstanding.

The plot is great but with so much filler that isn’t needed the reader is lost wondering why the heck that was even added to the book. I loved the relationship the parents had with the children, I loved the humor and teasing between all. I enjoyed the story of the fat man turning into a hunk, the close relationship the two parents had and the romance between Anna and Kiran. To me the trip they took to India wasn’t needed nothing really happened but they hooked up, met his family and a few other little things. To me it was just filler. I did like the background, the family values and the love and care they gave to their families. All in all it was an enjoyable listen has some great parts.

A great read!

Vegas to Varanasi is a journey. I enjoyed the plot of this story and seeing Anna take her journey. Anna was mostly likable but I’ve gotta tell you, Kiran really stole the show for me! I loved him!

I felt that this book was well written and a lot of fun. It was my first book by this author and I liked it a lot. Also, this was the first audio book I listened to that was narrated by Jazmine Ramay and she did a great job. She really brought the story to life!

Exactly what I was looking for!

So, While I spend a lot of time listening to urban fantasy, with my teen son, usually based on friends recs, or my dad's, I also like to travel back to my roots and listen to some fantastic chick-lit. Most of what I listen to is paranormal comedic romance, but this book stood out among the myriad of books at my disposal. Why? Because I just finished a really horrifying dark (romance/spy/thriller) set in the Middle East. I needed something a bit lighter to compensate , and without the culture shock a regular contemporary romance would cause, as I was already immersed in this culture. I really felt for the main character, as I've had an ex follow the guilt-road, when I found someone new. This story was engaging, sort of suspenseful (not in any scary way), and beautifully narrated. I look forward to future books by both the author and the narrator (who, by the way, does a snotty brat voice every narrator should aspire to!)

Romance and life after forty

Vegas to Varanasi has a charm about it right from the start, and I can't say that it's due to any one particular thing. Instead, I think it's a combination of several things that work just work wonderfully together to create a story that’s fun, witty, emotional, and romantic without being too much of any of those.
The characters are likable – well most of them are. We do have one or two stinkers in the bunch, but it wouldn’t be nearly so well-rounded without them. I love that Shelly Hickman gives us a romantic couple that are all grown up. Anna and Kiran are at an age where we would expect them to be settled, but as so often happens in life, things aren’t always how we expect them to be, and these two are handling life the best they know how. Kiran is an absolute sweetheart from his first appearance onward. He’s a little more understanding than most, but I feel like that’s part of his charm. The star of our show, Anna, is a hoot. I love that she’s honest with herself about her insecurities, and she doesn’t make apologies for who she is, even when she is snickering at bathroom humor. Goodness knows, life has thrown her a few curveballs.
The story is fast paced and I’ll be honest, whether it’s because I can relate to that life after forty craziness or because the characters and story are just so much fun, I found it hard to hit that pause button even when I knew I had to. Of course, the story isn’t without some seriousness, and considering what part of that is, I have to say that it was handled quite well. Hickman adds a touch of levity to the situation without making it seem like she’s poking fun at the problem. And I’ll just say here that I have some personal experience with Anna’s side of that problem. It’s a tough thing to deal with, but looking back, I can see the humor in some situations.
Jazmine Ramay narrates this engaging tale, and she injects great emotion with her voice. She also does a brilliant job with Anna’s sarcasm, whether it’s internal or out loud for all the world to hear. I’m a big fan of sarcasm, and the combination of writing and narrating here is terrific. The only drawback for me is that some chapters felt like they ended rather abruptly, but when I went back and listened again to those parts, I feel like it was the way those lines were read as opposed to how they’re written. However, that was a small thing, certainly not a deal-breaker for me.
All in all, Vegas to Varanasi is a great combination of writing and narration. The characters are engaging, the story is entertaining, and I’d recommend it to anyone who enjoys a bit wit with their romance, not just those over forty. This author is new to me, but she’s now firmly on my radar.

A light romantic story

Anna's family is not the typical one. After marrying her high school sweetheart, and having two wonderful children, she realizes that his husband is in fact gay, and after a hard talk they decide to have their separate ways but also remain friends. At the beginning of this book, Anna is in a 5-year relationship with David, a teacher who spends all his free time writing and drinking too much booze. Anna's kids are now in their early twenties and they realize the situation their mother is in, so they are prepared when the breakup comes. During a friend's daughter's wedding Anna meets Kiran, another former class mate who used to be fat but who got fit in the last years. This will be a temptation for Anna, it is just maybe too soon after her breakup, but some opportunities just come once in life.

I am not a loyal fan of Chick Lit, but I enjoy it from time to time since it is a genre that I find light, easy, and many times refreshing. This time it was easy to relate to Anna due to the age similarity, even though we have quite different lives. The characters are very well depicted and they feel absolutely real. I enjoyed the special relationship Anna had with her ex-husband and his partner, and how mature her kids were. Anna is really a down to Earth person, and it was funny to hear her thoughts without any kind of filter.

I often complain about romance in books when it is something forced, and I do not often go for romance novels if there is not a little bit more to it. I found this story original due to the fact that we meet different kind of family, and it was interesting to explore their relationships. The fact that there is a part of the book set in India added interest to the story. 

Even though there is sex mentioned in the book, there are not explicit sex scenes, which I am glad for, since they tend to always be the same and completely unrealistic. We just know that Kiran is good, and this is enough information for me.

I really enjoyed Jazmine Ramay's narration. She really became Anna in this story, and her expressivity made this book more enjoyable, since Anna became more real. At first I had troubles differentiating some of the characters but I soon got used to Ramay portrayed them. I noticed quite some mouth noises, lips smacking, and nose breathings, probably due to being too close to the mic. I found it a bit distracting, but overall, it was a great narration.

This was a good and enjoyable book, and I would recommend it to anyone into Chick Lit and romance. It is not too sappy, so I think it could be enjoyed by a wider audience.

I received this audiobook as part of my participation in a blog tour with Audiobookworm Promotions. The tour is being sponsored by Shelly Hickman. The gifting of this audiobook did not affect my opinion of it.