When You Smile

By: Melissa Brayden

Narrated by: Lula Larkin

Length: 10 hrs and 56 mins

Publisher's summary

Have you ever had a crush on your babysitter? Taryn Ross sure did. Sixteen-year-old Charlotte was sophisticated, thoughtful, gorgeous, and fun. Taryn counted the minutes until they’d hang out. But Charlotte and her family moved away. Now a transfer student at Hillspoint University, Taryn is ready to officially come out when she runs into a familiar face at a party. Charlie, now a grad student, insists on walking a drunk Taryn home. To the detriment of Taryn’s heart (and libido), Charlie has only grown kinder (and hotter) with time.

Charlie Adler has a five-year plan: finish her MFA without any hiccups, survive a difficult breakup with her ex, and become an acclaimed fiction writer. Easy, right? That is until Taryn shows up at Hillspoint and shakes up her world like a snow globe. This Taryn is different: soulful, brooding, and all grown up. Charlie’s never been attracted to a woman before, and isn’t dating your one-time charge against the rules? If only their toe-curling, mind-dulling, body-aching chemistry would calm the hell down.

©2024 Melissa Brayden (P)2024 Bold Strokes Book Inc

A fav narrator reading a fav author = Must Get!

Lula Larkin does it again - superb performance of a romance book! Let me preface this expressing my frustration that, as a member, I cannot "follow" a narrator like I can "follow" an author. So I every time I want to know if L. Larkin has performed a book, I have to do a search. And I conduct searches on an every-other-day basis for her performances. So as soon as this audiobook dropped, in my cart, then playing on my mobile device.
And the performance, as always, was superb. I easily fall into the work and so appreciate the nuances of the performance such that the emotions of the characters - both primary and secondary - come to life as the story unfolds.
The novel itself is a departure from this author's usual fare with the college setting and young/new adult-aged characters. But, as ever with M. Brayden books, I do get caught up in the "angsty" roller-coaster romance ride with the well-developed characters and well-paced plot. Enjoyed on the first read, will enjoy on the re-reads!

Soooo good!

This is the queer love story we all need! Was hesitant about the babysitter thing but the author didn’t make it a big deal, so you kind of forgot about it. Absolutely loved it!

This needs to be a rom-com ASAP!!

This may be Melissa’s best novel yet…wow!!! I loved these two so much ❤️🥰❤️‍🔥 I seriously need this to be a movie or play or something!

I loved the dinamic between the two leading ladies. And the babysitter arc later in life is so hot.

I wasn't the biggest fan of the fact that Terran didn't tell Charlie about the subtle threat from Danny's mom. I felt that it would have been more interesting to see the two navigate that situation together.

Short Angst

I was a tiny bit hesitant about the babysitter and her charge relationship, but being as Ms Brayden was the author, I jumped right in. Turns out the age difference was only a few years and these ladies had mad chemistry! Loved both the leads and was rooting for them from the start. It was refreshing to see characters communicate like actual adults though almost the entire book. Ms Larkin did a fabulous job narrating!

What a sweet story!

I thoroughly enjoyed this book from start to finish. I even had a smile on during the whole story! I vaguely remember sometime in the past when this writer had been working on her MFI and that made sense for the MC Charlotte. This was a story of finding yourself when you didn’t even know you were searching. I loved the prologue when Taryn and Charley were 11 and 16 respectively. It demonstrated that special something they both had even then.

Both main characters were beautifully written. The supporting characters were also well adapted. There were instances of humor that were very cute. Taryn’s parents were totally adorable. Lula Larkin was excellent in her narration. I felt like I was being in the story watching the whole thing evolve.

I’ve many of this writer’s books. I believe this one will be one of my favorites.