Review of A Heart to Trust by A.L. Brooks, audiobook narrated by Anastasia Watley
Jenny Quinn is happy with the status quo as a TV Producer Assistant (PA) in New York City. That is until the company she works for is bought out, and she is asked to work on a project with three other PAs. This is also a competition to see which out of the four will get the only three available PA positions in the new company. One of her new coworkers is British transplant, Olivia Sinclair. Olivia is the consummate professional; and Jenny, who is laid back and fun, gets on her nerves immediately. A few personal and professional obstacles need to be sorted, but can they find happily ever after?
I must confess, I wanted to listen to Anastasia Watley (more about that in a bit), so I just grabbed the audiobook without looking much further into it. However, I must say Ms. Brooks delivered an entertaining, and at times, sweet story. This is a slow burn, enemies to lovers in the workplace trope.
The book is narrated in third person from both mains’ POV. This was an excellent choice because Olivia would have come off as totally unapproachable if we had not gotten to see her side of the story. Driven out of her theater PA job in the UK by a coworker stealing her idea, Olivia agrees to marry her asexual best friend as he tries to promote his motor racing career based in NYC. She’s hoping for a new start, but two years into the sham marriage and no professional advancement has her in a rut. The at-home Olivia side, as well as her banter with her fake husband, totally softens the character and makes her endearing.
The other main, Jenny, is the sweetheart. She is relaxed and likable right from the beginning. Her personal life has not been ideal and makes me so happy to believe in chosen families. True to Jenny’s approachability, she is immediately befriended by the other female PA, Chrissy. This starts the office drama and “she said/she said” problems, putting Jenny and Olivia on opposite sides. Chrissy was a disappointment for me and just came off as the bimbo that goes to any lengths to secure her job. It was pretty obvious the inconsistencies were her doing so spending so much time on the office politics and not the romance seemed a bit excessive. The chemistry became more obvious after the mutual interest was out in the open. Then the waiting was a bit excruciating, hence the slow burn.
Back to Ms. Watley, why is she not narrating more lesfic? I first listened to her narrate Roslyn Sinclair’s The X Ingredient and was immediately impressed. Of course, nothing left to do but track down the other two lesfic novels she narrated and yes, she’s the real deal. Another example of a narrator making the book justice or even elevating it.
Overall, a solid workplace story with a very good narrator. 4 stars
The audiobook is available through Scribd membership.
Length: 10 hrs and 9 mins
