Review of Crazy for you by Harper Bliss, Audiobook narrated by Angela Dawe
This is book 8 in the Pink Bean series which follows a group of lesbian friends who gather in a coffee shop in Sydney. Most books can be read as standalone as each focuses on a couple’s relationship but there will be minor spoilers of the previous books. This particular novel is connected to book 7, Love Without Limits (which, at the same time is connected to book 3, Everything Between Us) but I didn’t read either of them and didn’t find any issues to follow this story in particular.
Jessica Porter is a rich TV executive who is recovering from a medical procedure that left her scarred and unable to engage in physical intimacy. She normally uses the services of Laurel, a lesbian escort, but after a mix-up in the agency, she ends up with Liz instead. Liz is gorgeous, understanding, and helps put Jessica at ease, but can the profound differences between them give them a chance at love?
This is a very good opposites-attract romance by Harper Bliss who in this series deals with a diversity of issues such as alcoholism, polyamory, long-distance relationships, infidelity, and, in this case, physical and emotional scars. I like that throughout this series Ms. Bliss chooses a diversity of characters in age, race, sexual orientation, social class, and professions. The author addresses the social double standards towards sex workers who are condemned (or at least criticised) by the same people who benefit from their services and how this internalised moral double standard affects these workers.
Both main characters are very well fleshed out and they have great chemistry together. Ms. Bliss knows perfectly how to build the leads’ relationship from an initial weariness to increasing trust and final mutual attraction. This is done incrementally and in a subtle way until both characters cannot help but fall for each other. This author is one of the best in lesfic at writing sex scenes and here again (and throughout the whole series) makes those parts sizzle with an abundance of chemistry.
The audiobook is narrated by the magnificent Angela Dawe, who narrates the whole series with exception of book 3, and shows once again why she is one of the best narrators in lesfic. This series is hard to narrate because of the number of female characters but Ms. Dawe makes them all sound different and distinctive. Her performance of the emotional parts in this book is outstanding. I’m a firm believer that her narration has increased my overall enjoyment of this series. I’m glad that Ms. Bliss has chosen her because it adds incredible value to the stories. 4.5 stars.
Length: 5 hrs and 25 mins
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