Review of ‘Wanting Her’ by Raquel de Leon,

Audiobook narrated by Carmen Vine

I’ve heard a lot about this book since it was high on the lesfic charts in 2019. I see what the appeal is as it’s got the potential elements of a forbidden affair between boss and employee at the workplace. But this book aims for more than that with some parts of the plot more engaging than others.

Vivian Barrera is a successful co-owner of an investigation agency. When her business partner hires someone without her permission, she is furious with him. April Hawkins is determined to make her new job work as she is the sole provider for her niece but Vivian hates her. Unfortunately, her aloof boss is as annoying as attractive. As time goes by, both women discover a mutual attraction that becomes increasingly hard to deny…

After reading the blurb, I was expecting something different from this book. I thought it was going to be a slow-burn romance with a hard to melt ice-queen. I was wrong on the former but right on the latter. The mains relationship developed faster than I thought and for me, it was a lost opportunity to increase the sexual tension between them. Having said that, the sex scenes were very good and varied.

The issue I’ve felt with this story is that the focus is spread between a few subplots and none of them seem to get enough development to achieve a gratifying conclusion which is a pity because some of them were promising. I understand that this is a series and some of the plots, such as Vivian’s missing sibling, are developed in the sequel ‘Knowing Her’ but, in my opinion, there are too many loose ends to read this satisfactorily as a standalone. Despite this, I might give a try to the sequel as it is also available on audiobook with the same narrator.

Carmen Vine hasn’t narrated much lesfic but she made a great impression on me with this audiobook. She’s very good at doing different voices, including the male ones. Ms. Vine is Porto Rican so she is perfect for performing the few parts in Spanish though her accent sounded Mexican to me which works well for the story. Her performance of the different emotions is spot-on. This is a typical case in which the narrator made the story much more entertaining and pleasurable.

Overall, an enjoyable workplace lesbian romance audiobook. 3.5 stars.

Available with a Scribd subscription.

Length: 7 hrs and 43 mins