First Time Caller by B.K. Borison
Read by E.J. Bingham and Hathaway Lee
Published: February 2025
Summary from Goodreads:
A hopeless romantic meets a demoralized radio host in this cozy, Sleepless in Seattle-inspired love story from beloved author B.K. Borison.
Aiden Valentine has a secret: he’s fallen out of love with love. And as the host of Baltimore’s romance hotline, that’s a bit of a problem. But when a young girl calls in to the station asking for dating advice for her mom, the interview goes viral, thrusting Aiden and Heartstrings into the limelight.
Lucie Stone thought she was doing just fine. She has a good job; an incredible family; and a smart, slightly devious kid. But when all of Baltimore is suddenly scrutinizing her love life-or lack thereof—she begins to question if she’s as happy as she thought. Maybe a little more romance wouldn’t be such a bad thing.
Everyone wants Lucie to find her happy ending… even the handsome, temperamental man calling the shots. But when sparks start to fly behind the scenes, Lucie must make the final call between the radio-sponsored happily ever after or the man in the headphones next to her.
Confession:
I really adored this contemporary romance loosely based on the Sleepless in Seattle movie. It had everything I like in a romance, sunshine vs grumpy, close proximity, and most importantly dual narration. I think all romance books should be dual narration. Why only give one perspective when it takes two people to have a relationship? I just adored Lucie and Aiden and the narrators did an excellent job with their portrayals.
E. J. Bingham does a really nice job bringing Aiden to life. I just loved his voice and he did a really nice job with the full range of emotions that Aiden went through in this story. He also did a great job with voicing the other characters. Hathaway Lee also does a great job with Lucie. She just sounds so bubbly and excited, but she also was able to tone it down when needed. I would definitely listen to these two narrate another book.
Lucie is a single mom with an adorable 12 year old who only wants her mom to fall in love. I enjoyed Lucie and totally got where she was coming from. Who doesn’t want a little magic mixed in with their romance. We all need magic in our lives. I also loved that she is on good terms with her daughter’s dad, in fact they live next door. The whole dynamic of their somewhat different family was very cute and added to the story and to Lucie as a character. I also really liked that Lucie was an auto mechanic, and she had a kind of found family at work as well.
Aiden was maybe a little harder to love, but he eventually grew on me. I really felt sorry for him and could totally understand why he felt the way he did. He was certainly grumpy and a bit like an old man, but when we learn why he is the way he is, I totally got it. I did get a little frustrated with his thoughts that he couldn’t give Lucie what she wanted, but I loved watching him learn to trust and allow himself to fall in love with her.
The writing was well done. I loved the banter between not only Lucie and Aiden, but between all of the characters. I did think the story was a tad on the long side, but I’m not sure it could have been shorter. The steamy scenes were well written and didn’t make me want to fast forward through them like many other romances I’ve listened to. I don’t know, maybe I’m just getting to old for those kinds of scenes.
This was my first romance by this author and I will definitely give her another chance. I will be looking for the next book in this series as it features one of my favorite secondary characters from this book. Highly recommend this one for all you romance lovers out there.
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