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About the Audiobooks
Author: Patrice Wilton
Narrator: Cynthia Vail; Rita Page
Length: 7 hours 53 minutes; 8 hours 40 minutes; 8 hours 6 minutes
Publisher: Patrice Wilton⎮2016; 2016; 2017
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Series: Paradise Cove, Books 1-3
Release date: April 19, 2016; July 13, 2016; March 14, 2017
Synopsis Book #1: This new heartwarming contemporary romance takes place in the Florida Keys and promises romance/passion, and plenty of adventure. Cardiac surgeon, Sean Flannigan, lost his daughter to a rare form of leukemia; he can mend broken hearts, but his is beyond repair. Kayla Holmes, along with her sisters, inherited guest cottages in the Keys after their stepfather died. Their high spirits and positive energy are a beacon of light that directs Sean's sailboat into Paradise Cove. Can Kayla's compassion find a crack in Sean's armor? Sometimes love isn't enough to heal a wounded heart.
Reviews
Paradise Cove kicks off a charming 3 book series penned handily by Patrice Wilton. There are a lot of really great elements of these stories and a few less than favorable, but nothing that detracts completely. I adore the premise of family series - stories that unfold around a group of siblings as they each fight for and against the fate of true love.
The Holmes family moves to Paradise Cove when their step dad passes away and they decide to make an honest go of his retirement fantasy of a Key West beach resort. The Jersey shore has nothing on these lovely ladies - mom, Anna, and her three girls: Kayla, Taylor and Brittany. They charm their guests with mandatory happy hours and tasty nosh every evening. Kayla, the eldest, takes charge of the daily routine; Taylor, the chef, whips up delish dishes to serve to guests every evening and Brittany, the youngest, um flirts basically.
Kayla's life takes a sharp turn when a mysterious stranger arrives and rents a cabin for 3 months. A seeming glutton for punishment, Kayla foists her charms on him repeatedly. Just as Sean starts to show some interests, he shies away, taking off in his boat and returning with a half drowned family of Cuban refugees and hides them in his cabin. Even this potential legal disaster doesn't deter Kayla's desire for the grieving doctor and she makes it her personal mission to help him return to the land of the living. Theirs is a sensual and passionate connection. Ms. Wilton manages to craft some seriously sexy moments in an otherwise light-hearted romance.
The big downsides for me were first, the repeated reiterations of how much these sisters loved each other - even when they were intentionally needling the others, there were constant mentions of their sisterly bond. The other moments involved the over-riding angst displayed by Sean and Kayla both. The classic failures to communicate and need to hold onto pain of the past by both in this couple was a bit frustrating at times. However, it wasn't enough to dissuade me from moving on quickly to book two, which I highly recommend. Ms. Wilton takes a fair amount of time in book one with world building and back story but not as much on character development, but readers who persevere will be rewarded in book 2 which has much more character driven story arcs (or maybe I just liked Taylor and Colt's story better). More on that next time!
As for the narration, book one was read by Cynthia Vail, who for the most part did a very nice job voice acting this story. I enjoy a slightly huskier female voice for narration and most of her female voices were quite enjoyable to listen too. There were some inconsistencies with Sean's Australian accent and that tended to throw me out of the story a bit. As with the writing, it wasn't so significant that I was ever tempted to leave the Island life of the Keys in search of other stories.
I highly recommend this fun, summer perfect series if you're looking to take your brain on a sunny getaway!
About the Author: Patrice Wilton
Patrice Wilton knew from the age of twelve that she wanted to write books that would take the reader to faraway places. She was born in Vancouver, Canada, and had a great need to see the world that she had read about.
Patrice became a flight attendant for seventeen years and traveled the world. At the age of forty she sat down to write her first book—in longhand! Her interests include tennis, golf, and writing stories for women of all ages.
She is a mother of two, has four lovely grand-daughters and one grandson, and a wonderful man at her side. They live in West Palm Beach, Florida, where he teaches her golf, and she teaches him patience.
She has twenty-five books published on Amazon, and is a NY Times and USA Today best selling author.
Audio Excerpts
Audio Sample
Voicing Kayla and Paradise Cove: Cynthia Vail
Cynthia Vail is a fulltime professional voice actor with more than a dozen years of experience and national clients such as McDonalds and Starwood.On Voicing Kayla and Paradise Cove
I fell in love with Kayla the moment I started reading Paradise Cove. She is a wonderful blend of being unassuming, stubborn, and sharp. It was a joy to get those nuances of her character and really grow with her as she comes into her own. She can be so stubborn and sexy at the same time. I won’t give anything away, but she makes a wonderful centerpiece for the story and a perfect way for the amazing Patrice Wilton to start her heartfelt series about these three different sisters.
People are always curious about my steps to voicing a novel. First, I block off time to get cozy and read the whole book to myself. Then, I read it again in a “work” frame of mind… making notes, highlighting the heck out of individual lines, and using about 100 sticky notes to flag certain sections. Plus, I always have questions about pronunciations of local spots… just to make certain I say things the way a local would. For Paradise Cove, Patrice was my guide to saying things like Islamorada! Once this process is done, I have a really well-rounded feel for each of the characters. For Kayla, I was able to understand her motivations, fears, and loyalties—and infuse them into her voice right from the start.
Now it gets really fun! You know how it is when you read to yourself and you can actually hear certain voices are in your head? I’m fortunate enough to be able to let those voices out! Contrary to what some people might think, reading the different parts really isn’t difficult. Each voice, whether it’s male, female, old, young, from different parts of the world can be varied by pace, tone, and accents. You never want the accents or pitches to get too crazy because then the listener will be just hearing you-- and not the words. Subtle is best, even with variations in character. It’s the author’s words that are important… not the voiceover artist’s range of talent.
I read aloud several chapters a day, then I go back and edit where it’s needed and upload the chapter files so Patrice can hear them. She’ll catch errors or want me to re-do certain sentences that don’t sound quite right. As needed, I’ll go back and redo the sections and edit them back into the chapters and re-upload them. This is a great system so that the final product that you hear is free of flubs!
There’s always a sense of accomplishment, but also of wistfulness, when an audiobook is completed. I felt so connected to Kayla and her whole family. Fortunately, Hooked on You was right around the corner!
It’s a lot of detailed work, but as Kayla would tell you… hard work is always worth it in the end.
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