Reading.is.your.destiny

🎧📖💚PUB DAY AUDIOBOOK REVIEW💚📖🎧(@prhaudio @doubledaybooks #partner)

⭐⭐⭐⭐

📖Title: Same As It Ever Was
✍️Author: Claire Lombardo
📅Pub date: June 18, 2024 (TODAY)
⏳Audiobook length: 18 hrs, 21 min
🗣️Audiobook narrator: Emily Rankin

💚I really struggled writing this review, because while I absolutely loved the writing (give me all the family sagas), I struggled with some of the content and character’s choices. I’ll try hard to keep it short and sweet. The book itself was not short (500+ pages and 18+ hrs on audio) and often wasn’t sweet either. There were so many times I wanted to grab the main character Julia by the shoulder and (lovingly) shout “WHAT ARE YOU THINKING?”

💙The story mostly centers around one character. Julia. Oh, Julia. For much of the book, Julia was not a likeable character in my eyes. I began to wonder why she was the way that she was and why she was so miserable, etc. etc. I do think that it was probably the author’s intent to make the reader feel that way so she can then begin to answer those questions for us. Once she did, I had a few “Aha!” moments.

💚The readers are slowly fed more and more details about Julia’s life through flashbacks and the current timeline. I think that definitely helped keep me locked in.

💙I think Lombardo accomplished exactly what she set out to do. I ended up feeling like I knew Julia VERY WELL. You know an author is talented when she can make me eagerly listen to 18+ hours about mostly one person. There were times the story was slower than others, but I never wanted to put it down.

💚This will undoubtedly be a huge hit and deeply resonate with many readers.

🎧The audio was narrated by Emily Rankin and she really took it to the next level for me. She was so easy to listen to. I forgot I was listening to a narrator and felt like I was just listening to the characters talk to me. Highly recommend this format.

❓What’s the last audiobook you listened to? Did you like it?