The Laughing Listener
Format: Audiobook
Narrator: Max Bellmore
Length: 12 hours & 34 minutes

Story Rating: 3 Stars
Performance Rating: 5 Stars
Overall Rating: 3.5 Stars

Heeeeeey, this was pretty good! I was in the mood for a mindless romance and turned to Audible like I always do. I’ve never heard of this series or this author before in my life, but the angel thing intrigued me. I was thinking/hoping this would be the adult version of [b:Angelfall|15863832|Angelfall (Penryn & the End of Days, #1)|Susan Ee|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1464206558s/15863832.jpg|16435765]—literally the only other angel book I’ve ever read—and can report they’re absolutely nothing alike. Well, besides the whole ancient winged angel falling for a young human thing. Cue eye roll. But that didn’t stop me from enjoying this story anyway!



First of all, let me say that I thought the narrator of this book was excellent! I don’t know if it’s just the books I listen to, or if it’s a major trend for all audiobooks, but I feel like I rarely ever hear male narrators that aren’t apart of a whole cast of people. It was nice! Bellmore had a great voice that captured my attention immediately and did a wonderful job voicing the characters.

The two main characters are actually pretty awesome and they’re really what kept me going with this. I loved Annabelle! She was tough with a great sense of humor and I didn’t find her annoying like I usually do with the female protagonists in romance novels. And I surprisingly liked Zacharel too, especially once he started getting some and loosening up a little. A hottie who forcibly can’t lie to you? Ummmm, yes please! I can totally understand how people could find his character flat, but to be fair, that’s kind of the point. He’s like the Grinch growing a heart when he discovers love.



I will say that I got a little bored during Thane’s parts. I didn’t really like his character or his friends at all and started tuning out his sections after a while. There’s no way I’ll be able to handle a whole book of him unless a miracle happens in the next one. And I didn’t really understand the importance his storyline had to the main plot between Zacharel and Annabel??? It offered a different perspective on what was going on sometimes, but it was mostly separate. This thing dragged on a little too long and cutting out some of his parts would help a looooooot.

Actually, speaking of being drawn out, it felt like this book just went on and on and on. I was invested in the beginning, but by the end I was REALLY struggling to continue. Once I got about 80% through I had to force myself to keep going because I kind of stopped caring. This audiobook was 12 hours long, but I feel like it should really be only 8 or 9.

Luckily there’s a huge twist at the end that managed to wake me up because DAAAAAMN! Did not see that coming.

FINAL WORD

Meh. I really liked the beginning half, but was over it by the end. I’d say read it if you need to remember what an honest man sounds like.