I almost listened to “Rough Waters” in one sitting. Funny thing is that, since Audible doesn’t show you how much of the book is remaining (only how much of the current chapter remains), the ending just snuck up on me. Don’t misunderstand. It’s not like I’m saying the ending was rushed or anything like that. It’s just that I’d found myself caught up in this beautiful love story that I did not want it to end. I mean, when I heard the word “Epilogue”, I was disappointed while simultaneously knowing “Yeah, that was the perfect ending and now it’s time to wrap it up.” I was kinda sad because, in those short,, fast 4 hours and 27 minutes, I’d fallen in love with the characters and their world.
I fell in love with this book. It is perfect, from beginning to end. Just right.
J.P. Oliver, congratulations on doing such a wonderful job. I can tell you put your heart into this because the story itself has so much heart in it. I do have one minor question. I’ll leave it at the end of the review since it could, I suppose, be construed by someone to be a spoiler. It’s not a big deal sort of question… just something I was wondering.
Austin Jay, you did a terrific job helping me get so engrossed in their story.
Oh! I should mention… I set the speed to 1.5 because the reading, when I began, did seem slow. It might have been a difficult listen at normal speed for the entire duration. That is not a knock by any means. Just for any other reader who might think it is too slow that they can do that, too. (I use speed adjustment frequently).
If I have any criticism of the job you did narrating, it would be that the voices of Quinn and Lance were a bit too similar. Quinn, as we learn from Lance, has a deep voice and it would have been nice to hear what Lance heard… to hear that difference reflected in how we hear each of them. (At times I forgot which MC I was listening to and needed the context of what was being said to know). Anyhow, I wouldn’t knock you down a star for that. Just a bit of advice for your next time reading — when there are two MCs who tell their side of the story — to give each of them a unique sound to their voice, as if there were two different people assigned to read/narrate the part of each MC. (In a way, narrators of audiobooks should be like actors). I loved the way you did the voice of Sam. Adorable!
Finally… and this is what could, perhaps, be construed by someone as a SPOILER so if anyone reading this doesn’t wanna take a chance…
stop reading now….
….
My question is basically only for the author, but not something that takes away from the story (though it might have added to the story).
I’m wondering if I missed something. In the last half of the book, toward the end, we hear of a beautiful Instagram picture that Lance had taken, but I cannot remember if it was mentioned, at the time the picture was taken, that he took it. Seems like I would remember that. I am into photography myself so this might not really matter to anyone else. Anyhow, I would have liked the details, like what was going through Lance’s mind when he took the picture. Again, maybe that’s just me.
Great job, sir. I look forward to your next book! This one was terrific.