Overruled (Unabridged‪)‬

Stars Overall 4 Narration 4 Story 4

AudioBook Review: Stars Overall 4 Narration 4 Story 4

As I said before, going in I knew this was going to be a wild ride: Emma Chase writes her male characters with a varying degree of misogynistic attitude and maturity, and she seemed to heap all of that frustration on Stanton. Qualities that make him a solidly successful defense attorney don’t work in the real world, at least not without consequences.

In high school, Stanton and Jenny were an item, and then she got pregnant. Unwilling to use that pregnancy to ‘trap’ Stanton in their small Mississippi town, she made it easy for him to move on, go to school and start a career. In the ten years since that time, Stanton has visited his family back home, but it has been nebulous and untethered, he prefers the fast track and the fast women who occupy it.

Sofia is a litigator in the office with Stanton: good at her job and driven, and their friends with benefits situation is one she is fully on board with. But. She is spoiled, entitled and a bit too full of herself for my taste. Sure, she is smart, and good at her job: but she and Stanton have taken a few too many pages out of the books of their clients: NOTHING is ever their fault, their problem or their responsibility. It is always a “situation that brought it on” or someone MADE them do it. Really? GAH

Fast forward to Jenny’s wedding (YAY JENNY) to a character that will be familiar to readers of Chase’s work. And Stanton completely loses his mind. Think three year old with 3 trucks and one friend who wants to play with the truck he abandoned in the corner. THAT sort of Lost His Ever Loving Mind. And Sophia isn’t far behind: not only did she accompany Stanton in his mission to STOP the wedding, but she was deluded enough (or clueless enough) to think that her feminine wiles would keep Stanton reasonable. Can you say doormat?

Through all of the moments – funny to gaspingly incredulous – I couldn’t walk away – there is something to these characters. Perhaps I want to see if they actually get it, or grow up, or find out just how wrong they have been, but even wanting to use a Whack A Mole mallet on Stanton and Sophia, I couldn’t look away.

Narration is provided by Jason Carpenter and Charlotte Penfield and these two portrayed each character beautifully. Carpenter captures that “star high school football player’ arrogance in Stanton’s tones, while Penfield gets Sophia and gives her plenty of vocal nuances that fit her perfectly, from uber-feminist I am woman, hear me roar to rather bratty spoilt child. The dialogue is fast paced and laden with humor, these two allowed for the laughs and moments of “I can’t believe you just said that” without losing pacing or momentum. Additional characters, accents and delivery were spot on, with just enough variation in tone, delivery and accent to present each character as a recognizable change.

Alternately funny, infuriating, sweet and moments that will leave you gasping this is a story perfect for when you want an escape, not necessarily into the lives of people who have it all together, but people who are so fabulously dysfunctional that you will wonder how they make things work at all.

I received an AudioBook copy of the title from Simon Audio for purpose of honest review. I was not compensated for this review: all conclusions are my own responsibility.