Reviewed by Tori (Vicki)
TITLE: A Full Plate 
SERIES: Dreamspun Desires
AUTHOR: Kim Fielding
NARRATOR: Kenneth Obi
PUBLISHER: Dreamspinner Press
LENGTH: 5 hour 19 minutes
RELEASE DATE: June 5th, 2018
BLURB:
Opposites come together for a spicy surprise.
Bradford “Tully” Tolliver has everything—money, a great car, a beautiful condo, and a promising career as one of Portland’s hottest young lawyers. Sure, he puts in long hours and has no social life to speak of, but who needs romance when corporations pay top dollar for his expertise? He hesitates when a colleague asks if her cousin can live with him, but the arrangement will last less than a year, and then the cousin—Sage Filling—will return to his tiny hometown.
But Sage is handsome and intriguing, and his cooking makes Tully swoon. Sage has obligations back home, though, and Tully has offers he might not refuse from a persistent—and very wealthy—ex. Since Tully and Sage each have a full plate, can they make room for a side of love?
STORY REVIEW:
Tully is asked by one of his coworkers/friends if he’ll do her a favor. A BIG favor. She has offered her cousin Sage a place to stay for a year as he works in Portland making money to send home to his family in eastern Oregon. But their living arrangement isn’t working out, would Tully by chance let Sage stay with him? In exchange for a place to live, Sage will cook and do light cleaning, and by the way, he’s an awesome cook. The two meet, decide this could work, come to an agreement, and off we go! What starts as roommates of course turns in to a very sweet romance, and there is much more to Sage than we initially think.
Most of the stories that I have read in the Dreamspun Desires line are pretty fluffy romances, which they are supposed to be. I get that. I didn’t buy this when it was first released because I was concerned this one would be a little light for me when compared to some of the other books Kim Fielding has written. Then I saw it on our list of audio book available for review, and I am into audio books right now, so I thought I’d give it a try. I did like it, but as I had suspected, it was lighter than I am used to seeing from her and…. it was ok. Which is my thing, not hers! I do like lighter books, they don’t all have to be dark and dramatic, but when I compare this to other books that she has written that I have LOVED, it just didn’t quite stack up. There are moments of light drama, Sage has some family issues that come out as the story develops, but that resolves very satisfactorily eventually. There’s a medical issue for Tully, as well as an ex-boyfriend who tries to throw some weight around and acts like an asshole. But really the plot is pretty light. There’s also not much on page sex. By the end of the book I was trying to remember if there had actually been any sex on page, and I still can’t really remember!
I did like this book, and it was a good bit of lightness after some heavier books I have read recently. And I’m sure it was fun for Kim to write! Kim’s books are always well written, her characters have depth even when the plot was light, and I really liked these two guys. I liked the side characters, especially Sage’s family, and I was suitably unimpressed with the asshole ex-boyfriend. I liked the feeling of the small town that Sage is from, and I wanted all of the food Sage makes! The ending was just what I expected, and exactly what should happen for Sage and Tully. The audio version of this book kept me company on a few days of walks and car rides, and I’m glad I listened to it!
NARRATION REVIEW:
This is the first book I have listened to that was narrated by Kenneth Obi, and for the most part I liked what he did. I want to be able to tell the characters voices apart, and I could. I need to hear some emotion and passion, that was lacking a little but there really weren’t a ton of emotional or passionate scenes, so I can’t put that at the narrators feet. I like to hear accents done right, and a valiant attempt at female/kid voices. This one had no accents but there were female characters, and Kenneth did fine with those. My only issue was that the voice he used for the ex-boyfriend was really grating… which I guess was ok, since the guy was an asshole, but it kinda got on my nerves! But that is my issue and not the narrators! I think the narration was good overall and added to the story. I would totally listen to another book narrated by Kenneth Obi!
RATING: 
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