Reviewed by Annika
TITLE: Winter Oranges 
AUTHOR: Marie Sexton
NARRATOR: Nick J. Russo
PUBLISHER: Riptide Publishing
RELEASE DATE: December 7, 2016
LENGTH: 8 hours, 4 minutes
BLURB:
Jason Walker is a child star turned teen heartthrob turned reluctant B-movie regular who’s sick of his failing career. So he gives up Hollywood for northern Idaho, far away from the press, the drama of LA, and the best friend he’s secretly been in love with for years.
There’s only one problem with his new life: a strange young man only he can see is haunting his guesthouse. Except Benjamin Ward isn’t a ghost. He’s a man caught out of time, trapped since the Civil War in a magical prison where he can only watch the lives of those around him. He’s also sweet, funny, and cute as hell, with an affinity for cheesy ’80s TV shows. And he’s thrilled to finally have someone to talk to.
But Jason quickly discovers that spending all his time with a man nobody else can see or hear isn’t without its problems—especially when the tabloids find him again and make him front-page news. The local sheriff thinks he’s on drugs, and his best friend thinks he’s crazy. But Jason knows he hasn’t lost his mind. Too bad he can’t say the same thing about his heart.
REVIEW:
What can I say about Winter Oranges? It was sweet, it made me smile and it made me happy, and it Nick J. Russo did a wonderful performance of this book.
Jason Walker, a Hollywood B-movie star who needs to get away from the madness of fame and the paparazzi for a while. Purchasing a house in an Idaho small town, he hopes he find the peace he so desperately seeks. Only the first night there he spots someone watching him from the guesthouse – someone it seems no one else but he can see.
Benjamin Ward is elated when for the first time since the Civil War someone can see him. For more than 150 years he’s been trapped in a snow globe watching and waiting as time passed. Without anyone ever knowing he was there. Until Jason. After some trial and error they found a way to communicate.
I loved Jason and Ben together. There was such sweetness and tenderness in their interactions. From the beginning there was this pull between them, an invisible thread that pulled them together. Emotions ran high throughout the story. Not with drama or fights or anything the like. Just emotions in general; the need for companionship, love, falling in love. The desperation and the need to be together, the fear of the unknown. Nick J. Russo portrayed it all, made you feel a part of it. Wish for some way the two really could be together.
I love listening to Russo’s narrations. There’s never any hesitation picking up one if his books, because I know I’ll love his narrations. The voices he has for the different characters nails them in emotion as well as personality. Which is why I was so engrossed in this story that I listened to it straight through, beginning to end – and don’t regret a thing.
Winter Oranges was a beautiful love story, it made you appreciate the small things in life; the smell of oranges in winter and the taste of peppermint or cherry. All the things we take for granted but that can have such an impact. Well, that and spelling 😉
This book is perfect to listen to during those cold December nights.
RATING: 
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