Reviewed by Larissa
TITLE: Forever Wilde in Aster Valley
AUTHOR: Lucy Lennox
NARRATOR: Michael Dean
PUBLISHER: Self-published
LENGTH: 5 hours and 42 minutes
RELEASE DATE: November 17, 2021
BLURB:
When Miller Hobbs finds himself on a winter vacation in Colorado with the giant, exceedingly loud, Marian and Wilde families, he doesn’t quite know what to do with himself. He’s not really a Marian or a Wilde despite having DNA ties to both.
So every morning before the rest of the family wakes up and fills Rockley Lodge with holiday merriment (and noise), he escapes to the quaint downtown of Aster Valley where he spies a man through the bakery window kneading dough and dancing to music only he can hear. Miller is entranced by the dancing baker, and when Darius looks up and catches Miller staring, the interest suddenly goes both ways.
Can two strangers find love among the quaint chaos of an Aster Valley Christmas? Even if it includes the two most overwhelming and meddling families vying for the title of greatest matchmakers of all time?
REVIEW:
I adore Lucy Lennox’s Forever Wilde in Aster Valley, a beautiful holiday romance that is as much about found family as it is about falling in love. This story is catnip for Lucy Lennox followers since it brings three of Ms. Lennox’s successful series together, wraps them up in one fascinating story, and ties it up with a bow – the adorable, endearing Miller Hobbs.
Miller is the new addition to the raucous Marian/Wilde clan. He recently discovered that he is Tilly’s grandson and has now been brought into this loud, all-up-in-your-business, no filter, extended family. He is, for the most part, happy and grateful to have been brought into the fold, especially since his mother, Tilly’s daughter, died six months prior, leaving him alone in the world. But as an only child of an only child, the Marian/Wilde family dynamic overwhelms him.
The family gathers in Aster Valley, Colorado for the Christmas holiday, at the chalet owned by Mikey and Tiller, from the first Aster Valley series book, Right as Raine. As such, Miller finds himself in forced proximity with everyone. For reasons not entirely situational, Miller has trouble sleeping. So he goes out wandering Aster Valley, ultimately (perhaps inevitably) finding himself at Honey, the bakery owned by Darius, a recent transplant to Aster Valley from Chicago. Miller and Darius fall into a charming, albeit rapid, courtship over cookies and croissants and fall head over heels for each other.
I love Miller and Darius’ interactions and their heartwarming, sexy, all-in relationship. This is instalove at its finest. However, part and parcel of that moniker is exceptionally fast relationship progression that, here, gets overshadowed by the Marian/Wilde found family antics and drama. I would have loved more of just Miller and Darius as a couple.
Miller’s character fascinates me. He struggles emotionally with conflicting feelings of grief, guilt, and happiness, as well as anger towards Tilly. Tilly is a magnet for our attention in every book she appears in. Her saucy, spicy, prickly demeanor provides some of the funniest moments in the Made Marian stories. She pops up in some of the Forever Wilde stories and steals the show there as well. But here, we see the struggles and fears Tilly hides beneath her outrageous antics and unapologetic demeanor. Forever Wilde in Aster Valley digs into Tilly’s complex personality, and I applaud Ms. Lennox’s decision not to romanticize her.
As promised, we visit with our beloved Wilde and Marian couples “after the HEA” and our Aster Valley contingent to a lesser extent. Mikey and Tiller are prominently featured. Sam and Truman, from Sweet as Honey, and Declan and Finn, from Hot as Heller appear, but fleetingly. Miller held his own amid this crowd, and Ms. Lennox effectively made him the story’s focal point. However, when you listen to the audiobook of Forever Wilde in Aster Valley, you find the real standout: the narrator, Michael Dean.
I’ve listened to dozens of Mr. Dean’s vocal performances, including all of the audiobooks for Ms. Lennox’s Made Marian and Forever Wilde titles. But, in Forever Wilde in Aster Valley, Mr. Dean delivers a tour de force. He channels every Marian and Wilde couple, Miller and Darius, additional family members and friends, our Aster Valley couples, other Aster Valley residents, and Julian Thick, star of the upcoming fourth book in the Aster Valley series, Thick as Thieves. I lost count of the number of distinct voices Mr. Dean brought to life in this story. Most remarkably, he manages to stay true to how he voiced each of these characters the first time around in their own stories and deliver them consistently here even amidst so many other voices that sound substantially similar. He does all of this while making it sound effortless. Mr. Dean is truly a master at his craft.
His vocal performance colorfully interprets Ms. Lennox’s carefully crafted words while also giving the characters dimension. You’ll hear a full range of voices from Mr. Dean on this title from deep and robust to wispier, higher-pitched voices, and everything in between. He tackles female voices, children, and accents like Charlie’s beautiful Irish brogue. As usual, all his fundamentals are spot-on, and he’s entirely emotionally engaged with his characters.
Listening to Michael Dean on the Forever Wilde in Aster Valley audiobook feels like coming home. So cozy up and settle in for a gorgeous, heartwarming visit with old friends, the glorious Marian/Wilde found family. This pristine, thoroughly immersive, extraordinary audiobook should have pride of place in your audio library because you’ll revisit it eagerly and often. It receives my highest and most emphatic recommendation. Enjoy.
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