42831557Don’t Give Me Butterflies (The Holloway Girls #3) by Tara Sheets, Joell A. Jacob (Narrator)

Published July 30th 2019 by Tantor Audio, Zebra Publishing

About the Book: Pine Cove Island calls to her soul . . .

As the Queen of Impulsive Decisions, Kat Davenport has found herself without a job or a place to live. So settling on Pine Cove Island isn’t the sanest choice–meaning it’s perfect. Like the mysterious Holloway cousins, Kat has her own unique gift. In her case, it’s a knack for communicating with animals. Which makes getting hired at the local animal shelter feel like kismet. Especially when she finds a room to rent at a nearby lavender farm–complete with a sweet landlord and her brawny grandson–a guy who happens to give Kat an all-too-familiar flutter in her stomach . . .

Jordan Prescott isn’t back in Pine Cove to find romance. He’s here to sell the family farm, a fact that bewilders Kat. A former foster kid, she can’t understand why he’d give up his childhood home. So when the big-hearted beauty starts bringing home strays from the shelter, Jordan is suddenly her adversary. Until their fiery disagreements turn into fiery kisses . . .

Now Kat is falling for a man who will likely make her homeless yet again. Unless she learns how to lend her considerable powers to taming the beast lurking inside this prince . . .

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4 Stars:

The third book in The Holloway Girls was just as good as the first two in the series. This is the story of Kat Davenport a lovely woman who grew up in foster care. She has low self-esteem and this plays into her shy, introverted nature, keeping of secrets and running when things go bad. She ended up on Pine Cove Island after a bad relationship in LA. She was not sure why there, but it felt right. Just like the two previous books, she has a special ability, the ability to sense animals feelings and communicate with them. Before you close this review as ridiculous, this is not like Dr. Doolittle where she actually “talks” to animals, they don’t speak English, but she is able to determine what they are trying to communicate through their sounds and she can sense things when she touches them. Shortly after arriving, she meets Jordan Prescott. He has returned home to Pine Cove to help his grandmother fix up the lavender farm to sell. He meets Kat at the local market, in a humorous situation that had me giggling. As Kat and Jordan keep running into each other, their feelings for each other become hard to resist.

I really enjoyed the characters in this story, not only Kat and Jordan, but also Jordan’s grandmother Opal. She is 90 years old and was left to take care of the farm when her hippie son and daughter-in-law took off to live in Asia. She is the epitome of a loving grandma that doesn’t want to age gracefully. It was her actions that helped to bring Kat and Jordan together. Kat is also dealing with trying to find family. Her two new friends, Emma and Juliette, are convinced that she is family somehow, so there is a bit of a hunt, some secrets about the family home and some magic involved as well. The romance storyline is sweet to start, but becomes more intense as the story moves on. The banter between them is fun at times but there are some hurdles and roadblocks along the way that cause some problems in their relationship. I love the animal story as well. There is a miniature donkey, a couple of dogs (one with 3 legs), a goat, some chickens, a cat and kittens and a rather greedy crow that all add to the story. Take a person who loves animals, throw in someone who is allergic to cats, an animals shelter and a 90 year old grandma who wants to volunteer to foster animals and you know there will be some fun there. Overall I enjoyed this story. With a couple of storylines going on, the author does a great job of blending it all together. I loved the ending and how things worked out in the end. I definitely recommend this book to those who enjoy romance stories that are not too steamy.

I listened to the audiobook of Don’t Give Me Butterflies narrated by Joell A. Jacob. She is a new narrator to me and I enjoyed her performance very much. She gave voices to the main characters that made them easy to identify. From Kat’s voice, to the smokey raspy voice of her boss to Opal’s, they were all very distinct. As will most female narrators, the male voices are not perfect, but there was an easily identified one. The expression and emotion allowed me to enjoy this story very much. I will watch for more book narrated by this talented voice actress. The publisher, Tantor Audio, generously provided me with a copy of this audiobook upon request. The rating, ideas and opinions shared are my own.