Chantel Guertin’s latest release, Gigi, Listening, will hit store shelves on March 28, 2023. In Canada, the author’s home country, the same book is titled Two for the Road. Readers join Gigi Rutherford as she goes on a surprise trip to England to meet the man behind the voice she loves. Will her expectations be met?
I want to thank Kensington Books, Penguin Random House Canada, and NetGalley for the opportunity to read an advanced copy of Gigi, Listening (Two for the Road ). All opinions presented here are solely mine.
Synopsis from Goodreads
Gigi Rutherford loves love stories. She reads them, she sells them at her romance bookstore, and she could spend hours imagining the meet-cutes of every couple she encounters. But when it comes to her own love interests, Gigi is out of stock. Instead of enduring bad date after bad date, these days she’d rather curl up with her favorite audiobook and the only man who makes her heart skip a beat: Zane Wilkenson, the smooth-voiced narrator Gigi is convinced is her soulmate.
Then, she’s presented with the chance of a lifetime: a ten-day bus tour through the English countryside, an ocean away from her bookstore—all in the presence of Zane, in person, as he leads the tour.
But when Gigi arrives at the bus terminal in London, Zane is nowhere to be found. Until he shows up, she’s stuck with an eclectic group of fellow travelers: recently widowed and chatty Charlotte; trivia-obsessed Francis; Jenny, a true-crime-makeup YouTuber documenting every detail for her subscribers; and Sindhi and Roshi, a long-married couple who can’t stop bickering. Then there’s the brooding bus driver, Taj, who Gigi finds infuriating yet also incredibly alluring . . .
Positives
- The side characters are a fascinating collection of characters.
Negatives
- Gigi is a bit too much for me, and I’m not sure I could explain more without some spoilers.
My Opinions
Is it strange that my biggest complaint about this book is the decision to have two very different titles for the same book for two different, yet similar, markets? I know this is not a rare occurrence, as there are often books with varying titles in North America and the rest of the English-speaking world. But this is the first time I have encountered this in North America. When I first came across the titles, there was no indication they were the same book until after I requested both from NetGalley. Goodreads only recently added a note about the different titles and for which country they were.
Gigi is a 30-year-old bookstore owner. Every book she sells is a romance, even the westerns, fantasy, and science-fiction books she sells. Gigi has always felt like she needs to stay close to home and work hard to keep a hold of the past, maybe even to the detriment of the present and future.
While I enjoyed the supporting cast of characters, I found Gigi to be a bit too much. I understand she’s on a trip of a lifetime, and she’s struggling to hold on to her parents, but she is extremely controlling and naive. Are we sure she’s 30 years old?
The descriptions of the various places they visited in England were wonderful and made it easy to picture. However, the description of the bus itself felt clunky.
This romance has minor steamy scenes. There are a few heavy kissing scenes, but anything else is behind closed doors. Just know there are a couple of scenes involving heavy drinking, both leading to Gigi having a hangover.
Overall, the first third of the book felt slow and sluggish. I was tempted to DNF it, but I pushed on. Ultimately, I would say this is a 3.5 out of 5.
Looking for some more books to read? Check out my bookish lists, book reviews, and monthly reading wrap-ups.
Different covers and different titles always frustrates me. Nice review, Pam.
I would never have guessed that those were the same book. They look so very different, both in cover design and title! How frustrating.