Much Ado About You

December 14, 2020
Immaturity and angst overshadow the joy in this disappointing romance from Young (the On Dublin Street series). When 33-year-old Chicagoan Evangeline Starling is passed over for a promotion and stood up for dinner after a month of online flirtation, she quits her job and radically reevaluates her life, adopting the mantra “No more men who made me doubt myself. No more job that made me feel like a failure.” Conveniently, the owner of quaint English bookshop Much Ado About Books needs someone to mind her store for a month, and Shakespeare-obsessed Anglophile Evie jumps at the chance. She meets local Roane Robson after risking her life to save his beloved Great Dane from being hit by a car, instantly earning his respect. Roane is a charming, earnest suitor, and their meet-cute is lovely, but Evie herself is recycled from rom-com stereotypes. She meddles in local affairs like a modern-day Emma and is rewarded rather than criticized for her interference. Her incoherent resistance to romance, though, is a superficial salve for her insecurities and puts a serious damper on the love story. Though billed as a romantic comedy, there’s more melancholy than humor here, and not enough depth to back up the heavy emotions. This is a let down. Agent: Lauren Abramo, Dystel, Goderich & Bourret.

Narrator Imani Jade Powers has the listener wanting to hop a plane and fly to England for a pint and a visit to the Much Ado About Books shop. Chicago native Evie Starling needs a break and takes a vacation in England to run a bookshop for a few weeks. She quickly becomes immersed in the town where the shop is located. While there, she meets farmer Roane Robson when she saves his dog. Powers expertly switches from Evie's American accent to that of the villagers, even making a distinction between Roane's Scottish brogue and his cousin's more upper-class accent. She also captures Roane's tender feelings for Evie. The first-person point of view will have listeners empathizing with Evie, and Powers's gentle pacing matches the tone of the story. S.B. � AudioFile 2021, Portland, Maine