The Bridge to Belle Island

By: Julie Klassen / Narrated By: James Langton

Length: 11 hrs and 15 mins

Romance takes a backseat to the Mystery, so kinda sorta >WAH<

I do so love Julie Klassen, so I was totally thrilled that she’d chucked The Bridge to Belle Island out so recently. No, I haven’t listened to all her audiobooks, esPECially since Audible nixed its Romance Package which just happened to happily feature a few of Klassen’s works (Boooo!!! Gotta get m’ romance fix!!!), so I’ve only a few others to compare this to.

That said, what I dooo love about Ms. Klassen is that she writes good stories, cleeeeean romances, and every now and again there’s a bit of a Whodunnit that goes along with them.

Here, in London, Benjamin has just been hoodwinked by a lovely woman who was caught out on her lie. Thus WHOLLY embarrassed and with his reputation in tatters, he takes on the challenge of finding more information on Belle Island after evidence found at a murder scene takes him there. He’s aaaallll: Once bitten twice shy cuz, you see, Belle Island’s grand lady happens to be the lovely (Tho’ spinster at the ripe old age of 30) Isabelle, she who makes the wine that was possibly used to poison her “uncle”.

Isabelle is written quite warmly indeed, a good woman who’s eager to help her tenants, who wants to make do with what they have/grow on the island rather than sell the place, or lease out some of the land. She employs the tenants, she’s a good friend, and did I mention that despite her VAST years, she’s lovely?

I see that I did…

This poses quite a problem for Benjamin who can’t help but begin to admire her but who canNOT get past that he’s been burned by beautiful women before. As evidence points to Isabelle, he wonders, like CONstantly, if she is indeed a murderess.

And that’s where I kinda had the problem with the romance part of this book: Benjamin’s suspicious nature has him GRILLING people constantly in the most tactless and rude sort of ways. Yes, he shows Isabelle some kindness, but he also oh so crudely questions her in a fairly obnoxious manner every now and again. Yup, Isabelle is sooo lonely, so yup she’s receptive to his kindnesses. But DUDE: Get a grip and show some decorum!

His devotion to the mystery faaaaarrrr outweighs his devotion to Isabelle, leaving me rather disappointed cuz I’m ALL about the romance in, well, ANYthing! And we all know I’m a bit of a git when it comes to deducing Who Did It as I’ll fall for any ol’ red herring. No, I didn’t see the villain but no ALSO that I didn’t see the We’re Both TOTally In Love bit either. So wah wah wah for me.

At least my toes never curled from wanton passion tho’ cuz I haaaaate that (Yay, Julie Klassen!!!).

Now onto the narration: I LOVE James Langton, but I found myself having a few reservations about his performance at the story’s beginning. Langton begins with an odd sort of cadence, a weird rhythm that sorta reminded me of Alex Wyndham (Which is NEVER a good thing!): Characters sounding imperious and offended; women sounding whispery. But then the man appeared to slough off the oddness and got into a rousing performance (Either that or the story got good enough that I stopped noticing, and considering I’m an oblivious poop, it’s a decided possibility). But I liked his voice for Isabelle, and tho’ I truuuuly wondered which nationality he was going for with her boon companion and bestie—Spanish? Italian?—I got over that as well cuz THAT character was so likable. So a thumbs up for the narration when all was said and done.

Not the best Klassen I’ve listened to, but it was another with characters living their faith rather than preaching, and it was indeed inspiring that both our Hero and heroine had major things holding them back but were willing to work on and overcome—all with a little help from God and from each other.

So Huzzah for the kindness of friends, the goodness of the people surrounding us!

A sweet Listen, and 11 hours did NOT seem that long! It’s just that I never swooned with delight, and I do soooo love a good swoooon…