Total High School Vibe & good narration

Close to Me is the first book in The Callahans series about Drew and Fable's kids. If you are a fan of past Monica Murphy books, you will know who these characters are. But those books do not have to be read (or listened to) before starting this series. This series is about their kids.
They are a close knit family of 6 that have moved out of the limelight to raise a family in a good family town. Autumn is their oldest and we get to follow her through 4 years of high school. The first 3 years seem to be just at the beginning of the school year before we fast forward to the next school year. It focuses on Autumn and her interaction with bad boy Asher Davis. Even when he is mean to her, you can feel their chemistry. This is high school in a nutshell and I enjoyed it.

Autumn is a good girl that gets good grades, is loved by her family and doesn't do anything wrong. She's a cheerleader and does a plethora of activities and dates a good and nice guy named Ben for over a year. But that relationship never seems to go anywhere and I could never feel anything with them. They are just a surface relationship it seems, and all for looks. But with Asher? You could always feel it. He's the bad boy from the wrong side of tracks, but there's gotta be more to him, right? Oh, we learn about it and there sure is more to him than meets the eye.

Close to Me is told primarily in Autumn's POV with a couple chapters of Asher thrown in as well as Fable and Drew. It's the epitome of a mature YA. It's high school romance in it's finest. Drama, school, sports and even a little sex. All the stuff you can imagine from your high school days. I may not always like high school romance, but I could appreciate this story for what it was. I just wish we got more of an ending and maybe more of an epilogue for these two. Maybe after the final Callahan book or interspersed in those books? We will see.

As for the narrators, I thought Sarah McEwan did a great job with Autumn. She captured being a high school girl and the drama and emotions that come with that. Since she told the majority of the story, I'm glad I liked her. Narrators can make or break a story. Teddy Hamilton did a great job with Drew and Asher's chapters. I definitely felt like he changed up the feel of a father character and a down on his luck bad boy.
This definitely read and felt like a high school book. Some of it is silly drama, but that's to be expected being in high school. I'll definitely be around to finish out the rest of The Callahan clan. Their family will always be one I want to know about. Drew and Fable (and kids) Forever!!

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Teenager Brain needed.

This a highschool story about Coach’s daughter, a cheerleader/goody two shoes and a boy, football player/a rebel, who is in her father’s football team. They met in Freshman year and they became rivals until one day, it just became something more. The story will bring you each year and how their love developed. Now, I am not a teen but every once in awhile, I’ll dive in there in those YA romance books. Asher and Autumn do have something special between them but something was off for me. I think 1st off, Autumn is too immature and Asher is quite too much of a mystery. I was a bit bored and I think it’s the fact, they are TEENAGERS...IN FACT, “HORNY” TEENAGERS. LOL. All the first of everything intimate moment to the most silliest of them all. I totally forgot how hormones in high school can be & to discover the difference of love and lust. In any case, it wasn’t so bad of a story...I just didn’t like the heroine..half of the time I just want to slap her and snap out of her immaturity. I guess if you don’t like the heroine, it becomes quite cringing to continue on of the story. When I was reading the story, I just didn’t have enough power to have my “teenager” brain. Eccck.

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Amazing series

I have just loved the audio narration of this series- the vocal performance really bring to live the teenage feelings and angst of this story. Like my prior read, I really loved Autumn as a character-the tensions she feels in trying to be the person she thinks she’s supposed to be, the need to “fit in.” I found her so relatable. Her story with Ash is a bit drawn out, and I wish we’d gotten his perspective more (the later books in the series have alternating POVs, and that's more of my personal preference). We have a bit of unnecessary drama, like so many new adult/mature YA stories, but at the heart we have two characters growing up, figuring out who they are, and trying to figure out how to fit into each other’s lives. And i really loved getting to be in Drew’s head- and meeting the whole Callahan crew.

The female narrator is just fantastic- captures the whole spirit of Autumn.

What it feels like to be in high school

When the book first began I was a little skeptical. It was very high school sounding. After I readjusted my notions about the book and took it a little less seriously it delivered on its concept. If you are looking for a book about high schoolers that talk and act like adults this is not the book for you. Monica has sounding and acting like a teenager down. The book itself was cute, and a little short. The narration done by Teddy and Sarah was great no complaints. Would recommend for anyone looking for a high school romance with just a hint of enemies to lovers or someone just moving from high school lover books to younge adult books with 18+ concepts.

The Callahan Kids

Fable and Drew from One Week Girlfriend’s HEA extends to their four kids. The oldest, Autumn, has her story told in Close to Me. Again, the title is very telling. Autumn falls for a troubled QB who ends up living in her house. Proximity takes over, and what began as a sort of enemies to lovers trope turns into a trapped in the same house situation. Overall, the setting is stale and inconsequential. Much like F&D, Autumn and Asher’s personalities and chemistry drive the action of the novel. They’re a like-able couple. It’s a like-able novel. But I stalled in reading books one and two. It’s either the length or the lack of action, but something is missing. What makes these stories worth telling?

LOVE the story and Teddy.

Did not care for Sarah McEwan at all! I'm going to bear it and listen to the rest of the series and try not to cringe at her voice.

Great high school romance!

I don't tend to read a lot of high school romance, but I was sucked into Ash and Autumn's story. This was a pretty sexual novel for teenagers but that was fine with me. This story was a good wrong side of the tracks story. Autumn and Ash were drawn to each other from the very beginning, but years went by before they finally acted on what was between them. I loved the damaged boy that Ash was and how Autumn made him a better person. This was a great story and I need to get book 2!

The narrators did a great job bringing these characters to life.