Audiobook Review of Heaven, Texas by Susan Elizabeth Phillips

Gracie Snow and Bobby Tom Denton's book





Heaven, Texas

By Susan Elizabeth Phillips
Narrated by Anna Fields

Book Blurb:
It seems like an easy assignment for an assertive but sweet woman like Gracie Snow: track down her friend, Bobby Denton, a famous ex-jock, and bring him to Heaven (Texas, that is) to shoot a movie. How could he refuse a glamorous offer like that?

Easy, if you've got a big ego, a 1957 T-Bird and prefer cruising the highways for girls. And Bobby Tom isn't certain about being a movie star. Sure he's charismatic and good looking, but that doesn't mean he'll help out an overhearing Ohio wallflower.

But Bobby can't get Gracie, an angel, out of his mind. Why not head to Heaven and raise a little hell? Gracie can look out for the consequences. And chaos is sure to follow these two as they discover and delight in each other, a match made... in Heaven.

I love the characters that Susan Elizabeth Phillips creates. Yes they are awesome but they are also flawed. Bobby Tom is charming and sexy and oh so arrogant. I wanted to smack him upside the head a few times. Gracie is sweet and determined but stubborn to a fault. In fact that stubbornness made me dislike her on a few occasions. So clearly I had a love/hate relationship with this couple. 

Forced into an early football retirement due to a career ending knee injury, the former quarterback of the Chicago Stars really hasn't a clue what to do with his life. It seems like pretty much everyone who has ever met Bobby Tom wants a piece of him or a favour of some sort. I really felt for him. Taking an acting role for a Hollywood film wasn't really what he wanted but it helped him pass the time begrudgingly. 

Since Bobby Tom inadvertently got Gracie fired he devises a plan to rehire her but under the ruse that she is still employed by the film studio. Bobby Tom starts out thinking that Gracie is a bother, then he thinks she is kind of cute and after he arranges for her to get a makeover, she morphed into someone quite attractive that Bobby Tom can't seem to keep his hands off of. 

Gracie's personality and looks really mature within Heaven, Texas. She is a 30 yr old virgin, she is sexually frustrated and she just wants to lose her virgin status. She almost immediately falls in love with the handsome Bobby Tom and my favourite scene in the book is where she becomes completely drunk after three coolers and pretty much begs Bobby Tom to have sex with her. I was laughing out loud when she was crying to Bobby Tom's mother that her son was not a good man because he wouldn't have sex with her. I love a drunk and silly heroine. Always good for a laugh. 

I really loved listening to the story about these two. I laughed, got angry, gasped and all sorts of other emotions. I truly loved it but I will admit that Gracie's stubbornness made me quite angry at the end and it was almost like she was trying to be a misplaced martyr. Probably my least favourite part of the book and I was really worried that chapter was going to lose all the love I had gained for this couple. I have to say that it didn't ruin it but I was debating between a 4 and 5 rating. 

Teasers: cross country road trip, breast feeding film dilemma, excellent side story for Bobby Tom's mother, celebrity golf tournament