Featherbed (Vino & Veritas # 1) ~ Annabeth Albert; Narrated by Alexander Cendese & Kirt Graves

Featherbed by Annabeth Albert is the first book in the Vino & Veritas series, a collection of books written by well-known authors, that is a spin-off series based on Sarina Bowen’s True North world.

Featherbed sets the scene for the entire series: a new store is opened by one of the MCs Harrison Fletcher and his mother. It is a bookshop and wine bar combination named Vino & Veritas. The rest of the books in the series will revolve around this store and its staff.

Featherbed is delightful, low-angst, and romantic; it is the ultimate feel-good story. It’s opposites attract in that we have the controlled and contained, ex-lawyer, Harrison, who finds love with the happy-go-lucky chicken farmer, Finn. Of course, there is much more to it with neither MC really fitting into their respective moulds once they start to trust and grow together. There is a slight age-gap, but it is only a small one, and it only comes into the story really because of Harrison’s outlook. The blurb suggests that Harrison may be managing a terminal illness. Rest assured, if this is a trigger for you, there is nothing that eventuates on page in this story.

Featherbed is a joy to read from beginning to end. Annabeth Albert is a talented author, and she weaves a tale that will keep you flipping the pages. The author does a wonderful job of not only producing well developed, 3-dimensional and loveable characters that are active in this story, but she also begins to establish other characters that will feature in later books.

Although each of these books are standalone, I would recommend reading the series in order, as each book builds upon the other, and to read them all will give you the full picture. If the other books in this series are as good as Featherbed, then it won’t be a hardship to read them all!

Alexander Cendese (Finn) and Kirt Graves (Harrison) do an amazing job at bringing these beautiful characters to life. Alexander especially makes full use of his growly, teasing bedroom voice; and Kirt does a good job of capturing Harrison's bouts of melancholy, while able to turn on a dime and produce a dry teasing wit.

This is the second time I've heard these narrators work together (the other instance was Just Friends by Saxon James), and they play well off each other. Alexander Cendese is one of my favourite narrators, he usually voices the part of the the jock or more dominant character, but I also love the voices he uses for the other main character and the secondary cast. Each has a unique tone so you can tell immediately who is speaking.

I’d highly recommend Featherbed, it is an excellent start to the Vino & Veritas series, and I can’t wait to read the other books that will be released progressively over the coming weeks.