Audio Review: Work in Progress by John Inman – Narrated by Caleb Dickinson

Title: Work in Progress (A Belladonna Arms Novel)

Author: John Inman

Narrator:: Caleb Dickinson

Run Time: 7 Hours and 14 Minutes

At a Glance: I adore John Inman, I really do, and I’m glad I got to listen to Work in Progress.

Reviewed By: Pia

Blurb: Dumped by his lover, Harlie Rose ducks for cover in the Belladonna Arms, a seedy apartment building perched high on a hill in downtown San Diego. What he doesn’t know is that the Belladonna Arms has a reputation for romance—and Harlie is about to become its next victim.

Finding a job at a deli up the street, Harlie meets Milan, a gorgeous but cranky baker. Unaware that Milan is suffering the effects of a broken heart just as Harlie is, the two men circle around each other, manning the barricades, both unwilling to open themselves up to love yet again.

But even the most stubborn heart can be conquered.

With his new friends to back him up—Sylvia, on the verge of her final surgery to become a woman, Arthur, the aging drag queen who is about to discover a romance of his own, and Stanley and Roger, the handsome young couple in 5C who lead by example, Harlie soon learns that at the Belladonna Arms, love is always just around the corner waiting to pounce. Whether you want it to or not.

But tragedy also drops in now and then.

Review: I adore John Inman, I really do, and I’m glad I got to listen to Work in Progress, the second book in the Belladonna Arms series.

After being dumped by his lover, author Harlie Rose leaves for a four month road trip, returning to San Diego during a rain storm, where he meets Arthur, an aging, hairy drag queen, who rents him an apartment and introduces him to the rest of the strange and wonderful tenants of The Belladonna Arms.

Finding a job at a deli as a baker’s assistant, he meets Milan, tall, sexy, broody Milan, who has also just broken up with his partner and who is also attracted to Harlie but isn’t planning on doing anything about it. Thanks to meddling friends and the Belladonna’s pollen, most of our favourite quirky characters get their happy ending.

I think Caleb Dickinson did a great job narrating. Each person had depth and character, and I never once got confused or had to ask myself who was speaking. The only thing I would change is the long silences at the end of each chapter, but other than that I loved this audio book.