Good Boy

I’ll admit, I rolled my eyes at the premise—a wedding gone wrong, a grumpy/sunshine dynamic, *and* a dog? But *Good Boy* won me over in the first 20 minutes, and it’s all thanks to the narration. Tanya Eby’s Jess is a revelation: she sounds like the friend who’s one tequila shot away from a meltdown, but you’d still trust her with your life. Her delivery of Jess’s self-deprecating humor is so sharp it borders on painful—like when she mutters, *“I’m not a screw-up, I’m just… creatively compliant”*—and you *feel* the years of family judgment in her tone. Teddy Hamilton, meanwhile, turns what could’ve been a generic ‘grumpy jock’ into someone layered, his voice roughening with genuine frustration when he snaps at Jess, then softening when he’s caught off-guard by her resilience. The story’s strength lies in its chaos. Bowen doesn’t just *tell* us this wedding is a disaster—she drops us into it, with missing caterers, a groomsman’s ill-advised karaoke performance, and Tank the dog acting as the only voice of reason. The audiobook’s production leans into this, with seamless transitions between Jess and the best man’s POVs that heighten the tension. My only critique? The middle act drags slightly during a subplot involving Jess’s ex, which feels tonally disjointed from the rest of the book’s tight, comedic pacing. And while Hamilton’s performance is stellar, his voice for the secondary male characters sometimes blends together. But these are quibbles. By the time Tank ‘helps’ with the wedding cake, I was laughing out loud—and by the epilogue, I might’ve been misty-eyed. This is the rare rom-com that balances humor, heart, and heat without skimp on any of them.