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  • Title: Reminders of Him: A Novel
  • Author: Colleen Hoover
  • Narrator: Brittany Pressley, Ryan West
  • Length: 10:17:26
  • Version: Abridged
  • Release Date: 18/01/2022
  • Publisher: Brilliance Audio
  • Genre: Romance, Fiction & Literature, Contemporary, Contemporary Women, Family Life, Romance, Fiction & Literature, Contemporary, Contemporary Women, Family Life
  • ISBN13: 9.78E+12
Dear fellow seekers of human stories,

There’s a particular magic that happens when a story about second chances finds you at just the right moment in life. I was driving through the winding roads of rural Portugal when I first pressed play on “Reminders of Him”, the audiobook version of Colleen Hoover’s emotionally charged novel. The olive groves blurring past my window became the perfect backdrop for Kenna Rowan’s story of redemption – a tale that, like the best journeys, transforms both its characters and its listeners.

Hoover’s narrative unfolds with the quiet intensity of a campfire confession. Kenna’s return to town after five years in prison immediately called to mind my time in Oaxaca, where I witnessed how small communities remember – and sometimes forgive. The author masterfully explores how our past mistakes can become ghosts that haunt our present, a theme that resonated deeply with my own experiences documenting human resilience across cultures.

Brittany Pressley’s narration is nothing short of revelatory. She captures Kenna’s fragile hope with such nuanced vulnerability that I found myself pulling over more than once to fully absorb a particularly poignant moment. There’s a scene where Kenna watches her daughter from afar that Pressley delivers with such aching specificity, I could practically feel the Colorado air between them. Ryan West’s performance as Ledger provides the perfect counterbalance – his voice carries the weight of a man torn between loyalty and compassion, with a gravelly warmth that reminded me of the fishermen who’d share stories at dockside bars in Portugal.

The audiobook’s greatest strength lies in how it transforms Hoover’s already powerful prose into something even more immersive. When Ledger describes the bar’s neon sign flickering ‘like a heartbeat,’ West’s delivery makes you see it pulse against the night. The production wisely lets silence do its work too – those breathless pauses between chapters where you’re left to sit with what just happened, much like the contemplative quiet I’ve experienced in monasteries across Spain.

What surprised me most was how Hoover subverts typical romance tropes. This isn’t just about two people falling in love; it’s about what we owe to those we’ve hurt and what we deserve for ourselves. The relationship between Kenna and Ledger develops with the painful slowness of real healing – no insta-love here, just two broken people tentatively reaching across an emotional minefield. It reminded me of couples I’ve interviewed in my travels who rebuilt after addiction or infidelity – the way trust returns in fragments, not floods.

If I had one critique, it’s that some secondary characters lean slightly toward archetype, particularly the judgmental townsfolk. But Pressley’s vocal choices help differentiate them, giving each enough personality that they never feel like mere obstacles. The courtroom scene in particular showcases her range, as she shifts seamlessly between Kenna’s internal panic and the legal formalities surrounding her.

For listeners who appreciated the raw emotional honesty of “It Ends With Us” or the complex family dynamics in Jodi Picoult’s work, this audiobook delivers that same cathartic punch. But what sets it apart is how perfectly the narration enhances Hoover’s exploration of motherhood’s messy, magnificent contradictions. There’s a moment where Kenna smells her daughter’s hair for the first time in years that had me weeping at a roadside café – Pressley imbues it with such visceral longing, you can almost catch the scent of baby shampoo.

As someone who’s documented redemption stories from Rwanda to Chile, I can attest that Hoover gets one thing profoundly right: forgiveness is rarely a single grand gesture, but a series of small, daily choices. This audiobook makes you feel every hesitant step of that process in your bones. The dual narration creates a beautiful call-and-response effect, especially in chapters where Kenna and Ledger’s perspectives overlap – you hear how their emotional rhythms start to sync even when their circumstances keep them apart.

Technical aspects deserve praise too. The audio quality remains consistently crisp whether you’re listening through car speakers (as I did through the Alentejo region) or headphones. Chapter transitions are clearly marked, crucial for a story that moves between past and present. And at just over 10 hours, it’s the perfect length for a long drive or a weekend of household projects – though fair warning, you may find yourself sitting in your parked car to finish ‘just one more chapter.’

In a world that often reduces complex women to tropes, “Reminders of Him” gives us a heroine who is fully human – flawed, fierce, and fighting for her right to hope. The audiobook format elevates this intimacy, making Kenna’s whispered confessions feel like they’re being shared just with you. It’s the kind of performance that lingers long after the final words fade, much like the stories told by that Oaxacan grandmother I was privileged to listen to years ago – tales that change you simply by being heard.

With a traveler’s appreciation for stories that stay with you,
Marcus Rivera