A great audiobook version for a fantastic series
Unlike many other reviewers in our genre, I’m not a follower of fan fiction. But for as long as I’ve been reviewing Sapphic books I was told that I shouldn’t miss Telanu’s Truth and Measure. I admit that I was put off by 271,584 reasons, the number of words of just the first installment out of five in the Truth and Measure verse. But now that Ylva has published the story condensed into two books – Truth and Measure and Above All Things – it was time for me to give it a go.
Vivian Carlisle, the chief editor of the revered fashion publication Du Jour, is in the middle of a messy divorce when she discovers that she’s pregnant. Jules Moretti is her highly competent assistant and an aspiring writer. As Vivian’s world as she knew it starts to collapse, both women are thrown together into an intimacy they didn’t imagine. But as life brings new challenges, their bond grows stronger and a mutual attraction starts to simmer. Will they act on their feelings or even fall in love?
Roslyn Sinclair is an established author of two very popular books, her debut novel The Lily and The Crown and The X Ingredient. Along with Truth and Measure, all these works are based on The Devil Wears Prada trope (age-gap, workplace romance with an ice queen, opposites attract, and slow burn) though Truth and Measure is the closest to the canon as it’s set, like in the movie, in the world of fashion journalism. However, this is where the similarities end as this story starts with a very original concept.
Truth and Measure is book one of two of the Carlisle Series, which should be read in chronological order. If you commit to reading this book, you need to know that you’ll have to read book two, Above all Things, for the story to feel complete.
I mentioned that the original fan fiction was 271K words, thanks to Ms. Sinclair’s hard editing work along with Ylva author Lee Winter, this first book’s word count was reduced to 120,000 words while book two is “only” 97,000 words. Translated to audiobook length, it’s a total of almost 22 hours. It sounds like a lot but I assure you that time flies while listening to it. This is a slow-burn romance, the author has no rush in developing the story and the chemistry between the mains builds up oh-so painstakingly slow. But let me tell you two things, one, it makes absolute sense in the context of the story, and two, it eventually pays off.
Abby Craden is the perfect choice for narrating this audiobook, her performance of the frosty ice queen Vivian Carlisle and the counterpoint with the young and vivacious Jules Moretti is fantastic. Ms. Craden brings the story to life and makes the listening experience even better. 5 stars.
Length:
Truth and Measure: 12 hrs and 26 mins
Above all Things: 9 hrs and 34 mins
Available in Scribd
