Clara’s Verdict
Melissa Good’s Tropical Storm — the first book of The Dar & Kerry Series — has the feel of a novel that became something considerably larger than its author initially intended. Originally published online, it accumulated a passionate readership long before it reached commercial print or audio, and that grassroots affection is entirely earned. This is a character-driven romance with genuine emotional intelligence, and at 27 hours and 21 minutes it gives the relationship between Dar Roberts and Kerry Stuart the space and patience it deserves. Narrated by Elisabeth Ashby for Tantor Audio, it holds a rating of 4.6 out of 5 from 297 listeners across a span of reviews covering more than a decade.
About the audiobook
Dar Roberts is formidable by design. A corporate raider for a multi-national technology company, she is cold, precise, and deliberately isolated — someone who has decided that friendship is a luxury she cannot afford and that love is a territory she will never enter. She does her job with razor-sharp accuracy and maintains the kind of personal armour that only becomes necessary when someone has learned, at considerable cost, that vulnerability is dangerous.
Kerry Stuart has come to Florida from Michigan to escape her overbearing politician father and the constraints of a family that had very specific and suffocating expectations of her. After college she built her way up to a supervisory position at a small technology company — only to have it absorbed by Dar Roberts’s organisation. The beginning of Kerry and Dar’s association is characterised by disbelief, professional hostility, and mutual wariness.
What follows is a patient, carefully constructed shift in that dynamic. When Dar unexpectedly makes Kerry her personal assistant, proximity begins to reveal complexity beneath armour. Good is not interested in quick emotional shortcuts. The connection between these two women develops across hundreds of pages of shared experience, tested trust, and gradual, reluctant revelation — and the patience of that construction is precisely what gives the eventual warmth its earned quality.
The novel also explores the particular pressures that complicate the relationship: Kerry’s father, whose political power and moral conservatism represent a genuine threat to her autonomy; the corporate environment that rewards emotional armour and penalises softness; and Dar’s long-established habit of keeping people at exactly the distance she can manage. The storms of the title — both literal tropical storms and the emotional ones — arrive when both women have already invested too much to turn back.
The book contains mature themes and is honest about the difficulties of the lives it depicts. This is romance without sentimentality — which, for many readers, is exactly what they want.
The narration
Elisabeth Ashby handles the audio production for Tantor, and her performance matches the novel’s emotional register with care. Dar requires a voice that suggests controlled power — someone who has weaponised competence — while Kerry requires warmth and adaptability. Ashby navigates both convincingly and maintains the distinction across the 27-hour runtime without the fatigue that lesser narrators introduce. This is sustained, committed work that honours the novel’s emotional investment.
What readers say
Sal, reviewing from the UK, describes being so gripped that she ordered books 2 and 3 before finishing the first — a reliable indicator of genuine narrative compulsion. She notes that « the style of writing, characters and story lines are realistic to the point of being believable. » SM McCarthy, a returning reader reviewing in 2018, calls it « always a favourite series. » Miss Christine Holgate praises « great characters and a well-written sequence of events. » An anonymous reviewer from 2014 is admirably direct: « A very well written story that keeps you up to read the next chapter — I just couldn’t put it down. » Patricia Bourke offers a characteristically honest assessment: « enjoyable light reading » — which, at 27 hours, is impressive in itself.
297 reviews at 4.6 stars, spanning more than a decade, represents a loyal and enduring readership.
Who should listen?
Readers of F/F romance who want depth alongside warmth, character complexity alongside emotional payoff. This is not a short confection; it is a full-length novel that takes its people seriously and gives them room to grow. Fans of character-driven romance across any pairing — readers who valued, say, the patience of Rowell or the specificity of Chambers — will find something rewarding here.
The first book functions as a complete story while clearly establishing the foundations of a longer series. Dar and Kerry’s relationship is sufficiently developed by the novel’s conclusion to feel genuinely satisfying, but the world and the characters are established with enough complexity that the continuation feels natural rather than forced. The sequel, judging by the reviews, tends to be purchased before the final chapter ends.
A note on the production: Tantor Audio is one of the more consistent audiobook publishers for long-form commercial fiction, and the technical quality of this recording reflects that. Plan accordingly — and clear your schedule.
Listen to Tropical Storm on Audible UK and prepare to want book two before the credits roll.
