Bob and Nikki: Publisher’s Pack

Read Time: 2 Minutes

Discovering the Bob and Nikki series on Audible Plus feels like a stroke of luck. What might have been a passing choice for me turned into an unexpected delight. This audiobook offers a laid-back, charming narrative filled with witty banter, endearing characters, and a sprinkle of intergalactic intrigue.

Bob Wilson stumbles upon Nikki, an alien tinkering with her saucer in his driveway one day. The aliens, it turns out, resemble humans due to some cosmic happenstance. As Bob helps Nikki fix her saucer, their friendship quickly turns into a romance for the ages. As more events unfold and more people are brought into the know, the scene is set for the rest of the series.

An easy going, almost rambling but always heading forwards plot takes you along for the ride. A slice-of-life story where you’ll get to know all the characters at a relaxed pace, where even the tenses moments are handled with humour

I made a note while listening that I think is a good way of putting it: like if the Gilmore Girls were filled with a cast of good ole boys in daytime soap opera. Some of the characters, Bob included, are a little too good to be believable sometimes.

They all exude warmth and goodwill, and an unwavering kindness that sometimes verges on the implausible. Conflicts and problems are swiftly resolved, and everyone happily goes out of their way to lend a hand without hesitation.

Maybe I’m just cynical, but I couldn’t help but feel that it all seems a little too contrived.

But more realism in the interactions probably wouldn’t leave me with the warm-and-fuzzies, like the story did every time I had to press stop.

Some parts can become a little repetitive too, specifically where they need to explain to new-comers how things work, or some of the on-going jokes about the colour of Bob’s eyes as everyone thinks they should be brown, given how full of it he is.

The narration by Chris Ciulla was easy to listen to without any obvious background noises, retakes, or anything else to pull me out of the moment. His drawl and charm make the characters shine and given the number of characters he’s voicing by the end and still keeping them all straight in my head made for an excellent experience.

This is certainly a series I will be continuing with. I’ve just looked ahead and found that comparing this to a daytime soap was likely correct, as there are (at time of writing) 43 books in the series. Audible currently has the first 27 available withholding spots through to book 39.

So, it’ll be a lot of credits to drop along the way, but if it stays as fun as these first three, I believe it’ll be worth it.