Unfortunately, this one fell victim during my cell phone malfunction, and I wasn't able to review it.

I was so excited when I got the OK for the early audiobook of this novel. The description was so compelling, and it alluded to fine writing like I'd read in other novels by Jenni Ogden. As good as it sounded, the audiobook fell short of the mark. The novel is about two women and their friendship, resilience and ability to cope with trauma. The narrator's voice failed to pick up on characters' nuances or depth, leaving the story unfulfilled.

The story line covers quite a lot of sensitive topics in descriptive detail. The topics, such as abortion, stillbirth and euthanasia, may be triggers for some. There are so many layers within the characters' relationships that the narrator fails to convey. Instead of "listening" to this story, it seems to be one best read. I look forward to following up with the written words.

Call My Name is an eloquent and inspirational story about the ups and downs of long-time friendship. This book interlaces many of the experiences women face on our journey of life while tackling several heavy topics with courage and grace. The impact of trauma is also front and center in this book.

Spanning WWII through the 1990s this book is a cogent family drama set in the Australian tropics. Olivia’s mom was a prisoner in a Japanese concentration camp who suffers unimaginable abuse. The book opens with her death, and we find 13-year-old Olivia moving in with Cassandra’s family. Their mothers were best friends years ago. Olivia and Cassandra couldn’t be more different, yet they become the best of friends until they aren’t. Their friendship is tested when motherhood comes easy for one and not the other.


As someone who has struggled with infertility, I identified more deeply with Olivia. Though I wish I could be more of a free spirit like Cassandra. I enjoyed this book. The characters are well developed, the trauma and those consequences are depicted realistically. I recommend this book though due to the content may not be for everyone.

I received an advance review copy for free and am leaving this review voluntarily. Thank you Jenni Ogden and iRead Book Tours. I'm excited to be a part of this tour.

An incredible story, about friendship, family, and women being empowered to make choices over their own bodies, lives, love and the desire for children, family and a sense of belonging.

Spanning from a time of freedom in 60s, with its protests, advocacy and cry for change. Olivia comes from an entirely miserable place at the start, left alone with no-one in New Zealand. She is then sent to live with a distant friend of her mothers to wonderful property by the coast in Far North Queensland. Here she meets her match, their daughter Casandra, about the same age, who goes on to be a lifelong friend. While seemingly opposites they drift in an out of each others' lives. Separated by distance, heartache, but always gravitating back into each other's lives with their strong bond which ultimately gives strength to and empowers the other.

I really enjoyed this novel by Jenni Odgen, and couldn't wait to hear more. The narration by Naomi Barton was also well done - I don't know how she managed all those different accents! Seamlessly done and never pulling focus. Be warned, there will be tears.

A big thank you to Netgalley, Sea Dragon Press, Jenni Ogden for an advance audio edition of this book in exchange for an honest review!

I have read and enjoyed other books by this author so I looked forward to what I thought would be an entertaining family saga. Instead I have been reading/listening to this book off and on for months almost willing the book to end. Olivia’s life experiences, described in great detail, are mind numbing. Using one character to cover topics like abortion and the right to have one, overseas adoptions and the challenges faced by women choosing surrogacy as a birth option is cruel punishment for the character and the reader.

The narration was handled well enough but the story itself failed to hold my interest.


A copy of this book was received from the publisher via NetGalley for review.

What a melodramatic, repetitive story all about every aspect of motherhood or trying to become a mother. And once you get through the initial stories they all come back again and gone over again and again and again. Overall the story moving through the sixties seventies and eighties is ok, but I didn't end up liking the characters and thought the whole thing over emotional and far too repetitive. I actually liked the make characters best of all and this is supposed to be a book about women

Poignant tale but with lots of happiness embedded as well. Characters overcome tragedy and become closer eventually but lots of hurdles to deal with along the way. Well-described characters and excellent smooth narration.

This book seemed to be so long, almost as if there were four different stories in one book. I did really love the story - it touched on so many difficult seasons we can go through and shared real and raw emotions. This book touched on abortion, infertility, birth experiences, adoption, life and death, friendship, love and loss. Truly an amazing story.

I got through just about half of the audiobook before it left NetGalley. From what I read I was really interested in this and am looking forward to reading more when I can!

Call My Name AUDIO by Jenni Ogden is the story of a woman, Olivia, and her best friend and foster sister, Cassandra, throughout most of their adult lives. It began when Olivia’s mother died when she was thirteen, whether it was suicide or an accidental overdose it was never determined. Amongst her mother’s things the authorities found an old Christmas card. That was how she ended up in Australia with Aunt Katherine and Uncle William, and Cassandra and Pete. They were at once best friends and constantly at odds. Olivia suffered so much heartbreak in comparison with Cassandra’s seemingly perfect life. Sometimes she hated it. But, she had Ben, her husband, who continued to love her no matter what was going on. She worked as an editor and wrote her own books, several of which were published. She and Ben had children and loved them. They grew older, as people do.

Bad luck seemed to have latched on to Olivia. It took longer and longer to recover, it seemed. There were so many good times, though. She was a sympathetic character, written to feel for. Not like Cassandra, who appeared to have the perfect life. The plot was very loose, really more of a slice of life. If it had been true it would have been a memoir of sorts. The characters were all excellent. Often, it was easy to see the different points of view. Even, the kids had personalities. Olivia’s life was not that much different than many people’s but when condensed into 12 hours it seems horrific. It was a harrowing journey through friendship, but an entertaining book and I enjoyed it.

The narrator was Naomi Barton who did an excellent job. She has a pleasant voice and kept an even keel even when things were going poorly. He voice was soothing and easy to listen to.

I was invited to listen to a free audio e-ARC of Call My Name by Sea Dragon Press, through Netgalley. All thoughts and opinions were mine. #Netgalley #SeaDragonPress #JenniOgden #NaomiBarton #CallMyName

*4.5 Stars On My Instagram Account*

"...and there it was, my future set out before me with that second interaction, the drama, the dominance, the manipulation, the generosity, the mothering, the wealth and education, the land and the privilege."

The above insight by 13 year old Olivia when she meets Cassandra comes to fruition during a friendship that spans at least from the 1960s to the 1990s in the complex dramatic historical literary fiction Call My Name by masterful crafting author Jenni Ogden.

Olivia is rescued from finding her single Mom dead from an apparent drug overdose suicide by Cathie; a woman her Mom befriended when they were prisoners in a Japanese WWII camp. The introverted, poor, anxious Oliva is overwhelmed by the rambunctious, dramatic, popular Cassandra who has decided they are best friends and sisters for life.

At 18, Olivia leaves the New Zealand farm and heads to England where she graduates university, has a secret abortion that will have shocking repercussions, and falls in love. Soon Cassandra is back in Olivia's life and as they juggle their relationship they deal with almost every heartbreaking tragedy a person can experience.

Besides spectacular acting ability, narrator Jenni Ogden mastering of accents, from New Zealand, Scottish, Japanese and English was a marvel to hear.

I appreciated that Olivia and Cassandra were never perfect and as their friendship is tested through grief, guilt, lies, omissions, jealousy, and turbulent decades, with political interference in their life decisions, there was love. When the last line was spoken I gasped out loud. I phoned my best friend of 47 years and when I heard her call my name my heart was full.

I received a free copy of this audiobook from the publishers via #netgalley for a fair and honest review. All opinions are my own.

*Be aware of triggers, including rape, miscarriage, and child death.

"Call My Name" by Jenni Ogden is a Family and Friendship Fiction Story!

Very early in, I had doubts this was an audiobook for me!

I don't particularly care to begin a book with female bathroom talk. I'm sorry, but it feels wrong in so many ways!

The overly descriptive and flowery writing in the first few chapters does improve as the book progresses, but unfortunately, I remember it vividly!

The audiobook narrator, Naomi Barton, has a soft whisper-y voice that feels over-the-top. Her voice remains this way through the entire audiobook and makes-everything-feel-constantly-the-same-from-one-sentence-to-the-next. The result is 'dialog-confusion' with little distinction in the voicing from one character to the next or between genders. The exception is the Scottish accent for one of the characters.

The story is long with continuous and unnecessary detail. There are numerous tragic events that happen making it feel overwhelmingly sad and unbelievable.

The way it ends feels abrupt. It just ends, leaving the story hanging. Are there plans for a sequel? Maybe an epilogue would help smooth this edge!

This is a story about family and friendships that will appeal to a wide audience of readers. There are many four and five star reviews to read to help you decide if this is one for you. I do believe the digital or print copy, rather than the audiobook, would be the best choice for a better reading experience.

2.5 stars for the audiobook, 3 stars for the story, averaging 2.75 stars.

Thank you to NetGalley, Sea Dragon Press, and Jenni Ogden for an ALC of this book. It has been an honor to give my honest and voluntary review.

A beautifully crafted tale about life and all of its highs and lows. Two very different girls become friends and inseparable. When tragedy happens they becomes sisters. As they grow and mature, life happens while they navigate their friendship and their vastly different personalities. Then life happens and things aren’t as clean and simple. So many emotional issues are a part of this story. Love, loss, death, fertility, motherhood, reproductive rights, relationships, what makes a family, learning about and metabolizing your own history, family and so much more. It’s an emotional listen (or read) that is at times heartbreaking and at times I cried for Olivia.The woman needed a break! Wonderful narration added to the story.

This was a beautiful book about life and all its ugliness and beauty. Olivia is the main character who has led a life of mostly tragedy. She's taken in by the family of her mother's good friend after she dies when Olivia is a child. This family will be at the center of the major events of her life from that point forward.

The book follows Olivia from childhood to adulthood. From happiness to heartbreak. It truly is the description of a life lived - - and it isn't always pretty. You see things go full circle from the beginning of relationships all the way to how things come to an end.

This book kept me hooked. It isn't that it moved at a quick pace. I think it's because I could feel Olivia's pain and joy. For a character that often didn't seem to let herself feel emotions early on, she experienced them deeply later in the book.

AUDIOBOOK: I found the narration to be perfect for this book. Accents lent to the authenticity of the storyline. 4 stars.

Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC and the early copy of the audio version. I chose to review both and the opinions contained within are my own.

This is a book about friendship, dysfunction, envy and sometimes love art. I really enjoyed the friendship between the two ladies and totally understood Evelyn’s jealousy I thought the narrator did a great job all in all I thought this was a really great book! I received this book from NetGalley and the publisher but I am leaving this review voluntarily please forgive any mistakes as I am blind and dictate my review.

NOTE: The rating is only a reflection of the narration and not the story.

Call My Name is an emotionally yet realistic view on love and friendship.

This book explores heavy topics pertaining to women and even though I am a woman and have my own fair share of trauma, reading and hearing about other women who go through the same amazes me how strong and resilient we a women is and has to be.

I enjoyed that it spans from the 60’s, “the hippy” era until the 90’s as it was well researched.

All in all, the writing was thoughtful and I would recommend this to other women to read.

*Narrator Review: The narrator on this book did not match the emotions depicted in the characters of the book. It was hard for me to listen to a cheery voice discussing a stillbirth of a child and many other delicate topics. Therefore I would not recommend this as an audiobook*

Call My Name by Jenni Ogden narrated by Naomi Barton is a book is about a deep friendship and lovely bond which was shared by Olivia and Cassandra, However, this was not a book for everyone and I was one of them. (Sorry) This latest book touched on some very sensitive subjects within my life past and now.......and I could not listen past the third chapter. I did try a few times. But, it just bought up feelings of never having a period, never being able to have children etc this book was too raw for me. I just wish I was strong enough to carry on with this book........Call my name starts with Bang and discusses whether or not she is on her period, and then if she could have sex with her new partner! if she is on her period. Blimey I so would love to be a normal woman!!! But still, I am alive!

Warning This book has topics such as abortion, loosing a child during birth resulting in a hysterectomy, overseas adoption along with surrogacy and then euthanasia. I think this should be written at the beginning to warn people who may have a problem with this topics.

The narrator Naomi Barton was lovely and her voice was so smoothing and suited this book 5 stars for her.

Warning Personal Review. Sorry.

Thank you to Netgalley and Sea Dragon Press for my advanced audio copy in exchange for my honest review.

TW: Abortion, adoption, surrogacy, rape, alcohol abuse, child loss, death, war

After 13-year-old Olivia’s mom dies of a drug overdose, she goes to live with her mom’s friend, Cathie Tulloch, and her family in Australia. Olivia’s mom and Cathie had survived the Japanese World War II prison camps together. Cathie has a 13-year-old daughter herself, and Cassandra Tulloch becomes Olivia’s sister and best friend. At 18, Olivia moves to the UK, finding independence and her partner Ben. After 5 years away, however, Olivia is homesick, and the pair move to Brisbane, Australia. There, Olivia and Ben share a hippie lifestyle with Cassandra and her husband Sebastian. As Cassandra gives birth to many healthy children, Olivia struggles with jealousy and her own difficulties in becoming a mother. As the families deal with heart wrenching events, Olivia struggles with her friendship and relationship with Cassandra and the rest of the Tullochs.

What do you do when the ones who most love you also are part and possible cause of the most painful moments of your life? I couldn’t help but marvel at how often Olivia and Cassandra were able to move past the things that happened to them and continue being best friends and sisters. I believe those who love women’s fiction (and do not need to avoid any of the trigger warnings mentioned at the top of my review) will really enjoy this book. Naomi Barton’s voice was perfect for narrating this story, both the highs and the lows.

Many thanks to NetGalley for providing me an audio ARC of this book.

This audiobook really was an emotional rollercoaster.

I absolutely loved the following of this friendship, it really shows you the depths and the highs and the lows everyone can experience. I think because of the time period it covers too it’s a really strong sense of equality between men and women, particularly in their relationships and career and how people can do it different ways.

The story is narrated so well! I really felt the different characters and had no difficulty knowing who was who, it’s really well done. It’s written incredibly too, the part where she is told about her mother during the war was just heartbreaking and I felt like I was going through that same conversation with the character, just truly so well done.

Each of the characters has so much depth to them as well, the end is truly heartbreaking (along with many heartbreaking stories along the way). I think for me it could with more around the kids as they are growing up and what they are doing with their lives and that would make it 5 starts but I completely get why the focus remains on the parents.

I highly recommend.

Thank you to NetGalley and Sea Dragon Press for the audiobook in exchange for an honest review.

I wanted to love the book, the story of a female friendship overtime, but I couldn't connect with any of the characters. The friendship between the two women felt a bit toxic at times with the addition the they kept making the wrong choices through out the story adding so much tragedy that it became too much to be enjoyable.