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Technically Speaking
In this captivating and heartwarming romance from award-winning screenwriter Michael Elliot (Just Wright, Brown Sugar) and executive producer Queen Latifah, Oakland-bred LaVeesha “Vee” Gilliam (Coco Jones) is a determined single mother of an autistic son and a gifted aspiring coder. When Vee loses her job as a food-services worker at the onsite restaurant at Grapengine, a large Silicon Valley tech company, she’s unable to pay for her son’s much-needed specialized education. By a twist of fate, mistaken identity, and her tech skills, Vee meets Troy Wilson (Keith Powers), the company’s wealthy founder and CEO and a wunderkind in the tech industry, who believes that Vee is a college-educated techie who works at his company. Fate meets Vee’s raw talent, ideas, and work ethic, and both her career and romance blooms–but what will happen when Vee’s true identity is revealed?
Audible Audio
Published September 26, 2024
26 people are currently reading
311 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 335 reviews
December 14, 2024
coco jones and keith powers have so much chemistry!! i really enjoyed this. i would’ve given this 5 stars but i really don’t like books where someone is pretending to be someone else without the person knowing. also the ending was kinda meh to me like slightly unbelievable and also why did they say i love you at the end? hated that kinda
September 29, 2024
This was a quick listen. Literally felt like a movie playing out in my ears. The full cast was amazing 🩵
December 16, 2024
amazing narrators
October 5, 2024
I loved the full cast! Queen Latifah and William Stanford Davis (Mr. Johnson from Abbott Elementary!!) gave the story extra heart. I have never watched anything with Keith Powers in it nor have I had an Audiobook include music and sound effects. Yes, very safe to say that I loved this ❤️💖
January 6, 2025
I really loved this short and cute read. Some parts were a little far fetched but it didn’t detract from the story. The narrators were superb, Coco Jones, Keith Powers and the Queen herself… Latifah. I didn’t know whether I was listening to an audiobook or a full on production tv show.
December 29, 2024
Listened via audible 🎧 Cute short story.
November 3, 2024
I enjoyed the performances and the production. I thought this was a cute and quick read/listen; but overall the story was lackluster. The romance was not developed enough for me to root for either of the characters. The story itself about the job and developing the app was more interesting than the love. Overall an okay story.
October 24, 2024
Did I listen to a movie or an audio book? Audio is 10/10
This was so cute, entertaining, & funny !!! Trying to catch up on my reading goal but this was actually very good. I need more what happened next ??🤣😭
This was so cute, entertaining, & funny !!! Trying to catch up on my reading goal but this was actually very good. I need more what happened next ??🤣😭
October 24, 2024
spoilers:
this was a cute audiobook novella type ting narrated by coco jones, keith powers, queen latifah & william stanford davis.
🥰
the audio was really up there. 10s across the boards, the voices, the emotions, the sound affects, the background voices/settings and more really made me feel like i was immersed in a good movie.
i love coco jones, she's a phenomenal singer, a good actor & she's drop dead gorgeous. william standford davis & queen latifah gave the story a homey, cozy black feeling to the audio 🥰♥️ and honestly, i couldn't tell the difference between marcus and keith powers at first but i got there eventually 🤣
bilal was a great friend. he had the right intentions, despite the way he encouraged my girl to move & i'm glad everything worked out. oz was the cutest lil thing! the baby dad was a greedy, broke b!tch. i can't stand a man, but especially a man wit no morals. like P. U.
ANYWAYS.
she should have told him double that check and give it back. 🤣🤣 she worked HARD? okay?!
this was good though!!
4 stars - consumed via audiobook (audible)
this was a cute audiobook novella type ting narrated by coco jones, keith powers, queen latifah & william stanford davis.
🥰
the audio was really up there. 10s across the boards, the voices, the emotions, the sound affects, the background voices/settings and more really made me feel like i was immersed in a good movie.
i love coco jones, she's a phenomenal singer, a good actor & she's drop dead gorgeous. william standford davis & queen latifah gave the story a homey, cozy black feeling to the audio 🥰♥️ and honestly, i couldn't tell the difference between marcus and keith powers at first but i got there eventually 🤣
bilal was a great friend. he had the right intentions, despite the way he encouraged my girl to move & i'm glad everything worked out. oz was the cutest lil thing! the baby dad was a greedy, broke b!tch. i can't stand a man, but especially a man wit no morals. like P. U.
ANYWAYS.
she should have told him double that check and give it back. 🤣🤣 she worked HARD? okay?!
this was good though!!
4 stars - consumed via audiobook (audible)
September 29, 2024
Audiobook Review
I struggled with this one. Not because of the narrators—they all gave good performances. But I wish the sound effects didn’t include background music. It didn’t add anything and just distracted me. Some of the other sounds were overdone too, like the clicking of heels.
As for the romance, well, there really isn’t one. At least not a satisfying one. The female lead is a single mom, desperate for money to help her autistic son. She pretends to be someone else to win $10,000. Not only do I dislike the trope, but the way it was executed felt completely unbelievable. The male lead is the owner of a tech company (the one handing out the prize money), and she’s lying to him the whole time. Oh, and he’s engaged. Yeah, not loving it.
Another thing—I had a hard time with how the story was told. It’s mostly in really short scenes, and they’re over too quick to get invested or care about the characters. I wanted to DNF the audiobook several times, but since it’s under two hours, I stuck with it. Mainly because I liked the scenes with the kid.
✨ Story: 2 stars
✨ Narration: 4 stars
I struggled with this one. Not because of the narrators—they all gave good performances. But I wish the sound effects didn’t include background music. It didn’t add anything and just distracted me. Some of the other sounds were overdone too, like the clicking of heels.
As for the romance, well, there really isn’t one. At least not a satisfying one. The female lead is a single mom, desperate for money to help her autistic son. She pretends to be someone else to win $10,000. Not only do I dislike the trope, but the way it was executed felt completely unbelievable. The male lead is the owner of a tech company (the one handing out the prize money), and she’s lying to him the whole time. Oh, and he’s engaged. Yeah, not loving it.
Another thing—I had a hard time with how the story was told. It’s mostly in really short scenes, and they’re over too quick to get invested or care about the characters. I wanted to DNF the audiobook several times, but since it’s under two hours, I stuck with it. Mainly because I liked the scenes with the kid.
✨ Story: 2 stars
✨ Narration: 4 stars
October 31, 2024
This was super cute. It’s the perfect book to listen to while you are doing household chores, or during your commute.
There are a few things that require an enormous amount of suspension of disbelief, but aside from that it’s a really fun read. It was so cool to hear all of the familiar voices.
The characters were pretty likable, but Oz was the most lovable! I’m really curious to see how others feel about the way the author wrote his character and his approach to writing about autism.
I would 1000% listen to more audiobooks like this.
There are a few things that require an enormous amount of suspension of disbelief, but aside from that it’s a really fun read. It was so cool to hear all of the familiar voices.
The characters were pretty likable, but Oz was the most lovable! I’m really curious to see how others feel about the way the author wrote his character and his approach to writing about autism.
I would 1000% listen to more audiobooks like this.
October 1, 2024
Short and sweet, loved the full cast audio
October 16, 2024
This story was really freaking cute!!
Who knew a lie could take you a long way?
Very refreshing audiobook.
Who knew a lie could take you a long way?
Very refreshing audiobook.
April 17, 2025
Something cute to listen to. The son was my favorite character. 😊
December 14, 2024
this was SUCH a good audiobook! honestly why can’t all audiobooks be like this where they play music in the background and add sound effects😭 it made it SO much more engaging!! CoCo Jones as the FMC was so good🥰
The romance aspect of it fell flat for me, i know this audiobook is only an hour and a half long but like to add insta love in the last 5 minutes is just a big NO🤣😭 i would’ve liked it better if they didn’t say i love you at all… and actually the story was so interesting they didn’t even have to add the romance! but … i guess this is supposed to be a romance 😭
ANYWAY I need Keith Powers in my ear more 🫦
The romance aspect of it fell flat for me, i know this audiobook is only an hour and a half long but like to add insta love in the last 5 minutes is just a big NO🤣😭 i would’ve liked it better if they didn’t say i love you at all… and actually the story was so interesting they didn’t even have to add the romance! but … i guess this is supposed to be a romance 😭
ANYWAY I need Keith Powers in my ear more 🫦
February 27, 2025
A fun and easy read! I loved all the drama in this book—crushes, breakups, lies, and best friends competing for the same girl, the trifling baby daddy. I definitely didn’t expect all this from the title!
November 19, 2024
This would've been a higher star rating if Vee hadn't hidden her identity for so long.
The audiobook was great. The therapist sounded just like Mr. Johnson from Abbott Elementary.
The audiobook was great. The therapist sounded just like Mr. Johnson from Abbott Elementary.
January 3, 2025
sooooo cheesy but it was cute! i def got lost half way through with the characters and the voices though. that end was so silly 😂
January 4, 2025
4⭐️ - This was a verbal movie that I saw playing in my head! I immensely enjoyed it; it was quick, short, and sweet. It reminds me of those Family Channel movies they’d play after 8 p.m. I loved it!
January 13, 2025
Loved every single minute!
September 4, 2025
I enjoyed it a very quick read with a cute story and audio was perfect YASSSSS COCO JONES👏🏾👏🏾✨
October 3, 2024
This was a cute little listen. I enjoyed it very much. I also liked the narration with Coco Jones, Keith Powers and Queen Latifah
December 14, 2024
I loved this audio. So cute. Definitely pulled at the heart strings!
November 13, 2024
3.5 Stars!
Very cute!
Very cute!
October 13, 2024
I really love on your dramas. But this one kind of fell short. It felt like a movie script instead of a script meant for an audio drama. I think it relied a lot on nonverbal cues between the characters, which made it a little confusing. But there is a way to write nonverbal cues and body language into the dialogue without it, having to be awkward.*Audio dramas i'm using the dictation function of the keyboard because I am blind
Anyway, the story also skip through a lot of scenes without really having a clear distinction between one or the next. Some of the voice actors sounded the same so I think it's really important to create something to make it a little more obvious that there is a scene change. I'm not an expert, but I am a writer and I've worked in media production this war. And in general, I enjoy audio dramas immensely.*Before I'm not trying to tell the writer how to do their job, but I am just trying to give a review about what I felt was lacking and what made me not enjoy the story as much.
Also, I wish there was a little bit more about the PR disaster that it became and also a little more discussion about how "people like us don't always get through the front door. "I would have liked a little more of that because it really adds layers to the story.
I did very much appreciate the disability disability, though, as a disabled person myself. *Disability visibility.
I also don't like how the conflict was result. And the ending scene felt really awkward. It felt like there was a lot of dead air, which is part of the nonverbal cues I mentioned. Audio drama scripts are so very different from a movie script and it really takes a certain level of creativity to really put everything you want to say into it.
Another reviewer pointed out that the scenes changed too quickly. The scenes were indeed much too short for my lighting before they switched on to another scene. I think it made the story much more confusing for me because I had barely processed what was happening. We don't have the advantage of , a visual aid with an audio drama so quick scene changes really aren't effective in my opinion.*Liking
Anyway, the story also skip through a lot of scenes without really having a clear distinction between one or the next. Some of the voice actors sounded the same so I think it's really important to create something to make it a little more obvious that there is a scene change. I'm not an expert, but I am a writer and I've worked in media production this war. And in general, I enjoy audio dramas immensely.*Before I'm not trying to tell the writer how to do their job, but I am just trying to give a review about what I felt was lacking and what made me not enjoy the story as much.
Also, I wish there was a little bit more about the PR disaster that it became and also a little more discussion about how "people like us don't always get through the front door. "I would have liked a little more of that because it really adds layers to the story.
I did very much appreciate the disability disability, though, as a disabled person myself. *Disability visibility.
I also don't like how the conflict was result. And the ending scene felt really awkward. It felt like there was a lot of dead air, which is part of the nonverbal cues I mentioned. Audio drama scripts are so very different from a movie script and it really takes a certain level of creativity to really put everything you want to say into it.
Another reviewer pointed out that the scenes changed too quickly. The scenes were indeed much too short for my lighting before they switched on to another scene. I think it made the story much more confusing for me because I had barely processed what was happening. We don't have the advantage of , a visual aid with an audio drama so quick scene changes really aren't effective in my opinion.*Liking
May 6, 2025
put this in to listen to during my 5mile walk and i would have rather listened to myself breatheeeeee. lmao
i love coco jones (honestly between that and it being free was the reason i chose it), but the writing, the pace of the script, the “action” was so bad. oz was the best part of the story for sure.
also, “i love you” by the end is CRAZY WORK. lmfaooo like
girl that man just left his fiance 1min ago ! 😭
i love coco jones (honestly between that and it being free was the reason i chose it), but the writing, the pace of the script, the “action” was so bad. oz was the best part of the story for sure.
also, “i love you” by the end is CRAZY WORK. lmfaooo like
girl that man just left his fiance 1min ago ! 😭
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
November 14, 2024
2 1/2 ⭐️ I knew this was a short novel going in. Still this audio book felt rushed especially at the end and wasn’t really a believable romance IMO. I didn’t believe the two main characters had been through enough honest experiences together to profess their love for each other. All the other drama took so long to play out, the “slow burn” didn’t progress as much as it needed to either.
Didn’t like the nonchalant/“quick to overlook it” attitude of her friends toward Vee lying. While I get why she did what she did, I still felt there wasn’t enough accountability morally in the end toward such a big and potentially detrimental lie. But maybe more of a personal preference.
The Autism angle and her fight for her son was an upside and even believable as far as the challenges go. I get that it put her in such a bind to be driven to extreme behaviors.
I know it’s fiction. It still left something to be desired for me.
Didn’t like the nonchalant/“quick to overlook it” attitude of her friends toward Vee lying. While I get why she did what she did, I still felt there wasn’t enough accountability morally in the end toward such a big and potentially detrimental lie. But maybe more of a personal preference.
The Autism angle and her fight for her son was an upside and even believable as far as the challenges go. I get that it put her in such a bind to be driven to extreme behaviors.
I know it’s fiction. It still left something to be desired for me.
October 30, 2024
This was not my jam. It’s not really an audiobook. More like listening to a play being read out loud. Could not get past how unrealistic it all felt. It seemed more like an outline for a story than a fully flushed out screenplay, or book, whatever.
March 24, 2025
⭐ 3/5
Coco Jones' voice is like cocoa butter and Queen Latifah's voice is like smooth honey 🫠
Coco Jones' voice is like cocoa butter and Queen Latifah's voice is like smooth honey 🫠
October 27, 2024
Technically Speaking by Michael Elliot
1h 50m narrated by Coco Jones, Keith Powers, Queen Latifah, and Full Cast
Genre: African-American Romance, Romantic Comedy
Featuring: Theme Song, Coding, Food Service Worker, Single Mom, Autism, Secret Identity, App
Rating as a movie: R for adult language
Songs for the soundtrack: "This Me" by Coco Jones
Books and Authors mentioned: Hansel and Gretel by the Brothers Grimm, Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes
My rating: ⭐️⭐️½👩🏿💻
My thoughts: This was like a movie, but I didn't care for the plot. Many parts were unrealistic. The romance was severely lacking.
Recommend to others: It's short and your call.
1h 50m narrated by Coco Jones, Keith Powers, Queen Latifah, and Full Cast
Genre: African-American Romance, Romantic Comedy
Featuring: Theme Song, Coding, Food Service Worker, Single Mom, Autism, Secret Identity, App
Rating as a movie: R for adult language
Songs for the soundtrack: "This Me" by Coco Jones
Books and Authors mentioned: Hansel and Gretel by the Brothers Grimm, Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes
My rating: ⭐️⭐️½👩🏿💻
My thoughts: This was like a movie, but I didn't care for the plot. Many parts were unrealistic. The romance was severely lacking.
Recommend to others: It's short and your call.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 335 reviews