Romance Audiobooks discussion

I am completely and irrevocably in love with Kaleo Griffith's voice.
And I'm afraid he may have ruined me for any other narrators, haha!
Does anyone have any suggestions who I should listen to next?

Ashe wrote: "I am completely and irrevocably in love with Kaleo Griffith's voice.
And I'm afraid he may have ruined me for any other narrators, haha!
Does anyone have any suggestions who I should listen to next?"

Phil Gigante did an excellent job with an old Linda Howard, Dream Man.

Nicholas Boulton is incomparable in the Laura Kinsale historicals even though I didn't like the books.

I love what Kaleo Griffiths did for the I-Team series but Boulton's voice is still tops for me as far as male narrators go:)

ElaineY wrote: "Ashe wrote: "I am completely and irrevocably in love with Kaleo Griffith's voice.
And I'm afraid he may have ruined me for any other narrators, haha!
Does anyone have any suggestions who I should ..."
Really? I may have to try them out. Thank you so much!
I don't mind the female narrations really, but I find it difficult sometimes to not cringe a bit when they lower their tone for the hero's voice. It just sounds a bit off since their personality is very much Alpha Male. I may have to flitter around and experiment with some more female narrators.

I have enjoyed Harry Berkeley (The Darkest Hour), Jim Frangione (When You Dare, Dark Lover), Victor Slezak (Envy), Tom Stechschulte (Carnal Innocence), Patrick Lawlor (Troubleshooters series), David Stuart (Sea Swept), MacLeod Andrews (Inn Boonsboro series) and Robert Petkoff (Lothaire).

Robert Petkoff narrates the IAD series and he's out.of.this.world!!!

Victor Sleazak is awesome too. :)

Victor Slazak narrates a lot of Sandra Brown's books. He's great.

Luke Daniels who narrates the Iron Druid Chronicles and I will second Phil Gigante and Robert Petkoff....excellent narrations and awesome voices

Mara wrote: "Victor Slazak narrates a lot of Sandra Brown's books. He's great."

Slezak is much, much better than Stephan Lang. It's a pity Slezak didn't SB's latest, Deadline I find Lang boring.

Although I have female narrators I follow faithfully, I usually prefer male narrators if they understand romance. A few favorites in order:
Nicholas Boulton
Victor Slezak
Tom Stechschulte
Jack Garrett
Phil Gigante
Kaleo Griffith
Stephen Lang
Antony Ferguson
Jim Frangione
Simon Prebble
And when he gets it right - Dick Hill (sometimes he sounds too old or just weird with the female characters but he also has narrated a couple of favorites)

Recent discoveries:
Derek Perkins
Patrick Lawlor (he's been around for years and is a tremendous favorite of many especially Suzanne Brockmann fans but I just gained an appreciation for his skills last year)

I know there are more but that's a start...

Scott Brick is one of my favorite narrators. I will take him over of the many male narrators out there.

Lea's Audiobooks wrote: "Although I have female narrators I follow faithfully, I usually prefer male narrators if they understand romance. A few favorites in order:
Nicholas Boulton
Victor Slezak
Tom Stechschulte
Jack Garr..."

That's a great start, Lea:)
I have the same feeling about Dick Hill. He can be a hit or miss. IIRC, I liked him in Sandra Brown's Slow Heat in Heaven.

What do you think of Harry Berkeley and Adam Paul who narrated the Maya Banks KGI series?

I have never been a Dick Hill fan. My least favorite narrator is Sandra Burr. IMHO she does not do a good job narrating.

I like Simon Vance - unfortunately, he doesn't do a lot of romances - he does more mystery/thriller

It doesn't matter. Simon is a wonderful narrator. So is Simon Prebble. He's narrated some Cynster series books.

Oh my goodness!
So many, and I'm listening to samples of each and I must say it's a very good start!
I don't know who to start with! Thank you all so much, I'm very excited!

I was not impressed with Adam Paul doing Maya Banks' Breathless Trilogy.

James Clamp isn't bad. He narrated Karen Robards's FORBIDDEN LOVE.

Melanie♥ wrote: "I was not impressed with Adam Paul doing Maya Banks' Breathless Trilogy."

I've only heard the samples of Adam Paul on the KGI series. I'm not a fan of erotic romance so I didn't check out the other Maya Banks books.

On female narrators, I can listen to Kate Forbes or Natalie Ross but I don't like the others. Books with female narrators always come second for me and I will buy only if it's an author I know and like. Most times, I just borrow from the library if it has a female narrator.

ElaineY wrote: "Lea's Audiobooks wrote: "Although I have female narrators I follow faithfully, I usually prefer male narrators if they understand romance. A few favorites in order:
Nicholas Boulton
Victor Slezak
T..."

You know, I haven't listened to Harry Berkeley and Adam Paul. Am I missing something?

Wait a minute...just listened to a sample of Harry Berkeley narrating The Darkest Hour - sounds tempting. Has anyone listened to this series? Is it erotica or does it fall more into Romantic Suspense?

And back to Dick Hill. I too loved his narration of Sandra Brown's Slow Heat in Heaven but it was recorded in 2006. But I didn't care for his narration of Brown's Breath Of Scandal or Mirror Image. As I look back on my review of MI, I said that his women characters squeak and squawk in an effort to differentiate. Yeah, that's the way it was in my recent listen of Breath of Scandal as well.

Lea's Audiobooks wrote: "And back to Dick Hill. I too loved his narration of Sandra Brown's Slow Heat in Heaven but it was recorded in 2006...."

I had the opposite reaction regarding Dick Hill in SHIH. I thought he sounded like a dirty old man and it pretty much ruined the book for me! Just a differing perspective. :)

I'm not a fan of Dick Hill either but I've gotten into his narration of the Jack Reacher's books - I'm listening to the third one now. I think he's better when he has to portray tough guys.

Lea's Audiobooks wrote: "ElaineY wrote: "Lea's Audiobooks wrote: "Although I have female narrators I follow faithfully, I usually prefer male narrators if they understand romance. A few favorites in order:
Nicholas Boulton..."

I listened to The Darkest Hour and really enjoyed Harry Berkeley's narration. It is definitely not erotica, more romantic suspense.

I just finished listening to Jennifer Ashley's Highland Pleasure series, and really enjoyed Angela Dawe's narration of it. She was very consistent with her characters over the 6 books so far.

Lea's Audiobooks wrote: "ElaineY wrote: "Lea's Audiobooks wrote: "Although I have female narrators I follow faithfully, I usually prefer male narrators if they understand romance. A few favorites in order:
Nicholas Boulton..."

I heard BoS someetime back and probably wouldn't like it as much now...but I still prefer a male over a female any day. I must have liked him enough in Mirror Image because I loved that book!

I've been wanting to listen to Maya Banks' KGI series and did buy the complete series but to be honest, the MF genre comes second to MM romance so I go back to MF only when I've exhausted my MM list. I asked about Berkeley vs Paul because some listeners didn't like the switch at all and I just want to get a bit more feedback before I start on the series.

I've had a bad experience when a favorite narrator was replaced by someone else and it totally ruined the book for me and I don't want to go through that again.

I totally get that, the best you can hope for is that you accept... usually it's not a good experience with Narrator switches. I hope authors pay attention to this discussion... usually it's acceptance or rated badly, it's rare for a series to get a boost from a new narrator... unless of course the narrator was poor to begin with...and the book series suffered from it... we've seen this happen where a great book is just "read"...blah. So "Ratings/Reviews" on audio materials matter.

For those of you who dislike female narrators, try Davina Porter. I have listened to her for close to 300 hours during the Outlander series and she is fabulous. You don't even realize she is doing a man's voice ... she just becomes him. I also enjoy Roslyn Landor's narration, especially The Winter Sea.

For males I like Simon Prebble and Nicholas Boulton.

I just listened to Midnight's Kiss by Donna Grant and I think it will be the first audiobook I will return. I don't know if it's Erika Escalona Rapson's narration or Donna Grant's writing or just a perfect storm of the two, but it was horrible.

I love, love, love Davina Porter too Beth.

Beth wrote: "For those of you who dislike female narrators, try Davina Porter. I have listened to her for close to 300 hours during the Outlander series and she is fabulous. You don't even realize she is doin..."

I don't doubt there are really great female narrators. But I listened to a sample of Davina Porter and you may be right to suggest her!

Though I read all 3 of Nora Roberts's DARING TO DREAM books. I know they have been recorded. I avoid them because Sandra Burr narrated them because I do not like her narrating style. Anyone else avoid favorite authors books because of the narrator?

This is a bit off of romance but I always loved George Guidall's narration of The Cat Who... series by Lillian Jackson Braun.

Another excellent female narrator is Barbara Rosenblatt. She did a superb job with some early Amanda Quicks. Her male voices are believable.

Mara wrote: "Though I read all 3 of Nora Roberts's DARING TO DREAM books. I know they have been recorded. I avoid them because Sandra Burr narrated them because I do not like her narrating style. Anyone else ..."

I do not buy Julia Quinn books in audio because I disliked the narrators she uses...

A listening sample is available for the new unabridged The Grand Sophy on the Naxos site. The narrator is Sarah Woodward. I am excited to hear the unabridged version!
http://www.naxosaudiobooks.com/0142.htm

@Dawn aw. such a shame. I love Julia Quinn.

Suzanne wrote: "A listening sample is available for the new unabridged The Grand Sophy on the Naxos site. The narrator is Sarah Woodward. I am excited to hear the unabridged version!
http://www.naxosaudiobooks.com..."

Thanks for the heads-up, Suzanne. I just listened to the sample. I'm going to buy! I like Woodward's vocal interpretation. I'd love all the old Heyer audiobooks to be re-recorded by Richard Armitage, though. At the moment he's only done the abridged versions but I always prefer unabriged.

But a Sarah Woodward Heyer audio would be as good.

Thank you, Marianne!! I'm so glad that you enjoy our performances, and I'm honored to be in such good company.
: )

Hi. I'm new to the Romance genre. I see some favorite male narrators mentioned here. Any others? In my experience, it's hard to find a voice and a performance that I can stick with for an entire book. Maybe it's because until now I've mostly listened to nonfiction. I appreciate any suggestions.

I am listening to Susan Duerden narrating a Julie Garwood book. I forgot how her voice and inflections take a bit of getting used to. This narration, for Lion's Lady, cracks me up though every day I start listening again. It is so melodramatic and the whispering of the male voices always make me laugh and want to whisper snidely back. I think from now on that I will think twice before listening to book narrated by Duerden.

I second, third, or fiftieth the vote for Davina Porter. She is amazing.

Curt wrote: "Hi. I'm new to the Romance genre. I see some favorite male narrators mentioned here. Any others? In my experience, it's hard to find a voice and a performance that I can stick with for an entire bo..."

You mentioned in your intro that you were struggling with a book that was narrated by it's author. In my experience author narrated books have never worked out for me and I tend to avoid them. It is important that a narration be done by someone trained as an actor or voice actor in order to avoid a monotonous recital of the book. There are probably exceptions, but I haven't run across one yet!

If you're looking for suggestions on what to listen to, I'd suggest you find something in a genre that interests you and then do a little research on the narrator. That may get you started.

JaneA wrote: "Curt wrote: "Hi. I'm new to the Romance genre. I see some favorite male narrators mentioned here. Any others? In my experience, it's hard to find a voice and a performance that I can stick with for..."

Thank you, Jane. I would agree for the most part. The only exception I've found so far is Elaine Pagels, but she's a nonfiction author. I have recently become interested in Romance and I have been doing research, but so far I haven't found many male narrators that really stand out for me. Granted I've just gotten started. I was just curious what others think.

See those listed in Lea's message #9. She has quite the list of male narrators, most of which are on my list.

Curt wrote: "Thank you, Jane. I would agree for the most part. The only exception I've found so far is Elaine Pagels, but she's a nonfiction author. I have recently become interested in Romance and I have been doing research, but so far I haven't found many male narrators that really stand out for me. Granted I've just gotten started. I was just curious what others think."

Aha! Just found Nicholas Boulton and I see the list Lea's Audiobooks posted earlier. That should be enough to get me started. Thanks.

Jonetta wrote: "See those listed in Lea's message #9. She has quite the list of male narrators, most of which are on my list."

Yes. Thanks, Jonetta. I just saw the list a few minutes ago. Guess I could have read the string more thoroughly before I started spamming the group. Just call me Captain Take-No-Notice.

Ashe wrote: "ElaineY wrote: "Ashe wrote: "I am completely and irrevocably in love with Kaleo Griffith's voice.
And I'm afraid he may have ruined me for any other narrators, haha!
Does anyone have any suggestio..."
I could listen to a directory being read IF Roberts Petkoff was reading it. He's simply amazing.
I can't listen to a male narrator who just reads the book and when it comes to a woman's voice SHE sounds just like HIM. It's ridiculous when they are intimate and it sounds like 2 men. Same goes for the women narrators when they only read the book and it sounds like two women when things become intimate. If narrators are not going to even try to do both men and women's voices they should never be a narrator. I have to disagree with some of Lea's choices for male narrators. Some of those men are simply horrible when it comes to doing women's voices. BUT some women are just as bad. Sue Pitkin and Alison Larkin come to mind. They both just read the book. No changing their voices, no emotions. That's one of the things I love about Susan Duerden. She gets better with every book she reads. She does great men's voices, she laughs, cries, yells, whispers, everything a good narrator should do.
And that's my opinion.

Trish wrote: "Ashe wrote: "ElaineY wrote: "Ashe wrote: "I am completely and irrevocably in love with Kaleo Griffith's voice.
And I'm afraid he may have ruined me for any other narrators, haha!
Does anyone have ..."

That's the thing! The sound of the voice is one thing, but the performance can either make it or break it, especially when it gets intimate...and it's more than simply vocal range.

I find myself rather inappropriately amused when narrators whisper or yell. It startles me and jerks me right out of the story. I'm also quite taken aback when narrators sing.

Curt wrote: "Trish wrote: "Ashe wrote: "ElaineY wrote: "Ashe wrote: "I am completely and irrevocably in love with Kaleo Griffith's voice.
And I'm afraid he may have ruined me for any other narrators, haha!
Doe..."

Very well said, Curt. A performance, or lack thereof, can certainly make or break a book. I can't count the times that I found a good book on Amazon (I like to just read along) then went over to Audible to listen to the sample only to find the reviews on the narrator so bad I didn't bother to listen to the sample. AND, tell me isn't so, you can buy good reviews?

Trish wrote: "Curt wrote: "Trish wrote: "Ashe wrote: "ElaineY wrote: "Ashe wrote: "I am completely and irrevocably in love with Kaleo Griffith's voice.
And I'm afraid he may have ruined me for any other narrato..."

Well, if it is so, then it's a dead end for the narrator. The proof is in the puddin'.

Kelly wrote: "I am listening to Susan Duerden narrating a Julie Garwood book. I forgot how her voice and inflections take a bit of getting used to. This narration, for Lion's Lady, cracks me up though every day ..."

Some of the narrations she did prior to narrating the Julie Garwood books were really good, not so overly dramatic as these. I really enjoyed When Beauty Tamed the Beast by Eloisa James, along with a couple of others in that series, and Lady Sophia's Lover by Lisa Kleypas. I don't remember lots of yelling and whispering in those books which turns me off as well.