Romance Audiobooks discussion

Can someone tell me why Lisa Kleypas is re-releasing her Hathaway and Wallflower audiobooks. I own some already. But when I check “Coming Soon” on Audible, it lists those books. Is there going to be a new narrator? Help!

Georgie wrote: "Can someone tell me why Lisa Kleypas is re-releasing her Hathaway and Wallflower audiobooks. I own some already. But when I check “Coming Soon” on Audible, it lists those books. Is there going to b..."

I'm not sure why. The narrator is the same, but they are being re-recorded. Mine Till Midnight has slightly altered a couple of scenes. They are seduction scenes with Cam and Amelia, and seem to be changed so they appear less like forced seduction I think. But I never thought that they did, so I'm stumped over that.

But this is the part I can't figure: apparently in the print books, there was a storyline involving an old beau of Amelia's and he is quite obviously supposed to be some sort of threat to her and her family. In the audio version that I have had for several years (I never read any of the print books) this character does not appear. The conflict comes from her worry over her brother and whether or not she should allow Cam to marry her.

I was curious as to what was going on, so I purchased the 'new' version only to find after discussing it with someone else that it is actually the original version, or seems to be anyway. I think the version I knew was better, as the storyline with the 'heavy' in the original seemed clumsily done.

Maybe all of the audios were altered from the print versions and now they are being restored, I don't know. Time will tell, I suppose. But it seems like an odd thing to do, and there are no alerts to the listener that I can see that the new version is different in any way from the older version.

I found a Goodreads discussion about this you may find interesting. Here’s the link:

https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

Jonetta wrote: "I found a Goodreads discussion about this you may find interesting. Here’s the link:

https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/..."

Thanks for link to discussion.
I've been seeing quite a few sanitized ebooks, not as many sanitized audio. I accidentally got one e-book and one audio. Best term I can come up with is awkward. Seemed important reveals were deleted when scenes were removed or modified in romance ebook. Conversations sounded stilted in the non romance audio. Even mild expletives had been deleted. I switched to non-sanitized ebook. Since then I've been careful to avoid these oddly edited ebooks and audios.

I wish she would be upfront about the changes. The whole concept is troubling.

Jonetta wrote: "I wish she would be upfront about the changes. The whole concept is troubling."

It is troubling. I need to make sure I have the original audios saved. I'm not clear on what happens when they update the versions. Does that mean your version gets updated? I don't want that. I love the books as written.

KatieV wrote: "Jonetta wrote: "I wish she would be upfront about the changes. The whole concept is troubling."
"It is troubling. I need to make sure I have the original audios saved. I'm not clear on what happens...Does that mean your version gets updated?..."

Very troubling to me when it comes to scenes and individual words.
Yes, it's possible the e copy you own could be updated.

I was involved in a discussion years ago when books were beginning to appear in e format.
Some of us were concerned about how easy it would be to change content. Language is ever evolving. What a word meant in the past may not be what it means today and what it means today may not be what it means tomorrow. Use a program to search for every occurrence of a particular word in a book then have it removed or replaced.
Example: Imagine if the a word for a particular color became so politicized that it became too controversial to use.
🐸 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=51BQf...

I recently read a romance novel from a few years ago with character named Karen. Given what Karen has come to mean it would be easy to argue that name in e editions should be changed to something else but just because one can do something doesn't mean one should. It's not like we can go back in time and change a real person's name, , but I can see some trying to do it.

Jonetta wrote: "I wish she would be upfront about the changes. The whole concept is troubling."

I agree.

Judith McNaught was forced to do a similar revision of her first book...Whitney, my Love. She changed the scene where he took her virginity, and it was more violent. Maybe this is a result of the Me Too movement and she is making the scenes less “macho?” I won’t buy the new versions, I hate it when they do this.

There is a cynical part of me that thinks a lot of this is financially motivated. The publishers aren't concerned with the original fans, because we've already purchased the book. Some of us may loser our old editions or want an e-copy, but they are counting on most of the profit coming from new buyers. They are assuming the "sanitized" content will be more palatable to a new generation of readers. Nothing against a writer making money for their craft, of course. I also realize that an author can change their mind about things they've written before.

I try to be fair, but this is a trend that I hate. Leave the old content alone and write new books with updated sensibilities. Either that, or leave both versions available. So frustrating!

I wouldn’t blame this on the MeToo movement, especially since the author hasn’t made a statement as to her motives.

As I mentioned earlier, an author has the right to do whatever they want to content they own. But! And it’s a big but...authors owe it to their readers to be transparent about it. Let us decide whether we want the new versions or not. You can’t erase the past but you need to own it and keep trying to do better going forward.

Without a statement from Kleypas, I’m unwilling to do anything with the revised versions.

(FYI, I’ve checked out her website and it’s silent about the matter, even in the Q & A section.)

Dawn wrote: "Judith McNaught was forced to do a similar revision of her first book...Whitney, my Love. She changed the scene where he took her virginity, and it was more violent. Maybe this is a result of the M..."

There is definitely an element of taking any "masterful" edge off of the sex scenes in the re-write of Married by Morning.

There was also some content removed re: Kev's attitude toward the Roma. I recall distinctly that he was not enthusiastic about his newfound cousins being in Ramsey house. Cam was loving it and Kev was worried about them having sticky fingers. Very in-character reactions from both brothers. None of Kev's reluctance to reacquaint himself with that part of his heritage is included in the new release.

Wow! Thanks for the replies. I learned a lot. Gonna check out the thread Jonetta posted. I enjoy the original print versions and I’d rather they not change them. They are a snapshot in time. They have their place. Like, for example, I enjoyed “An Unwilling Bride.” I bought the audio recently, but haven’t listened to it yet. I hope it’s not changed from the original print version.

Jonetta wrote: "As I mentioned earlier, an author has the right to do whatever they want to content they own. But! And it’s a big but...authors owe it to their readers to be transparent about it. Let us decide whe..."

Totally agree with you on your comments Jonetta. Accountability would be nice and transparency on changes. I listened to this series some time ago and loved it they way is was. Sometimes I believe author's should leave well enough alone unless something really prompts the change.