Romance Audiobooks discussion

I'm listening to the last book of my Listening Challenge - Darkfever by Karen Marie Moning. Thanks for all who recommended this one as I'm totally involved in it and loving it! I also purchased Just the Sexiest Man Alive by Julie James today and plan to start in a day or two.
What are you currently listening to?

I'm listening to Blackout (All Clear, #1) by Connie Willis. It's not romance. It's a combination of historical fiction and science fiction with historians in the future time traveling back in time to observe various events during WWII. Similar to her other books, The Doomsday Book and To Say Nothing of the Dog.

So love the Fever series by KMM!! Fifth book and conclusion, Shadowfever 1-18-11, can't wait! We get Phil Gigante again from what I gather.

Just finished a quick re-listen of Kill and Tell = Linda Howard, just hit the high points this time through. :) Now I'm ready for something new.

So, shall it be Indulgence in Death or my latest UF purchase of Spider's Bite next?

Very interested to hear about Karen White's "Jason" voice. It's all about the hero, and Audible didn't give a snippet. :(

Just finished LH's Angel Creek, narrator Natalie Ross. I got it free from the library, and figured I like Ross, so even though the book was only a 3-star read for me the first time around, maybe I'd like it better with a good narrator. Ross wasn't able to make it any better - if anything, she sunk to the level of the story, doing voices well but reading the prose in a sing-song, uninteresting way. So it was still a 3-star read. Starting Crusie's Trust Me On This today...

I am listening to Lara Adrian's Kiss of Crimson. My attention was actually caught by her most recent release in the series but I am incapable of starting a series part-way through. :D

The first book was so-so but the narrator was good enough to convince me to see if the second book was better; I'm not far enough into it to be sure. I think I may just be tired of the paranormal theme of destined mates, alpha males, a dwindling warrior group who is fighting for an entire species and all that seems to go along with that set-up.

Finished Crusie's Maybe This Time last night. Narrator is outstanding. Crusie's back with all her sharpness. There are no throwaway characters with each one serving a purpose. She writes kids extremely well and the kids in this story are wonderful. Hero North gets to make an incredibly romantic speech and my only complaint is that there isn't enough of him in the book.

Almost finished with A Murderous Procession by Ariana Franklin. Jill Tanner narrates this one. Following Rosalyn Landor and Kate Reading I felt she had big shoes to fill. She has pleasantly surprised me. Now to figure out what's next.

Diane wrote: "Almost finished with A Murderous Procession by Ariana Franklin. Jill Tanner narrates this one. Following Rosalyn Landor and Kate Reading I felt she had big shoes to fill. She has pleasantly surpris..."

I just finished listening to Jill Tanner's narration of Suddenly You by Lisa Kleypas and found her performance to be quite good – almost in the excellent category. I’ve listened to two other books narrated by Tanner and been very pleased with each – Jo Goodman’s Tempting Torment and Jo Beverley’s An Arranged Marriage.

Melinda wrote: "Just finished LH's Angel Creek, narrator Natalie Ross. I got it free from the library, and figured I like Ross, so even though the book was only a 3-star read for me the first time around, maybe I'..."

I usually adore Natalie Ross narrations but there have been two exceptions - LH's Angel Creek and The Touch of Fire. I completely understand your sing-song statement.

Melinda wrote: "Just finished LH's Angel Creek, narrator Natalie Ross. I got it free from the library, and figured I like Ross, so even though the book was only a 3-star read for me the first time around, maybe I'..."

I've never been real fond of Angel Creek so the audio version doesn't tempt me. I picked up Now You See Her at a library sale and I think I might listen to it next. Seein's how my Magic Bites order didn't go through this month.

I'm still working on One Summer, and I love it. I've hit a listening snag though - sometimes I get out of listening mode and almost have to force myself to start back up again. This time it was at a very emotional part of the story, and I must have just needed a break. Another peril of listening to Romance, for me anyway.

MaryK, points like this are a reason why I'll walk into a library or a bookstore and flip through a book just to make sure I can relax and listen. I'm listening for enjoyment, not to be stressed out or upset.

Audiobooks are too slow when I'm at an emotional or suspenseful point in a book. If I already know how those sections turn out I can relax and enjoy the audio version much better.

I actually prefer to have read or at least skimmed a book before listening to it.

This wasn't even a suspenseful or sexy part, just an emotional one. Apparently, I was already moody enough that the extra emotion of the story was too much. I'm used to listening to books that are fairly neutral emotionally. ;)

I just about have to have read the book before otherwise I have trouble keeping up with the story. My eyes process info much better than my ears.

Lea's Audiobooks wrote: "Diane wrote: "Almost finished with A Murderous Procession by Ariana Franklin. Jill Tanner narrates this one. Following Rosalyn Landor and Kate Reading I felt she had big shoes to fill. She has plea..."

I was worried because the other 2 ladies have much quieter voices which seemed to fit the storylines. The reviews I read were not very complementary to Ms. Tanner either, hence me being worried. I don't think I'll worry next time I see her name as narrator. :)

...My eyes process info much better than my ears.....

Another reason I like to read and listen both. My eyes like to look for "conversations" more than read all the little details, so when I listen I get all the details while once again enjoying the conversations.

I started Nora Roberts Savor the Moment today - I'm starting to think that narrator Angela Dawe has a spectacular voice actor career ahead of her. I find her narrator voice slightly young sometimes, but her character voices are really very good and very consistent. Her photo online looks like she's 20, but she has 39 listings on audible.com, all in the past 13 months. I'm putting her on my Rising Star list!

Melinda I agree about Angela Dawe, I've listened to her in a few things now but one that made her really stand out for me was Infamous by S Brockmann.

She and P Lawlor did the POV type narration with that book and I ended up wishing she had read it all by herself.

Lawlor is good, I'm a fan of his narrations. And he was just fine in Infamous but Angela Dawe stole the show IMO.

I just finished up Venom, book 3 of Jennifer Estep's Elemental Assassin series (book 1: Spider's Bite, #2: Web of Lies). The books were OK though the 3rd book was much better. The audios kind of bugged me and I'm not sure if it was the narrator or books themselves or combination.

One thing about audiobooks is that certain writer habits that can be ignored or skimmed while reading can be extremely annoying to listen to. These books had a lot of phrasing repeated and situations rehashed between books that really stood out in the audio versions.

I am interested in book 4 when it's released though I don't know if I'll get the audio or ebook.

Am now re-listening to Hunting Ground by Patricia Briggs (read by Holter Graham - enjoy this narration).

Vic wrote: "I just finished up book 3 of Jennifer Epstep's Elemental Assassin series (Venom, book 1: Spider's Bite, #2: Web of Lies). The books were OK though the 3rd book was much better. The audios kind of..."

I had the same problem with Estep's series in audiobook: the repetitive info was so much more noticeable in this format. Overall I'd call it worthwhile and I liked the narrator for the most part but her tendency to pause mid sentence as if she was reading from a teleprompter that stuttered every now and then drove me crazy.

I have a credit/month audible membership that languished for a few months. I'd started the membership mainly to feed my daughter's addiction to Georgette Heyer audiobooks. Once we had all those, she switched to Ngaio Marsh. In the last few months she hasn't wanted anything, so I let the credits pile up. I finally bought SEP's It Had to be You. More recently I bought Nobody's Baby but Mine and Match Me if You Can. (I also downloaded Howard's Dream Man which was on sale.) I listened to It Had to be You a while back, and will start Nobody's Baby soon.

Carrie wrote: "I have a credit/month audible membership that languished for a few months. I'd started the membership mainly to feed my daughter's addiction to Georgette Heyer audiobooks. Once we had all those, sh..."

Did you enjoy It Had to Be You? Your three SEP purchases and Howard's Dream Man all rank in my favorites for audio and print. Please let us know your how they work for you!

I'd never read It Had to be You in print, so during the scene after he picks the "girl" up at the convenience store I was horrified and almost stopped listening to the book. I never really warmed to his character, but I still loved the book, and the narrator, as I'd heard, was wonderful. So overall I'm looking forward to the others. I picked ones I hadn't read yet. I just finished reading Dream Man (as I mentioned on another thread), so I'll wait a little while before listening to it. But I'm looking forward to that, too. ;-)

Carrie if you've been over to the latest SOA column you've seen the caveat about Dream Man, Gigante makes Marlie sound too wimpy!

I've found that distance between the read and a listen, when I have a gripe like that, makes it easier to take. So I'm glad your waiting a bit. Then you can concentrate your listening on Dane!! :)

Anna Fields is amazing isn't she? My favorites in the Chicago Stars series start after It Had To Be You.

I think you nailed the reason why, I never quite warmed up to Dan after that squiky scene.

But I loved Phoebe and her brains and the way she played everyone, knowing exactly what she was doing.

Listening to Kissing Sin by Keri Arthur and read by Angela Dawe. This is the first book I've listened to by this reader and she's doing a fine job so far. This is book 2 in Riley Jenson (Guardian) series. Books 1, (now) 2, and 6 are available in audio. Each book has a different reader so far. I've read the whole series in book form and enjoyed them. There's lots of smex in this series though, esp. in books 1-3.

See I really liked Dan in It Had To Be You. For the scene where he scared Phoebe so badly to work, the set up of him playing fantasy games with his ex had to be there - I remember being shocked when I read the book too, at the beginning. But what especiall redeemed Dan for me was when he and Phoebe were *together* for the first time - she asked him to stop on numerous occasions and each time, he did - no questions and immediately. He didn't want to play any "no means yes" games with her and this was before he knew her personal history so it was truly just in his character rather than for a particular reason. That aspect of Dan's character stood out for me and that's (in particular) why I liked him.

Kaetrin wrote: "See I really liked Dan in It Had To Be You. For the scene where he scared Phoebe so badly to work, the set up of him playing fantasy games with his ex had to be there - I remember being shocked whe..."

Kaetrin - another who understands and appreciates Dan! I see him just as you do and, if one checks my AAR profile, they will see he is listed as one of my five favorite heroes. I understand readers' difficulty with Dan and his ex-wife's fantasy games (at her insistence) but I soon forgave him – obviously.

However, this has made me wonder about something - I read IHTBY before listening to it which allowed me to glance ahead if I was uncomfortable with something. Don't think I did so with IHTBY but maybe listening to that scene first makes a difference.

count me as another Dan fan, in spite of That Scene! I only have the first SEPs as audio books, never read them. I didn't like all of them the same on the first listen, but I do a re-read every few months, in order, and now love them all! I had a negative reaction to Jane Darling on first listen too but now I look forward to every story.

Dan was sexy and all, but he had anger issues that were never addressed, and SEP failed to convince me of his sudden turn-about to family man. He was no innocent in his relationship with his ex-wife. He might not have initiated it, but he was willing and it was self-serving for him. I also thought the pseudo-suspense plot in the book was cheesy.

That said, SEP writing is beautiful, and she has a gift for drawing emotions from her readers. Anna Fields is a gifted narrator, and between the two, listening to the book on audio is a real treat. I don't think Dan will ever be a favorite of mine, but I'll most likely listen to this again at some point. I'm looking forward to Nobody's Baby.

He was no innocent in his relationship with his ex-wife. He might not have initiated it, but he was willing

Not to really start a serious debate about this book, but frankly I thought the role-playing with the ex-wife was funny - SEP shocked most of us with the intro to it, as she no doubt intended. Now that I've listened to it umpteen times, I laugh every time! In real life, Dan wouldn't be my type but in the book he cracks me up!

On topic, I'm out of audible credits and have nothing I want to listen to on my computer!! I hate it when that happens. I actually have 4 or 5 un-listened-to audiobooks that I just don't want to listen to right now, and I'm not in the mood for a re-listen. Waah!! Stuck! I spent 45 minutes last night with 5 tabs open in Firefox, reading other people's reviews and looking for something new and fun to read for free at the library! and... I have a road trip coming up... arg!

Melinda~ It's okay to disagree about Dan. ;-)

I'm a real newbie when it comes to audiobooks. I've mainly listened on car trips and they have to be ones that are appropriate for the whole family. We've listened to a lot of Newberry winners, Jane Austen, Wodehouse and Tolkien, but not much popular fiction. I put in that caveat because you've probably listened to Georgette Heyer books already. The are wonderfully fun, and the varied narrators have all been excellent. And just fyi~ my grown daughter's favorite book on audio is Possession by A.S. Byatt. It's a beautifully written book, very lyrical.

I hope you find something you're interested in listening to for your road trip!

In the "appropriate for the whole family" category, have you tried Rex Stout's Nero Wolfe books? I've listened to Some Buried Caesar and Before Midnight and thought they were pretty fun. It helps that I can picture Timothy Hutton as Archie thanks to A&E's mystery series. :) I mention it because you said earlier that your daughter enjoys Ngaio Marsh.

Melinda wrote: "I'm out of audible credits and have nothing I want to listen to on my computer!! ... looking for something new and fun to read for free at the library! and... I have a road trip coming up... arg!

Bummer. Does your library have any Mary Stewart or "Death in" books by M.M. Kaye? I downloaded three audios from my library to experiment with narrators. They're books I wouldn't mind listening to - not favorites - if the narration is tolerable.

@Melinda Oh! M.C. Beaton's Hamish books as read by Davina Porter are very good. They're mystery, though, not romance, but the character is great and Porter does a great job with the voices. Consider it a mystery rec from a romance reader. ;)

Another library idea but it's a longshot - See if they have Never Pick Up Hitch-Hikers! by Ellis Peters, read by William Gaminara. It is awesome. I need to write up a review of it. It's an old-fashioned (because the book is old) mystery-romance that I love.

Just got Dragon Bones by Patricia Briggs and read by Joe Manganiello. It's epic fantasy and the books have been out for some time. Not sure when book 2 audio is coming out but think it's soon-ish.

@MaryK - I LOVE Davina Porter and haven't heard a book she's read that I didn't like!

If you want something I thought was an absolute hoot to listen to, try LAMB: THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO BIFF, CHRIST'S CHILDHOOD PAL by Christopher Moore. It's read by Fisher Stevens and he does a fabulous job narrating. I think I enjoyed it so much precisely because of his narration. :)

Just finished listening to all four books of Karen Marie Moning's Fever series. I'm talking seriously good. Can't wait for the fifth and final of the series in January.
I'm now listening to Christmas Eve at Friday Harbor by Lisa Kleypas. It's short (only 4 hours) but I've adored her other contemporaries so I couldn't pass it up. I'm trying to decide what's next and fortunately I have a good selection of books I've yet to hear in my audio library. I was planning on jumping back into the Sookie Stackhouse series with #9, Dead and Gone, but I'm worn out from all the action in the Fever series. I need something nice and calming!

I just finished American Assassin by Vince Flynn which I liked - I haven't listened to the entire Mitch Rapp series but this book is a prequel so I knew I wasn't missing anything. I have that "series affliction" also, can't stand to read them out of order!

I also listened to Indulgence in Death which I thought was very good but then I love the In Death series. The "solve the murder mystery" part of the story was better than the last few books.

I have The Poison Throne by Celine Keirnan in my cart, it's book 1 of a historical fantasy trilogy and it seems to walk the line of YA also. I just read a recommendation by a blogger I trust, she loves the series but I'm not a fan of YA usually though I loved the Hunger Game series when I finally gave in and listened to it, I highly recommend it.

Peggy wrote: "I also listened to Indulgence in Death which I thought was very good but then I love the In Death series. The "solve the murder mystery" part of the story was better than the last few books."


I agree this is an awesome series and I LOVE Susan Ericksen's reading. Though warning if you decide to get into the series - triggering event (view spoiler)[child molestation in character's past that I could affect your enjoyment. (hide spoiler)]


Also, in terms of the reading, the audiobooks started being released @ Seduction in Death - book 16 if you include novellas - so she doesn't REALLY do the character voices as well (no real differentiation between Peabody and Dallas). They then did the backlist and Ericksen did the character voices in those. It can be jarring if you start listening from the beginning and then get to Seduction. I had hard time telling when Peabody was speaking opposed to Dallas (so, you could consider doing this one in ebook).

In terms of the latest book Indulgence in Death (book 38 in series including novellas), I found the mystery part much less satisfying because we were told/shown who the villain was fairly early on and then the story was more about the catching instead of us trying to figure out the who along with the characters. The mystery portion was also very similar to an earlier ID book (I'd give 3.5/5 *). All that being said, I still enjoyed the book and was happy to have gotten it.

Doing a re-listen of Anne Bishop's Daughter of The Blood read by John Sharian.

When I first tried listening to this series read by John, I had a hard time because I didn't hear Jaenelle the way John read her character. I've re-listened to all of the books in this series many times at this point and can't imagine hearing anyone else reading them.

Note: This is a dark fantasy series.

Finished Christmas Eve at Friday Harbor by Lisa Kleypas in no time flat - 4 hours is really a short period of time.

I started Joanna Bourne's The Spymaster's Lady. The narrator, Kristen Potter, looks to be new to the scene and she is GOOD. Although this was a favorite in print for a lot of people, it was only okay for me. Happily, I'm already much more engaged in the audio than I was at this point in the book.

I just finished relistening to SEP's This Heart of Mine. Loved it, loved it all over again! Anna Fields is so perfect on her timing and she has the ability to make heroes sound like such "guys".

I'm finishing up Bourne's The Spymaster's Lady - a fairly serious historical but it's a captivating story with some excellent narration.

Next I plan to treat myself to Head Over Heels by Susan Andersen. I've been waiting for a special time to listen to this one and what better time than the holidays.

Audio book GRINCH here - I listened to the first 2 of Brockmann's TDD series, only to learn the next couple of books are not in audio. Hmph.

Then Unsung Hero, book 1 of Troubleshooters, came up on the sale, so I thought I'd get that. I had already listened to the last 3 of the Troubleshooters when they came out, so I thought it would be fun to hear the whole series in audio.

Wrong.

I'm sorry, but don't these narrators do any research at all? I am really letting this guy get under my skin - he is pronouncing Tom Paoletti's name ALL WRONG! he is saying Pay - oh - letti. It's obviously an Italian name, and is pronounced Pah - oh - letti (or really, Pao - let - ti 3 syllables where the Pah and the Oh run together). I know Paoletti appears in all the books, and I'm pretty sure it's pronounced correctly in the 3 I listened to.

Then there's Sam Starrett's name. Now, I'm not as sure of this, but I would say it rhymes with Stare - it or Bare - it, like the name Garrett. This narrator rhymes it with Star - it or Bar - it.

So he's getting on my last nerve and now I'm getting critical and uber-picky. He says "didn't" as Did Dint. Like it's 2 syllables. Did Dint.

The thought of him ruining Tom and Kelly's HEA for me - not to mention Joe's story - just made me DNF it. Dang. I feel like a crabby grinch. Grrrrrr.

"Did Dint" Contraction Fail! LMAO!

Sorry, I'm sure it was very frustrating as a first-hand experience.

Lea's Audiobooks wrote: "I just finished relistening to SEP's This Heart of Mine. Loved it, loved it all over again! Anna Fields is so perfect on her timing and she has the ability to make heroes sound like such "guys".
..."

Yeah, there are multiple readers for this series. But I believe all the Troubleshooters are now available in audio. I didn't care for book 2 so skipped it but have all the others (besides 5 & 7 but they're on audible) on audio. Hmm... just re-read your message and I'm thinking you weren't talking about Troubleshooters :)

Listening to J.D. Robb's Possession in Death (In Death, #31.5).

Yay! Finished Just the Sexiest Man Alive and loved it! Now on to The Spymaster's Lady. and that's my 2 credits for the month...

Listening to Joy Fieldings "Heartstopper".

Laura - have you listened to many of Fielding's books? Does she write more fiction or suspense? It looks as this one is suspense (but it is also categorized under romance).

Finished Devil in Winter by Lisa Kleypas. This was a DIK for me in print. It will never reach that status for me in audio. :(

Lea's Audiobooks wrote: "Laura - have you listened to many of Fielding's books? Does she write more fiction or suspense? It looks as this one is suspense (but it is also categorized under romance)."

Hey Lea, this is the first Joy Fielding I've listened to. I've only read one other book by her, "The First Time", which was definitely 'woman's fiction' and very good family drama/tearjerker story. Heartstopper is definitely suspense. I haven't seen any romantic elements yet really...its about a small town with a wacko murderer killing teenaged girls. So far the story has been developing the cast of characters and you periodically get to hear a chapter from the killer's journal. So far I like it enough to keep listening while I'm at the gym :-)