Romance Audiobooks discussion

Later this year I am dedicating an entire SOA column to Linda Howard. Her narrators have been many and her backlist is long - even in audio. Could you all answer a few questions for me?
1. Do you read or listen to Linda Howard?
2. Have you tried Howard and either disliked her writing or just found yourself not inspired enough to try again?
3. If you do read/listen to Howard, what are your favorites?
4. Do you consider yourself a Howard fan?
5. Do you buy her audiobooks?
6. Is there a narrator who stands out for you?
7. What do you like best? The old style Howard, the romantic suspense Howard, or do you appreciate just about everything she writes?

To get started, I am a big Howard fan (anyone reading the column for long probably gets that). I appreciate all of Howard's styles although I have not loved all of her books. A few of her titles over the past 6 years have fallen in the C range while others have been solid As.

My favorite Howards include Death Angel, To Die For, Dream Man, & Mackenzie's Pleasure to name just a few. I do buy most of her audiobooks.

Any and all help you can give will be greatly appreciated!

As you know, I've read, reread, listened, relistened to everything by Linda Howard more than I should admit. I'll need some time to put my thoughts together--in a coherent, non fangirl way, of course.

1. Yup, read and listen to all of Linda Howard, though not the new Blood ones. I found the Raintree book pretty weak.
2. NA
3. Favorite to listen to is DEATH ANGEL, AFTER THE NIGHT, SON OF THE MORNING and KILL AND TELL. Add ALL THE QUEEN'S MEN for non-audio.
4. Yup, defnitely a Howard fan
5. Yes, buy her audiobooks
6. Joyce Bean seems good. Hate Dick Hill in KISS ME WHILE I SLEEP (though I love him for Sandra Brown's SLOW HEAT IN HEAVEN. But no one really stands out. Whoever does DEATH ANGEL is very good.
6. Romantic suspense Howard, probably, but I like almost everything she does.

I love her books and am definitely a fan. After the Night, Now You See Her, and Shades of Twilight are particular favorites. I really like her old category Romances too, though I save those for when I'm looking for lots of angst. :)

I haven't liked her more recent stuff as much. Is that the "romantic suspense Howard" you're talking about? I like RS that leans heavily to the Romance side. Dream Man is about my speed for RS, and I'm not sure that's considered RS.

I've just started listening to her audiobooks because I've just started listening to Romance. ;) So far, I've only listened to After the Night but I loved it so I've added quite a few of her others to my TBB list.

I meant to include After the Night as one of my favorites since it is a favorite both in print and audio.

Krissie - I don't know if you recall but the Howard column is actually your idea (you suggested it to me about 18 months ago). You also suggested a Georgette Heyer column and I'm still working on that one - it may take me another year or two and I'll need LOTS of help.

I haven't listened to many Linda Howard books, but I loved her Blair Mallory books, To Die For and Drop Dead Gorgeous. Very funny, almost too funny to listen to while driving. While they had different narrators, both were quite good.

I was (am) a major LH fan before I even considered audio books. Since audio books, I have gotten many of them - LOVED Death Angel (only audio for me) but didn't love Joyce Bean. I think Bean is a professional but she's not, uhm, the best. trying to think of the right word - even on Death Angel, her narration bothered me until the story itself just took over and I forgot about the voice. She's too... she enunciates too much, or something. It's like she dwells on the final consonant, making those Ts and Ds stand out. It's too studied, too self conscious.

Dream Man - liked it a lot in print, liked Phil Gigante OK in audio. LOOOVED To Die For - currently my All Time Favorite Book Ever - but can't bring myself to listen to the audio because of the negative reviews of the narrator. After The Night is a major re-listen for me, and love Natalie Ross's interpretation (read it in print 2x before audio).

I haven't completely glommed LH but close - I consider myself a BIG FAN who would read/listen to just about anything. I have the most recent paranormal she did with Linda Jones on audio, but ok, I haven't listened because paranormal falls way down the list of my favorites.

Cry No More (print/audio) - 5 stars; Mackenzies (print/audio) 4&5 stars; Ice/Burn (print) - 3 stars. Some of her older stuff: Loving Evangeline and Duncan's Bride, print, 4 stars; Angel Creek and A Lady of the West, print/audio, 3 stars.

So what do I like about LH? She's a master at story-telling, but it doesn't always work for me. I would say, I consider her an auto-buy but I don't always consider her work DIK-worthy. I will say, even when I don't particularly love it, it's always at least worth the time I spent reading or listening AKA 3 stars.

1. Both
2. Doesn't apply~
3. Cry No More was my favorite in both print and audio.
4. Yes indeed
5. If necessary, mostly borrow.
6. Not particularly..... Generally the story over powers any flaw the narrator may have.
7. Romantic Suspense please. I really haven't found another suspense author who could measure up.

I've listened/read a handful of Howard's novels and I have thoroughly enjoyed each one. Open Season was next in line but I may change that to After The Night.

I second everything Krissie said.

1. I mostly listen to Linda's books now. In fact, she's probably my most relistened to author.

2. N/A

3. I love Mr Perfect (unabridged of course), Dream Man, After the Night, Open Season.

4. I'm definitely a fan. :)

5. I buy everyone of them either from audible or on MP3.

6. My first book was Mr Perfect, so I tend to most enjoy that humorous voice she had then, but what I most like about her writing is her strong alpha heroes.

1. Do you read or listen to Linda Howard? ----Read and listen both.

2. Have you tried Howard and either disliked her writing or just found yourself not inspired enough to try again? N/A

3. If you do read/listen to Howard, what are your favorites? ---- Series Romance = Midnight Rainbow - Duncan's Wife - Mackenzie's Pleasure. Novel's = Mr Perfect - Dream Man - After the Night - Open Season - Heart of Fire - To Die For

4. Do you consider yourself a Howard fan? ---- Absolutely

5. Do you buy her audiobooks? ----- I've bought all of them that I'm aware of, and kept them.

6. Is there a narrator who stands out for you? Kate Forbes with the excellently abridged Open Season - Tanya Eby with Heart of Fire - Natalie Ross with After the Night and Phil Gigante with Dream Man

7. What do you like best? The old style Howard, the romantic suspense Howard, or do you appreciate just about everything she writes? I appreciate almost everything she has written, the exceptions being the pre 1986 series romances and the first two with Western settings. I have my favorites, and prefer the books with more romance, but there is always something to enjoy in a Linda Howard novel.

1. Do you read or listen to Linda Howard?
I've only listened to a few of her audios.

2. Have you tried Howard and either disliked her writing or just found yourself not inspired enough to try again?
I've had a few on my TBL list for quite some time. 2/3 of the ones I listened to were just OK (around 3 * for me) so haven't been super inspired. I also think I was pretty heavy into my UF only kick at the time.

3. If you do read/listen to Howard, what are your favorites?
The one I listened to and really enjoyed was Death Angel

4. Do you consider yourself a Howard fan?
Not really

5. Do you buy her audiobooks?
No, cousin has some.

6. Is there a narrator who stands out for you?
I've only read 3 but have Dream Man, Open Season, and Veil of Night on TBL list courtesy of cousin.

7. What do you like best? The old style Howard, the romantic suspense Howard, or do you appreciate just about everything she writes?
Haven't read enough to comment...

I'm finally de-lurking to pipe up on one of my favorite authors to listen to and read in print (my absolute favorite is SEP/Anna Fields).

1. Yes, I've listened to/read Linda Howard's work.
2. I have read almost all of LH's books, and listened to a subset.
3. My favorite in audio has got to be Death Angel. I didn't like it in print--found it too disturbing. It's probably my own prejudices, but it's tough to care about a heroine who prostitutes herself and a hero who is an assassin for hire. Yet, I was totally hooked with the audio version. I'd read it in print before listening, so I knew the plot. Joyce Bean's reading made me CARE about these people and what happens to them, all despite myself.
4. Yes, definitely a Howard and Howard evolution fan.
5. I generally wait until the local library's online subscription has her audiobooks.
6. Dream Man . . . I could listen to Phil Gigante at the end of my day every day.
7. Pretty much appreciates everything she writes, though my favorites are the romantic suspense.

Megan wrote: "I'm finally de-lurking to pipe up on one of my favorite authors to listen to and read in print (my absolute favorite is SEP/Anna Fields).

1. Yes, I've listened to/read Linda Howard's work.
2. I ha..."

Megan - thanks for coming out of lurker mode. It's good to hear from someone who adored Death Angel in audio as much as I did. You described my thoughts so well!

Welcome Megan, always nice to hear from another Howard fan!

I keep hearing the same thing about Death Angel that you, Krissie, Melinda, Vic and Lea are saying, that the audio is the way to go. I like the word you used, the narrator made you "care" about the characters.

I read it when it first came out but wasn't enthused / didn't "care" enough to try the audio. With this kind of fan quality for the audio I'm going to have to bite the bullet and try it.

Thanks, Lea! You know what they say about great minds thinking (hearing?) alike . . .
Brenda, do check your local library's audiobook physical and downloadable holdings, if they do subscribe to something like Overdrive audiobooks. I moved last year and so have two different library cards. Both library networks (in CA) have the Death Angel audiobook free to download.

Linda Howard is great. Im always chasing that feeling of my first LH book: After the Night. Lol. I use audible and am dissapointed by the lack of production quality for some of her available books; worse is the lack of important books like Mr Perfect. I hope she keeps writing good books. I'm afraid my generation and younger won't have a Linda Howard (I'm 32). Paranormal or urban fantasy has taken over. Not that I don't like Cat and Bones, and Jericho Barrons, but I can't learn a new fantasy world with special rules and humanoid breeds, etc with every new series.

I wrote a review for the audio version of A Game of Chance yesterday - for this week's Speaking of Audiobooks column. It brought back to me why I love Howard. Not only is she diverse but she had that stage of writing some awesome alpha heroes.

I had forgotten I started this thread in preparation of a Linda Howard column. Sorry! I'll get to it this year. I have been thinking about it for two years now. :)

1. Do you read or listen to Linda Howard? Both - I read most of them and then discovered them on audio.

2. Have you tried Howard and either disliked her writing or just found yourself not inspired enough to try again?
I haven't wanted to read/finish several of her latest books. They just don't have the same feel to them as her earlier ones. I tend to get the audios from the library now and don't bother reading them.

3. If you do read/listen to Howard, what are your favorites?
In Print: Duncan's Bride, Mackenzie's Mountain, A Game of Chance, Diamond Bay, After the Night, White Lies
Audio: Dream Man, Heart of Fire, Dying to Please, Strangers in the Night, Angel Creek, After the Night

4. Do you consider yourself a Howard fan? Yes

5. Do you buy her audiobooks? Yes

6. Is there a narrator who stands out for you?
I especially liked Phil Gigante, Tanya Eby and Susan Erickson.

7. What do you like best? The old style Howard, the romantic suspense Howard, or do you appreciate just about everything she writes?
I very much prefer her older style of writing, especially in print. Many of her romantic suspense books didn't capture my attention until I tried them in audio.

I began reading Howard way before I ever considered listening to the audio books. I am a HUGE fan! I can only think of one or two books that weren't fantastic, but good. I own most of her books and have re-read almost all of them. I also own them all on audio and have listened to them all more then once. Her best books seem to be her thrillers. Howard has a way of making you fall in love with one or all the characters. My favorite book is Mr. Perfect. Mainly because I adore both main characters. Susan Erickson, in my opinion is the best narrator.

Did we ever discuss her westerns? They didn't work for me, which is odd. Son of the Morning works for me, big-time, so it's not the historical aspect.

I just noticed on Amazon that Midnight Rainbow is coming to audio on December 1st. The narrator's name is Brenda Sweeney. I can't find any other audios by her. Hope she's good, and that the other books in that series come out soon.

Your killing me Angie - well actually Dreamscape Audio is killing me...

Turning a new narrator lose with a priceless Linda Howard oldie :(

She's an actress with 30 years experience - there's some hope there...

Brenda wrote: "Your killing me Angie - well actually Dreamscape Audio is killing me!

Turning a new narrator lose with a priceless Linda Howard oldie - definitely killing me.

She's an actress with 30 years expe..."

Can we chant pseudonym here? For once, I'm hoping for one!

Great topic!

1. Do you read or listen to Linda Howard? ----Read and listen both.

2. Have you tried Howard and either disliked her writing or just found yourself not inspired enough to try again? Linda Howard was the first author I ever glommed onto (went out and bought her entire backlist). That was about 15 years ago and she's been on my auto-buy list ever since. But, I really don't like her earlier stuff, like All That Glitters and Saving Evangeline.

3. If you do read/listen to Howard, what are your favorites? Son of the Morning, Cry No More, Mr Perfect, Dream Man, Dying to Please, and Open Season.

4. Do you consider yourself a Howard fan? YES!

5. Do you buy her audiobooks? I've bought many of them. Lately, I've been getting them from the library.

6. Is there a narrator who stands out for you? Joyce Bean had me crying in my car with Cry No More (no pun intended!). Enjoyed Susan Ericksen in Dying to Please too, and Phil Gigante in Dream Man.

7. What do you like best? I enjoy both - but not her really early stuff. Romantic suspense is great. But I really love it when she writes with a bit of the supernatural, like in Son of the Morning, Death Angel, No You See Her, and Dream Man.

I'd forgotten how much I liked Linda Howard, recently I just finished her Blair Mallory series To Die For & Drop Dead Gorgeous. Southern humor at it's best, loved Blair she killed me.

My absolute favorites are Death Angel & Mr. Perfect.

A book I've seen repeated above multiple times has been Dream Man which I think will be my next LH title.

Nice to see the books somewhat catagorized above, I thought Death Angel was a one and done... nice to see she has outh supernatural titles as well.