Diana

Narrator Landor ruins an excellent book. This series is about young vibrant characters whom Landor manages to turn into stodgy old folks.

I want to call this a sweet romance (and it is!) but there are enough conflicts, obstacles, and hardships to keep it from being too sweeeeeet. I love that I can always count on Alison Kent for real grown up characters who behave like adults -- flawed adults who struggle to work it out and do the right thing.

Narrator Natalie Ross is terrific as usual.

It would be terrific to hear Kent's steamy Dalton Gang trilogy in audio.

Pretty good blast from the past consistent with what was popular in category romance in 1987. I enjoyed dashing photojournalist Linc and feisty (in a 1987 kind of way) do-gooder Kerry as they rescued a band of orphans from a war zone. The fun died down in the second half after they're safe in America and their adventure is over. As is typical in popular category romance from 1987, Linc does something really, really mean and then swears he'll never hurt her again. High marks for the grovel.

Very nicely narrated by Renee Raudman.

Now that I've listened to all three books in this series, I can easily say that I enjoyed Moonglow the most. Kudos to Kristen Callihan for originality and imagination in a saturated PNR market. It's a helluva thing to have to note that she didn't steal bits and pieces from the other eleventy-million series out there and that I'm grateful that I don't have to use the word "derivative." And while I'm at it, let me say that this series is NOT dumbed down. Too bad that has to be said as well.

Beautifully narrated by Moira Quirk.

I started reading romance novels about the same time Rachel Gibson started publishing them. I'm pretty sure I read Simply Irresistible circa 1998 when it was new and I remember that I loved it -- really, really loved it. When I saw there was to be a new audiobook of this beloved story that I had very tender feelings about I was a little afraid to test my memory and see if my love was still strong. Well, hell yeah!

There's an awful lot of talk in romancelandia about tropes-tropety-trope-tropes that seem to serve a purpose for some reviewers in allowing them to pigeonhole, condemn, dismiss the lovely things about romance novels that made me fall in love with them in the first place. Let's see, here we have a bimbo-ish heroine, an alpha sports star asshole hero, a meet-cute, a one-night stand, a secret baby, a long separation, infidelity, a cute kid, and a woman who rejects help from her very wealthy (this was before billionaires were all the rage) baby daddy. I loved every word of it. It was fresh back then and it holds up very nicely in the hands of a talented writer of Rachel Gibson's skill who knows how to work a ROMANCE. It's warm and funny and hot and sexy.

Narrated by Kathleen Early, who does an adequate job. There are narrators who could have punched it up, but the the story is most important here and Early didn't really add to or detract from it.

While I love Sandra Brown's romantic suspense, I've not had much luck with her early category romances. This 2012 production of a 1986 romance is delightful thanks to very appealing lead characters. There's a satisfying dollop of raw emotional conflict and angst that rings true. Renee Raudman, as usual, nails it, enhancing the written word with her intuitive performance.

If you like dark werewolf tales told in a darkly sexy voice, I urge you to start at the beginning with Briggs’ Alpha and Omega series. In this third book alpha dominant Charles Cornick and Anna Latham, newly mated and settling in with Charles’ pack on a Montana mountain, find their uneasy relationship tested anew.

As a rare omega wolf, Anna is highly prized for her ability to empathize with and calm her kind. She is the only one who sees that Charles is severely distressed over over his work as enforcer and executioner and that he’s trying to spare Anna his agony by shutting down his end of the mating bond. Holter Graham clearly conveys Charles’ imposing size and forbidding demeanor, and he adds a deliciously deliberate I’m-just-a-big-dumb-guy flavor while Charles has too much fun standing behind Anna pretending to be a clueless hunk of muscled bodyguard. Kudos to Briggs for forward movement in the story arc and for satisfying, organic growth in the series regulars -- and applause to Graham for getting it.

Holter Graham is a talented narrator who makes it sound easy. He employs an easily recognizable voice for each character and he is sublimely comfortable with the material. Graham’s mastery proves the importance of casting the right narrator for an entire series. A goodly number of parts are in play and Graham never misses a beat. Amazing!

An absolutely spectacular denouement caps off the story and it’s so cool that I’m not even going to hint at what happens. Graham’s intuitive delivery adds to the jaw-dropping surprise. Don’t miss this one!

A full version of this review appears at All About Romance Speaking of Audiobooks.

I don't know what this book is and I don't think that the book knows either. It's not romance nor is it erotica. Mostly it's seemingly endless, excrutiatingly dull minutiae. I'm not kidding.

Narrators Benjamin Ellis and Susanna Burney heroically did the best that could be done with it. BRAVO! Give them something good to work with.

Read this excellent book. The audio narrator is miscast.

I have no idea what goes into casting decisions but I can't imagine who thought Jeff Cummings, who has not narrated a ROMANCE before, was the right choice for a major new release in ROMANCE. He voices the HEROINE in the dreaded drag queen, breathy, I'm-so-blonde-and-dumb-as-mud-but-I'm-perky style that causes romance readers to grind their teeth. Please. As if that weren't bad enough, the ghost (a major character with a lot of lines) sounds whiney and annoying -- far from how the character is written. His hero voice is nothing to write home about either -- gruffer and ruder than he's written.

Producer? Director? Why didn't somebody clue him in?

There are so many talented narrators, both male and female, who could have hit a home run with this highly anticipated book. Narrators who GET romance. Mr Cummings buffoonish performance pretty much convinced me that he has a low opinion of romance and its readers. I don't think he liked what he was reading -- and it shows.

Angela Dawe's expressionless delivery style baffles me. This was a hot book that she turned into a dirge. I want to yell "wake up!" when she goes into drone mode. British accents are inconsistent and unconvincing.

I read Slave to Sensation when it was first published in 2006. I closed the book and thought, “Wow! This may be the best paranormal I’ve ever read.” Revisiting the origins of Singh’s Psy/Changeling series in audio format recalls all the reasons to admire the clever, deceptively simple world-building that imagines the way things might be in 2079. The Psy are a race of cerebral beings who for the past one hundred years have enforced Silence, a protocol implemented to breed all emotion out of the populace. The Changeling are the antithesis, shapeshifters who embrace life with passion. Psy and Changeling view each with disdain and suspicion but coexist within an uneasy truce. I’m relieved to report that humans are still around, but we’re just a footnote here, and a fairly boring one at that.

When Lucas Hunter, Alpha of the DarkRiver leopard pack, becomes certain that the serial killer preying on young changeling women is Psy, he proposes a joint business venture to the Psy ruling council hoping to ferret out the killer. Sascha is assigned as liaison and Lucas wastes no time in using his considerable cunning and charm to get close to this female who appears to embody the cold Psy ideal.

In truth Sascha is not the perfect Psy. She knows that she’s “broken” because she feels far too much and lives in constant fear of discovery and rehabilitation (mind wipe). When Lucas introduces Sascha to his warm and loving packmates, her barriers begin to crack. She yearns to love and be loved and Lucas senses her vulnerability. What follows is a heart clutching romance between complete opposites.

Angela Dawe’s narration has a soothing, steady cadence. Her reading of Sascha’s initial robotic monotone is spot on and I “heard” her gradual thawing. Her voice for Lucas and the Changelings is a bit off kilter. I missed “hearing” Lucas’ playful nature, his warmth, his growliness, and his sexy charm. Key to these characters is how very different they are from one another. Although it’s clear in Singh’s text that Psy and Changeling are polar opposites, I didn’t hear it in the narration and I’m not sure that Dawe got that. Nevertheless, It’s more of a missed opportunity that I hope will be enhanced as Dawe becomes more familiar with the characters. I’m thrilled that the series has come to audio and I loved,loved, loved, listening to Slave to Sensation.

Review written for Speaking of Audiobooks at All About Romance.