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His Hearth  By  cover art

His Hearth

By: Mary Calmes
Narrated by: Andrew Schwartz
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Publisher's summary

Julian Nash should be excited: he’s just earned a huge promotion at work and is going out to celebrate. But his happiness fades when he discovers his date cheating on him an hour before. Suddenly alone when everyone knows he’s supposed to have a plus one, Julian is set for a long night until longtime acquaintance Ryan Dean bails him out of the embarrassing situation. During dinner, they discover they have more than just friendship between them: there is mutual admiration and heated attraction. But getting to know Ryan better - and finding a place in his life - will bring Julian frightening surprises and paranormal danger he never expected or dreamed existed.

©2010 Mary Calmes (P)2012 Mary Calmes
  • Series: Warder, Book 4
  • Unabridged Audiobook
  • Categories: Erotica

What listeners say about His Hearth

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 4 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    110
  • 4 Stars
    84
  • 3 Stars
    53
  • 2 Stars
    5
  • 1 Stars
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Performance
  • 4 out of 5 stars
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    94
  • 4 Stars
    65
  • 3 Stars
    44
  • 2 Stars
    18
  • 1 Stars
    21
Story
  • 4 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    113
  • 4 Stars
    76
  • 3 Stars
    48
  • 2 Stars
    4
  • 1 Stars
    6

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars
  • JC
  • 07-19-14

Worst narrator I've ever encountered so far.

Would you recommend this book to a friend? Why or why not?

I would recommend the ebook or paperback, sure. The audiobook? No.
The story was,interesting and had likable characters. I don't want to spoil the twist, but if you've watched some Japanese anime - namely something like Mirage of Blaze or Yami no Matsuei, then this would probably be something you'd enjoy.

I don't recommend the audiobook because the narrator was atrocious. I only got it because it was discounted when I purchased the ebook (now I know why!). He read the story with ZERO emotion, no distinction between character voices, barreled through punctuation (seriously, I was imagining commas, semi colons, periods all lying on the ground like road kill), barely took a breath between words, and just had this really unpleasant accent (sounded like a mix of New York/New Jersey with Boston mixed in - whatever it was it grated on my nerves). Also, there was this really weird thing where the recording seemed to fluctuate in volume. In some parts seemed to fade out which was annoying. And the audio didn't sound as clear as others I've listened to. Just bad production quality all around.

Who was your favorite character and why?

Julian. I have a thing for somewhat nerdy characters with inner alphas. And I thought he handled the 'revelation' pretty well. Also, hard not to like a character who watched Buffy the Vampire Slayer (TV Show, not the movie).

What didn’t you like about Andrew Schwartz’s performance?

Everything. No seriously, there was no saving grace with this performance. If you need an example of how not no narrate a book, this is it.

Was His Hearth worth the listening time?

I'd have to say no. I now have to read the ebook version to wipe the memory of this audio from my brain.

Any additional comments?

Re-do this with a different narrator and I'd be more than happy to buy it again.

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6 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Great Series

If you could sum up His Hearth in three words, what would they be?

Hot, Exciting, Original

What was one of the most memorable moments of His Hearth?

Julian realizing Ryan is more than human

What about Andrew Schwartz’s performance did you like?

Good character voices and fluid perfomance

Who was the most memorable character of His Hearth and why?

Julian...strong, sarcastically humorous, loving

Any additional comments?

Julian and Ryan's story is totally enjoyable! I'll definitely be enjoying it again sometime.

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2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

Narrator Ruins It

The narrator reads too fast in a monotone, same-pace voice, making it extremely difficult to tell when one character is speaking vs. another, let alone when someone is feeling something emotional, thus ruining the sensual/emotional moments. When one of the characters is supposed to be sighing/screaming in rapture, probably written as "Character's Name!," the narrator reads it as a statement with an exclamation point, as if telling him, mildly, to not step out into the street before looking both ways. I finally had to stop listening, not only because it was tough to listen to, but also because I was so angry that it was a good story that could have been so much better. My ratings for the story is 3 stars only because it was the middle choice, I technically can't comment because I didn't finish listening. The story was getting interesting though, and I thought the writing was good.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Good book, bad narrator, but at least it isn’t AI

I like this series, and this first one is my favorite. However, the narrator sped through it. I actually dropped the speed down for clarity. Also, it needed more treble, but the Audible app doesn’t have EQ.
Also, he didn’t even try to differentiate voices, regardless of gender. There were only a couple of mispronunciations, GLARINGLY, including the author’s name. That’s just lazy.

C’mon, Andrew, even I differentiate people when I read to my kids!!!

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Good story

The story was interesting and I’ll continue the series. The narration was only okay. It was difficult at times to determine which character was speaking because the narrator didn’t use different voices. Also, the music at the start of a chapter was jarring and unnecessary.

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

JoJo23

DID NOT LIKE THE ANNOYING! TONE BETWEEN CHARACTERS! I am relaxing with my book and they slam in, I even jumped. What’s the point?

Story line and characters are interesting and have depth.

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

Not a good production

The audio falls short and it sucked. Background noise, people chatting on the background. I don't know where this was recorded but it wasn't somewhere soundproofed or a studio.

As far as the story goes, I need to confess that I'm doing a relisten to all my audiobooks for the sake of reviewing them. So stories that I loved when I was a newbie in M/M romance don't look the same after 10 years in the genre.

And this is one of those cases. When it comes to Mary Calmes (to whom I'm enthralled since I can't seem to be able to resist her books) if you have read one of her stories or series, frankly you have read them all. She has a certain formula for her characters and their worlds that she never seems to break. So yes I loved Julian and Ryan and all the secondary characters when I first read this series but now, it all seem so familiar and done over and over again.

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Needs more detail

I was wondering how the story would end and it did. Huh... It read like a fleshed-out outline instead of a polished story. More detail would have been appreciated. There was very little world-building but lots of I don't sleep with guys quickly as they tip over into bed. The cast of characters was much larger than such a short book warranted. Many were unnecessary and they became a chore to keep track of. The reader was OK, I'm a little spoiled by modern audiobooks. He read the book, rather than perform it.

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Oh the narration!

The story line was good. The narration not so. too fast, and the inflections of each character was non existent. I heard and listen to many books and this was one of the few where narration hurt the story.

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  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

Terrible Narration

I've never left a review for an audiobook before, but this narration was so horrendous I felt like I didn't have a choice. It was so terrible, I'm not even sure I heard or absorbed the majority of the story. He spoke WAY too quickly, making entire paragraphs feel like run on sentences, had the same voice for literally 90% of the characters, and had no inflection whatsoever, so everything felt flat. I'm going to have to reread the book myself to find out if I even like the story, as I spent the entire time critiquing his ability as a narrator and couldn't lose myself in the worldbuilding. Stopped listening after a half hour - I just couldn't take it any more.

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