Innocent Hearts

By: Radclyffe

Narrated by: Shawn Marie Bryan

Length: 6 hrs and 5 mins

Publisher's summary

In 1860s Montana Territory, Kate Beecher, a young woman from Boston, faces the hardships and hard choices of life on the frontier. Just 18 and quietly struggling against the social constraints of the era, Kate meets a woman who fires first her imagination and then her dreams. Jessie Forbes, a fiercely independent rancher, finds in Kate the passion she never knew she had been missing. This is the story of their struggle to love in a land, and time, as cruel as it was beautiful.

©2002 Radclyffe (P)2015 Bold Strokes Books, Inc.

Lacking in depth

I enjoy a good romance story. This had great potential. It would have been nice to find out more about the characters and more about other encounters they had along the way. Maybe even more about them traveling west.

Awful Narration - Great Story

Another great story by Radclyffe! I enjoy western themed stories, that era creates a whole new dimension to what it must have been like to be a lesbian way back when. However, I was terribly disappointed in the narration. The reading was rushed, the narrator sounded out of breath, and the tone sounded like the female narrator was attempting to reflect a male voice a female character??? I was able get past the narration and very much enjoyed the story!

Bad Narration

Lame. But the horrible narration made it worse! might have been better with a better narrator.

Wrong reader chosen

I read the book and it was excellent, but the Audio Book was ruined for me by the reader. It needed a more powerful actor reading it. It was awful, ruined by the reader.

Narrator

Couldn't get past the narrator... And I realized historical fiction isn't my cup of tea

narrator

i have listened to pretty much all of radclyffes books. loved the narrators,except for this one. awful, sorry to say.

Great story

i found this to be an interesting audiobook. i loved the story and found the characters to be believable. the narration was good however the voice of jessie could of been a bit better. it was to similar to the mens and a bit breathy. Kates voice was good as well as the other women. I think the narrator did a good job with the accuracy of the time period.
all in all its worth buying.

Good Story Bad Narration

What did you love best about Innocent Hearts?

The Story. The way that Jessie and Kate discovered their love for each other

What other book might you compare Innocent Hearts to and why?

There are some very good lesbian westerns, but not many in audio.

How did the narrator detract from the book?

Just plain bad.

If you could rename Innocent Hearts, what would you call it?

Love In New Hope

Any additional comments?

It would be nice if there were more of this type in audio. From what I've seen, there aren't that many.

Cute Storyline

This was a cute story and i would have enjoyed it much more with a better narration of the story. The narrator had a nice voice actually and the hardest parts was her trying for a husky tone when she played the parts of Jesse and May. also the parts of the mom and dad were hard to listen to as well. The best voices in this book is Kate and when the narration was being done. You coukd hear with ease that it was her natural voice. The made up voices was a great effort but just not well enough crafted. I was unable to finish the audible book if this story but please remember, it is a cute story with a narrator who tried very hard, I am sure she is amazing now since years have passed.

Engaging read from a great narrator!

This is a fresh, new take on one of Radclyffe's early classics. While her longtime followers will recognize and appreciate the growth of her writing craft in the years since Innocent Hearts was first published, the story remains as sweet and charming as when I first read it.

Just as I enter a movie theatre with an open mind when I see a film based on a favorite book, I approach audio versions of books I have read as works of art all their own, as the product is in an entirely new media. I do not expect another person's interpretation to match mine exactly, but I do expect that the audio book keeps the tone and spirit of the original print book.

The narrator of this work exceeds those expectations. Her performance is engaging, her diction clear, and her voice a delight to listen to -- like she is reading this to me in front of a cozy fire. Through Radclyffe's words and Ms. Bryan's performance, I was transported to the Montana Territory to be right there with Jessie and Kate throughout their love story. I thoroughly appreciated a narration that allowed me to discover subtleties and nuances in the work that I had not picked up on in my first reading of the book.

Moreover, I further appreciated the narrator's choice to keep the reading at a pace at which my mind works. So many of the old-school audio books I find way too slow, and my mind begins to wander. This was not the case for Innocent Hearts, and I applaud the narrator for her animated interpretation and for maintaining the modern trend for audio performances to reflect a pace closer to natural conversation. By no means do I think this lessened the characterization of Jessie and Kate, nor do I believe this affected the impact of their love or passion.

One criticism is the choice of audio sample provided here. I don't believe it is reflective of the whole book, and does not do the work justice.

While this might not be Radclyffe's finest work, it is an enchanting love story that is further heightened by Ms. Bryan's stellar narration. It's definitely worth a listen.