Unraveled

By: Courtney Milan

Narrated by: Nicole Quinn

Length: 11 hrs and 54 mins

Publisher's summary

Smite Turner is renowned for his single-minded devotion to his duty as a magistrate. But behind his relentless focus lies not only a determination to do what is right, but the haunting secrets of his past - secrets that he is determined to hide, even if it means keeping everyone else at arm's length. Until the day an irresistible woman shows up as a witness in his courtroom.

Miranda Darling isn't in trouble - yet. But she's close enough that when Turner threatens her with imprisonment if she puts one foot wrong, she knows she should run in the other direction. And yet no matter how forbidding the man seems on the outside, she can't bring herself to leave. Instead, when he tries to push her away, she pushes right back - straight through his famous self-control, and into the heart of the passion that he has long hidden away.

©2011 Courtney Milan (P)2012 Courtney Milan

Just get it in print

I love CM’s books and this story was great and I’ve come to really like the Turner brothers as characters. This book was a disappointment and it had absolutely nothing to do with anything the author had control over.

I understand that authors have nothing to do with the narrators their publishers hire for the audiobooks, and boy did the publisher flub this one. I suspect the narrator’s audition consisted solely of voices for the two main protagonists—those two alone were tolerable. Nearly every other voice sounded full of gravel like Old Joe from a Christmas Carol, or to continue with the analogy an impression of an elder Bette Davis as Mrs. Dilber after half a pack of cigarettes and two shots of bourbon. As a listener it was a little insulting (and confusing) that everyone sounded nearly the same, not to mention painful to listen to. It’s a shame, it ruined an otherwise nice story.

Proceed at your own peril.

Loved the narrator

Where does Unraveled rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

I particularly enjoyed this audiobook.

What did you like best about this story?

This is one of my favorite Courtney Milan books and it was a pleasure to hear it come to life via audiobook. I find it hard to believe the other reviewers were listening to the same narrator. It's true she mispronounces "gaol" and the occasional other word, but I've found that fairly common in audiobooks. I loved her Miranda and Smite voices. Other reviews have mentioned technical/speed issues and I am hoping this is why so many listeners couldn't stand Nicole Quinn's voice; I thought she was lovely.

Which scene was your favorite?

I enjoyed the scene where Smite opens up to Ash, near the end.

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

I teared up in the epilogue.

It's pronounced jāl, not gay-ol!

I was looking forward to the last volume of the Turner series, but the narrator pretty much ruined it for me. It's pronounced jāl, not gay-ol! You'd think if a narrator was going to work on a book about a magistrate that she might Google the pronunciation of 'gaol' before she began. After all, there were many dozens of uses of the word in the novel. But apparently not. In addition, she had a shrewish voice and made many of the minor characters sound like puppet voices. Sort of like the puppets/characters from Labyrinth....

That being said, it was a wonderful tale of Smite, the darkest and most enigmatic of the Turner brothers. Courtney Milan is a terrific writer and I love the richness of her characters!

Why did they change narrators?!

I loved the series, this last book had a horrible narrator. I’m sure it’s tough to do but this was unbelievably bad. The men’s voices sounded like they ate a full ashtray before they spoke. Women’s voices weren’t all bad but most were. The other narrators were a lot easier to listen to. Good story though.

Play at 1.2 - 1.5 speed

The narrator is rough. It was SO. HARD. to get into this story. But I love the first two in the series so much that I persevered.

This is the best story in the entire series. Don’t skip it. Speed up the narration to 1.2 - 1.5. It’s still not great, but then it flows enough to stop endlessly stealing the spotlight (in a bad way.)

Enjoy story but narrator sounds like an old frog

Would you listen to Unraveled again? Why?

I enjoy Courtney Milan's Turner series very much. I read these when they first came out and wanted the Audible versions.

Who was your favorite character and why?

Smite Turner is my favorite character because he is flawed yet an honorable person.

Who would you have cast as narrator instead of Nicole Quinn?

Simon Prebble or Rosalyn Landor. Nicole Quinn's voice is too old sounding and has too many flaws. I kept wanting to ask her to clear out the phlegm.

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

When Smite tells Miranda about his childhood

deplorable narration - decent story

Would you try another book from Courtney Milan and/or Nicole Quinn?

Yes, I've enjoyed other books by Courtney Milan, BUT narration Nicole Quinn I will avoid. I can't believe the book responsible for the awful narration.

What was one of the most memorable moments of Unraveled?

A the story begins and I think it's a joke! The voices brought visions of a witch coven (an outrageously bad imitation)

How could the performance have been better?

Leave off character voices or totally different narrator. However, the narration was more tolerable as the book progressed, or I just stop cringing. The idea that the heroine/main female character being raised by actors, and able to slip in & out of characters was the only benefit.
I was distracted but the cadence ... tracking the rhythm.

What would have made this romance irresistible?

A good narrator

Any additional comments?

It took many false starts to get pass the first chapter, and the story made me glad I did; however, I will confess I called Audible to return. (I kept it because the sale price & author.)

I loved this story, but...

I loved this story, but the narrator was awful! the voices were creepy caricatures and just wrong. Additionally, she read excruciatingly slow. I increased the playback speed to 1.35×, which made it tolerable.

Technical issues on ipods (maybe iphones too).

The audiobook I downloaded plays well on cd, on itunes (computer), on kindle. But it plays abnormally slowly on my ipod. For those of you have heard a VERY SLOW reading, you may be hearing it at the wrong speed. I have alerted audible and acx to this variance in quality from platform to platform.

wish someone else read it

its not bad enough that every character has nearly the same voice. her voice is nasal and distracting. idk but i know i wont be listening to anything narrated by her again.