Stealing the Preacher

By: Karen Witemeyer

Narrated by: Cynthia Darlow

Length: 9 hrs and 47 mins

Publisher's Summary

A cowboy who wants to be a preacher... An outlaw's daughter who wants to change his mind...

On his way to interview for a position at a church in the Piney Woods of Texas, Crockett Archer can't believe it when he's forced off the train by an outlaw and presented to the man's daughter as the preacher she requested for her birthday. He's determined to escape - which would be much easier if he could stop thinking about Joanna Robbins and her unexpected request.

For months, Joanna had prayed for a minister. A man to breathe life back into the abandoned church at the heart of her community. A man to assist her in fulfilling a promise to her dying mother. But just when it seems her prayers have been answered, it turns out the parson is there against his will and has dreams of his own calling him elsewhere. Is there any way she can convince Crockett he ended up right where he was supposed to be?

With her signature blend of humor, history, and lively western romance, two-time RITA Award finalist and best-selling author Karen Witemeyer delivers a Texas love story sure to steal your heart.

©2013 Karen Witemeyer (P)2013 Recorded Books

Had to buy an actual copy of the book.

I've listened to MANY books, a few of which had horrible narrators. I couldn't get past the first 15 minutes of this book. WHY!? WHY would you pick such a person to narrate the book after how GREAT the last 4 were!? I had been looking forward to this story for a while, as I've become a fan of the author, but I couldn't listen to this book.

So I bought it and read it. And it was great! It continues the story of the Archer brothers, following Crockett on his way to becoming a preacher. I really enjoyed the story and the characters. Crockett maintained his teasing character from Short Straw Bride and his love interest, Joanna, was incredibly sweet. I was intrigued, laughed out loud, and finished the book in 2 days.

I'm so glad I read it instead of having the narrator's voice in my head for hours. I think one of the main problems was that she sounds old. But I could get over that. I think it's that she kept a very pronounced Texas accent during the descriptions and narrative parts, not just in the dialogue, which I think is more normal, isn't it? I'm sure the narrator would be great in something else, but after such great books with excellent narration in the past, I was disappointed to the point of not even being able to listen to the book.

If you can get over the narrator, definitely get this one. If you can't, PLEASE get the regular copy. This author's book deserves so much more.

My favorite book by Karen Witemeyer is "To Win Her Heart" followed by "Short Straw Bride." I highly recommend them.

6 of 6 people found this review helpful

Best yet!

What made the experience of listening to Stealing the Preacher the most enjoyable?

This follow up to Short Straw Bride captured Crockett Archer's personality perfectly. There wasn't conflict and misunderstanding between the main characters (Joanna and Crockett) throughout most of the story as in many romances. When issues came up they were dealt with fairly quickly and both characters were appropriately open about their feelings. So much more realistic than waiting until the end of the story for their feelings to be known to each other.
The challenge of Joanna's father's struggle with faith was realistic and not too preachy.

I love all of Karen Witemeyer's story to date. After listening to each one I've purchased the print copies for my personal library.

What didn’t you like about Cynthia Darlow’s performance?

The reader's voice was too old for the characters and didn't capture the nuances of their characters. There wasn't enough delineation between the voices to distinguish the characters and the voices were inconsistent - each character did not sound the same each time.

Most of the men sounded like cheesy characters in an old western and the women's voices weren't as soft as I'd expected.

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

When Crockett almost immediately pegged Holly's character and consistently rebuffed her advances. In many books the male leads don't recognize the scheming behind the nature of some of the women which leads to distracting conflict with the main female lead, which generally doesn't add much to the story.

Any additional comments?

Although I didn't enjoy this particular narration I would recommend all of Karen Witemyer's books! They have a great message without being overly preachy or sanctimonious.

6 of 6 people found this review helpful

Terrible narrator!

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

The story was good but it could have been excellent if the narrator was another woman!

Who was your favorite character and why?

Hanna was my favorite but I also liked J.T.

How did the narrator detract from the book?

She sounded like an old lady and everything was twangy. I couldn't distinguish one character from another.

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

The whole story was great.

Any additional comments?

Don't use this narrator again!

2 of 2 people found this review helpful

Nice story, bad narration.

Would you consider the audio edition of Stealing the Preacher to be better than the print version?

I like most things by Karen Witemeyer but No, the narrator destroyed a really good book.

What did you like best about this story?

The story line and the characters.

Who would you have cast as narrator instead of Cynthia Darlow?

Almost anyone.

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

Can't think of one.

Any additional comments?

Not right now.

2 of 2 people found this review helpful

So disappointed!

This book wasn’t for you, but who do you think might enjoy it more?

I loved the previous book and was excited to listen to this. The voice of characters were so cheesy and cliche. And the voice of one soon became the voice of another. It became to annoying to finish.

How did the narrator detract from the book?

The voices were horrible. It would have been better to just have it read.

What reaction did this book spark in you? Anger, sadness, disappointment?

Annoyance, the story was so vanilla after the previous book it wasn't even interesting enough to endure the voices and finish.

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

i will listen agian

Karen Witemeyer does it again if your familiar with the Archer Boys this is what happens to Crockett it is humorous as the writer is witty as usual the story is good I would even recommend this book to my sons I have enjoyed it

2 of 3 people found this review helpful

Bad Voices

I had a hard time listening to it. The voice of the reader was not a pleasant one to listen to and the male voice was not good at all. I was not happy with this book simply because of the reader. I don't mean to be rude about the persons voice, just not one to be reading books.

Narrator does not match this story!!

I read this book several years ago and loved it, as I have every single Karen Witemeyer book that I’ve ever read. After listening to Short Straw Bride recently, and thoroughly enjoying the Audible version, I decided to purchase Stealing the Preacher. I knew it was the same series and fully expected to hear the same narrator. I was greatly disappointed!!! This narrator has a hick accent on EVERY line in this story, whether someone is speaking or not, and makes every single character sound like Gomer Pyle from the Andy Griffith show!!! This does not do the characters justice in the least, and greatly takes away from the wonderful story Karen Witemeyer has written. I will be double checking all of my future Audible purchases to ensure they are not read by this narrator. :(

Love the narrator

Cynthia Darlow is my all time favorite narrator. She brings so much life to the story and characters. I specifically search for books with Ms. Darlow as the narrator.

Wrong category: not romance. Should be Religious.

I don't mind a little preaching but not being religious in any way I found this particular volume a too much to swallow. Is this how Christians really think? If so, how have they survived so long?!

There was a lot of potential for this book, with Crocket's character set up as a larrikin and the plot's adventure being good comedy material. Alas, they spent too much time soul-searching and surmonising, preaching to one another about God's plan and love and goodness knows what else.

Crocket's humour was limited to a twinkle in his eye and a suppressed smile every now and then. I had to skip minutes at a time to get past particularly tedious monologues. Won't be continuing with this series.

Cynthia Darlow gave a mediocre performance. I often wondered if she had a cold as it sounded like she was speaking with a blocked nose, especially when speaking for the lead female character. There was little distinction between several characters in dialogue.