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

A GOOD BOOK TOTALLY RUINED BY THE NARRATOR

I enjoyed the building romance between Smite who is a cold, emotionally challenged Judge and Miranda a penniless, down on her luck woman who has to impersonate witness's at his court but he finds her out with dire consequences. Thoroughly enjoyable romance with a good plot that has many twists and turns.

I have enjoyed all CM's books but this one was painful to listen to - I suggest the Publishing House NEVER EVER EVER uses this narrator again and re-records it otherwise I can't see it being downloaded by many people.

Lovely Story, Wrong Narrator

Would you say that listening to this book was time well-spent? Why or why not?

I so wanted to enjoy this. But the narrator was so slow...
it.

was.

like.

listening.

to.

some...one.

read.

something.

like.

this.

So...the time I spent trying to listen to this just made me feel a little crazy.

What did you like best about this story?

I like tortured heroes. This story has a great one. I like Courtney Milan and I like this series and this book...just had to read it with my eyes instead of my ears.

How did the narrator detract from the book?

Distractingly odd, grating, and just flat-out unpleasant voices that would have been awesome for narrating the Munchkinland bit from "Oz" or something to do with Hobbits, but not so much for a romance novel.

Terribly long pauses between words, an odd pronunciation of the word "gaol," (a British spelling of "jail") which came up rather often. It's supposed to be a homophone of "jail," but the narrator kept saying something like "gowel" and it became conspicuous and quite irritating after a while.

ALL THAT BEING SAID: She had a very nice voice for the hero. But I won't buy anything with this narrator again.

Did Unraveled inspire you to do anything?

It inspired me to regret purchasing this audiobook.

Impossible to listen to

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

No one; the narrator is terrible. She croaks, she mispronounces words; her accents are all wrong. Courtney Milan writes fun and interesting romances, but this one is impossible to get through as a recording. I've seen all of the other negative Audible reviews about the narrator; I wish I'd seen them before I bought this audiobook, but it's too late to return it. I am adding my own very negative review not to dump on Courtney Milan but to try to get other people to boycott this particular production and maybe help to force publishing houses to take the readers/actors of their audiobooks more seriously. It is really an issue for those of us dependent on audio versions to miss out on good books because of the narration. We put up with some mediocre narrators when we really want to read something, but this one is too, too awful. I wish there was some more direct way to say to publishers how very much it matters who the reader is. I know there are books which get worse audible reviews than they otherwise would because of the narrator. I think that often the listener is put off by narration that just isn't good enough and end up panning a book they would otherwise like.
My pet peeves are readers who can't do a full range of voices (male/female/child/old), narrators who are young and ignorant and have no idea what they're reading, so they mistake words as they read them. "Burying the lead; and old newspaper term that is read burying the leed, as in the lead paragraph of a newspaper story, mispronounced 'burying the led" which is meaningless. I could go on, but other listeners will know what I mean. And this reader does pronounce the British version of jail (gaol) which should be pronounced just like jail as 'gah-ol'. (This was mentioned before, but it is particulalry egregious in a reader who is pretending to be British.)

What did you like best about this story?

Smite Turner, but I'm going to have to read his story rather than listen to it.

Would you be willing to try another one of Nicole Quinn’s performances?

Never, ever, ever. I went and listened to the samples of the 9 books she's read available on Audible, and she is terrible in every single one.

Any additional comments?

Audible; please pay attention to the actors/readers that are being complained about. I know there must be some issues about how much the publishing houses are willing to put into a book they're not sure will sell on Audible, but the books will certainly get ignored or panned if the narrator is no good. I do wish there was some more direct way to black ball certain readers, and to communicate more directly with Audible and with the publishers. We all do have our own taste in what we like; there are some books that have been read by one or more readers and it's very interesting to see how different a book can affect one when the reader is different, but there are too many readers who should never be hired again.

Narrator was awful!

What could have made this a 4 or 5-star listening experience for you?

A better Narrator!

Would you be willing to try another book from Courtney Milan? Why or why not?

Yes. I have been waiting for this book, but I will have to read the written version (which is difficult for a dyslexic) because I could not stand to listen to Quinn.

What didn’t you like about Nicole Quinn’s performance?

She was unable to make believable characters, she had difficulties in keeping straight which voices were which character, and they all sounded horrible.

Any additional comments?

I will not buy any book where Ms. Quinn is the reader. It was a wasted credit for a book I've been waiting to hear. I just could not stand it. Sorry, I'm unable to say anything about the story line, but I'm sure it's good and that is why I will buy it and read it myself. Gave that portion a 3 just on the basis of her previous books.

The narrator is terrible

The narrator is terrible and so is the production quality.

The sound levels change from high pitched to very low at almost radom intervals so you cannot even keep a consistent volume.

The narrator's character voices are cringeworthy and irritating, and as narrator she sounds quite old (which is an odd choice for the relatively young characters of a romance). In short, the narration is VERY BAD.

I love Courtney Milan novels and really wanted the last of the Turner Brother Trilogy. The trilogy has been wonderful. The narrator of this one, however, is terrible.

Read the book instead.

Narrator?

As romance stories go, this one was typical, mild mystery, lover's angst, and of course good steamy love making.
Everyone that reads romance knows it is somewhat "hoaky". That is probably wyh we enjoy it. It provides a means of wonderful escape. Having said that, I had a hard time with this narrator. I cannot say her technique was bad, or even that she did not do all the voices well. But, she made the book sound VERY hoaky. I found myself being distracted by her reading.
Yes, of course I will ready many more books by this author, but probably not if read by this narrator.

Very poor narrator

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

I would try another book from Courtney Milan as long as it was not narrated by Quinn

What other book might you compare Unraveled to and why?

Not sure there is a comparison.

Would you be willing to try another one of Nicole Quinn’s performances?

Definitely not, slow to the point of being boring

Was Unraveled worth the listening time?

The book yes but hampered by the narrator.

It was a struggle

It was a real struggle but I forced my way through it. I feel like I need a medal. How sad for this author to have such a horrible narrator ruin her work. This needs a do over and I need a refund.

British munchkin yoda

I am so disappointed in this audio version of Unraveled. I liked reading the book a lot, but this narrator was simply unlistenable (is that a word?) to me. I don't know how to describe her voice -- British Munchkin with a bit of Yoda thrown in??

Everyone's tastes vary, so I'm sure that others will enjoy her narration.

If you haven't read the Turner trilogy, I recommend it. All three novels are excellent!

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

Fantastic story, terrible narration!

Any additional comments?

I am returning this book less than halfway through, and buying the paperback instead. Courtney Milan is a fantastic writer and I am enjoying this story so far. I have a particular fondness for Milan's books that involve real (poor) people, rather than the aristocracy and their satellites. I lived in Bristol for a few years, and I am delighted to find that she has set this book there, and is not just another historical set in London (I am a Londoner but really, even I get bored with the same old clichés).

Milan's attention to detail is impeccable, and I am always surprised that for an American, she somehow manages to convey the tone and irony of English humour, as well as the understated grit and resilience. Milan's books are intelligent, and a cut above the average of this genre.As to this book, I am in love with Smite and Miranda already. They both have difficult backgrounds, Smite's particularly traumatic, but are very straightforward, non-manipulative people who really say what they mean.

I am switching over to reading rather than listening to the rest of this book, as I cannot bear for such a lovely piece of writing to be wrecked any further. I'm even going to leave it for a few weeks so that I can hopefully forget the awful narration. Nicole Quinn is an American who can do a passable English accent. One English accent. She has clearly never heard a gentle west country accent, because these characters sound nothing like Bristolian. The main two characters are ok (generic English accent), but everyone else sounds the same, with a bizarre harsh voice that sounds like they've been smoking ten packs a day for the last 40 years! There are some mispronunciations too, which wouldn't be so bad if one of those words wasn't GAOL. Instead of "jail" she reads this phonetically, and considering the storyline is a legal one involving the disappearance of a prisoner from the gaol, the word comes up ALL THE TIME! After the first 30 or 40 times, I just couldn't do it anymore. I am a huge audiobook listener, with somewhere between 400 and 500 books under my belt. I sometimes even listen to terrible books or terribly-read books all the way through because I don't like abandoning a book unfinished. I feel this book, however, is just too special to be ruined for me like this!

I have a particular dislike of books not being read by native readers. It seems to me a real waste of a book, especially one by somebody like Courtney Milan, who goes to so much effort to make her books accurate and authentic. I also think that when you have an intriguing well developed male lead, it is wonderful to use a male reader. Most writers of this genre really focus on the character development of the female character, and the male can end up a bit wooden. Off the top of my head, authors who write great males include Grace Burrowes, Lisa Kleypas and Elizabeth Hoyt. Fantastic male readers such as Alex Wyndham and James Langton bring such a wonderful depth to male leads, and they are a real pleasure to listen to. Smite is such an interesting creation, I can only imagine how amazing this audiobook could have been.

Unfinished

Started off with promise, the tension was there but unfortunately the story became tired three quarters of the way. I found I wasn't bothered enough to get to the end and gave up. Also, wasn't keen on the narration which didn't help.