Brilliance Re-releases Nora Roberts’ Whiskey Beach with a New Narrator

Whiskey Beach

Editor’s Note: For comparison, we have included sound samples below.

Brilliance announced yesterday to Audible customers who own the original audio of Nora Roberts’ Whiskey Beach  that it was re-releasing the audio (originally published in April 2013) with a new narrator – Luke Daniels. Apparently there was dissatisfaction with the original narrator, Peter Berkrot, which I personally experienced.

It’s a move we highly appreciate as audio listeners and one we seldom see. Who was behind the decision to re-record? Brilliance or Nora Roberts or a combination of the two? I doubt we’ll ever know the answer to that question but we are thankful for the end result.

We learned of this decision on Friday morning when Melinda shared a note she had received from Audible:

“We wanted to let you know that there is a new version of Nora Roberts’ Whiskey Beach available in your Library. Because an overwhelming number of customers were unhappy with the original narrator’s performance, the audio publisher decided to re-record Whiskey Beach with a new narrator, Luke Daniels.

If you’d like to listen to the new audio, simply re-download Whiskey Beach from your Library.

We hope you enjoy the new performance of Whiskey Beach by Nora Roberts.

Thanks, and happy listening!
The Audible Team”

Melinda will be reviewing the new version of Whiskey Beach next week for AudioGals. Carrie reviewed the original version in July and gave Berkrot a B- for his narration, noting “A listener may come to enjoy the gravelly voice as I did, but Berkrot’s inconsistent character voices and the occasional inability to distinguish between characters during conversations can be an issue.”

As indicated earlier, I listened to the original version as well. Here’s the (revamped) Goodreads review I wrote at that time:

Whiskey Beach by Nora Roberts – Narrated by Peter Berkrot – Narration – DNF

I’ve looked forward to Nora Roberts’ Whiskey Beach in audio for months (her last book The Witness is an Audie winner after all) but by the halfway point I had to DNF the audio and switch to reading the story myself.

I had high hopes for the narrator after listening to several samples and seeing 100 audiobook narrations to his credit. I don’t know if he disliked narrating a romantic suspense audiobook or if all of his narrations end up being emotionless but I do know listening to Whiskey Beach being “read” to me was boring!

Nora Roberts writes great characters – they are full of life and emotion – then she adds in the perfect bit of humor and heartbreak here and there. That being said, I couldn’t take the blah – no personalities – no sense of what was occurring in the story – type of narration.

Peter Berkrot has obvious skill and reads with excellent pitch and pacing. His voices are generally distinct but distinct doesn’t mean attractive or compelling. And in this case the hero’s voice is not age appropriate which added to the boredom factor.

But back to “feeling” the story – relating the proper emotion is crucial with any audiobook performance and you don’t feel anything when listening to Whiskey Beach.

That was a deal breaker for me.

I spent the summer listening to Luke Daniels with Kevin Hearne’s The Iron Druid Chronicles – he blew me away with his fantastic narration skills. Now to hear him with a romance title – heaven in my audio world!

I had returned my original copy of Whiskey Beach but repurchased immediately upon hearing the new narrators name – I am a very happy listener this evening!

Now for a comparison – you decide which tickles your ear. Admittedly three minutes isn’t much to go on but here are two sound samples of the same passage. The first from the original audio and the second from the re-released audio:

A clearer comparison of each narrators take on the story with character portrayals.

And remember, we DO have the power to make a complaint about an unsatisfactory listening experience. Let the publisher know what you think and, if you purchased your audio from Audible, return your audiobook (it is very simple) and tell Audible the reason for your return. They are paying attention.

Brenda


19 thoughts on “Brilliance Re-releases Nora Roberts’ Whiskey Beach with a New Narrator

  1. I didn’t think Berkot was so bad. He took a little getting used to, but his voice grew on me as I listened. My review was posted here in July.

    1. I included a link to your review in the article as I think it’s good to make a reviewer comparison for the original version as well. For our listeners, Carrie makes a detailed explanation in her review of what worked and didn’t work in Berkrot’s narration.

  2. After listening to the samples, I’d say I prefer Berkot, but it might be that I’m used to his voice now. The new narrators female voice sounds breathier to me. But overall neither one seems to be really better than the other, at least not from this small sample. I’m surprised the company would redo the audio and use another male. The difference is so small. I tend to like male narrators, but in this case I think I would have looked for a good female narrator so the comparison would be significantly different.

  3. Your right Carrie – three minutes isn’t enough time to tell there is a dramatic difference in the narrations – but there is!

    If listeners aren’t fans of added laughter or verbal sound effects (like in the sample) they won’t care for Luke Daniels performance. Personally I love it. His overall approach is younger, lighter, and humorous which was my take on the book.

    Eli starts out fighting depression and you hear that in both audios but for me Berkrot never shook that tone – didn’t voice Eli’s climb out of that hole – which weighed on me until I couldn’t listen anymore.

    Melinda’s review should be interesting – she couldn’t listen to Berkrot period – but she also doesn’t like verbal extras and Daniels uses them liberally so…

  4. I really don’t like verbal extras, either, and since I didn’t mind Berkrot, I don’t know if the new recording would suit me better or not. Don’t get me wrong, I didn’t think Berkrot was great, but I did grow to enjoy his performance and it “fit” the book for me. If they’d replaced him with Tom Stecheschulte however, I wouldn’t have minded!

    But faked laughter and such..it makes me cringe!! I doubt this is one I’ll relisten to anyway. I didn’t think the story was one of her strongest.

    1. If they’d replaced him with Tom Stecheschulte however, I wouldn’t have minded!

      LOL, you can say that again! I love that mans voice and wish he would do romance regularly – a lot of it!

  5. I borrowed the Berkrot version from my local library and returned it after listening to less than a minute of Berkrot. I checked the Audible site after your post and while Luke Daniels is much better I’m going to wait till I get my Audible credit to buy it as I didn’t think the book itself was all that great (I always buy the ebook and the audio).

  6. Listening to only the two samples above, Luke Daniels’ narration certainly makes it easier to tell the difference between Abby and Eli. But… I don’t love the sound effects either. I read the print version but agree with Carrie, it wasn’t one of her stronger books. I liked it but didn’t love it, like I did The Witness or The Search.

    1. I agree 100% that Whiskey Beach isn’t one of Nora’s stronger titles K…

      That being said I have so enjoyed Luke Daniels narration I know this will be a regular re-listen for me! I have laughed out loud a lot – especially in the last two thirds of the book. And when Abra and Eli have their heated discussions? Wow does he bring them to life – and the scene where Eli and Stoney get tipsy? :D

      Luke Daniels is my male Renee Raudman – he lives the story – verbally acting it out in 3D.

      1. Well now you have me really curious!! I don’t want to spend a credit on it, but if the library gets it I’ll have a listen. You make it sound too fun to miss!

        1. I’ve added a clip that will give your ears a much clearer picture Carrie – then you’ll know whether to haunt your library or not. :D

  7. Brenda- Thanks so much for the new samples. I listened to both of them from the beginning to end, and my daughter was here as well. I didn’t tell her which one was original and which wasn’t. In fact, I simply told her I was comparing two narrators, not that I had ever listen to one, or that one was a replacement for the other.

    She and I came to the same conclusion, however. We liked Berkrot better! She didn’t care for Daniels much at all, especially his voice for Abra. I didn’t mind that, but I didn’t care for how it wavered during the delivery of the lines when Eli was feeling lack of confidence in his skills as a cook.

    If most people are happier with the new narrator then it was a good decision. It just goes to show, though, how different we all are in our tastes! I know a couple of Audiogals’ favorite narrators don’t work as well for me, although I would NEVER say who because I really like them as people from the interviews I’ve read online.

    I don’t think I’ll haunt my library for the new audiobook. If I’d listened to it first I might have a different opinion, but I did come to enjoy Berkrots’ gruff voice and his delivery overall.

    Thanks again! I find this so fascinating and, like the different sub-genres of romance, it’s fun to see how people differ in what they like. I shouldn’t be surprised that tastes in narrators vary as much as everything else!

    1. Excellent Carrie, glad it helped! Anyone else that feels the same – Amazon is still offering hard copies with Peter Berkrot narrating – grab them up while you can. :)

      Reading the reviews at Audible on most audiobooks convinces me peoples ears are astonishingly different! :D

      LOL That wavering is exactly what I did like – it conveyed the lack of confidence vocally which matched the words written while also capturing his frustrated bafflement with cooking in the scene. I also liked the sound effect used to show Abra stepped into a pantry (or whatever it was) to get the bottle of wine.

      He doesn’t do a deep voice for Eli – it was his character that came through for me. Reminded me of Julia Whelan’s Brooks from The Witness – no deep and sexy but she captured his character so well that once you let yourself go it didn’t matter – it was Brooks.

      1. I really enjoyed Whelan’s narration of The Witness! I’d read the book in print and enjoyed it, but the narration made it a 5 star experience for me. Loved it!

  8. I love Luke Daniels’ narrations and this one’s no exception. I didn’t like the original although I did listen to it all the way through but couldn’t see myself listening again as I do with most NR titles. This one I’ll definitely listen to again, for me there’s no contest between the two.

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