Narrated by Amanda Ronconi and Jonathan Davis
If you’re looking for a fresh paranormal romance series with a creative twist, engaging characters, and a good dose of humor to boot then I recommend you give How to Date Your Dragon a listen. I think this book had just the right balance of world building and character development without it being overwhelming for the first book in a series–something which I have noted in other UF/PNR debuts can be a tough balance to strike. I was pleasantly surprised that for the first book in a paranormal romance series, this book has a real self-contained and well developed romance plot–another feature that many times takes more than one book to develop in this romance sub-genre. Additionally, though different from Molly Harper’s past books that I have listened to, I also generally enjoyed the narration, and given that this is an Audible original, it’s only available in audio (at least at the moment).
The setting of this book takes place in rural Louisiana–reminding me in some respects of Charlaine Harris’ Sookie Stackhouse Series. The heroine is Jillian Ramsay. Jillian is an anthropologist, but not of the kind you or I are familiar with. No, instead, Jillian who works for the League for Interspecies Cooperation as an anthropologist that studies supernatural beings.
Jillian was all set for her first assignment in South America, when her destination changed to the Mystic Bayou (for which the series is named). This town is special because, although humans across the world are still generally unaware of supernatural beings, humans in this little Southern town are not only aware of the supernatural beings but actually live side by side with them (anything from bear shifters to unicorns and dragons exist in this town, so be prepared to let your imagination run wild!). Jillian’s mission is to learn more about the supernatural beings that inhabit Mystic Bayou while at the same time figuring out how they have been living in harmony with the humans.
However, Jillian turns out to get much more than she bargained for when several supernatural beings turn up murdered shortly after her arrival in town. Even more menacing, the ones who are being murdered seem strangely tied to her, as they have all agreed to speak with and be interviewed by her for her studies for the League.
Adding an extra allure to the town is the town’s Sheriff, Bael, and his “boss” Mayor, Zed. While one seems more interested than the other in Jillian right from the beginning, their interactions with Jillian certainly create a sense of suspense as to what they are (in a supernatural sense) and how their families seem inextricably tied to the running of the town. One of these men ultimately becomes romantically involved with her–even though he initially had sworn to drive her away from their secrets.
Just who is the killer? What are Bael and Zed and what secrets about the town are they trying to hide? Moreover, will Jillian successfully complete her research and earn a HEA in the process?
In an unusual twist, the narration of this book is both performed by the long-time narrator of Molly Harper’s books, Amanda Ronconi, and a brand new narrator (at least to Molly Harper’s audience), Jonathan Davis. Ms. Ronconi narrates the chapters from Jillian’s perspective and Mr. Davis the ones from Bael’s perspective.
Ms. Ronconi, as always, does a great job bringing to life Molly Harper’s signature witty, humorous writing. She is especially great at delivering the punchlines on the plentiful jokes and tongue in cheek humor. I also like how she is able to deliver distinguishable, personality appropriate characters. From her characterization of Jillian to Bael and Zed and the numerous other colorful characters, I really enjoyed the spin that she adds through her vocal performance.
I also enjoyed Mr. Davis’ sexy deep voice. I will say though that it is different from Ms. Ronconi’s, so it definitely served as a way to mark the difference between the chapters from Bael’s perspective (as compared to Jillian’s). Nonetheless it generally worked for me to differentiate the masculine, powerful supernatural beings that inhabit this story. I will note though that I read a number of reviews that hinted at technical issues with the production and overlay of Mr. Davis’ parts. Interestingly, I didn’t notice any issues, but I must admit that his rendition in particular (likely due to the Southern drawl) I found to be too slow at normal speed, so I began listening to the book at a faster rate (1.5X to 2X speed) once his parts came up. Additionally, for what it’s worth, I’d say that by far Ms. Ronconi’s narration formed the largest part of the narration (with Mr. Davis maybe narrating 1/4 or less of the book–at least that’s the way it felt to me).
All in all, I think How to Date Your Dragon is a very promising start to what I’m hoping to be a must-listen to paranormal series! Now I can’t wait to see what other adventures Ms. Harper is dreaming up for the magical town of Mystic Bayou!
Note – there’s a meaty, 29-minute sample below, but it’s all Amanda Ronconi and no Jonathan Davis.
BJ
[section label=’Excerpt’ anchor=’Excerpt’]EXCERPT: Buy How to Date Your Dragon by Molly Harper on Amazon
I also enjoyed How to Date Your Dragon by Molly Harper. Amanda Ronconi is terrific, as usual, in her narration. Jonathan Davis was good as well and it was interesting to have two readers for a Molly Harper audio. I’ve listened happily to all of Molly’s other books and did find it a little jarring not to have Amanda read the entire book. Audible sent me a notice that an updated copy had been added to my library and I listened to the book again, but no differences were apparent to me.
Glad to hear you enjoyed it too Laura! I think the original recording may have had some editing issues. I noticed a few reviews that referred to this, but I too didn’t notice any issues in the version that I listened to.