It’s Friday. It’s Currently Playing. You know what to do ;)
Here’s what the Gals are listening to this week.
BJ
Narrated by Alexandra Harris
Caz
Narrated by Gomez Pugh
Em
Narrated by Beverley A. Crick
Kaetrin
Narrated by Mary Jane Wells
Melinda
Narrated by
Shannon
Narrated by Ione Butler
Right now I’m reeling from the fact that several of my m/m authors’ audiobooks are not long available in our library Hoopla system, including Roan Parrish and Annabeth Albert. I’m in the middle of three series from Albert, and had Better Than People on my “for later” shelf. I guess the licenses ran out. I’m so bummed. I can’t afford to buy these audiobooks to finish the series on audio, and I don’t think, as much as I like Albert, etc. that the books will be nearly as enjoyable in print.
This week I re-listened to A Busman’s Honeymoon by Dorothy L. Sayers, narrated by Ian Carmichael. I love this book and it was fun to revisit it. Carmichael does a wonderful job with accents, and gets timing and delivery just right. He doesn’t differeniate between male and female voices much, and deciphering who was speaking in dialog sections without tags sometimes proves to be a challenge.
I followed that with A Bachelor Establishment by Jodi Taylor, which I got in a two-for-one sale at Audible this week. Imight not have been in the right mood for this, but it didn’t work for me. I think I’m in the minority, but I really didn’t like the narrator, Anna Bentinck. She employs a very nasally voice for several characters, and her other voices were very old sounding or breathy.
I finished up A Hitman’s Guide to Making Friends and Finding Love by Alice Winters, narrated by Michael Farraiuolo. this was the other one I got in the above sale. I generally don’t go in for stories with hitmen in them,but I tried this after reading some reviews and I thoroughly enjoyed it. The story was good, and I haven’t laughed out loud listening to an audiobook in a long time. I mean tears in my eyes laughing. It’s a bunch of crazysauce, but I did like the writing and the main plot holds together well. I’d never listened to Farraiuolo before and he was amazing! So, so good. He did both serious Jackson and over-the-top Leland to perfection.
I’m off to pout now and figure out how to stretch my book budget. I have no idea right now what to listen to next,since I had planned on another library loan.
Michael Ferraiuolo is brilliant – I first listened to him in L.A. Witt’s Static which I reviewed HERE, which is a really thought-provoking story and worth checking out. I loved him in her If the Seas Catch Fire, too.
I was put off Alice Winters by In the Mind which I also reviewed HERE. It’s a paranormal romance, and while some of the PNR elements were really well done (and Joel Leslie did a great job with the narration) I really disliked one of the MCs and found the humour utterly peurile. I know she has a lot of fans, but I haven’t bothered with anything of hers again (not even her most recent release, narrated by the awesome Greg B.!)
I have no idea how Hoopla works (we don’t have it here) – my local library has next to NO romance audios (and certainly no m/m), so it’s just as well Audible is so much cheaper over here or I wouldn’t be able to afford my audiobook habit!
The Hitman series seems to be some of Winters’ best reviewed work. I haven’t read anything else by her. Farraiuolo was amazing. I’ll check out the books he narrated you mentioned. I just read your review of Static earlier today, as a matter of fact. I kind of think you might like the first Hitman book. It gave me a little of the Not Dead Yet vibe, but played a little more lighthearted. There is some serious stuff here, though, and Leland, though crazy and funny, is definitely a morally grey character with some difficult choices to make. Some of the humor is a little over the top (a little??) but the narration makes it work and some of it was laugh out loud funny.
I’ve been checking more books I hoped to get from Hoopla, and was a bit mollified to see that they had a selection of Cat Sebastian’s audiobooks still available. I also looked on Amazon for some books you’ve reviewed and was able to get Kiera Andrews’ Beyond the Sea for $7.50 through whispersync/KU.
FYI – Michael and Greg have narrated a couple of LA Witt’s books together – The Husband Gambit and The Road Home (which I think is the better of the two and which I reviewed at AAR), in case you’re interested. (Be warned – there’s some family drama in both).
Cat Sebastian is – for me – one of those authors who started really strong and hasn’t quite managed to stay there. Her Turner series is still my favourite of her Regency books, although I do really like Hither, Page, a post WW2 mystery which I believe is going to be a series.
Thank you for the heads up on Roan Parrish audiobooks leaving Hoopla soon! Question: how does one find out which books are on their way out? Hoopla has a category in movies/tv for that but I can’t find one in audiobooks. I listen 80% of the time and have quite a few series ready to start over the next few months, not to mention a couple already in progress.
I’m not sure if they’ve left Hoopla completely,or if it’s a matter of the licensing expiring for my library system for those audiobooks. Every library system chooses which books to provide their readers,so not all places have the same books. Some libraries also try to procure books that their patrons have asked for. We must have someone(s)in the area that love, and requested, m/m romances, and romances in general, because we there was a big selection on Hoopla for our system. So while I can no longer get Better Than People, or any of Annabeth Albert’s audiobooks, I’m not sure they are gone from Hoopla everywhere.
I don’t know of any way to tell what’s leaving or coming soon. I just realized this when I went to check out some books from my “for later” shelf in the online system, and they were no longer available. You may be able to call your main library to check on licensing and expiration dates? I’m not even sure I have all the information right about how it works, but I bet there is someone at the library who deals with this and can help. Good luck!
Ahhh. Got it. I thought you had discovered a magic Hoopla portal or search. I’ll email my library and ask them.
I panicked as I just discovered both authors you mentioned. Plus, after enjoying the City Wolves duet by Joanna Chambers last month I was (am still) looking forward to listening to Hamish McKinley narrate her Enlightenment series. Book 1 isn’t on Hoopla at my library, but 2 and 3 are – I figured I’d buy Provoked, then borrow the other two. If they are a repeat listen I’ll probably end up buying them, anyway.
Thank you for answering my question! By the way, if you’re not already using it, one of my best money savers in searching for audiobooks is LibraryExtension. It’s a free browser extension for Chrome, Firefox and Edge that automatically searches your library’s Hoopla and Overdrive/Libby catalogs for books and audiobooks when you’re shopping for them on Amazon, Audible or Chirp. I’ve been using it for about a year and honestly for me the time/frustration savings has been even greater.
Thank you for the great tip about LibraryExtension! I had never heard of it and will definitely get it now. I still need to try Joanna Chambers.
Over the last two weeks I’ve finished listening to the second and third books in E.Davies’ Significant Brothers series. I find these very pleasant, low-angst listens, with Greg Boudreaux’s narration being reliably good. I preferred the third book, ‘Slick’, as one of the main characters is a dancer, and I do love those!
I’ve also just finished listening to John Wiltshire’s ‘Love is a Stranger’, narrated superbly by Gary Furlong. I enjoyed this and have written a comment under Caz’s recent review.
I’m not sure what I’m going to start listening to next as I have some great choices!
If you enjoy books about dancers, have you tried Dance With Me” by Heidi Cullinan? One of the leads is a former ballet star who walked away from his career and the other is a former sportsman (footballer?) who suffered a nasty injury and suffers from chronic back pain. Iggy Toma narrates, and I really liked both story and performance. I’m hoping that eventually Jay Hogan’s Off Balance will come to audio – that’s about a ballet dancer whose career ended when he began to suffer debilitating vertigo.
Well, that solved the problem of what to listen to next! I’ve bought and started listening to ‘Dance With Me’. I haven’t listened to anything narrated by Iggy Toma before, but wanted to as I know that he gets good reviews from you, Caz. The cover is also absolutely stunning. I’m enjoying what I’ve listened to so far.
‘Off Balance’ was on my Best of 2020 list so I hope that comes to audio too.
Yay – I hope you enjoy it. And yes, Iggy Toma is one of my all-time favourites; I just love his voice.