Friday, Friday… sounds like the cue for a song! (Or not…) But it IS a cue for Currently Playing, so here’s what the Gals have been listening to this week.
BJ
Narrated by Elizabeth Louise and Sebastian York
Caz
Narrated by Nick Hudson
Em
Narrated by Sienna Frances
Kaetrin
Narrated by Moira Quirk
Melinda
Narrated by Amanda Ronconi and Jonathan Davis
Shannon
Narrated by Allyson Ryan
I’ve now finished listening to Gregory Ashe’s ‘Yet a Stranger’, narrated by J.F. Harding, and I’m pleased to say that it lived up to expectations!
That was such a tough one! JFH was brilliant though…
This week I liked to all three of the Seducing the Sedgwicks books by Cat Sebastian, narrated by Joel Leslie. I enjoyed them all very much and Leslie was wonderful, as usual.
I just now finished Second Hand by Heidi Cullinan and Marie Sexton, narrated by Iggy Toma. It had some good reviews, and I did enjoy it, but I thought the whole “Am I gay? Am I not gay? How do I know?” got a little frustrating. The book was almost over before the idea of being bisexual was even mentioned, and then it seemed to be viewed at times as a “lesser” choice. The MC had been in a m/f relationship for years and years, so it felt like a no-brainer to me. Toma’s narration was very enjoyable.
I’m now set to start listening to Murder at Pirate’s Cove by Josh Lanyon, narrated by Matt Haynes. He’s a narrator I’ve never listened to, but the reviews are positive.
I reviewed the Lanyon HERE… I’m enjoying that series, even though I’m not normally a fan of cosy mysteries. What really makes the books for me are the characters – a typical small-town quirky bunch, but then that’s part of the trope, I suppose. I seem to recall that Matt Haynes got off to a slightly wobbly start but once he’d settled in after a chapter or two, he was very good. I gave him a B+ in the end.
Just finished up the Not Dead Yet series by Jenn Burke, narrated by the incomparable Greg Boudreaux. I have book 1 of the follow up series queued up in Scribd for when my monthly tally resets. Also started the Clean Slate Ranch series by A.M. Arthur (also narrated by Greg Boudreaux) and thoroughly enjoyed book 1. Have the rest on the same Scribd queue for future listening.
I’ve also been working my way through Katee Robert’s backlist, which is pretty heavy on the romantica end of things. The series I just finished had some creative re-imagining of popular fairy tale characters with the traditional heros/villains swapped. Jasmine finds love with Jafar, Belle is in an MMF threesome with Beast and Gaston, Hook ends up with Tinkerbell, etc. Quite fun.
Yeah, Greg B’s my hero :) I really enjoyed All Fired Up in print, although I haven’t had a chance to listen to it yet (Kaetrin has it for review) – and I enjoyed the Clean Slate books, too – my favourite is number 3 (2 is the weakest, IMO).
I know we’ve reviewed the Robert “Aladdin” book at AAR (I remember editing the review!) I’m not big on retellings tbh; is the narration any good?
The narration on the Robert’s series was a bit uneven, imo. At least for the Aladdin story (Desperate Measures), the female narrator (Lessa Lamb) was quite good but the male narrator (Jack Calihan) was a bit too much for me. Overly dramatic and nasally growly, if that makes sense. He was in some of the latter books and seemed to even out, or maybe I just got used to his style. Gregory Salinas was the second hero voice in several of the stories. He had a more natural delivery, and I’d definitely take a second look at other books he’s narrated.
Greg B of course is a narration hero, and I’ll grab stories on the strength of his participation alone. :)