It’s the final Currently Playing for July (although it doesn’t seem that long since I typed that about June!)
Please drop by to tell us what’s made your ears happy – or not – lately.
Here’s what the Gals are listening to this week.
BJ
Narrated by Maxine Mitchell & Jason Clarke
Caz
Narrated by Greg Boudreaux & John Solo
Em
Narrated by Mary Jane Wells
Kaetrin
Narrated by Mary Jane Wells
Melinda
Narrated by Natalie Duke
Shannon
Narrated by Tess Irondale
I did a relisten to The Marigold Chain by Stella Riley. I think this was my first ever book by her, and I love it as much now as before.
I finish Aftermath earlier in the week and enjoyed it. John Solo isn’t as strong as Greg Boudreaux, and sometimes he whispers, which is weird. I appreciated the well-written representation of disabilities, chronic pain, and ED.
I finished An Unseen Attraction by K.J. Charles, narrated by Matthew Lloyd Davies. Since I’ve listened to Davies almost exclusively on mm books,it hadn’t really registered that his female voices aren’t great. For some reason this time it did. Maybe because I also listened to an except of a f/m romantic fiction recently that he narrated and didn’t like the female voice. at all.
Right now I’m listening to Tessa Dare’s The Wallflower Wager,narrated by Mary Jane Wells. I like Dare’s dialog and her humorous writing, and I love how Wells narrates them. I’m only afraid that the drama in this one is family opposition and friend interference, which are two of my least favorite tropes.
I’m just writing up my review of Aftermath; I read it earlier this year and enjoyed it – the V&V books have generally got a bunch of really good narrators, and while this is no expection, I’m not sure it’s the best of pairings.
Somewhere around here, I reviewed MLD in an m/f historical mystery and had similar misgivings about his female voices. He’s far from the worst I’ve heard, and he tends to be better if they’re “character” roles, if you see what I mean – like a grande dame or a Bright Young Thing (like Phoebe in the Will Darling Adventures.
I gave up on Tessa Dare a few years back. I reviewed one or two of her most recent series, but honestly, had it not been for MJW I’d probably have given up much earlier!