Time for our weekly check-in; here’s what the Gals are listening to this week.
BJ
Narrated by Kathe Mazur
Caz
Narrated by Vikas Adam & Graham Halstead
Kaetrin
Narrated by Eva Kaminsky, A.T. Chandler &
Melinda
Narrated by Callie Dalton
Shannon
Narrated by Alma Cuervo
This past week I listened to Best Laid Plans by Roan Parish, narrated by Greg Boudreaux. I thought the story was weak but the narration was great. I also finished Winter’s Orbit by Everina Maxwell, narrated by Raphael Corkhill. Overall I really enjoyed it and would love to read more by this author. I didn’t mind that the romance was not the central plot, because it was essential to the plot even though it ran in the background. I loved both main characters. I did get a little bogged down in details at times, and felt a little confused on a few plot points until the end. Still, fun Sci-fi with some romance. I liked the narrator.
Right now I’m about finished with The Art of the Steal by Avon Gale and Roan Parrish, narrated by Kirt Graves and Iggy Toma. The narration is great. I’m not crazy about people faking southern accents, but both narrators do a decent job. It does sound more deep south than Virginian, though. I keep thinking it’s set in Alabama or Georgia, not Falls Church, VA. The story is light, but pretty enjoyable. It was quite a deal: book was free on KU and adding the audio cost $1.99! Win!
I’m nodding my head at pretty much everything you said! I only managed a C for Best Laid Plans at AAR (much as I love cats, that last 25% was too much), but of course Greg’s narration made it better :)
I’m not too worried about the accents in Heart of the Steal but then, my ears aren’t as attuned to US accents as they are to UK ones. Incidentally, I stumbled upon an interesting You Tube video about US accents the other week, made by dialect coach Erik Singer – and have since gone down a rabbit hole watching his videos about accents! Here’s the one that got me hooked! – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H1KP4ztKK0A, A Tour of US Accents.
I just listened to part one, and it’s great. My husband is from the Tidewater area of VA that he talked about. It’s a very distinctive accent that Will has lost (purposefully when he went to college) but is still present in the older generation, like his parents. He touches on the different southern accents, and solidified for me why Vaughn’s accent felt off. It’s more the older southern accent (“I always relied on the kindness of strangers” clip) rather than modern day VA. Since I’ve lived in the south most of my adult life, I’m more likely to notice the variations, like regional accents in England would probably jump out at you but i wouldn’t know one from another.
I also really enjoyed his tour of NC. We do have a lot of accents across the state, in part because it’s a long narrow state that reaches from the mountains with it’s Scots/Irish influence to the Outer Banks. And here in central NC where I live, (Raleigh area) the accents are more generic. I probably sound vaguely “southern” to people from other parts of the country, but it would be very difficult to pin down where I actually live based on my accent. Anyway, thanks so much for the link. I’m now off to join you in that rabbit hole…
It’s fascinating stuff – I was just watching one about actors who’ve played actual people (interesting chat about Rami Malek/Freddie Mercury and Gary Oldman/Winston Churchill among others) and about actors who’ve played US presidents. Then there was one about telling Aussies from Kiwis, northerners from southerners in the UK and the difference between a Brummie and a Geordie – which of course I can hear but it’s interesting to hear the proper terminology for what I think of as flat sounds or round sounds and whatever. That’s a very well-stocked rabbit hole!