Wow. December already. If you’re getting busy with the decorating, here’s hoping you’ve got some good audiobooks to keep you company!
Here’s what the Gals are listening to this week.
BJ
Narrated by Teri Schnaubelt
Caz
Narrated by Ariyan Kassam
Kaetrin
Narrated by Joel Leslie
Melinda
Narrated by Natalie Duke
Shannon
Narrated by Nicole Poole
I really enjoyed BEST MAN on audio! Joel Leslie makes everything he narrates even better.
This past week I listened to the new audio of ANGELS IN THE CITY by Leigh Garrett, narrated by Dan Calley. This is probably my favorite Leigh book, and I was really excited about the audio. Mostly I was very happy with it, but Calley uses a style of narration I’ve mentioned before and that isn’t my favorite. He reads the narrative portions in a neutral or upward inflection, instead of resolving a sentence with a downward inflection. I find it distracting, plus it doesn’t leave nearly as much room for expressing emotions (tired, sad, happy, anticipation, etc.) in the narrative sections. Narrators like Joel Leslie and Sean Crisden imbue the narrative with the appropriate emotion, and this book would really benefit from that kind of reading. Calley has a wonderful voice and does the dialog very well, just not my favorite style otherwise.
I then listened to Sean Crisden narrate AMERICAN LOVE STORY by Adriana Herrera. This was fantastic all the way around.
Right now I’m listening to WITHHOLDING EVIDENCE by Rachel Grant, narrated by Nicole Zanzarella. I didn’t love Zanzarella’s narration of LOVE LETTERING where the MC had a sort of “cry” in her voice, but her narration here is excellent. The story,however,leaves a lot to be desired. Juvenile behavior from the MC’s, insta-lust to the max, and a suspense plot that doesn’t get introduced until 45% into the book. I’ve enjoyed other Grant RS books, but I think I’ll concentrate on her most recent releases from now one, which feel stronger and more balanced.
Yeah, Dan Calley isn’t a favourite of mine, either. I’ve only listened to him a couple of times, and even though he’s from my part of the world – so his accent is authentic – there’s something about the way he reads that doesn’t work for me at all and I don’t find he does a good job when it comes to expressing emotion and nuance :(
I definitely think RG has come a LONG way since the early Evidence books. I’d heard them up to book 7 (which was all there were at the time) before listening to Flashpoint, and I think that now those earlier books really suffer by comparison. Tinderbox is the book that introduced me to Greg Tremblay and the rest, as they say, is history :P
Yes, Greg Tremblay is a gem and I really did enjoy Nicole Zanzarella’s narration of Withholding Evidence, so I look forward to more from both of them. I’m going to ferret out your reviews and figure out where to jump into the Evidence series for the future.
I haven’t listened to much recently, since finishing listening to Sailor Proof by Annabeth Albert, which I enjoyed. I’ve been concentrating on rereading books to confirm whether or not they get onto my best of 2021 list! I plan to continue doing that for the rest of the month, plus reading Christmas books, now that I’ve read the new Gregory Ashe.
So I chose to listen to A Boyfriend for Christmas by Jay Northcote. It’s narrated brilliantly by Hamish Long, who is one of my favourite narrators, and that was the main reason why I picked it. It’s a lovely, low-angst story with the MCs being a very posh, closeted, recent graduate and a tattoo artist with a hippy mum. It’s a sweet story that I would guess is enhanced by a great narration. There’s some good stuff about friendship, family and class that isn’t overdone. It’s set around Bristol so the accents are mainly very posh (Archie’s family) or West Country. Hamish Long seems very good at nuanced British accents and manages different levels of poshness well. I’d recommend it as a good, easy listen in the lead up to |Christmas.
I’ve actually got a Northcote/Long book next up in my TBL – Stuck With You; he’s an author I’ve had on my radar for ages but haven’t read or listened to much. I agree that Hamish Long is really good – I’ve mostly listened to him under his other name, but I like what I’ve heard.
I’ve read a few Jay Northcote books, mainly from the Rainbow Place series. I’d put them at good, solid reads (C+ to B) but not ‘Best-ofs’. A Boyfriend for Christmas is the one I’ve enjoyed most – which may be due to the narration?
Hamish Long seems to do most of Jay Northcote’s narrations and a few of Harper Fox’s. He’s also done a duology by Harper Fox under a third name. I really liked The Salisbury Key by Harper Fox, which is on Audible Plus.