It’s Throwback Thursday! We are reviving some of our favorite reviews from over the years. This review was posted 9 years ago, on April 8, 2014, and created some lively discussions about narration/narrators. Enjoy this blast from the past!
Narrated by Kate Russell
I read Motorcycle Man last year. It’s the book that sent me down the Kristen Ashley rabbit hole and I emerged about a week later. I’ve heard it referred to (and have used the term myself) as the “gateway drug” to the crack that is Kristen Ashley.
Tack is without doubt my favourite of the Ashley heroes of the books I’ve read so far. While the story is told (mostly) from Tyra’s first person POV, for me, the character who stands out, head and shoulders above the rest, is Tack.
Tyra Masters is just about to start a new job as the office manager at Ride, the custom car shop owned by the Chaos Motorcycle Club. Kane “Tack” Allen is the President of Chaos. The night before she starts work, she attends a Chaos event and hooks up with Tack. When he kicks her out of his bed later that night and asks her to leave her number in case he wants some more one day, she is devastated. But she needs the job and she’s determined that her new boss, the jerk, will not push her out. So she turns up at work the next day and that’s when things start to get really interesting.
Life in the MC world is not like the life we know – but by taking the job at Ride, Tyra’s firmly in Tack’s world now and she has to learn his rules and how to navigate. He has a hell-on-wheels ex-wife who’s causing trouble and then there is the whole thing with the Russian mob. Some of it is over the top ridiculous but I love it.
I love the story and I love Tyra and I love Tack. Tyra pushes back – she doesn’t just roll over and let Tack push her around. While the MC world is very misogynistic, Tyra manages to leverage herself into a position of respect and Tack does make accommodations for her. For some readers/listeners it’s not enough and Tack is just an alpha-hole. While I don’t think I could cope very long in Tack’s world in real life, in fiction, it suited me just fine.
Which made it all the more disappointing when I heard the voice Ms. Russell used for Tack in this audiobook. Tack’s voice is described as a deep gravelly growl. Ms. Russell did not use (and I suspect, she does not have) a deep gravelly growl. Tack was not the Tack I was hoping for. Motorcycle Man would have been just the perfect book for the “Karen Marie Moning treatment”. In the later books of the Fever series, Natalie Ross read the narrative and the female dialogue and Phil Gigante read the male dialogue and it worked like a charm. I’m not sure exactly who would be my “Dream Man” (har har) in the role of Tack in audio format but it would definitely be a male with a really deep growly voice.
That said, with one (fairly significant caveat which I will go into later), Ms. Russell did deliver on characterisation. Although Tack’s voice didn’t sound right, his attitude did. Her performance of Tyra (with the exclusion of said caveat) was just wonderful. The other standout character was Elvira. She sounded exactly like I expected her to sound when I read the book.
Here’s my caveat. Kristen Ashley has a rather, er, unique style. Her sentence structure and dialogue can take some getting used to. In some ways, I think of it as another language. When I haven’t read an Ashley book for a little while, it takes me some time to settle into the rhythm and syntax of it. I don’t think Ms. Russell had a good handle on that syntax. Numerous times during the listen, she didn’t deliver the sentence or dialogue as it was meant to be delivered. For example, there’s a bit where Tyra thinks to herself “It was Tack, not a bad guy.” Out of context, that could have one of two meanings. Either it’s “It was Tack, who is an okay guy” or “It was Tack, not a villain out to hurt her.” In the audiobook, it was performed as the former when it should have been the latter. Later, when a character is in the ICU, what I heard was “I see you”, with the relevant slight pause between I and see/C so that it took me a second to realise that the sentence did actually make sense and someone is in the hospital.
Some of Ms. Russell’s performance was delivered differently from what I heard in my head when reading but this wasn’t always a problem. There were times when I thought – “oh, it could have sounded like that, that makes sense, yes, that could work”, even some occasions of “oh, that’s even better than I thought” but there were other times of “no, no, no”.
Possibly if one hasn’t read the print version prior to listening, they might enjoy the audiobook more. But I had very high expectations for Tack and I definitely wanted someone familiar with “Kristen Ashley-ese” to go over the performance before releasing it into the wild.
I found the narration difficult to grade because apart from those two things, it was excellent. But it’s also a bit like “well apart from that Mrs. Lincoln, did you enjoy the play?” Those things were so important (and the most important was Tack) that they had a significant impact for me.
Even so, Tack, being Tack, still made me laugh, as did Tyra and I did thoroughly enjoy it. And, now I want to read the book again. Because: Tack.
Kaetrin
Buy Motorcycle Man by Kristen Ashley on Amazon
I have a confession. I have never read or listened to a Kristen Ashley book. While a couple of her books have lurked in my Audible “Wish List”, I have never pulled the trigger. I’m quite afraid of that “rabbit hole.” You see I love alpha, bad boy romances, and have recently become quite fond of the MC sub-genre. Moreover, when I latch on to a series I like, I have been known to disappear into its oblivion, not coming up for air, until I have devoured the entire series. What’s a girl to do? If you were going to allow yourself just one KA book which would it be? And would you read or listen to it? Now I just hope I can be disciplined enough to stop at one!
I’d read Motorcycle Man. There’s no problem with starting there and Tack is the bomb. But, I’d read it because Tack’s voice was disappointing on audio for me. I think it was much better in my imagination!
(psst – bet you can’t stop at just one…)
I fell down the rabbit hole at one time and try to stay out of it now! Unlike anything out there! :)
Motorcycle Man is my favorite by far but after attempting to listen to it, (and I have successfully made it through two other Kate Russell Dream Man narrations), I have to agree with Kaetrin. I would recommend reading rather than listening to this one. Tack does not sound close to the Tack in my head and I needed that.
I don’t think they have to be read in order (I didn’t) but there is some building of secondary characters if you do. However it is all about Tack – with Tyra running second.
How about Mystery Man? Would you say, relatively speaking, that the narration is better for that one? I have had my eye on Mystery Man for a while, and listening is just that much easier to squeeze in to an already packed book wish list: ) My great hesitation is that Mystery Man is the first in the Dream Man series and, well, there’s that rabbit hole again. All that said, I believe the Chaos series is a spin-off of Motorcycle Man, so either way I may be doomed!
I reviewed Mystery Man for AudioGals so you can read my comments there. It’s another that I would read rather then listen to but it is the best place to start. I thoroughly enjoyed it – it’s probably my second favorite next to Motorcycle Man.
http://www.audiogals.net/2013/09/mystery-man-by-kristen-ashley/#.U0QZABb5nww
BJ I was new to KA when the fuss went up about her books coming out in audio. Melinda’s review of Law Man sums up my feelings for KA’s writing but being an audiobook gal my trip down the rabbit hole is manageable… :D
I’ve thoroughly enjoyed listening to the first three – Mystery Man and Wild Man being my favorites followed closely by Law Man. Motorcycle Man is still on my TBL.
My reasoning is this – not having read the books first is a big plus in enjoying the audios as presented by Kate Russel. I hadn’t interpreted voices or given personality attributes to characters beforehand thus I could easily go with Kate Russel’s flow. She is good with Mystery Man and excellent with Wild Man. Law Man continued my winning listening streak…
For these reasons I think I’ll be fine with Motorcycle Man (plus there is a scene in the first book that turned me off him as a hero to a small degree.) So again I don’t have the investment in his character that Lea and Kaetrin do.
I need to make Motorcycle Man my next listen so I have a personal answer – at least for myself. :D
I think you’re right on some ways Bren – not having read the books before, you haven’t built up expectation. That said, the text describes Tack’s voice as deep and growly/gravelly. And it was kind of jarring to hear Kate Russell saying those words and then not doing it for Tack’s voice! :)
@BJ Another great KA book to read is Sweet Dreams. You have to stick with the hero a little bit in that one (Tate) but he does come good after a shaky start. :D
Thanks Kaetrin. Just read the Sweet Dreams description and it sounds great! Added it to my “To Read” list : )
Always happy to be your enabler BJ! :D
Wow – I thought the narration was even better In Motorcycle Man than Law Man! I read them all in ebook first. I think I have a slightly different opinion/perspective about the narration. See, for the uninitiated, it’s told in first person POV most of the time, all from Tyra’s POV. So in my mind, we are hearing Tyra tell us the story, acting out the characters. I do expect the narrator to differentiate between characters, and she does. I am not a fan of the “radio show” approach to narration, switching narrators for bits of dialogue. I guess I’m old-skool – the narrator is reading me the story.
While I really enjoyed the narration, Motorcycle Man is not my favorite in the series. I read them in order, and I read the Chaos spinoffs too, but never really warmed to the MC heroes as much. Mind you, that didn’t keep me from staying up till all hours reading them. Danged addictive, and I don’t even know why.
Oh, I see how you mean. That’s not how I listen – I do it pretty much the same way I read – as if I’m a fly on the wall and watching the scenes play out – so I want believable character voices. I’m happy enough when the narrator can do them her/himself but I don’t think Kate Russell has the vocal range (that’s not a criticism so much as an observation) to achieve that. There was a lot to like about the narration but Tack’s voice really disappointed me.
I’ve read several KA books, including the dream man series and enjoyed them all. But I have also heard others have been disappointed with the narration of that series, and have recommended the rock chick stories as better audiobooks to listen too. Has anyone listened to any of them? The narrator is different I am told.
I didn’t even know the Rock Chick books were available on audio! LOL
Kaetrin- You have pretty much summed up why I won’t be listening any of KA’s books on audio. I have so enjoyed the whole “cracktastic” experience of reading them, including the entire Rock Chick roller coaster- I don’t want to ruin it with a less than excellent alpha male narration. Some books are like that- best left to the inner imaginary voice.
There was a lot to like about the narration Lee but yes, if the hero’s voice isn’t right, that’s a big problem. Many complained (especially after the first audiobook) about Bones’ voice in the Night Huntress series (we got used to it I think) and IIRC, there is a Lisa Kleypas that cops a bit of criticism for the hero’s voice too – I think it might be the one with Derek Craven??
I love Motorcycle Man, I have re-read it several times. I was a little ambivalent, but I decided to take the plunge with the audiobook, because it has gotten a lot of really good reviews. I have to agree with your review though, Tack’s voice was very disappointing. But even beyond that, Kate Russell’s persistent Jersey accent drove me up the wall. These are people from California and Colorado, they do NOT sound like hoodlums from Jersey. It was that, rather than Tack’s lack of a deep, gravelly voice that had me returning the book to Audible. I really loathed it, and gave the narration a D. It didn’t get an F, because Tyra’s voice was actually consistently good.
Obviously, I won’t be listening to any of the rest of the Dream Man series. However, I do wonder about the narrator KA chose for her Rock Chick series. Anyone listen to RC #1 yet?
You are absolutely right about the Jersey accent Jane – it did jar a bit but I didn’t mention it in my review. Thank you for reminding me.
Jane, I was mentioning to some facebook friends that I wanted to use an audible credit to buy one of the dream man series and they all said that the rock chick series was much better narrated and not to get motorcycle man. But I haven’t listened to it personally. I’m disappointed as I really liked the dream man books.
OK, I’ve downloaded Rock Chick – I haven’t read the book (it’s stuck on Mt. TBR) but we’ll see how this narrator goes (when I get time…) :D
Let me know what you think once you have listened to it, okay?
Yes I’d like to know too! I have 3 audible credits and I wanted to get 1 KA book with it, but I had planned on one of the dream man series and now I’m hesitant. I did like Rock Chick, I haven’t read the rest of the series though.
Will do – I’m not sure when I’ll get to it. As Lea knows, I have about 10 review audios to listen to in the queue! LOL