Not all of us get our daily dose of romance through physical books or e-reading. Some prefer to stock up on audiobooks, whether it’s for a long drive or designated gym time.
We received an email from Reader Marci, requesting a few great audiobook recommendations or favorite narrators:
Sarah: We did a post awhile back, which has a bunch of recommendations. But I think a new rec post would be helpful, especially for summer road trips.I was wondering if you would consider doing a recommendation post about audiobooks? Are there any that you or your readers love and consider keepers? Any favorite narrators?
I enjoy audiobooks but don’t often re-listen to them. The ones that I have re-listened to are the Harry Potter series narrated by Jim Dale and the Amelia Peabody series narrated by Barbara Rosenblat. I’ve got some Audible credits to use and was looking for some new suggestions.
I want to make sure to mention the Nalini Singh Psy-Changeling series, which is terrific on audio, as is Dragon Bound by Thea Harrison, which I listened to on a road trip.
Lorelei King does a superb job with the Charley Davidson series by Darynda Jones, beginning with First Grave on the Right ( A | BN | K | G | AB | Au ). And I know Ilona Andrews’ narrator, Renee Raudman, has many fans (myself included – you can hear our podcast interviews with her here, in episode 68 and in episodes 101 and 102). She narrates the Kate Daniels series, beginning with Magic Bites.
I also have Rosamund Pike reading Pride and Prejudice because I couldn’t spend that Audible credit quickly enough after listening to the sample. Her narration is wonderful.
But I know you have suggestions – many many suggestions. What are your favorites? Are there any audiobooks you just loved? Who are some of your favorite narrators?
@ck90: Temptress! The Tom Hiddleston version of The Red Necklace is available in the UK only. 🙁
Many of my favorite audiobooks were recs from The Audiogals blog. They put together amazing guides to romance audio( The classics, paranormal and historical). These guides are very detailed, with reviews that take into account book content as well as narrator(s)’ s performance. I highly recommend visiting their blog:www.audiogals.net
Oh, now you’re talking my crack!! I listen to far more books than I read (horrendous commute). Second/third Susan Brockman and SEP, and you can get most of Jennifer Crusie’s titles on audiobooks. The “In Death” series is great, too.
No one has mentioned this series, I don’t think, but The Fox and O’Hare novels! LOVE.THEM. The narration is awesome, and they are a mix of “Remington Steele,” “Moonlighting” “James Bond” and I don’t know what else, but they are my go-to gold on dog-competition and horse show trips. The characters, the stories, the situations … they can’t write them fast enough for me. <3
Wil Wheaton has done a fabulous job as a narrator for the two books I’ve listened to him read and I recommend both books. In fact I got some of my joy from the whole experience because of the irony of it being Wil Wheaton reading the story.
The two books are “Redshirts” by John Scalzi – sci fi and “What If?: Serious Scientific Answers to Absurd Hypothetical Questions” a non-fiction book by Randall Munroe.
I have and will lrelisten to What If. The physical book is worth getting too for the pictures.
I’m also listening to the entire Discworld series by Pratchet. They have a few problems especially the tinkling noise they use to indicate a transition. It is 3x louder than the narrator so is way too loud.
I think my all time favorite for audio books is now the Rock Chick series by Kristen Ashley, narrated by Susannah Jones. She does a *fabulous* job on all of the different voices (and by the 8th book, there are a *lot* of characters piping up!) The stories are complex and interesting but, be warned, KA does not shy away from Bad Things happening to her characters, either previously or currently, so some might need trigger warnings.
I also highly recommend Andi Arndt, especially the Stage Dive and Dive Bar series by Kylie Scott.
Many thanks to you all for this post and the comments. Narrators completely make or break an audiobook! Audible and my library are feeding my new need for audiobooks so I can knit!
I second the praise for…
The In Death series (JD Robb), especially once Susan Ericksen starts narrating;
The Dresden Files (Jim Butcher; James Marsters);
Rosalyn Landor narrating Lisa Kleypas, Courtney Milan, and more.
I highly recommend the entire Escape to New Zealand (Rosalind James, narrated by Clare Bocking). A favorite author & series, done so well as audiobooks. Seemingly authentic En Zed accents!
Also excellent: Rosalind James’s The Kincaids series narrated by Emma Taylor, and Paradise, Idaho series narrated by Phil Gigante & Natalie Ross (my first two-narrator audiobooks; different, and good!).
Finally, highly recommend the Amour et Chocolate series (Laura Florand, narrated by Gayle Hendrix). Oh dear, the French accents and all the French; it takes you right to Paris. I’m dying for the rest of the series in audio.
Every book on this list that I want to listen to is unavailable on Audible in the UK (for example the Psy/Changling books). Does anyone have any idea how I can obtain these audiobooks from the UK? I have a subscription to Audible UK but it rarely has the books I want. Also, does anyone know why Audible UK and Audible don’t have a combined catalogue? Is there a sensible reason behind this?