Unlike many people from my generation, I didn’t grow up watching Dark Shadows all the time. I never seemed to get home at the right time, so I watched Captain Chesapeake instead. Still, although I was a scaredy-cat, I managed to sneak in a few episodes now and then.

When I heard that Tim Burton and Johnny Depp were working together on a Dark Shadows movie, my first reaction was “Perfect!” I couldn’t wait to see it. Then I realized that many fans were upset with the trailer because the movie comes across as a send-up. They are not amused. Or as my sister-in-law pointed out to be, fans took the show very seriously.

So I decided to make up for lost time. First I watched the 1970s movie, House of Dark Shadows. Think Dark Shadows with blood and color and the deaths of major characters, along with a “hard PG” rating — and a thoroughly villainous Barnabas. My reaction? Wow. Then thanks to Netflix, I started to watch the original Barnabas Collins episodes, in a row. (I wasn’t ready to buy the Dark Shadows: Complete Original Series Boxed Set.) Now I see why those fans are upset about the trailers. While the original was over-the-top, it took itself seriously. Sure, the boom mikes kept showing up uninvited in scenes, the doors shook if closed too hard, and the actors often flubbed their lines. (One of my favorites: “Several of my incestors – incestors?! – my ancestors are buried here.” )

Still, the stories were serious. The atmosphere took no prisoners. Barnabas Collins eventually became a more heroic character, but he sure as hell didn’t start out that way. He attacked local women, enslaved and beat Willie Loomis, kidnapped Maggie Evans and tried to brainwash her, killed several people who got in his way, and came thisclose to killing more people. All that in stories taking place in three centuries and more than one timeline. Take that, modern vampires who angst over the slightest thing. Just when you would give up on him, he would wax poetic about some tragedy from his past. Then, when you were on his side again, he would beat up Willie Loomis. Again. Or try to kill Maggie. All while being one of the best-dressed vampires ever.

Maybe that was what made the show work. So many paranormals have the vampire equivalent of “fake rakes” –  vampires who act as if they’re bad dudes, but who only kill evil people. Never innocents who just get in their way. Yeah. I’m so scared of you. Barnabas would kick their sparkly butts. He was tormented, but he was scary first. I’ve watched plenty of dark and gruesome horror movies,  but many of them pale next to the atmosphere of the best parts of Dark Shadows. Somehow the people behind the show, actors and crew alike, made it work, despite a tight schedule and limited budget. (Yes, even if the crew members wandered into shots now and then.)

The new movie has a big budget, but they don’t list Maggie Evans in the cast. What?! She was only one of the most important characters in the show. No Quentin Collins, either. What’s Collinswood without those sideburns? Also, no Burke, no Joe Haskell, and no smooth-talking con artist Jason McGuire. In the new movie, it seems as if Willie Loomis isn’t a crook — just a heavy drinker. Where’s the fun in that? In the TV show, Willie became my favorite “Renfield” character. He started out as a greedy, violent con artist who tried to steal jewels from a coffin, but from there, he went on to become a terrified vampire slave to actual sympathetic character. Part of the fun of the original was that so many of the characters were flawed and complicated. Take Dr. Julia Hoffman (played by Grayson Hall in the original, and Helena Bonham Carter in the new movie). In the TV show, she hypnotizes Maggie Evans to keep her from remembering that Barnabas kidnapped her. A really cool character, but if I found out she was my doctor, I would run the other way. Ethics violations much? With people like that around, a tormented vampire doesn’t seem so bad. In the movie, while the character had a dark side, she came across as more of a loser — another heavy drinker.

So what made viewers keep tuning in, day after day, for years? What still keeps people interested? The atmosphere helped, of course, but for me, it was the characters. Sure, I started the show to see Barnabas, but I kept watching to see what happened to people I came to care about. How would Maggie Evans get away? Whose ghost was that? Would Vickie avoid the clutches of Barnabas? How would the family matriarch deal with the charming but slimy blackmailer? And just what would Dr. Hoffman do next? Above it all, the show managed to be spooky, without lots of blood or fancy special effects.

Unlike a movie, because there are so many episodes, the writers got to explore more. It was like some of today’s big sprawling paranormal series and then some. The writers were free to explore more tangents and really get into the characters. Even jump into the past or delve into alternate timelines. OK, you got more repetition, too. (I could live without hearing the name “Josette” uttered one more time.)

My only complaint was that some of the pairings the show foisted on me. That’s always been my problem with soaps — and with some romance novels. “Wait, you want me to believe they’re in love? But he’s so boring… ” Also, because it was a soap opera, Dark Shadows didn’t dare let characters become too happy. So love interests were always dying off or disappearing or even going insane.

This weekend, I saw the movie. Guess what? I still like the TV show better. The movie had Johnny Depp and Tim Burton, great sets and Danny Elfman music. But it also made too many changes that took away from the original rather than adding to it. Why remove (or take out) important characters? Why change Elizabeth Stoddard or Roger Collins so much? Why weaken Dr. Hoffmann’s character? Why why why?

So one of my plans for the rest of the weekend is to catch up on episodes. The Dr. Julia Hoffmann episodes were getting really good. Or maybe I can listen to those Dark Shadows audiobooks starring some of the original cast members. I might just happen to have one or two with John Karlen, the original Willie Loomis (Harvey Lacey from Cagney and Lacey).

Just to prove that I don’t take everything about the show seriously, here is a link to the first of three blooper reels available on YouTube.

- Anne Marble

In our April column, Friends Helping Friends, we discussed the importance of seeking recommendations from those who have similar tastes to your own.  As a beginner, it is all the more important that you seek solid recommendations since outstanding audiobooks are a combination of an author’s talent and a narrator’s skill.  If a narrator can’t effectively deliver an author’s work, the audio version suffers.  On the other hand, a talented narrator can transform a ho-hum read into an above average listen.  And, as a beginner, you should consider these facts before committing to an audiobook.

Since the choosing can be difficult for the romance audio beginner, I’ve joined together with our audio reviewers to develop A Beginner’s Guide to Romance Audio.  It’s a list of audiobooks by sub-genre that we consider easy listens.  Not only is the story of high quality, but the narration is of such high quality as well that it flows effortlessly to a new listener’s ears.

But first, let’s look at some beginner tips starting with a word of advice that I first included in our Friends Helping Friends column:

Convincing yourself that audio format is the thing for you is rarely a case of listening to just one audiobook.  Don’t give up after one, two, or even five audiobooks.  You’re exploring an entirely new way for your mind to absorb reading material.  You are literally fine-tuning your ear.  In the process, you are exploring a large selection of narrators.  And it can’t be emphasized enough – seek a recommendation before choosing an audiobook.

Enriching Your Audio Experience

As you ready yourself to make your first romance audio choices, consider these factors that make the process easier and the experience richer.

1. An MP3 player makes buying and listening to audiobooks easier and faster.  If you have the ability to listen with an MP3 player but are uncertain about the particulars of how it all works, just ask us here and we will be happy to guide you.

2. Newer audiobooks are the best place to start your listening.  There are some wonderful older audiobooks (some listed here today) from the 1990s, but there is a greater likelihood of success with the newer audios.  Not only is the production quality far greater, but the narration is likely to be far superior as well.  It’s not said too often but I firmly believe that the art of audio narration is taken much more seriously these days and is now more sophisticated.  Where as narrators were once readers, they are now performers.

3. Your ear will develop the ability to absorb audio content the more you listen.  One trick is to start with an audiobook that you have read in print.  You can then concentrate on the flow of the book and its performance rather than straining to hear every detail.  The more you listen to audiobooks, the less you need to be concerned about the details – your mind learns to pick up those many facts without you realizing it.

4. It is a wonderful journey.  And we are here to talk with you about it and share your audio successes as well as those that just didn’t work for you.

Our Official Beginner’s Guide to Romance Audio

First, determine your favorite romance sub-genre.  Do you prefer contemporary settings and, if you do, do you want it heavy on suspense?  Or do you prefer historical settings?  If you start with your favorite romance sub-genre, your chances for success are all the greater.  Our categories by sub-genre include Contemporary Romance, Romantic Suspense, Paranormal Romance, Historical Romance, Fantasy Romance, and Urban Fantasy with a thread of romance.

Joining me in recommending beginner audiobooks are reviewers Brenda, Carrie, Melinda, LinnieGayl, Diana, and Kaetrin.  All these ladies are audio savvy and have listened to romance audio for years.

Keeping your favorite romance sub-genre in mind, check out our recommendations and challenge yourself to start listening to romance or, if you are already a romance audio fan, just discover some great audiobooks!

Contemporary Romance Beginnings

One thing that remains constant when you see a discussion of favorite Contemporary Romance audios is the pairing of Susan Elizabeth Phillips with Anna Fields.  And that is quite evident in today’s beginner recommendations.

LinnieGayl and Lea

Match Me If You Can – Susan Elizabeth Phillips  Narrated by Anna Fields

LinnieGayl – I love nearly all of SEP’s books in audio, but this is the best I could recommend for an audio beginner.  There’s nothing controversial about this SEP. It’s fun from beginning to end.  And this is the late Anna Fields at her best.  She brings life to each of the characters, and clearly distinguishes their voices.

Lea – A lovable, laugh-out-loud story of a want-to-be-successful matchmaker and a sports attorney too busy to find the perfect wife is excellently narrated with perfect timing.  Ms. Fields understands romance and it shows.

Also recommended by Carrie, Brenda, Melinda, and Kaetrin.

Brenda

Natural Born Charmer – Susan Elizabeth Phillips  Narrated by Anna Fields

Anna Fields’ flawless delivery – the humor –the four different storylines that all intertwine  – the cranky neighbor – the younger sister and the two developing romances (one of which features the aging rock star, who I always picture as Bruce Springsteen so that’s an added bonus).

Also recommended by LinnieGayl, Carrie, Kaetrin, Melinda, and Lea.

Melinda

Just the Sexiest Man Alive – Julie James  Narrated by Karen White

JTSMA is another good intro book, because the content is fresh, truly contemporary (aka not the 90s), funny, sophisticated and very well narrated by Karen White.

Also recommended by LinnieGayl, Brenda, and Lea.

Kaetrin

Blue Eyed Devil – Lisa Kleypas  Narrated by Renee Raudman

Wonderful narration which brings out the romance between Hardy and Haven (warning – contains domestic violence but not by the hero)

Also recommended by Diana, Brenda, Melinda, and Lea.

Diana and Kaetrin

Welcome to Temptation – Jennifer Crusie  Narrated by Aasne Vigesaa

Diana - Aasne Vigesaa nails Sophie Dempsey’s dry, wry wit.  The town is full of oddball characters and Vigesaa gives each a voice.  It’s a great book perfectly executed in audio.

Kaetrin – Laugh out loud funny, great narration.

Carrie

Anyone But You – Jennifer Crusie  Narrated by Susan Ericksen.

Trademark Crusie humor without the angst she throws in some of her books.  Susan Ericksen does a great job with the narration.

Also recommended by Melinda, Brenda, and Lea.

Romantic Suspense Beginnings

Carrie

Carnal Innocence – Nora Roberts  Narrated by Tom Stechschulte

A good example of the RS genre with a nice balance between romance and suspense, with a strong male narrator.

Also recommended by Brenda, Melinda, and Lea.

Lea

After the Night – Linda Howard  Narrated by Natalie Ross

I like my romantic suspense mild and After the Night is more romance than suspense.  Natalie Ross’ narration is superb, differentiating all characters and keeping to Howard’s intent.

Also recommended by Melinda, Carrie, and Brenda.

Brenda

The Search – Nora Roberts  Narrated by Tanya Eby

Tanya Eby does a very good job if you listen for the abundance of humor in the one-liners.  It’s not heavy or graphic.  It has dogs to love, interesting details on Search and Rescue training, and women as friends with entertaining banter as well as the romance.

Also recommended by Melinda, LinnieGayl and Kaetrin.

Kaetrin and Diana

Naked in Death – J.D. Robb  Narrated by Susan Ericksen

Kaetrin – Susan Ericksen’s sexy Irish accent for Roarke makes this series beginner a winner.

Diana – Susan Ericksen owns these characters.

Also recommended by
 Carrie, Melinda, and Brenda

Diana and Lea

Envy – Sandra Brown  Narrated by Victor Slezak

Diana – Envy has the perfect synchronous mix of author and narrator.  Serendipity.  It’s cerebral romantic suspense where the listener gets to figure out the mystery along with the heroine.  Sandra Brown’s trademark jerk hero and jaw-dropping plot twists.

Lea – Outstanding male narration – Slezak’s characterizations are distinct and he fully fleshes out the storyline.  It’s a hard tale, but one that totally captivated this romantic suspense sissy.

Melinda

Into the Fire, Dark of Night, Hot Pursuit,  & Breaking the Rules – Suzanne Brockmann  Various narrators

These represent Books 13 – 17 of the Troubleshooter Series and all are good examples of romantic suspense with dual narrations by top-notch narrators.  I recommend reading them in order.

Diana

Kill and Tell – Linda Howard  Narrated by Natalie Ross

Natalie Ross understands this book.  Gritty mystery and very hot romance.  Dancing on a balcony on a misty night in New Orleans – one of the sexiest scenes ever.

Also recommended by Lea, Melinda, and Brenda.

Paranormal Romance Beginnings

It’s obvious that Molly Harper is a definite paranormal hit among our reviewers.  She came to my attention during our 2011 Favorite Romance Audiobook Poll when she received many votes from our listeners.  So, let’s start with her.

Carrie

How to Flirt With a Naked Werewolf by Molly Harper  Narrated by Amanda Ronconi.

I’ll go light with this selection.  This book is fresh and funny, and the narration fit the writer’s style perfectly.

Also recommended by Brenda.

Brenda and Kaetrin

Nice Girls Don’t Have Fangs – Molly Harper  Narrated by Amanda Ronconi

Brenda – If you want a series that flows with the same couple and a thread of romance, the Jane Jamison series features a superior narrator who catches all the humor along with any other vibe implied in each book.  Ms. Ronconi is really fun and excellent to listen to, especially good for a newbie.

Kaetrin - Hilarious and fun.

Also recommended by Carrie.

LinnieGayl

Soulless – Gail Carriger  Narrated by Emily Gray

While officially steampunk, I count this as paranormal for these purposes as it definitely includes werewolves, vampires, and other creatures.  Emily Gray does a wonderful job as narrator in this first of the series.  Each of the characters sounds exactly as I expected.

Also recommended by Brenda and Lea.

Brenda

Dragon Bound – Thea Harrison  Narrated by Sophie Eastlake

A single romance with a good narrator that delivers a very popular story.  There are more books to follow, with different couples, if you like the first.

Also recommended by Kaetrin.

Kaetrin

Halfway to the Grave – Jeaniene Frost  Narrated by Tavia Gilbert

Kaetrin – Excellent narration and a fast paced sexy listen.

Lea – Vibrant love story with close to perfect narration.  There’s little descriptive gore compared to other paranormals and Gilbert keeps you interested every minute with her energetic performance.

Also recommended by Brenda.

Lea

Kiss of the Highlander – Karen Marie Moning  Narrated by Phil Gigante

A rollicking, hilarious, and bawdy audiobook, Moning writes a fantastic time travel tale while Phil Gigante literally brings in to life.

Also recommended by Brenda.

Historical Romance Beginnings

Carrie, Lea, and Kaetrin

The Spymaster’s Lady – Joanna Bourne  Narrated by Kirsten Potter

Carrie - Almost perfect.

Kaetrin – Wonderfully crafted romance that is only enhanced by the narration.

Lea – I liked this highly popular book in print, but loved in audio.  Ms. Potter adds another layer of entertainment taking this to the outstanding audio class.

Lea and Kaetrin

The Madness of Lord Ian Mackenzie – Jennifer Ashley  Narrated by Angela Dawe

Lea – A vastly popular romance, Ms. Dawe delivers an extremely well performed audio that didn’t disappoint the legends of print fans that expected the unusual Ian to sound a certain way.  She understands romance and her narration is spot on.

Kaetrin – Excellent narration made this story better for me on audio than in print.

Also recommended by Brenda.

Melinda

The Indiscretion – Judith Ivory  Narrated by Barbara Rosenblat

It’s funny, it’s masterful narrating.  I think it’s a great intro to audio.

Also recommended by Lea.

Brenda

Unclaimed – Courtney Milan  Narrated by Rebecca De Leeuw

The narrator is identified as Polly Lee at Audible but in actuality (and on the recording itself) it’s Rebecca De Leeuw aka the extremely talented Bianca Amato.  She delivers a different and very enjoyable storyline.

Also recommended by Lea.

Kaetrin and Lea

Outlander – Diana Gabaldon  Narrated by Davina Porter

Kaetrin - Don’t be put off by the length of the listen – think of it as value.  Davina Porter’s characterizations and accents are amazing.

Lea – I can’t emphasize enough to listen to Outlander despite its length.  One of the best narrated books ever and hero Jamie is so much more alive (and delectable) in audio than print.

LinnieGayl

The Mischief of the Mistletoe – Lauren Willig  Narrated by Kate Reading

While this occurs far along in the Pink Carnation series, it works as a standalone.  As always, Kate Reading is a delightful narrator.  There’s never any confusion as to which character is speaking, and each character has a unique voice.

A Fantasy Romance Beginning

Pure Fantasy Romance is hard to come by.  It’s usually fantasy with only a thread of romance.  Our reviewers didn’t have a lot to recommend for beginners but three heartily agreed on one book – or rather should I say a series of four books (The Sharing Knife series) since you will want to listen to the next each time you finish the previous.

Brenda, Kaetrin, and Lea

The Sharing Knife: Beguilement – Lois McMaster Bujold  Narrated by Bernadette Dunne

Brenda – Masterfully narrated, it was my personal first foray into Fantasy and I loved every minute of it!

Kaetrin – The world building is easy to follow and Bernadette Dunne captures the emotions of the story wonderfully.

Lea – A feel good type of book that is reflected in its narration.  It’s not over the top or as violent as you often see in fantasy.  Very well delivered by Ms. Dunne, it’s a slower pace that I still recall fondly after two years.

Urban Fantasy with a Thread of Romance Beginnings

Ilona Andrews ranks high with Urban Fantasy romance fans here at Speaking of Audiobooks and her Kate Daniels series earned a number of awards in our 2011 Favorite Romance Audiobook Poll.  She proves her popularity again here with a few recommendations from our reviewers.

Carrie, Kaetrin, and Diana

Magic Bites – Ilona Andrews  Narrated by Renee Raudman.

Carrie - Great writing, amazing world-building, and an excellent narrator.

Kaetrin – The romance takes a few books to heat up, but the world building is excellent and Kate Daniels is kick-ass.

Diana – Renee Raudman has me addicted to and loving a series I probably wouldn’t have tried in print.

Also recommended by Brenda and Lea.

Brenda and Kaetrin

Bayou Moon – Ilona Andrews  Narrated by Renee Raudman

Brenda – Narrated by the awesome Renee Raudman, be ready for an adventure, some truly imaginative descriptions of bad guys, and a hero who will steal your heart.  The heroine and her large close family add variety and drama but it’s Renee Raudman who pulls it all together and makes it even better as an audiobook.  And it includes an HEA.

Kaetrin – More romantic than the Kate Daniels series, the interesting world building, great characters, and Raudman’s narration add to the story.  I enjoyed this more in audio than print.

Lea and Diana

Dead Until Dark – Charlaine Harris  Narrated by Johanna Parker

Lea – My recommendation for Urban Fantasy must be for Sookie and her gang.  I can’t recall another audio series that has so consistently and completely entertained me – even after twelve installments.  In this first of the Sookie Stackhouse series, Harris introduces a new world of highly entertaining creatures that Johanna Parker performs to perfection.  Expect not a boring minute with this lively narration.

Diana - Gotta go with Sookie.  Johanna Parker brings it to life.

Romance Audio Reviews

We continually hear from listeners their preference for dual narrations featuring male and female narrators playing their respective roles.  We long for more such narrations where men can sound like men and women can sound like women.  But what about those dual male/female narrations where each narrator takes turns performing all the characters?  Personally I find them challenging and usually choose to run the other way.  Diana accepted the challenge of reviewing such a narration today with Born to Darkness.

Born to Darkness – Suzanne Brockmann

Review written by Diana

Narrated by Melanie Ewbank and Patrick Lawlor

Set in an exceedingly grim near future, Brockmann has created a world where the economy is broken and private parties have taken over law enforcement.  The Obermeyer Institute is a privately funded entity actively engaged in wiping out a deadly drug epidemic.  The drug wreaking havoc is Destiny, made from the blood of captive adolescent girls; instantly addictive and likely to cause the user to “Joker,” the street term for murderous violence.  Joker is only one word in a long list of special vocabulary that drove me bonkers in its audio repetition.

This audiobook is on the long side, running over 18 hours.  Because Born to Darkness launches a brand new paranormal series, it is heavy with world building and the introduction of ongoing primary characters.  In addition to the (unintentionally funny) vocabulary, there is a full-blown thriller plot as well as three romances.  OI personnel are known as Greater-Thans because they have greater mental powers (telepathy, telekinesis, etc.) than Less-Thans (regular people); this is termed Neural Integration.  The fluctuation of Neural Integration levels is terribly important to the OI characters and they talk about it excitedly and incessantly, but my eyes glazed over and my ears cried at having to listen to hours of it.

Mac (don’t call me Michelle) Mackenzie and Shane Laughlin are the couple pictured on the cover and featured in the blurb.  They meet in a bar where each is trolling for a one-night stand.  Mac is a Greater-Than commando in OI’s drug enforcement unit and Shane is a new recruit slated to report to OI the next morning.  When Mac realizes she’ll be working with Shane, she freezes him out, displaying her macho, nasty-to-everyone side, and that’s pretty much it for this couple until well past the halfway point when they indulge in another decidedly unromantic bang.  Mac is initially read by Lawlor as one tough bitch – which she is – but I was cringing as he read her girly, orgasmic squeals.  Mac is a little softer in Ewbank’s interpretation, but there isn’t much a narrator can do with a character who’s written as cast iron.  Shane’s personality is vapid – Mac is definitely the dominant one – whether Lawlor or Ewbank is reading him.  Lawlor gives him a golly-gee-I’m-in-a-comic-book tone.

The heart of the book and the primary couple are Dr. Elliott Zerkowski and Dr. Stephen Diaz who finally act on the mutual attraction they’ve been silently nurturing for seven years.  They are at center stage for the bulk of the book and Brockmann has lavished loving care in developing their romance.  It’s a perfectly perfect romance for such a perfectly perfect couple, if you get my drift.  These two are conspicuously missing from the cover and the blurb and I call that deliberately deceptive.  As sincere and as justified as the author is in her campaign to rid the world of homophobia, bait and switch is not the way to do it.  Lawlor voices Elliott as a lovable goofball and Diaz as a very basso he-man.  Ewbank has only one male voice, requiring close attention to dialogue tags.

The third romance between OI’s man in charge, Dr. Joseph Bach, and Anna Taylor, a woman seeking help from OI to locate her kidnapped younger sister Nika, consists of soulful looks and mental lusting.  It never gets off the ground; not much of a loss in an already overstuffed book.

Ewbank and Lawlor take turns reading in 30-40 minute stretches before handing off to the other.  They never interact and just when you get used to hearing seven primary characters voiced by Lawlor, Ewbank takes over with her own style and just as you get used to her, Lawlor’s back.  I found this jarring in the extreme and I’ll never voluntarily listen to another audiobook that utilizes this technique.  Lawlor tends to get loud and overwrought and I keep coming back to the comic book analogy.  Ewbank has a staccato, no nonsense style and sometimes it’s a relief to hear her after Lawlor’s shouting, but she isn’t exactly soothing either.  Sorry to say that neither is a very accomplished or convincing actor, but they are certainly enthusiastic readers, well suited to the author’s style.

Celebrity in Death – J.D. Robb

Review written by Brenda

Narrated by Susan Ericksen

Not being a fan of descriptive violence means I’ve played a lot of hopscotch over the years when listening to installments of J.D. Robb’s In Death books.  Susan Ericksen’s superb narration skills along with Eve and Roarke’s relationship and the core group of characters that make this series, have kept me a devoted fan even when details of Eve’s past or the criminals’ crimes have me jumping to the next square.  That said I was happy to know I wouldn’t need to pick up my markers before starting Celebrity in Death after reading LinnieGayl’s print review here at AAR.

Hearing Susan Ericksen’s narration always takes this series to a higher level of enjoyment and with Celebrity in Death I zeroed in on the facets of her narration that make it the excellent performance it is.  Let’s start with the fact that she inhabits these characters, bringing them to life.  As friends, their perfect bantering back and forth always makes me laugh.  But it’s the atmosphere she brings to the narration that most impressed me as I listened closely – those emotions that emanate from a scene that goes beyond the written word.  How do I put that in a way you can hear without a sound clip?  Maybe with some examples?

First – The murder victim in Celebrity in Death is not a likeable person, even to her own family.  Her brother comes from Iowa to take her back to be buried.  He shares with Eve, “I don’t know how I’m supposed to feel.  My ma’s grieving, but I can’t.  I can’t grieve for my sister.”  A simple enough sentence to read but with Susan Ericksen’s delivery of the scene, those words make you want to lay your head down and cry.  You hear Iowa, you hear farm boy manners, you hear bewilderment, and you hear such grief – grief over the fact that he can’t grieve for his sister when he thinks he should.

Second – Roarke gives Eve a present.  She’s uncomfortable getting presents and you hear that in her voice but then she opens the box to see a leather coat, “Oh…” There was a flavor to the sound she made, as a woman might make eating soft, creamy chocolate.  “Nice” and with that, Susan Ericksen has you tasting that chocolate on your own tongue.

Third – Eve’s leaving work after convincing PA Cher Reo to get her a warrant, “…Eve grabbed her coat.  ‘Oh my God.’  Reo made a hum of almost sexual pleasure.  ‘Really?’  Keeping some distance Eve shrugged into the coat.  ‘Seriously, sex noises over a coat?’’’  Yes, Susan Ericksen adds that hum of pleasure vibrating through Reo’s voice along with her greedy awe for something beautiful.  Eve’s sarcastic bafflement over the reaction to a coat is clearly heard too.

Listening with the knowledge that you will hear not only the spoken words but also the feeling implied by how a scene is written – right down to the smallest nuances – doesn’t get better than Susan Ericksen’s performance of Celebrity In Death.

Lyon’s Bride by Cathy Maxwell

Review written by Carrie

Narrated by Rosalyn Landor

A family cursed long ago, it’s believed a Chattan male will die if he finds his true love.  The present Earl of Lyon, Neal Chattan is looking for a wife – not for love but for the children he desires.  A widowed childhood friend who is now a matchmaker, Thea Martin, agrees to help Neal find an “unlikeable but acceptable” woman to marry.  Thrown into close proximity, old hurts and new misunderstandings cause instant friction and the two have a difficult time focusing on the wife hunt.

The first third of Lyon’s Bride is full of wonderful details, character development, and conversations that Rosalyn Landor only enhances further with her talented narration.  She’s at her best here – her voice is well modulated and clear while her narration is unhurried without being slow.  While some listeners have remarked in the past that her male voices can sound too gruff or old, that is not a problem in this book.  Her male characters sound strong and are easily differentiated.  The sound quality is excellent with smooth editing and clear chapter and scene breaks.

While the writing is strong and the character development is excellent, Lyon’s Bride is not an action-driven book.  Maxwell often interrupts scenes with the internal thoughts of a character.  Thankfully, the listener has no problems following the interruption since Ms. Landor clearly distinguishes the dialogue portions from the internal musings.

Thea is a strong woman making the best of a situation caused in part by her own poor choices.  Her stubbornness, which Ms. Landor captures well in her narration, is the source of much conflict in the book.  While I admired her, it took me a while to warm up to Thea.

From the beginning, Neal is the more likeable of the two and Ms. Landor succeeds in capturing his strength of character.  The secondary characters are well developed, especially Neal’s brother and sister, who I expect will each get a book since the issue of the curse is not resolved in Lyon’s Bride.

Other than the gothic-esque plot line involving the witch’s curse, Lyon’s Bride is a fairly predictable story of a nobleman falling in love with a woman who is “beneath” him.  That gothic twist tilts this story off its axis, creating an uneasy marriage of paranormal and…well…normal, that didn’t work for me.  Thea and Neal are just too English – too solid, practical, and sensible.  Perhaps the curse story line will prove more effective in The Scottish Witch which stars Neal’s angst-ridden brother, Harry.  Even with my reservations about Lyon’s Bride, my interest has been piqued enough for me to find out what happens next.

Ending Notes

We now have a Facebook page – just look for Speaking of Audiobooks.  We’ll be updating at least daily with the latest in romance audio news, links to reviews, column notices, and great discussions currently at our Goodreads group.

I’m also announcing news for the Speaking of Audiobooks column and other audio tidbits on Twitter – look for SpeakingofAudio.

To find a full listing of all of our audiobook reviews since the beginning of our Speaking of Audiobooks column, go to our Speaking of Audiobooks Goodreads Mini-Review bookshelf.  We have around 250 romance audiobook reviews.

Be sure to check out our Speaking of Audiobooks archives here at AAR.  We now have around 80 columns complete with discussions.

Enjoy your listening!

- Lea Hensley

In Virna DePaul’s upcoming book Shades of Desire, the heroine is coping with her recent loss of vision. Lily in Tessa Dare’s Three Nights With a Scoundrel is deaf, as are the heroines in Suzanne Brockman’s Into the Fire and Erin McCarthy’s Mouth To Mouth. The heroine in Jill Barnett’s Sentimental Journey is blind. When it comes to debilitating disabilities, Catherine Anderson deserves some serious praise for taking risks and writing about it: in Blue Skies, the heroine is formerly blind, and at risk for becoming blind again; in Phantom Waltz, the heroine is paralyzed; and perhaps the most challenging, My Sunshine, in which the heroine has brain damage, and Annie’s Song, in which the heroine is thought to be mentally handicapped but is in fact deaf.

Do you notice a theme? There aren’t too many men who are disabled in these romance novels. There are exceptions, of course, but for the most part when a hero is disabled, it is limited to something relatively minor, in terms of affecting his ability to live independently. Some scarring, or a limp, perhaps, but nothing he can’t handle alone. Piers, in Eloisa James’ When Beauty Tamed the Beast, would be an example of this. When disabilities do show up, it’s the women who cannot be totally independent, who is wheelchair bound or blind or deaf.

Is this because we don’t want a hero who is physically imperfect? After all, the rate of stunningly attractive men with six-packs is much higher in Romancelandia than in real life. Is it that we doubt a real HEA when we know that the stress of having a disability, or caring for someone who does, can often strain relationships? Or does it stem from more deeply ingrained gender roles? Men are traditionally the breadwinners, the protectors, and to have a woman in that role still doesn’t feel quite right to some. Even now, are there are people who still think that a man incapable of providing for his partner in all ways is not truly a Man?

I don’t have an answer to that question, and I’d be interested to hear your thoughts.

– Jane Granville

Note: The discussion of this book contains some spoilers.

Lynn: So, what did you make of this book?

Dabney: I hate to say this, but not much. I can barely recall the plot a week after reading it. It didn’t grab me at all.

Lynn: I definitely had some issues with it, but I also enjoyed some aspects of the story and so it ended up falling into B- territory for me.

Dabney: What did you like?

Lynn: Well, I liked the way in which the author used some of the plot points I’m used to seeing in European historicals and then tweaked them a little. For instance, we have the innocent heroine raised with an absolute horror of rakes because of something mysterious but awful that happened to her mother. Without spoiling things, the truth of her mother’s secret had an amusing twist.

I also enjoyed seeing a plot where the hero and heroine started off with no intention of getting together, and yet they found their way to one another without being caught in a compromising position or somehow being forced to marry.

However, I have a feeling that you might have a fairly strong opinion about the heroine. What did you think of Henrietta?

Dabney: She made me a wee bit crazy. She struck me as one who had been in psychoanalysis–she was so in touch with her feelings and articulated them constantly to the reader. I found this heavy handed on the part of Ms. Kaye. I prefer a little less telling and a little more showing in my character development.

Lynn: Hmm…I didn’t see that aspect of her quite so much. At first, Henrietta did annoy me because she seemed to think rakes were some kind of exotic species and her discussion of the subject with Rafe got a little grating sometimes. Once they got off that subject, I actually liked her. She seemed forthright and perhaps a little too chatty, but I took that more as her being the overly earnest missionaries’ daughter rather than as psychobabble.

Dabney:I guess I’m not a big fan of the country miss heroine!

Lynn:Turning to the hero, I liked that Rafe could be a widower without everyone assuming he’d killed off Wife #1, but beyond that, he spent much of the book just seeming like a standard issue, gorgeous hero. Did Rafe make much of an impression on you?

Dabney:Rafe was an inconsistent character for me. He was all over the map. He wants nothing to do with young women and then he installs Henrietta in his bed–I kept wondering, doesn’t he have like a hundred guest rooms? He is supposed to be reserved but from the moment she awakens (in his bed), he says outrageous things to her. Plus, he’s described in minute detail as so perfect it made me crazy. Even his chest hair is gorgeous as he finishes riding his gorgeous stallion Thor.

Hey, look at we both focused on the word gorgeous! Too much perfection is not a good thing.

Lynn: LOL – yes, he was too perfect. Though, once the heroine started getting to know him better and we started seeing that he had enough baggage to fill a barge, I liked him better.

Dabney: I also thought the jewel theft plot was obvious from the word go. The minute her boss flinched when Henrietta reappeared, I was sure Lady Whatshername was the thief.

Lynn: Yes, that’s what I thought, too. It was obvious that Lady Ipswich was going to be the bad guy, but since so little of the story dealt directly with her, I found myself enjoying things anyway.

I was curious to see how the villain would eventually be found out, but I was more curious to learn what happened in Rafe’s first marriage, see if those two would ever get together, etc…

Dabney: I did like the descriptions of the time. I thought the scene where they went into the slums depicted the poverty of the time beautifully.

Lynn: Yes. I totally agree. I’ve read too many books where the poor parts of London are glossed over and made unthreatening. I thought this author did a good job of showing how poor some people were and how dangerous life could be at that time.

Dabney: Going back to Rafe, I wasn’t so curious about his first marriage. He was too perfect to have done anything wrong. I’m also not a big fan of heroes/heroines for whom guilt rules their lives. I felt like he should have been sane enough to have pulled himself together years ago.

Lynn: I’ll admit I’m a bit of a sucker for a tortured hero. It was probably laid on a tad thick here, but I still got pulled right into it.

Dabney: I think it’s done better elsewhere! 2012 has been such a great year for historicals, I was probably hard on this one.

Wait–I have one more dislike. I thought the dialogue in this book was stilted. I kept reading it and thinking “No one on earth has ever spoken this way.” At one point, Rafe calls H “my delectable stowaway.” And at the end, he says “you’ve been like a shaft of sunshine forcing its way through the clouds. Like a blinding ray of pure light coming through a door which is only slightly ajar.”

I’m sorry, not even hundreds of years ago, did people say such things in casual conversation to one another. The dialogue kept yanking me out of the story.

Lynn: True. I don’t think it grated on me quite as much, but I did notice it. Sometimes things in this book flowed well, and the characters seemed to have a wry sense of humor that I liked. And at other times, well….we got dialogue like that and it reminded me of the heroes in Barbara Cartland novels.

Dabney: Ack!!! I’m so happy to have left Dame Cartland behind in my long ago youth!

Lynn: Yes, romance has come a looooong way since she was writing!

Dabney: As to what I thought, overall, I’d give it a C. It didn’t cover any new ground, the hero was too perfect to be believable, the dialogue too stilted, the plot was predictable (to me) and the sex scenes seemed to lack a grasp of basic female anatomy.

Lynn:I actually enjoyed reading this at times. There were things that got on my nerves and it is somewhat predictable, but I found it a comfortable sort of read. And there’s a cuteness to the story that I liked because it wasn’t laid on too heavily. In the end, I think I’d have to give it a B- because I do think I’d recommend it, even with qualifications.

These are farmer’s daughters, not necessarily pioneer women of the west, but girls who hunt, fish and gather around the woodland areas near their homes. The only cows they see are for milking, their horses (when they have them) are sturdy mountain ponies. They are often mocked as “country cousins” when forced to leave their familiar areas. They aren’t sophisticated women of the world and don’t pretend to be. To them, value is being able to put food on the table and survive under tough circumstances. They may envy other girls pretty clothes and fine things but in the end they place more worth in their strong arms and practical minds.

While she seemed to disappear from the literary world for many years, a variation on this practical heroine has had resurgence in the YA novels of recent years. Not so cheerful but every bit as strong, these girls are once more the embodiment of the value of self-sufficient, rural living. Foremost among them is young Katniss Everdeen. She utilizes the skills that helped her survive life in the harsh environs of District 12, which appears to be located in the Appalachians, to face the great challenges she meets in the arena of the Hunger Games. The Hunger Games books are an absolute delight on their own but one of the special joys for me was the similarity between Katniss and my adolescent heroines.

But where are these gals in my romance reading? Mostly non-existent is the answer. Pamela Morsi wrote about them in her early works such as Marrying Stone and The Love Charm but that was many years ago. While her books still may take place in small towns, the modern setting and current technology separates these books from the gritty, pioneer-style landscape that novels such as Simple Jess highlighted. Even the novels of Dorothy Garlock, one of the few romance writers still tackling Americana stories, take place primarily in small but more civilized towns. The living may be tough but it lacks the distinctive hardscrabble feel that the farm girls faced.

Inspirational romance, ever eager to tackle “lost” historical periods and places, has more than a few novels which meet the criteria of the time and location I am thinking of. Lately, authors have seemed to specialize in the rural areas of Kentucky. Wonderland Creek by Lynn Austin has young Alice head to the hills bringing books to needy children. Loving Liza Jane by Sharlen MacLaren is also about a young woman, this time a teacher, moving to rural Kentucky, where the children are much in need of education, and finding love. Sarah My Beloved, another MacLaren novel, tells about a mail order bride from the city marrying a farmer in Kentucky and discovering whether she can survive life on a farm. And Troublesome Creek by Jan Watson is a gritty historical where young Laura Grace must choose between the life she has always known and the possibility of education (and change).

Occasionally we get the opportunity to meet a European country cousin. Mary Balogh’s novel Slightly Married had Eve, a country girl with a small estate who married Aidan, a soldier who loved working the land. In Mary Jo Putney’s charming story The Christmas Cuckoo, Meg, the owner of a working farm brings home Jack Howard, assuming he is the friend her brother wished her to meet at the inn. Jack Howard, Lord Winstoke, knows he is not the Jack Howard meant to be the family’s Christmas guest but with nowhere else available he jumps at the opportunity to stay with this charming family. Of course love follows! And of course there is our beloved Elizabeth Bennett. She might never have milked a cow but she was a girl from a small village in the country. While the country cousins of the English country side tend to be far more sophisticated than their American counterparts, they still share that wholesome, simple charm which makes them so easy to root for.

But books such as these are few and far between. What little variety from the Regency lords and ladies we receive appears to be reserved for either the nobility of other periods of European history or the occasional American Western involving ranchers. Farmers and their daughters and small town Americana seem to have all but disappeared from the romance reading landscape, seeming to be missed by only old timers like me. How about you – do you miss these types of heroines? How often do you see her in romance novels? Any good “country cousin” romances you would like to recommend?

– Maggie Boyd

Today is National Teacher Day, and in honour of it I decided to blog about educators in romance.  As I was thinking about books with teachers, I realized that compared to other professions, teachers actually get pretty good press.  They know how to relate to children, are held to be intelligent and are usually hardworking; half the time they solve a mystery or two, and nine teachers out of ten figure out what’s wrong with the kid (absentee parent, lack of love, wanting to paint instead of do math, etc.) and use it to unite child with parent.  Sure, there are the occasional boring tutors or cruel headmistresses, but they’re rarely bad enough to qualify as villains or evil.

Is that good or bad?  Well, far be it from me to complain about giving teachers respect where it’s due (notwithstanding the anachronistic psychobabble spouted by Regency governesses).  I mean, I’m a teacher, and I know how difficult it is.  I’ve spent hours preparing a lesson, then have it explode in my face.  I’ve wanted to tear my hair out because 30 kids are doing 30 different things and thinking 30 different things.

But I’ve also had days when the most impossible situations arise, and I handle them without a flicker of an eyelash because I know exactly what to do in that situation.  I’ve had lessons that didn’t go according to plan, but magically worked even better.  And I’ve had moments that remind me why I’m teacher, and why I’m in the best profession in the world.  So yeah, I’m all for a positive image of teachers, because it’s damn hard what we do.  Those three months of vacation?  We’ve earned it.

However, fairness prompts me to criticize the overly miraculous depictions.  Yes, we love it and it’s rewarding – but it’s not as easy as romance novels sometimes make it look.  Where’s the staying late at all hours, the taking marking home?  Where are the hours of preparation and behavioural misunderstandings, and small steps and tiny triumphs?  And that’s just on the vocational side; I’m not even talking about the people who should never, ever have been allowed in a classroom, let alone near a child.

I wonder if the positive image is symptomatic of a larger assumption about teaching, that it is both highly respected and highly misunderstood.  We occupy an extremely important part of a child’s development – I’m not downplaying our responsibilities.  But we’re also not all like Julie Matheson in Judith McNaught’s Perfect, with her super volunteering and organizing and sweetness and goodness and understanding students 150% of the time.

As for stories with a balanced view of teachers and teaching, the two that immediately come to mind are Anne of Avonlea and These Happy Golden Years, the penultimate book in the Little House series.  L. M. Montgomery and Laura Ingalls Wilder were both teachers, so they knew exactly what they were talking about.  That moment when Anne feels horrible for punishing a student, then discovering that their relationship changed for the better?  Yeah, I’ve had that.  Or the moment as Laura’s trying to teach ten different children at vastly different levels, and screams in frustrations, then finally figures it out?  Yup, I know what that’s like.

In contemporary romances, Janice Kay Johnson’s books (like Snowbound) come to mind as someone who understands teaching.  Also worth noting (especially in today’s legal climate) is Susan Elizabeth Phillips’ Ain’t She Sweet?, because a) it’s the hero who’s the teacher, and b) his reputation was ruined by the heroine, a former student.

As for historical romances, the governesses abound, and nothing really sticks out except a general impression of women who subscribe to 21^st-century ideas of pedagogy.  But honestly, I gravitate towards them nonetheless, and it comes down to Jane Eyre.  I never loved the book, but the premise behind it hits a bulls-eye.  No, not the bigamy and child abuse.  But the idea that a woman can make a living from her wits, be it Victorian England or 2012 Toronto; that she can be loved not for her fine eyes and dancing grace, but for her intelligence and kindness to children and adults alike.  And that a man can recognize her and value her (even if he pursues her in slightly unethical ways).

Yeah, that appeals to me.  And despite my questions and small concerns, it draws me to teacher romances every single time.

So what’s your take on teachers, schoolmarms, and governesses?  Do you find the theme too clichéd, or do you love teacher romances?

- Jean AAR

So I decided to do some digging, and Googled “romance novels course.”  And lo and behold, they exist!  Kind of.  The London School of Journalism, NYU, and Ryerson (in Toronto) offer romance novel creative writing, and some popular lit courses have romance components.

Even more exciting was seeing that Lauren Willig and Cara Elliott, aka Andrea Pickens, actually taught a seminar on historical romance novels at Yale in 2010, from Jane Austen and Heyer through Woodiwiss, McNaught, Kleypas, Chase, and Quinn.  I can only imagine the finagling, sweet-talking, scowling, and outright determination that led to the course, but all I can say is I wish I could have been there.  (One class even had an expert panel with Eloisa James.  Dang it.)

Anyway, all of this got me thinking: If I taught an introductory university course on romance novels, what would I put on my reading list?  I had to remember that as a course meant to highlight the general development of the romance novel, readings would be exemplary, representative, or seminal.  So I might not like the book, and it may not even be very good, but it was probably important somehow.

I got some ideas from Willig and Elliott’s syllabus and list of required texts (scroll down) and also from Pamela Regis’ A Natural History of the Romance Novel. After hemming and hawing, here’s what my Romance Novels 101 Reading List would look like, in approximate chronological order:

The Classics

• Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen
• Jane Eyre, Charlotte Bronte

Modern Mothers

• Frederica, Georgette Heyer
• Nine Coaches Waiting, Mary Stewart
• Danger to the Duke, Barbara Cartland
• The Flame and the Flower, Kathleen Woodiwiss
• Paradise, Judith McNaught
• Whitney, My Love, Judith McNaught

The 80s and 90s: Refining a Genre and Breaking the Rules

• Silver Wing, Cassie Edwards
• Dangerous Masquerade, Janet Dailey
• The Temporary Wife, Mary Balogh
• Cupid’s Kiss, Karen Harbaugh
• Carnal Innocence, Nora Roberts
• Then Came You, Lisa Kleypas
• The Duke and I, Julia Quinn
• Lord Perfect, Loretta Chase
• Kiss Me While I Sleep, Linda Howard
• The Unsung Hero, Suzanne Brockmann

With the exception of the last, I’m stopping in the mid-90s for two reasons.  The first is that this list could get veeeeeeery long.  The second is that I’ve deliberately omitted the more recent years, which includes not only historicals and contemporaries, but also the paranormals, M/M, inspirationals, etc. etc.  I can’t decide, and even if I could, I wouldn’t in this space.  (See reason #1.)

So I’ll turn it over to you.  What do you think of my list so far?  What else would you contribute?  And would you ever take such a course?  (My answer: Hell yes.)

- Jean AAR

He walked in and like many men was immediately concerned and wondering what to do. When he’d left home that morning, he’d left a wife who was cheerfully reading her review book and ready to embark on a number of non-threatening chores: Go to the grocery store, return books to the library, nothing that should make someone cry.

What he didn’t know is that I’d just finished reading the review book and was feeling, no actually wallowing in the moment.

This is a luxury for a book reviewer. Finishing a book for a reviewer often means immediately writing a review and then starting to read the next book in the review pile. Pausing means thinking about what to say in the review, not usually letting the moment linger.

The “moment” is when everything comes together and a feeling of peace rains over the reader. It’s a sigh that makes the heart ache, a moment that can’t be replicated by chocolate or a good meal or even a kiss. It’s a unique reader moment when whatever chaos in the reader’s life or the world in general she is experiencing is forgotten. It’s the minutes between seconds that readers let themselves breathe.

I enjoyed my cry, and I enjoyed my husband’s hug. But they were two entirely different experiences—the cry brought on by nothing but black splotches on a white background, the hug by reality. I cried for no reason at all and for every reason. All was right in a world. And it wasn’t at all important that I didn’t actually live in that world.

The cry was my dream reaction. I cried because I was more than happy. I cried because the magic of reading had lifted me from my hum-drum life, carried me somewhere I’d never imagined before, and then gently returned me. The trip fulfilled me, made me ready to tackle any worries I had, and let me embrace my humanity.

What is your dream reaction? And how do you want the perfect book to affect you?

—Pat Henshaw

I was convinced these must be the best romance had to offer and began selecting romances to read from recent Rita winners; the process was a bit hit or miss. I discovered some winners that have become favorite romances, while others quickly went into my DNF pile. Still, I was – and remain – fascinated by the whole specter of the Ritas. I can remember sitting in my living room, with an old AOL dial-up connection (I did say this was the 1990s), watching as the Rita’s were presented live over the Web. This was a big deal for me; I felt as if I was actually part of the romance community.

Obviously things have changed. There are many, many online resources available to locate great new romances. And of course I now have many online friends and AAR colleagues who are also romance readers. But still, I look forward every year to the announcement of the Rita nominees and the eventual awards.

This year I thought I might be able to attend the RWA Conference for the first time. Sadly, work obligations have gotten in the way. I know I’ll get to attend some time, but for now, I’ll have to live vicariously through my AAR colleagues who do go to the conference. And, of course, I’ll be checking online the evening the Ritas are awarded.

This year, though, I’ve decided to do something I haven’t done in years. I’m giving myself a Rita Reading Challenge. While I’d love to read all of the nominees before the Ritas are awarded on July 28 at the RWA Annual Conference, that’s just not going to happen. With my print and audio reviewing obligations here at AAR, as well as my reading my personal picks of romances and mysteries, one category is all I can handle. I’ve looked over the nominees in each of the categories for this year’s Rita Awards and have settled on reading the eight nominees for best Contemporary Series Romance.  The eight nominees for Best Contemporary Series Romance published in 2011 are:

A Bravo Homecoming by Christine Rimmer

Donovan’s Child by Christine Rimmer

Doukakis’s Apprentice by Sarah Morgan

How a Cowboy Stole Her Heart by Donna Alward

I’ll Catch You by Farrah Rochon

A Mother’s Homecoming by Tanya Michaels

Rancher’s Twins: Mom Needed by Barbara Hannay

The Texan’s Bride by Linda Warren

I picked this category for a number of reasons. First, and most important, I enjoy reading contemporary series romance. Second, I haven’t read any of the nominees (although I have read, and enjoyed, previous books by some of the nominees). Third, none of these books have been reviewed at AAR. Finally, some recent winners in this category have been favorites of mine including 2011 winner Welcome Home, Cowboy by Karen Templeton, 2009 winner A Mother’s Wish by Karen Templeton, and 2008 winner Snowbound by Janice Johnson.

I’m hoping to find a few gems among the eight nominees. I’ll report back here before the Ritas with a report on my personal challenge. But how about you? Have you read many – or any – of the Rita nominees? Do you ever look for books to read from the nominees? And are there any nominees you hope to read before the awards on July 28?

-  LinnieGayl AAR