All About Romance’s News & Commentary Blog

Today it’s all reviews here at Speaking of Audiobooks.  Nine audiobooks are up for review including The Next Always by Nora Roberts, Lord of Ice by Gaelen Foley, Future Perfect by Suzanne Brockmann, When Beauty Tamed the Beast by Eloisa James, Lie with Me by Stephanie Tyler, Animal Magnetism by Jill Shalvis, Captured by the Highlander by Julianne MacLean, Scandal of the Year by Laura Lee Guhrke, and Cross My Heart by Carly Phillips.

The Next Always – Nora Roberts

Review written by Kaetrin

Narrated by McLeod Andrews

I usually enjoy Nora Roberts’ books, but I must confess I started The Next Always with just a little trepidation since I had read reviews stating that there was too much detail about the Inn renovations and not enough about the romance between the main characters, Beckett Montgomery and Claire Brewster.  Other commenters didn’t care for the Inn Boonsboro’s resident ghost and the part she played in the story.

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Although today’s column features our usual list of upcoming romance releases and a number of audiobook reviews as well, we’re starting out with a close look at Jeaniene Frost’s Halfway to the Grave, an urban fantasy romance with a kick.  What’s the kick?  Bones the hero.  Read on!

Bones and Cat and Tavia Gilbert

As I wrote my review for Blackstone Audio’s Halfway to the Grave, I found myself wanting to talk with narrator Tavia Gilbert about the choices she made in performing Bones’ character.  When I contacted her with my request, she graciously agreed to join us today and give us a view of this audio production from the inside out.

But first – the review for all who have yet to listen to Halfway to the Grave:

Jeaniene Frost’s Night Huntress series is one that garners a good bit of attention from time to time here at Speaking of Audiobooks.  Halfway to the Grave is the first in this excellently written series that has a boatload of fans both in print and audio although the audio version carries with it some cries of disappointment over Tavia Gilbert’s depiction of Bones, a vampire around 200 years of age.

Bones is front and center in the series and I believe he is one of the best-written heroes – ever.  I can’t recall when I have found one single character as entertaining and I fell for him immediately.  Ms. Gilbert understands Bones perfectly but she also performs his character as written complete with a Cockney accent from around 1800 although this fantasy world is set in present day.  And that is where the complaints come from.  I guess we want Bones to sound like the American modern day hero he is.

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As we take a look at January’s romance audio releases, it’s also time to look back at 2011. We’ve been really busy here at Speaking of Audiobooks. Here’s a quick review of some of the features we enjoyed this past year:

• Our first Favorite Romance Audiobooks Poll
• Our 2011 Listening Challenge
• Our first Narrators Forum with guests Justine Eyre, Phil Gigante, Renee Raudman, Karen White, Xe Sands, and Tavia Gilbert
• Author Interviews with Anne Stuart and Donna Lea Simpson
• Narrator Interviews with Phil Gigante, Anne Flosnik, Karen White, and Xe Sands
• Production Company Interviews with Tantor and Penguin.
• Giveaways including a full set of Karen Marie Moning’s Fever audiobook series as well as an additional two copies of Shadowfever, two copies of Anne Stuart’s Ruthless, ten copies of Nalini Singh’s Slave to Sensation, six Anne Flosnik narrated audiobooks, and two sets of the first two books in Jacquelyn Frank’s Nightwalkers series.
• And 121 Romance Audiobook Reviews!

Yes, it’s been a very good year!

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It’s another day of looking at future releases and sharing more of your favorites from the past.  In addition to our list of November’s new romance releases, we’re featuring Part Three of Beyond the Winners and seven audiobook reviews.  Up for review today are J.D. Robb’s New York to Dallas, J.D. Robb’s Chaos in Death, Paula Quinn’s Ravished by the Highlander, Maya Banks’ Sweet Possession, Kresley Cole’s A Hunger Like No Other, Heather Graham’s An Angel for Christmas, and Jessa Slade’s Seduced by Shadows.

Beyond the Winners – Paranormal Romance

Our recent Favorite Romance Audiobooks Poll featured some big name winners such as Diana Gabaldon’s Outlander and J.D. Robb’s In Death series.  Both series swept a number of categories making us wonder what other favorites are out there beyond the big poll winners.  Over the remainder of 2011, we’re taking a number of the poll categories one by one and asking you “What are your other favorites?”

We’ve already shared our other favorites in Contemporary Romance as well as Romantic Suspense.  Now we are taking a look at Paranormal Romance – those romances in which the future, a fantasy world, or paranormal happenings play an integral part in the plot.  This genre is often confused with Fantasy Romance with a romance thrown in.  To differentiate Paranormal Romances, look at the attention paid to the romance as well as a HEA for the lead couple.  Our poll winners were Lover Awakened by J.R. Ward in first place with Kiss of the Highlander by Karen Marie Moning taking second.

Share with us some of your other Paranormal Romance favorites.  Let us know in our comment area below.  If another listener states one of your favorites, write it down again because we’re taking an unofficial count.

As a tribute to these favorites that don’t hold an official place on the winning poll results, we are utilizing our Goodreads audio bookshelf to summarize those most often mentioned.  Our Goodreads audio bookshelf is actually a number of bookshelves.  You’ll find a Mini-Review shelf (reviews from our columns), a Romance Audiobook Poll Winners shelf, an Upcoming Reviews shelf and a Beyond the Winners shelf.  We’ll add to the latter each time we discuss a poll category.

Let us know your other Paranormal Romance favorites!

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It’s time to catch up on our 2011 Listening Challenge!  I became a little sidetracked with our interviews of production companies, authors, and narrators that have taken most of our column space this year.  As I take a look at those Challenge categories I’ve yet to tackle, I see that I only have two to go!  Here’s my progress to date:

Pick an audiobook that received a DIK grade at AAR in print format.

DONE – Ravished by Amanda Quick

The actual storyline rated no higher than a C for me which made the entire audiobook experience a letdown.

Listen to a book recommended in a previous Speaking of Audiobooks column (and following discussion).

DONE – Tough Customer by Sandra Brown

Great, great narration and story.  Complete success.

Listen to a new-to-you author.

DONE – Texas Princess by Jodi Thomas

The story kept my interest high but it had to be to keep me listening to the narrator.  Narrator brought it down to a C.

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