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Do good narrators make audiobooks great?
A while ago, I wrote about how a bad narrator can kill a good (audio)book, but today I’d like to discuss how a narrator can bring an audiobook to life and make it simply unforgettable.
If you follow me on Twitter or Facebook, you know that I’ve been re-listening to the Fever series while I make the ridiculously long drive to my clinical site and/or clean the house and cook dinner. It’s no secret that I love the Fever series – Barrons in particular. While it’s true that Barrons is a selfish misogynistic bastard (in books 1&2 especially), there’s something about him that makes my girly bits tingle. It could be his dark, dangerous side. It could be his surprisingly gentle side (“You’re leaving me, Rainbow Girl.” – which, based on the Barrons POV sex scene that Karen Marie Moning posted, doesn’t actually show his softer side – but I’ll choose to believe what I want in this instance). Or maybe it’s the fact that Phil Gigante performs his voice in books 4&5.
Listen to that voice. UNF.
I don’t care what Phil Gigante looks like (and please don’t show me because quite frankly, I don’t care), if he spoke to me in his Barrons, V’Lane, Ryodan, or Dreamy Eyed Guy voice, I’d marry him and have 15 million of his babies – despite the fact that I utterly loathe being pregnant… but that’s another matter for another blog entirely.
I was stuck at my clinical site, unable to listen to the audiobooks burning a hole in my pocket on my iPhone (which I’m not technically allowed to have on me at clinic), every thought I possessed belong to Barrons. I couldn’t plot out my next scene for NaNo (which I’m 4 days behind on). I couldn’t remember the positions or the technique for the xray practical exam I was supposed to do later on that afternoon. All I could think about was BARRONS.
As I was walking back to my rotation after lunch with my BFF, I was talking to her about the Fever series. She remarked that she didn’t really read that much (*gasp*) and I told her that she should try audiobooks – especially the Fever series.
The more I talked to her about it, the more I realized I was talking about Barrons’ voice. And that made me wonder – would I be as obsessed with him if not for Phil Gigante? I mean, I started liking Barrons towards the end of book 2 (when Joyce Bean was still narrating), but I didn’t really obsess over her Barrons the way I obsess over Phil’s Barrons.
I wonder if I had read the books instead of listening to them, would I feel the way that Katiebabs feels about him (loathe) or the way Bells does (love)?
Narrators can definitely make or break a book for me – How about you? And I think it’s kind of obvious that Phil Gigante is my favorite narrator (closely followed by Jim Frangione, who narrates the BDB books). Who’s your favorite narrator?
When bad narrators kill good audiobooks
So, it’s obvious (or should be) to anyone that knows me that I’m obsessed with audiobooks. I usually have one (or five – but who’s counting?) loaded on my iPhone and far more than that on my iPad. I remembered that I had two credits at Audible.com waiting for me to use them so tonight, I picked up two more (Life After Joe by Harper Fox and The Witness by Nora Roberts). I haven’t listened to them yet, but I’m hoping that they’ll turn out better than my last three audiobooks did…
I picked up To Seduce a Sinner by Elizabeth Hoyt a while back because I’d heard rave reviews of it (either that or it was from HaBO on SmartBitches.com and I couldn’t help but grab it since so many of those books are so hilariously bad-sounding that I feel as though I have to read them for the sheer entertainment value alone… but I digress). The basic idea of the book is that this chick proposes to a viscount since he needs and heir and she needs not to be an old maid. She’s secretly been in love with him for years, but she doesn’t want to get her heart broken, so she tries to keep him at a distance. Typically this is exactly the type of HR that I’d read. Somewhat cheesy, but cute and I love the idea that the mousy girl can get the hottie guy every once in a while. But the woman who narrated the book… oh my goodness. I don’t know if I didn’t like her accent (which is rare for me since I obsess over British accents and routinely perfect mine in the mirror while I’m getting ready in the morning – shut up, you know you do it too!) or maybe it’s just because she has a higher-pitched voice than I’m used to and the tone got on my nerves. Whatever the reason, I couldn’t get past her voice and really listen to the story, so I ended up putting the audiobook down about an hour into it. If you want to hear a sample, click on the title of the book to be taken to Audible’s page – I couldn’t figure out a way to save and embed the sample.
I was asked to review Unraveled by Gena Showalter a while back, but I’d never read Intertwined, the first book in the series. So I got theaudiobook to listen to while I was cleaning the house and on my way to and from school. Since I’m so busy, I might as well kill two birds with one stone, right? Yeah… The narrator was female, which didn’t bother me (this time) as much as the cadence of her voice. She emphasized the wrong words and syllables (which now makes me think of Mike Myers in A View From the Top – “You put the wrong emPHAsis on the wrong sylLABle!”) I was able to plow through about two hours, maybe three of this one, but when I realized that I had no idea what was going on after I ignored more than I listened to, I figured it was time to put the book down. Eventually I will go back to reading the books because I love Gena’s work and I think the idea was a really good one, but the narrator kind of scarred me.
I’m currently reading (listening to) Unveiled by Courtney Milan. The premise of the book is really good, and I’ve been pulled into the story, but I keep getting knocked out again by the narrator’s voice. It’s not the same person who did To Seduce a Sinner, but she sure sounds similar. Is it because she sounds so upper crust British that this is how the producers think people should have sounded back in 1800s England? Cause I think I’d rather listen to a man (like Hugh Laurie!!) read if that’s the case. This narrator is shrill and sometimes I have to turn the volume down on my iPhone – which is bad, since I have minor bilateral hearing loss and occasionally it’s difficult for me to hear things well. I’ll keep listening for as long as I can, but I have the print book as a backup in case I end up unable to finish the audio version.
My two most favorite narrators are Phil Gigante (who narrated the male parts of the Fever series and all of the Highlander series by Karen Marie Moning) and Jim Frangione (who narrates the Black Dagger Brotherhood books by JR Ward). They have these deep, sexy, expressive, amazing voices that when listened to will make you want to do anything for them, as long as they keep talking to you (especially Phil when he does his Dreamy-Eyed-Guy voice — I would walk over burning coals if he asked me to using that voice).
So, is there a lesson to be learned when buying audiobooks? Yes. Always listen to the sample. And if you find a good narrator, it’s okay to stick with them — provided you’re interested in the books they’re reading, of course. 
