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Texas Princess (Whispering Mountain Series #2)
by Jodi Thomas (Goodreads Author), Linda Stephens
by Jodi Thomas (Goodreads Author), Linda Stephens
Narrated by Linda Stephens
Jodi Thomas writes a good western and it is a genre I thoroughly enjoy. Give me a strong quite cowboy who doesn’t carry too much angst and keeps the violence to a minimum, and I’m highly tempted to fall for him. Give me a good narrator and I’m listening with delight. Texas Princess delivers on the first count but the second? Not so much.
Tobin McMurray is a solitary man who is completely satisfied working on his family’s ranch raising horses. He doesn’t especially like the idea of leaving the ranch to deliver one of their horses to Senator Mayfield’s spoiled daughter, Liberty, but he’s all about helping his family out. When he finds Liberty refusing her fiancé’s persistent attentions, he quietly comes to the rescue – again and again. What Tobin hopes would be a fast trip soon becomes much more when the Senator asks Tobin to kidnap his daughter and keep her safe.
Despite a heroine who was just a tad too spoiled at times, a major TSTL moment, and a few obviously unwise decisions by the McMurray brothers (totally out of character), Texas Princess worked as a comfort listen for me. I tuned in and immediately fell into a good old Western tale without much effort. However, narrator Linda Stephens kept it from being as comfortable as I wished with a shaky little old woman voice that kept creeping into all of the characters’ voices now and then. Often her portrayal of the youngest McMurray (a 19 year-old female) sounded both elderly and bubbly (yes, confusing). I had little difficulty distinguishing one character from another and there is something to be said for that with a large cast of characters. However, I didn’t agree with Stephens’ interpretation of Tobin. The strong don’t-speak-much persona I envisioned was there but Stephens occasionally injected it with a “golly gee” lifting of his voice. My penalty flag waved with each instance.
The story of Texas Princess is one I will remember fondly but quite honestly, I have to wonder if it would have sounded better in my head than through my ear phones.
Written for the 8/11/11 Speaking of Audiobooks column.
http://www.likesbooks.com/blog/?p=684...
Jodi Thomas writes a good western and it is a genre I thoroughly enjoy. Give me a strong quite cowboy who doesn’t carry too much angst and keeps the violence to a minimum, and I’m highly tempted to fall for him. Give me a good narrator and I’m listening with delight. Texas Princess delivers on the first count but the second? Not so much.
Tobin McMurray is a solitary man who is completely satisfied working on his family’s ranch raising horses. He doesn’t especially like the idea of leaving the ranch to deliver one of their horses to Senator Mayfield’s spoiled daughter, Liberty, but he’s all about helping his family out. When he finds Liberty refusing her fiancé’s persistent attentions, he quietly comes to the rescue – again and again. What Tobin hopes would be a fast trip soon becomes much more when the Senator asks Tobin to kidnap his daughter and keep her safe.
Despite a heroine who was just a tad too spoiled at times, a major TSTL moment, and a few obviously unwise decisions by the McMurray brothers (totally out of character), Texas Princess worked as a comfort listen for me. I tuned in and immediately fell into a good old Western tale without much effort. However, narrator Linda Stephens kept it from being as comfortable as I wished with a shaky little old woman voice that kept creeping into all of the characters’ voices now and then. Often her portrayal of the youngest McMurray (a 19 year-old female) sounded both elderly and bubbly (yes, confusing). I had little difficulty distinguishing one character from another and there is something to be said for that with a large cast of characters. However, I didn’t agree with Stephens’ interpretation of Tobin. The strong don’t-speak-much persona I envisioned was there but Stephens occasionally injected it with a “golly gee” lifting of his voice. My penalty flag waved with each instance.
The story of Texas Princess is one I will remember fondly but quite honestly, I have to wonder if it would have sounded better in my head than through my ear phones.
Written for the 8/11/11 Speaking of Audiobooks column.
http://www.likesbooks.com/blog/?p=684...
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Reading Progress
| 07/29/2011 | "About half way done. Enjoying the story in audio although the young characters sometimes drift into an old woman sound. I'm now so caught up in Magic Bleeds that I haven't listened to this one the last a couple of days. I'll finish soon." |
