Listening To in June 2011

[paula]

Just finished The Awakening. Thinking about maybe Death Angel or Private Arrangements next.

[Lea's Audiobooks]

Paula wrote: "Just finished The Awakening. Thinking about maybe Death Angel or Private Arrangements next."

Death Angel and Private Arrangements are both big audio favorites of mine. I hope you find them to be the same!

[Tracy]

Just finished and was fairly unimpressed with the writing. HOWEVER, Renee Raudmann's narration was amazing. It kept me going and is a big reason why I'm starting the second book in the series. :)

[D.G.]

I finished Darkfever yesterday. Really enjoyed it and can't stop thinking about it!

Next will be either Bed of Roses or The Bourne Identity. I'll try them both and see which one is calling out to me. :)

[Dee]

DG - the fever series totally consumed me...lol! I rarely read a series of books right through, but I did with fever and it was torture waiting for book 5 (and I only had to wait a week) - I don't know how the people waiting a year did it...lol!

[D.G.]

I caved and requested #2 from the library. I already have audiobooks 3 & 4 on my iPod (I heard all about the cliffhangers so I figured I should have them handy) but I'm in the 20s on #5s waiting list. My plan was to read one a month hoping that by the time I got to #5 it will be available but I don't know if I'll be able to keep to my plan. :)

I remember a few years ago when some friends were going crazy with that series and I said I would wait until it was done to start it. Best decision I ever made!

[Krissie]

OK, Ilona Andrews hooked me. It took perseverance, but I'm now on the third and totally caught up.
It's funny because KMM's Fever series got me right away, and so did the Mercy Thompson, even though both of those took a number of books to get the romance and sex going. But now I have a bunch of lovely books to read.

[D.G.]

I didn't care for the ending of Bed of Roses. Ugh! I hate stupid heroines.

Now I'm not sure what to listen next. Either Cry No More, Back to the Bedroom or Unwind.

[Diane]

I finished Paladin of Souls and started Every Breath You Take (abridged version).

[Dee]

just picked up Map of BonesMap of Bones for free on Audible if anyone is interested - http://www.audible.com/pd/ref=sr_1_1?...

[Vinity]

Krissie wrote: "Finally finished the first Magic book by Ilona Andrews and liked it. I wonder if all the gross/gore was because it was co-written by a man? Not to be sexist, but the gross level was pretty high.
..." I don't think it's just Gordon on the gross factor. They both just have really creepy bad guys imaginations. I think the Edge series, which is more romantic to start with style wise has even grosser bad guys. Still, adore the writing team, once you are sort of prepared that the bad guys will be pretty uniquely yukky.

[Tara]

I'm still working my way through the Outlander series. I'm currently listening to Voyager. (view spoiler)[ I'm really not enjoying the separation or listening to Jamie having sex with other women. (hide spoiler)]

[Brenda]

Love, Love, Love Renee Raudman's narration of the Kate Daniels series and the Edge series, the books are all great to me, but especially in audio.

Kudos to Ilona and Gordon! .... as a person with a very sensitive nose, having an author/authors that can make me gag with nothing but words about odors is a real talent in my mind. LOL

And yes, as per my usual, I know exactly where to fast forward in each of their books, which are favorite re-listens! With an iPod Classic and the two clicks that bring you to the "diamond" that allows you to scroll forward to precise intervals, it's a piece of cake to bypass things that go beyond my tolerance level.

Raudman brings the Andrews books to a whole new level, they are not to be missed, despite any fast forwarding needed by this pansy. :) She is the Queen of narrator interpretation for the emotions written into these books.

Bringing me to laughter, not hard with an excellent authors words, bring me to tears with sheer spoken emotion, Raudman indeed rocks!

[Krissie]

Yes, I think Raudman does a great job on the Ilona Andrews books. I first heard her on one of mine (Dogs and Goddesses) and thought she was better suited for Jenny Cruisie (I collaborated with her) than me. I'm in awe of how well she does the Kate Daniels books.
Finished the third one -- now I get to listen to RAZIEL. I'm psyched!

[D.G.]

LOL, Tara!

Right now I'm listening to Cry No More and what a story. I get the impression I'll be bawling my eyes out by the end. :(

[Melinda]

D.G. ~Vile Temptress~ wrote: "LOL, Tara!

Right now I'm listening to Cry No More and what a story. I get the impression I'll be bawling my eyes out by the end. :("

oh yeah - this one was a major tearjerker - I had to put the book down and sob more than once when reading in print!

I just finished Only Love by Elizabeth Lowell, Richard Ferrone narrating, and started The Temptation of the Night Jasmine, Pink Carnation series, by Lauren Willig. This is the only one read by Justine Eyre - so far I'm missing Kate Reading A LOT. And I'm only about 45 minutes in. Eyre's reading (so far) seems affected and unnatural, especially compared to Reading. And what American would go by a French pronunciation of Eloise??

[Diane]

Finished Every Breath You Take today and started The Last Templar. The abridgement of Every Breath You Take worked for me quite nicely BUT I still do not like abridgements. :)

[paula]

Tara wrote: "I'm still working my way through the Outlander series. I'm currently listening to Voyager. [spoilers removed]"

Tara - That's interesting, because I remember being a bit frustrated right at that point also (in fact I almost stopped reading there). It definitely all comes together though & continues to get better. I have both read & listed to the series & it is still my all time favorite. Enjoy! :)

[Dee]

agree with Paula - I love this series and have listened to the audiobooks several times, have them all on my kindle and a copy of each one in print...lol! it does get better!

[D.G.]

OK, I cried almost non-stop for the last two hours of the narration. Thankfully I was already home at that point so I didn't bawl in public!

I probably won't listen anything for a day or two. I'm exhausted!

[paula]

Just finished Private Arrangements, Death Angel & Envy. Enjoyed them all, but Envy was my favorite(thanks for the reccomendation Lea!).

Either Save My Soul or The Unsung Hero next (both new authors for me).

[Carrie]

Finally finished The Highlander's Touch but didn't really care for it. I'm hesitant to try another book in that series. I enjoyed Philip Gigante's narration of Howard's Dream Man, but really didn't like his voice for Lisa in the Highlander book. But it was more than his narration I didn't care for. I thought the book was boring, and listened to the last half at double speed on my iPod just to get through it.

I have a couple of short HQ book by Susan Mallery so I'll try one of those next just for something different.

[Tara]

Paula wrote: "Tara - That's interesting, because I remember being a bit frustrated (in fact I almost stopped reading there). It definitely all comes together though & continues to get better...."

Thanks Paula. I took a little break and have forged ahead a bit. I just got back in the 1968 section, it was frustrating pushing through, (view spoiler)[ now he has a son by another women and he just received a pardon so he could leave because people are starting to notice they look alike (hide spoiler)] I have faith it will all come together somehow, but oh man, right now they have been apart the whole book so far (I'm only on disc 9 out of 36), but I'm feeling a little disconnected from the story. But I'm not giving up. I really enjoy the Jamie parts.

[paula]

Tara wrote: "Paula wrote: "Tara - That's interesting, because I remember being a bit frustrated (in fact I almost stopped reading there). It definitely all comes together though & continues to get better...."

..."

Yep, that's the same spot that slowed me down also. Hang in there though, it really does pick up. This book actually ended up being one of my vavorites in the series.

[D.G.]

Tara - Hang in there! Voyager is my favorite of them all so far (I still need to listen to #6 and #7.)

(view spoiler)[I didn't mind about Willie. I felt bad that a man like Jamie didn't have a son although it's of course heartbreaking that he couldn't be with his children when they were growing up. (hide spoiler)]

[Dee]

(view spoiler)[ and willie becomes significant towards the end of book 6 and well into book 7 (hide spoiler)]

[D.G.]

I thought he would make an appearance later on.

Now I want to listen to the next book...gah!

[Nichole ~Bookaholic~]

I am just finishing up the audio for , while the story is good...the narrator is horrible...she makes the main character seem whiny but in a monotone if that makes any sense...she does not give the characters any emotion or depth in her reading.. I almost think there would be more emotion in it if I listened to the e-book with the text to speech function on the kindle...

[D.G.]

Yikes!

If I don't like the narrator, I just switch to print. I've had to do that several times this month with books I was looking forward to but I figured that if the narration annoyed me, I wouldn't enjoy the book.

[Nichole ~Bookaholic~]

I will usually switch but kept holding out that it might get better...

[Dee]

sorry...lol! (view spoiler)[and based on how book 7 ended, he is going to be even more significant in book 8 (hide spoiler)]

D.G. ~Vile Temptress~ wrote: "I thought he would make an appearance later on.

Now I want to listen to the next book...gah!"

[Dee]

I finished up Succubus Heat and started listening to A Dirty Job

[Brenda]

Finally finished The Highlander's Touch but didn't really care for it. I'm hesitant to try another book in that series.

Every recommendation I've ever gotten for the Highlander series recommended I start with book 4, Kiss of the Highlander. I'm really glad I did that, book 4 was a hoot, and I enjoyed the rest of the series as well.

Then I went back to the first three, figuring how bad could it be? I found out...

[Dee]

book 1 and 2 were the worst me...I liked 3 once I sorta figured out they were slightly linked, but 4 and on were the best by far

[Brenda]

Did you have a favorite of the four Dee? While Kiss of the Highlander was a hoot, there were plenty of funny moments in the others as well, Dageus from The Dark Highlander ended up my favorite Hero.

[Carrie]

Brenda wrote: "Every recommendation I've ever gotten for the Highlander series recommended ..."

I was given advice to start with three or four, depending on who was advising. ;-) And when you look at the overall rating here on goodreads, The Highlander's Touch has a good rating (4.10/5). Soooooo, anywho, I started there. I'll hope for a sale or something and pick up Kiss of the Highlander then. Unfortunately, it's just about the only book in the series my library doesn't have. :-P

[Carrie]

I just finished The Unexpected Millionaire by Mallery and really enjoyed it. The narrator was quite good, and if you're wiling to suspend disbelief a bit, it was funny and at times heartwarming. Good deal for around $4.

Not sure where I'll go next, but I have the first Kate Daniels, the first two "Kitty" books by Vaughn, Ice Blue by Stuart, and Gentle Rogue by Lindsey. I ought to find something I like, right?

[Dee]

I think 4 and 5 were my favorites, but Adam Black also has a special place in my heart...so umm, nope, can't choose...lol!

Carrie wrote: "Brenda wrote: "Every recommendation I've ever gotten for the Highlander series recommended ..."

I was given advice to start with three or four, depending on who was advising. ;-) And when you look..."

[Lea's Audiobooks]

In the Highlander series, I'm definitely one who believes you should start with Kiss of the Highlander (Book four) and move on. That's a total of four books and enough to be quite satisfying. I'm crazy about books 4-7!

[Diane]

I finished The Last Templar today and started Map of Bones.

[Naima]

I'm listening to Edge of Sight by Roxanne St.Claire. I adore this book and have listened to it with the text to speech feature on my kindle because I like it so much. I hope the narration by Violet Gray is as amazing as the book!

[paula]

Just finished Save My Soul and didn't care for it. About 1/2 way through The Unsung Hero & it is pretty good so far (actually reminds me a little of the Virgin River Series).

[Melinda]

Paula, have you read or listened to any others in the Troubleshooters series before? OH, never mind, I see Brockmann is a new author for you. I couldn't bear to listen to Unsung Hero because the narrator mispronounces so many names!! But if you haven't heard or read any, you may not notice. I can't say that I find Troubleshooters anything like Virgin River, though! I am a big fan of both series, but Virgin River is a LOT more laid back - TS is pretty action packed. Enjoy!

[Lea's Audiobooks]

Love the Troubleshooter series but did not care for The Unsung Hero that much in print or audio.

[Dee]

I love the TS books, but wasn't a fan of the one that I tried in audio...can't remember which one it was though - maybe book 4...I might have to go back and try again though

[paula]

Lea's Audiobooks wrote: "Love the Troubleshooter series but did not care for The Unsung Hero that much in print or audio."

Good to hear. I may try more in the series then.

[Carrie]

I found Kiss of the Highlander at a flea market bookseller for $1 over the weekend. I'm going to read it instead of listen since I wasn't overwhelmed with Gigante's narration of #3.

I also started Gentle Rogue on Friday and hated the narration (wish I'd read your review first, Lea!), so I stopped and I'm going to read that one in print, too. Not sure what I'll actually put on my iPod next.

[D.G.]

I have The Unsung Hero on audio in my TBL and I don't feel like listening to it. I listened to a minute of the first chapter and sort of didn't like the narrator but I need to give it another try.

Right now I'm sort of in a funk and it's taken me a while to get interested in a audiobook. I started The Manual of Detection and so far I cannot say I'm even interested. The narrator is very good but the story is sort of boring. I still haven't figure out what's the point.

[Melinda]

D.G. ~Vile Temptress~ wrote: "I have The Unsung Hero on audio in my TBL and I don't feel like listening to it. I listened to a minute of the first chapter and sort of didn't like the narrator but I need to give it another try."

well, I think you don't really need to - I DNFed it about 30-40 minutes in. I did like the print version - I read all of them up to the last few, and only did audio on those. I had it in mind to listen to the entire series from the beginning, but Unsung Hero stopped me cold. Come on, he was pronouncing Tom Paoletti's last name so wrong! (among other egregious pronunciations and narration oddities that made me stop)

[D.G.]

Aggh! So maybe I should just try it in print...