2012 Listening Challenge Our Goodreads Group Partnering with Speaking of Audiobooks Column

[Lea's Audiobooks]

For reporting on your Challenge, please follow this link:

http://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/7...



Our Speaking of Audiobooks - Romance Audio Goodreads group is partnering with the Speaking of Audiobooks column for the 2012 Listening Challenge. Although the two groups are actually the same, some of our listeners prefer to report in at Goodreads while others stick to the column's discussion.

So, we're starting the Listening Challenge here as well. You can commit, report in, and discuss here entirely if you wish. Here we go!


Our 2012 Listen Challenge Objective - Listen to 12 romance books in 2012

We’re simplifying our Challenge this year by giving you more choices and simplifying the requirements of each. We have four tracks to follow for a 12 book challenge and one track for an 8 book challenge. Just choose one and let the fun begin!

Track One - Listening to the Top Hits
Listen or relisten to 12 audios from AAR’s 2010 Top 100 Romances Poll and AAR’s 2011 Annual Reader Poll. These are lists of print books but there are 73 audio versions to choose from!
You will find a list of these titles at the end of today’s column.

Track Two - Mix ‘Em Up Firsts
Listen to 12 books of firsts - first time listening to a narrator, your first book by a specific author, the first book in a series, the first of a new-to-you romance sub-genre. You can also define your own firsts such as your first listen of a 2012 audio or the first audio your borrowed from a friend, etc.

Track Three - Listen by the Number
Three romance audios produced in 2012, three from 2011, three from 2010, and three from 2009.

Track Four - Spread your Listening
Listen to four contemporary/romantic suspense, four historical/western, and four paranormal/fantasy/time travel.


We also have an 8 book Challenge if you are a little shy about committing...

Surprise by the Quarter - 4 categories to choose from each quarter. You only need to listen to two books a quarter but you won’t be advised of your choices for the next quarter until the end of the previous quarter! Example - the choices for the second quarter (April - June) will be announced the last week of March.

First quarter’s choices (January - March):

Choice #1 - Listen to a romance narrated by one of the winning narrators in the Favorite Romance Audiobooks Poll. This includes not only the winners of the Narrator Favorites categories but a narrator of any winning book - first, second, third, and honorable mention in any category. There are 23 narrators to choose from and you can find a list of those narrators at the end of today’s column.

Choice #2 - Listen to a romance produced in the first three months of 2012

Choice #3 - Listen to a romance with a tortured hero. What is a tortured hero? One who is dark, moody, and fights any kind of love or softer emotions.
Examples of audios with tortured heroes - To Beguile a Beast by Elizabeth Hoyt, Prince of Dreams by Lisa Kleypas, Dream a Little Dream by Susan Elizabeth Phillips, Black Ice by Anne Stuart, and Lover Awakened by J.R. Ward.

Choice #4 - Listen to a Cabin Romance
In a Cabin Romance, the hero and heroine are isolated for large section(s) of the book. They come to grips with one another and their attraction in a relatively small space.
Examples of Cabin Romance audios - The Indiscretion by Judith Ivory, Nobody’s Baby But Mine and This Heart of Mine by Susan Elizabeth Phillips, Wild Rain by Christine Feehan, and Calypso Magic by Catherine Coulter.

It should be noted that although we focus on the romance genre with its many sub genres, we also include Chick Lit, Urban Fantasy, Fantasy, and Sci Fi genres if the book includes a romance thread.


Reporting In

Reporting for the Challenge will take place in two areas either here at our Goodreads group or in the discussion area of any Speaking of Audiobooks column during 2012 as our Challenge will be an ongoing discussion throughout the year. We are encouraging non Goodreads Speaking of Audiobooks regulars to use our Goodreads group to check in if a recent column isn't up. The same goes for your check-in. You can choose to check in at the column at any time.

Since I plan to keep our larger Speaking of Audiobooks audience updated on the overall progress of the Challenge, I may share comments from our Goodreads Challenge thread from time to time at the column.

What track are you choosing for your Listening Challenge?

What will be your first audio to fulfill the Challenge?

[Krissie]

I was wondering whether we'd have one. I always think they're fun. If you haven't thought of it already, one challenge might be to listen to something non-fiction.

[Lea's Audiobooks]

Good idea Krissie! Although it won't be in this column (already off to editor), I will include that choice in one of our quarterly tracks this year. You'll understand when you see the column.

[Krissie]

Cool.

[Megan]

Me, too! Me, too! I'm gonna do Track 4: mix em ups. I think I'll start with a historical Julia Quinn's "just like heaven" since I just downloaded it.
So, how does the challenge work? Is there a special thread here (other than this one)?
Should I post my review like normal and post a link here or copy and paste?

[Megan]

Ay idiot! I just read thie rest of e column and now know where to find discussion on the challenge

[Lea's Audiobooks]

Megan - so glad you are joining us! I knew there would be some confusion with the threads and it's my fault - I realized after the fact that I had to keep this thread since it is identified as the "go to" thread in the Speaking of Audiobooks column that introduces the Listening Challenge.

Would you copy and paste your post here to our other thread? That way, the other participants that report in here at our Goodreads group can see you are joining in.

I haven't listened to Quinn's Just Like Heaven so I'm looking forward to hearing your thoughts.

[Megan]

I decided to start my challenge with a contemporary, The Welcoming narrated by Christian Rummel.
I ended up wanting something short to listen to (instant gratification and all that). Here are my thoughts:

The Welcoming by Nora Roberts

My rating: 2 of 5 stars


This is a fun but forgettable listen: while you run, do dishes, drive, basically, while doing something else.



PLOT:

FBI Agent Roman DeWinter goes undercover at a bed-and-breakfast inn on Orcas island to uncover a counterfeiting and smuggling ring. Suspicion is on the Inn's attractive upbeat owner, Charity Ford, who is heavily involved in all aspects of running the Inn.



It becomes quickly clear to Roman that Charity is not a suspect. He finds she is full of charity herself, and falls in love with her. He stays his Secret Agent self, however, even after confessing love to each other, in order to discover and trap the villains.



NARRATION:

This is my first listen to Christian Rummel. He was great with the villains. He got threatening and fearful all at the same time. And when the villain is whining, he totally got the grating intonation down. For the hero Roman's voice, though, the narration was jarring. I kept hearing a smirk. Maybe Roman is supposed to be smirking all the time. It might have been meant to be sardonic, but man, it came across as smirking.



View all my reviews