Paranormal Romance & Urban Fantasy discussion

I am completely addicted to audio books. when I work I am allowed to listen to my I-pod, and as you can imagine listening to the same music over and over gets pretty old. My problem is that i am having a hard time deciding on a new series or new book. Any ideas? I loved BDB and Anita Blake, and just finished Mortal Instruments.

Fever series (Darkfever)
Study series (Poison Study)
Shifters series (Stray)
Women of the Otherworld (Bitten)
Meredith Gentry A Kiss of Shadows

These are all audiobooks I enjoyed :)

thanks! I've read all of the Fever series, Shifter, I cant wait for the new books to come out!!! Women of the Otherworld i think I've gotten to book 6 and i really liked Meredith Gentry. I'm going to have to check out the Study series!

I have a couple others on my loved-the-audiobook list...

I love the outlander series by Diana Gabaldon narrated by Davina Porter and they are super long...I think like 40 odd hours...the JD Robb in death series is good in audiobook - susan erickson does the narrating and Karen Marie Moning's Highlanders narrated by phil gigante

A favorite of mine, I listened to the entire series, is The Arcane Society by Jayne Ann Krentz. She has written historical, contemporary and future books all in the same series. The readers have done a great job.

If you haven't read the Sookie books by Charlaine Harris or just want a review before the next one comes out, try that series. The reader sounds just as I expected Sookie to sound.

Ilona Andrews' Kate Daniels series is another good one. I struggled reading the first book then decided to try listening to them. I don't know if they got MUCH better or if listening was a better choice for me.

If you want a change of pace from P&R, try the reader is very good.

Julie Garwood's Buchanan-Renard series, starting with

adds a little suspense to this list. Books about hot men and strong women, with alot of chemistry, solving murders are always fun.

On audible.com, you can listen to a short preview of the book. Do try that to make sure the reader doesn't ruin the book for you. It turns out, I can't listen to BDB books because I really dislike how the women voices sound..lol.


Hope you find something you like.

I actually didn't like the audiobook for the Fever Series until Dreamfever came out!
Wow, I loved listening to Dreamfever. I liked how there are 2 narrators (female and male), and how sexy the voices were! Highly recommend it! Even if you've read the books before, Dreamfever is a whole new experience in audio!

I totally agree with the Sookie Stackhouse audiobooks; they rock!
Also, I recently listened to The Hunger Games (I know it's not PNR but it has some romance and it's an amazing book) and loved the narrator.

The one that totally disgusted me as an audiobook was Halfway to the Grave. The narrator totally ruined Bones (the hero for me); he was supposed to talk with a British cockney accent -I imagine something out of Guy Richie's films- but actually sounded like Eliza Doolittle with a cold.

Ok, I'm going to give an "avoid this reader at all costs. Jump out the window, run screaming into a hurricane, whatever it takes to get away." I don't remember the woman's name who did the reading, but she had a monotone and seriously SUCKED. Metro Girl

Thank you for the great ideas!

The best Audio Series has to be Harry Potter. No kidding, Jim Dale Was Fab. And Sookie is great! I found I had to audio Magic Bites at least I'm 1/2 way thru it now. Meredith Gentry, The Hollows, & I totally agree KMM's Highlanders.

I'll have to listen to kmm's highlander now. I heard it's better off start with book #3, is that true?

I liked all of them personally, but I know a lot of people recommend skipping books 1 and 2. Phil Gigante's voice is awesome though, so they are well worth it! I just bought book 4 today on audible to listen to

I love, let me say that again, LOVE Jim Dale. I never listened to audiobooks until I heard him narrating the Harry Potter series. Unfortunately I expect every audiobook to be done just like him (all the voices and all) and then I get disappointed when they aren't...LOL.

I'm just now starting to buy audiobooks. I have the first 3 books in the Fever series. I wasn't too keen on the narrator for those at first. She's grown on me but I still hate her interpretation of Barrons. I am hoping to get book 4 soon and can't wait to hear Phil Gigante.

I hope more people post their likes/dislikes on here so I know what audiobooks are worth getting. I hate spending a bunch of money and then hating the narrator. I only buy audio after I've read the book so I wouldn't dislike an audiobook due to book content.

Nikki - do you use audible for your audiobooks? if not, I highly recommend it - I pay $15 a month which is 1 credit or 1 book...although I think i'm going to change my plan to the 2 credits a month. I currently also get 30% off the marked price for books I don't apply my credits to. the majority of books are 1 credit, i think the only ones I have seen that are more than 1 are the subscriptions to like harlequin blaze

You might find good narrators by checking out:
http://www.audiofilemagazine.com/earp...

It's an annual award for book narrators. You can even listen to excerpts. Unfortunately, it doesn't break down by genre.

When I found out who was going to be reading my books aloud, I Googled her and found this: "A Voice of Honey with a splash of Vodka." I thought, yeah, that works for urban fantasy romance with heroes possessed by repentant demons :)

The narrator, Renee Raudman, has won Earphone awards. She also did Ilona Andrews' Kate Daniels series that Joanna and Alice mentioned.

Hey just to let all of you fellow audio book listeners know if you go to your library website most of them are offering free audio book downloads, I also use Audible but going through my Library is free and it has most of the same books. You "rent" is for a week and then it gets "returned" automatically. It is pretty neat and not a lot of people know about it.

Just letting everyone know, Its my good deed for today :)

Delicious Dee the book slut wrote: "Nikki - do you use audible for your audiobooks? if not, I highly recommend it - I pay $15 a month which is 1 credit or 1 book...although I think i'm going to change my plan to the 2 credits a mont..."

I have been debating about joining audible for a while now. I know they have a introductory rate for the 1st 3 months for $7.95??/credit. I'm really thinking hard about it. I commute about 30 minutes to work each day so audiobooks pass the time quickly. Plus, I've been offered a job that will start in December and if I take it I will be doing a lot of traveling soooo Audible may be the best choice.

Maggie-my local library doesn't have the free audiobooks. I think the library near where I work does but I'll have to check. It would be good to listen to them first thru the library and if I like them then I could decide to buy them.

my communte into work each day is between 30 and 45 minutes depending on traffic and I love my audiobooks. I probably use about 50% from my library system (Maryland State Library has something like 20k ebooks and audiobooks available for borrowing) and 50% from audible - plus they have huge sales! they had like a first in series sale about 6 months ago for 4.95...I got like 15 audiobooks, all first in series for under 100...probably saved myself over $150 in the long run

My library has no audio books either. Sigh, its just ssooo disappointing.

And my commute to work doesn't help. :oP Its the walk from my bedroom to my family room. Some times being retired--even medically retired--IS nice. Other times its really B*O*R*I*N*G. But with my health issues, there's really no way that I can hold down a job.

That stinks that your libraries don't have it try overdrive.com, it will tell you if any near you offer it

Dee, I think i miss all of the sales! is it a regular thing? I know that sometimes when the book first comes out they will offer it for like $10

i probably get emails every month or so about sales...sometimes they are really big, othertimes not so much! the most recent one, they had something like 550 books priced between 5.95 and 12.95 (still less than the cost of a credit) - I got An Echo In The Bone; a couple of mysteries; the first in Patricia Biggs Alpha and Omega series, Succubus Blues and a few others

I can't do audio books. I have a set picture of what a character looks and sounds like in my head and I'm always afraid that an audio book will ruin it for me.

it can be disappointing if you read the book first but if you are just starting it isn't bad, although i really hate when they change the narrator in the middle of the series.

I agree, unless the change is the better.. Is there any other books with 2 readers, like Dreamfever, one male and one female?

I don't like when I picture this gorgeous man, and the voice is done by a girl trying to deepen the voice. It's just not the same... That puts me down sometimes..

the Time Travelers Wife has a male and a female narrator

Most of Suzanne Brockmann's Troubleshooter books(the latter ones) have a male and a female narrator.

Rafaela wrote: "I'll have to listen to kmm's highlander now. I heard it's better off start with book #3, is that true?"

These sexy Scotts can stand alone but are better together..I statred with (3 I think)cuz it was on sale..it was good so back to 1!

A Great and Terrible Beauty has an amazing narrator!! She totally does all the voices and makes it really enjoyable to listen to. Her name is Josephine Baily.

A narrator to try to avoid though, is Mandy Siegfried. She narrated Wings, by Aprilynne Pike. The book itself was actually really good, but it was torture to have to sit through her voice for so many hours. :)

In another group, I was told that Sherrilyn Kenyon's narrator is pretty good too. I've just ordered one of the audiobooks from the library to see if I like it.

Carolyn F. wrote: "In another group, I was told that Sherrilyn Kenyon's narrator is pretty good too. I've just ordered one of the audiobooks from the library to see if I like it."

I've listened to the first book of her Dark Hunter series, Fantasy Lover, and I thought the slow-paced, heavy-breathy reader did not help the cheesy writing.

Yz the Whyz wrote: "Carolyn F. wrote: "In another group, I was told that Sherrilyn Kenyon's narrator is pretty good too. I've just ordered one of the audiobooks from the library to see if I like it."

I've listened t..."

Uh oh, it's Bad Moon Rising. I hope it's not the same narrator :(

Carolyn F. wrote: "Yz the Whyz wrote: "Carolyn F. wrote: "In another group, I was told that Sherrilyn Kenyon's narrator is pretty good too. I've just ordered one of the audiobooks from the library to see if I like i..."

It's not, Fantasy Lover is read by a woman and Bad Moon Rising is read by a man - sounds like the same guy who read Jacob's part of Breaking Dawn.

Glad to know Tobin :)

Only some of Sherrilyn Kenyons narrators are good. Holter Graham i have found to be quite pleasant to listen to.
Gena Showalters narrator Max Bellmore is good when he isn't doing voices. Tavia Gilbert is really good and does accents really well .
Jim Frangione just has the sexiest voice on the planet (BDB) and he reads all of them. Ward's sometimes bad writing doesnt come across when you listen to him talk. YUM.
I like the narrator for Kim Harrisons books as well, though for some reason she didnt narrate one of the books.
Those are the ones that stick out in my memory.

I just finished listening to Shiver, by Maggie Stiefvater and it had two narrators. One was AWESOME. Her name is Jenna Lamia. I seriously wish every single YA book was narrated by her. I love her voice.
The other, not-so-awesome narrator was David LeDoux. More like David LeDouche. He has the most cheesy voice I've ever heard. Like a Disney prince. A Disney prince who really wants to be on Broadway.

Oh no, LilaBird, what's that movie where the guys keeps trying to break off into a song and people keep cutting him off. He had that Disney cheesy thing going on to. That's what your comment reminded me of. Oh, wait it's Monty Python and the Holy Grail movie.

Do any of you listen to PNR/UF books while your S/O is with you?

When we take car trips I try to find audio books that we will both enjoy. This is a challange to say the least! Last year for part of the trip we listened to Dog on It and both enjoyed it. This year I have Thereby Hangs a Tail.

Anyway I love my PNR/UF books but I haven't listened to any on audio. I honestly don't know if there are any I should be on the lookout for in an effort to ease him into these books.

I do, on road trips over an hour. Makes the time go by much faster and no car sickness when I try to read.

Carolyn...I can't read in the car at all! Normally I drive and he will read a book. He's read the whole Harry Potter series, The Hobbit, and various other books while we have traveld. We started with Audio's last year and now I'm trying to see if I can get him into a PNR/UF. He has listened to a Janet Evanovich book on audio with his sister and he HATED IT. Hated it so much that he still fusses about having to listen to it 7 years later. So he really questions "girly" books.

If my husband's in the car, I HAVE to use earphones. There is no way he'd listen to any audiobook no matter who the author. Well, I take that back, if it were about the Dallas Cowboys, he might listen to that. I wear those wrist acupressure bands and I'll take Bonine the night before because it's supposed to last 24 hours, I just hate all that wasted time during the drive. But sometimes if the traffic is too stop-and-go or my husband thinks he's being followed (lol), I still get queasy.

About once a month I visit my son in Ottawa. It is about a 5 1/2 to 6 hour drive. Sometimes my husband comes with me sometimes he doesn't. So I have the same problem, finding a book he would enjoy as well.

Here are some that worked

The Bishop/Special Crimes Unit series that starts with Stealing Shadows.

He really likes the In Death series by JD Robb which starts with Naked in Death

Since he likes the TV show True Blood, last trip he listened to All Together Dead

Hope this helps

Amy--isn't the inability to read in a car sucky? I too can't read there. My hubby has learned over the years to not even ask me to check a map for him. (Thank heavens GPSs have now become widely available.)

I think that my hubby would listen to UF. That's not too "girly" Amy. Try Night Huntress, Sookie, Kate Daniels, Riley Jensen or even Kitty. They have lots of kick a** action, so he shouldn't be too upset by them. And, if he is--tell him to suck it up and quite annoying you. :oP

I would def. rec the in death series for road trips...they have some hot, steamy scenes, but a pretty good mystery as well...hopefully the best of both worlds!

I wouldn't rec the audiobooks for the Mortal Instruments series by Cassandra Clare - great books... pretty ordinary narrator.
I loved the Hunger Games & Catching Fire narrator - hoping to break my husband in with those first.

I am listening to the Mortal Instruments on audio book and I like it. The narrator is younger but it fits with the story. I think she does a good job. I would recommend it.

How about the Dresden Files series for road trips with your husband? As they are both written by a male author and read by a male narrator, the fantastic James Marsters, they're a good bet for a UF series that can be enjoyed by both of you.

OOhhh--good one to recommend DH. That really would be a good one (even without JM as the reader) to at least get your hubby's feet wet Carolyn.

My husband stays as far away from fiction as he can. I think the last book of fiction he read was in college because it was a requirement. It has to be motivational or sports related and that's it. Those as audiobooks would be horrible to me. I can barely listen to sports radio. I'll just put the headphones on and he can listen to Don Jeronimo or a sports talk show or a game on the radio and leave me alone. :)

The Dresden Files series is a great idea! Amy, let us know how it works out.