While Amazon is considered a disruptor company for many of the changes today – hated by independent book store owners and publishers, especially after they promoted their price-check app over the Christmas holidays, in the 80’s and 90’s Barnes and Noble was considered the “brutal capitalist” of booksellers. And its history is extremely interesting, considering what has been happening in the book world of late. Barnes and Noble was the first major bookseller to discount books, by selling The New York Times best-selling titles at 40% off the publishers’ list price. In the eighties they bought up chain book stores like B. Dalton, Doubleday Book Shops, and Bookstop. In 1998 they tried to purchase Ingram Book Group Inc., the largest book wholesaler in the United States but were unable to do so because of antitrust concerns. Supposedly one reason Waldenbooks and Borders opened so many stores was to keep up with Barnes and Noble’s superstores.

In 1996 B&N expanded into Canada with a 20 percent stake in Chapters Inc., the largest book retailer there, but sold it three years later. And then it tried to expand into the digital world, but the timing was a little off. As noted in this Wall Stree Journal article, “In 1998, they [B&N] invested in NuvoMedia Inc., maker of the Rocket eBook reader, and the bookseller actively supported digital-book sales. But in 2003, it exited the still-nascent business, saying there wasn’t any profit in it.” In 1998 Barnes & Noble got sued by the American Booksellers Association and 26 independent bookstores who claimed that Barnes & Noble and Borders had violated antitrust laws by using their buying power to demand from publishers “illegal and secret” discounts and then in 2003 Barnes and Noble was the first bookseller to publish its own line after acquiring Sterling Publishing Co., the nation’s largest publisher of how-to books, competing side by side with Modern Library and Penguin Classics.

But now it is the underdog to Amazon. If you have followed the news recently then you know that Barnes and Noble announced after posting earnings per share loss of $1.31 in 2011, they expect this year’s loss to be twice as large as previously expected, between $1.10 and $1.40. It has also put Sterling Publishing Company up for sale. It is not that stores aren’t successful, and the Nook has even gotten solid recommendations, as well as making inroads into Amazon share of the eBook market. However Digital Book World states “the operating loss in its online division (including online sales and “development and support”of the Nook) hit $66 million in its most recent quarter, up 17% from a year earlier, on a 26% increase in sales.” Barnes and Noble had toyed with the idea of spinning off their Nook division after disappointing Christmas sales of their basic touch screen. In order to promote the Nook they have entered into a partnership with The New York Times, in which the Times will subsidize the Nook for readers in exchange for a full year’s digital subscription to their paper.

The article, The Bookstore’s Last Stand, talks about how Macmillan, Penguin, and others all feel a “ sense of unease about the long-term fate of Barnes & Noble, the last major bookstore chain standing.” Of course these are the same publishing companies that are defendants in class action law suit brought by Hagens Bermans, the law firm representing eBook purchasers. In January this complain was updated to include new information and allegations including quotes by Macmillan CEO John Sargent, David Young Chairman and CEO of Hatchett Book Group USA, and information from Steve Job’s biography. You can read more about it here and even possibly become a plaintiff.

Rumors are spreading like wildfire on the web that Amazon is planning on opening a retail store in Seattle selling “Kindle e-readers, the Kindle Fire tablet, and related accessories, as well as the company’s growing collection of Amazon Exclusives book titles.” One reason is that Barnes and Noble and Book- A- Million and many independent booksellers refuse to stock books published by Amazon. While some view this as a smart move, Michael Souers an analyst at S&P’s Capital IQ, in this article from Time views the move as a way for B&N to firmly side with traditional publishers. “It’s kind of a symbolic gesture, one meant to ingratiate themselves with publishers,” Souers says. “And publishers are upset with Amazon for trying to cut them out of the process.”

Magellan Media Partners’ analyst Brian O’Leary feels that it’s foolish for Barnes & Noble to attempt to punish Amazon by dropping titles where Amazon has a special deal with the publisher. “In general” he said, “it’s a mistake for any author or publisher to create scarcity in the channel. It sends the wrong message to readers.” So if you looking for Connie Brockway’s book The Other Guy’s Bride, you won’t find it in Barnes & Noble stores. In a similar move back in October 2011 both Barnes and Noble and Book-A-Million pulled DC comics off their shelves after Amazon announced an exclusive four month deal to sell the comics on their Kindle Fire.

If that is not enough, Penguin, which only offered backlist eBook titles for library lending, announced that it is terminating its contract with OverDrive, the library digital vendor, and starting February 10 will cease to offer any of its eBooks or Audiobooks to libraries. From what I understand they are threatened by OverDrive’s partnership with Amazon, which allows wireless downloads to their Kindles. Simon & Schuster, Macmillan and the Hachette Book Group are among the major publishers that already limit eBook availability to libraries. And of course last year HarperCollins limited the number of time a library could check out an e-book before having to purchase it again.

Honestly, these turf wars are getting old. I like Amazon but that doesn’t mean I want Barnes and Noble or other bookstores to go out of business. Competition is good for readers, and I’d also like to be able to get my books from more than one source. And then there’s the issue of certain stores not selling books from another store’s publisher. After all, if I read on a Kindle, what happens if a favorite author signs a deal to publish on the Nook with Barnes and Noble, and I am unable to read the book? Publishers continue to hang on to the old way of doing business, refusing to move forward, and for the most part we, the people who only want to read great books are caught in the middle. So, what do you think about the latest changes?

- Leigh Davis

Let me give you a few examples. First off, I like G.A. Aiken’s Dragon Kin series.  There are five books in the series with a few short stories from anthologies, as well.  In the second book, About a Dragon, published November 2008, there was a potential couple that was introduced – Izzy and Eibhear.  Izzy is the hero Briec’s step daughter and Eibhear is his brother.  The two seemed destined to be together from the start.  It is now three books later, at one published a year, and the two are still not together though their story continues to be a subplot.  It is getting frustrating.  I understand that the author may have a big story arc going on in their head, and I am fine with that.  So far, I understand what she felt needed to happen between the two and I can understand.  But to wait four years to write the story that you prep the reader on in another story?  Is that asking too much?  Is this done for artistic reasons or marketing purposes?  That I even have to ask myself that disturbs me.

Shall I give another example?  J.R. Ward’s very popular Black Dagger Brotherhood series.  The tenth book will be published in March, Lover Reborn.  In the fourth book (again, at an average of one a year), a controversial couple began to be hinted at.  Many fans were at first blindsided by the love story of Blay and Qhuinn, two men who work for the Brothers.  And I understand that maybe some of the delay in their story being written was a concern with how the market would take their story and time to convince the publishers that this was the story that the fans wanted.  But, again, at what point have the fans waited long enough?  Is there a point when the fans will start to give up on an author?

So far, with these two series, I am hanging on strong.  But the other day, when I went to look at one of G.A. Aiken’s other series under the name Shelly Laurenston, I have to admit – I didn’t buy the book and start on the next series.  I was intimidated.  I was afraid that another sub plot would end up stealing the show and I wasn’t willing to set myself up for that.  Although the next Dragon Kin book, How To Drive a Dragon Crazy, has just been announced (2/15/12) to be about Izzy and Eibhear, I am still leery to start another series that would result in a long wait.

I know that if I steered away from series romances, this problem would disappear.  But I like them.  I like the continuity of a family of characters and the way we get to “return” to beloved characters.  I like never having to say good bye to them completely.  However, I will admit, there is a limit to how long an author can string me along.  And some of my favorite authors are flirting with the edge of that cliff.

Does anyone else feel this way?  Is there an author you see flirting on that edge?  Am I being unreasonable in wanting my cake (a series) and wanting to eat it too (getting the books I want)?  What are your thoughts?

- Louise AAR

Now, let’s hear from Lisa!

Lisa, thanks so much for joining us today.  Could you please tell our readers a bit about Rainshadow Road?

Sandy,  thank you so much for inviting me!  Rainshadow Road is the first in a series of contemporary romances set in Friday Harbor,  Washington.  It’s about a young glass artist,  Lucy Marinn,  who is dumped by her boyfriend at the beginning of the story–and if that’s not bad enough,  she discovers that he’s dumped her for her younger sister!  So about fifteen minutes after this happens,  she sees this handsome stranger on the beach,  who happens to be Sam Nolan,  a local vineyard owner.

I was inspired by this gorgeous Pacific Northwest island when my husband Greg took me there for a vacation a couple of years ago.  The island has a unique sort of mystical vibe–and as soon as I stepped off the ferry,  I started thinking about plot possibilities.  I imagined three brothers from a broken family,  and how they might each find redemption through love.  I was also excited about the idea of including gentle touches of magic in these stories,  as a way to add freshness and fun.  So these Friday Harbor books are not paranormals,  they’re more in the category of magic.  The idea I had was that when Lucy feels emotion very strongly,  it is expressed through her glass art,  and sometimes magical things happen as a result.

You know what they say about everything being bigger in Texas.  This book – and the previous one, as well, Christmas Eve at Friday Harbor – felt quieter and less flashy (though that’s not the right word, but you know what I mean) than your previous contemporaries set in Texas.  Still, it feels just right for a book set on a Washington state island.  So, have you found a new voice or are you just giving the old one a rest for a bit?

Yes,  when you set a book in Texas,  everything does tend to be bigger. (Notice that I’m primly avoiding the temptation to make a lewd joke here.)  But while I was writing Rainshadow Road, the island setting really influenced the mood of the story and made it gentler and more playful.  Sam is the kind of hero who uses charm as a defense mechanism . . . he is funny, geeky,  sexy, and he loves nature.  And even though Lucy is cautious and wounded after her recent breakup,  she can’t help responding to Sam. I think it turned out to be a flirtatious and sweet-natured book.  The interesting thing about an author’s voice is that no matter how much you study writing techniques and plot structure,  etc,  the way you tell a story is still mostly intuitive.  Sometimes I’ll revise a scene over and over,  adjusting words,  ripping out sentences,  adding more stuff, until it finally feels right.

The magical realism felt kind of soft and quiet in this book – almost as if to say that magic is a part of everyday life.  Did you have fun playing with it and do you think you’ll include it again?

Thank you! That was absolutely the feeing I was hoping you’d get . . . magical realism is such a great genre,  because instead of creating a new world with its own rules and belief system as you would with a paranormal,  you just find the magic in our own world.  Magical things are ordinary,  and ordinary things are magical.  So the transforming glass in Lucy’s art is magical, but so is falling in love,  and so is the sight of a beautiful sunset,  etc.  I am definitely including magic in the next two Friday Harbor books.  The one I just finished,  Dream Lake,  is about the youngest Nolan brother,  Alex,  who is a bitter and tortured character,  haunted by the events of his past.  And I thought it would be wonderful to have him literally haunted as well,  by a ghost who made some of the same mistakes in his life that Alex is now making.

2011 was a tough year for Kleypas fans with no books from you – well, except the republication of one your earliest historical romances, Love Come To Me.  That one and I think two others have been out of print for some time and I kinda felt like you wanted it that way.  Am I right?  How did this republication happen?  Do you think it will happen with any of the others previously out of print?

Yes,  you’re definitely right . . . I sold my first book to NAL when I was 21 (forever ago!) and the kinds of characters and plots that I wrote back then are very different from what I do now.  So I’ve always felt that republishing them would be a potential disappointment to readers who would expect a “Kleypas book” and get something different.  My worst fear as an author is to make a reader regret spending her hard-earned money on something she ended up not liking.  But I’ve gotten many question about those books over the years,  and then NAL approached me and we talked about it.  There was only one out of the four,  Love Come To Me, that I thought had enough of a connection to what I do now,  that it would be okay to republish as long as we made it very clear that it was a book from the 1980s.  And readers were very kind about it and it ended up being fine–but I think there was a general consensus that it was obviously an early work by a young author.  So I just can’t see any reason to republish any more of them.

And while I’m on the subject of historical romances, what’s coming next and when?  There will be more in 2012, right?

I’ve got another unspecified one on my current contract,  so I could make it a historical–but so many readers have expressed interest in having one more Texas novel! I never planned to write a book about Joe Travis,  but I guess the way he ended up in Smooth Talking Stranger,  injured and in the hospital,  must have created some sympathy! So I’ve got some ideas for an outline,  and if my editor likes it,  I may write Joe’s story and after that start a new set of historical romances.  This is what I love about my job–I get to go where inspiration leads me!

Thanks so much to Lisa for joining us today.  Remember, to enter to win one of 10 copies of the book,  just comment to this blog by 11:59 p.m. on Friday, February 24th.  Good luck to everyone!

- Sandy AAR

I have a hard time dealing with them, especially the flowery ones, and especially when they’re used often.  One Night of Sin has them in abundance and I find them nauseating.  But are they nauseating because it’s actually overkill, or is it just because I’m not used to them?

I’m inclined to attribute my reaction to my own personality.  My own upbringing was completely devoid of English endearments, which is probably why they sound so foreign to me.  (English was actually my second language, but to all intents and purposes it is now my mother tongue.)  My parents probably weren’t comfortable enough in English to use English endearments, and their personalities don’t really lend themselves to endearments anyway, except for certain Cantonese ones.  One in particular that I heard a lot during my childhood translates literally as “daft pig.”  But see, context told me that the term was affectionate, and that my parents weren’t actually calling me an ignorant swine.  (I hope.)

Ultimately, I think endearments are personal choices, and if there’s one thing all languages have in common it’s some term of endearment.  Those terms are often quite foolish (for isn’t love foolish sometimes?) – I’m thinking of French right now, which features mon chou (“my cauliflower”) and ma mie (“my bread crumb”) as particular gems of ridiculousness.  And within cultures, their usage can be interpreted in many ways.  Look at “baby”, or “babycakes.”  Belittling, chauvinistic, and derogatory?  Or simple expressions of affection?  Context and intonation is key to using endearments; I’ve been called “dear” with love and also with complete condescension.  (Pissed me off that time, too.)

So, yeah, it’s personal, and it’s also a part of cultural semiotics and language.  Learning how to use an endearment is just as relative and important as learning how to use, say, “mate” in New Zealand or “y’all” in the South.  I now use the word “mate” occasionally, in some circumstances, but that’s only because:

• I heard it a lot in New Zealand.
• I gained an understanding of how it worked.
• When I tried it out gingerly, no one punched me in the face.

“Mate”, I’m okay with now.  Maybe if I spend a lot of time in a community that uses “darling” in proliferation, or if my partner was partial to endearments, then perhaps I’d get used to them.  And maybe even build them into my daily vocabulary.  But right now, hearing them, and hearing them often, still makes me uncomfortable.

What endearments are you used to, or do you use?  What did you grow up with?  What’s your take on them?

- Jean AAR

Looking ahead to May, I noticed a book on Harper Audio’s site that I’ve had on my eBook wish list for years, never imagining that it would even be considered for release in audio.  The book?  Adele Ashworth’s Winter Garden – another favorite with romance fans that won Favorite Romance of 2000 in AAR’s Annual Reader Poll and made the cut for both 2004 and 2007 Top 100 Romance Poll at AAR.  It’s being released in both eBook and audio format on May 29^th.  Thank you, Harper Audio – hope we see more from this beloved author.

And another sure-to-be-delight is Harper Audio’s May release of Rachel Gibson’s Rescue Me.  It’s the first time I have seen a Gibson audiobook released simultaneously with the print version.  In the past, Recorded Books kept an occasional Gibson title for their own exclusive use and listeners couldn’t be certain of wider availability.  As romance fans, we say, “Well done, Harper!”

In addition to March releases we also have six audiobooks up for review today Meljean Brooks’ Heart of Steel, Iris Johansen’s Always, Jayne Ann Krentz’s Copper Beach, Susan Mallery’s The Unexpected Millionaire, Lisa Marie Rice’s Dangerous Passion, and Linda Howard’s A Game of Chance.

Audiobook Romances on Sale in March

Includes new formats of existing audiobooks.  All unabridged unless otherwise stated.

We’re seeing more books with partial pre-release information.  A number of newer production companies (or new to romance) aren’t providing the identity of the narrator.  Let’s hope they catch on soon to the fact that we not only choose our listens by author but narrator too!

Ashley, Jennifer – The Madness of Lord Ian Mackenzie Narrated by Angela Dawe

Banks, Maya – In Bed with a Highlander Narrated by Kirsten Potter

Brockmann, Suzanne – Born to Darkness Narrated by Melanie Ewbank & Patrick Lawlor

Brockmann, Suzanne – Kiss and Tell Narrated by Susan Boyce

Brown, Sandra – Two Alone Narrated by Joyce Bean

Burton, Jaci – Taking a Shot Narrated by Lucy Malone

Carriger, Gail – Timeless Narrator unknown

Clark, Deneane – Mercy Narrator unknown

Coulter, Catherine – Midnight Star Narrated by Chloe Campbell

Delinsky, Barbara – First, Best, and Only Narrator unknown

Enoch, Suzanne – A Beginner’s Guide to Rakes Narrated by Anne Flosnik

Enoch, Suzanne – Taming an Impossible Rogue Narrated by Anne Flosnik

Fox, Angie – A Tale of Two Demon Slayers Narrator unknown

French, Judith E. – Blood Kin Narrator unknown

French, Judith E. – Blood Sport Narrator unknown

French, Judith E. – Blood Ties Narrator unknown

Garlock, Dorothy – The Moon Looked Down Narrated by Susanna Burney

Goudge, Eileen – The Replacement Wife Narrated by Susan Boyce

Harrison, Thea – Oracle’s Moon Narrated by Sophie Eastlake

Howell, Hannah – Highland Vow Narrated by Sophie Eastlake

Hunter, Jillian – A Duke’s Temptation Narrated by Justine Eyre

Jackson, Jane – Heart of Stone Narrator unknown

Jackson, Lisa – Innocent by Association Narrated by Kate Rudd

Jackson, Lisa – Without Mercy Narrated by Angela Dawe

James, Eloisa – A Wild Pursuit Narrator unknown

James, Lorelei – Saddled and Spurred Narrated by Scarlet Chase

James, Lorelei – Wrangled and Tangled Narrated by Scarlet Chase

Kingsbury, Karen – Loving Narrator unknown

Krentz, Jayne Ann – The Cowboy Narrated by Kate Rudd

Laurens, Stephanie – Mastered by Love Narrated by Steven Crossley

London, Julia – The Seduction of Lady X Narrated by Justine Eyre

Macomber, Debbie – Back on Blossom Street Narrated by Laural Merlington

Mallery, Susan – Barefoot Season Narrated by Sarah Grace

McCarty, Monica – Highlander Unmasked Narrated by Antony Ferguson

McCarty, Monica – Highland Outland Narrated by Roger Hampton

McCarty, Monica – Highland Scoundrel Narrated by Roger Hampton

McCarty, Monica – Highlander Unchained Narrated by Antony Ferguson

Michaels, Fern – Southern Comfort Narrated by Jeffrey Cumming

Morrissey, Di – The Reef Narrated by Kate Hood

Nash, Joy – Deep Magic Narrator unknown

Peterson, Tracie – Chasing the Sun Narrated by Renee Raudman

Richards, Emilie – Wedding Ring Narrated by Isabel Keating

Rowell, Rainbow – Attachments Narrated by Laura Hamilton

Slade, Jessa – Darkness Undone Narrated by Renee Raudman

Sparks, Kerrelyn – Wanted: Undead or Alive Narrator unknown

Steel, Danielle – Betrayal Narrated by Renee Raudman

Thompson, Vicki Lewis – A Werewolf in Manhattan Narrated by Abby Craden

Thompson, Vicki Lewis – Werewolf in the North Woods Narrated by Abby Craden

Viehl, Lynn – Nightborn Narrated by Johanna Parker

Williams, Sandy – The Shadow Reader Narrated by Amy Rubinate

Womersley, Chris – Bereft Narrated by Dan Wyllie

Romance Audio Reviews

Heart of Steel – Meljean Brook

Review written by LinnieGayl

Narrated by Faye Adele

I enjoyed Ms. Adele’s narration of The Iron Duke so was eager to listen to Heart of Steel – the next edition in the author’s The Iron Seas series.  In her AAR review, Maggie gave it a B+ in print format and I concur with her grade as well as her description as a “straight out adventure.”  But while I liked the story and found the hero and heroine fascinating, I had some problems with it in audio.

First off, I should say that I love the narrator’s voice.  My problems are linked to the voice given to Yasmeen who is the perfect embodiment of a kick-ass heroine.  The captain of a notorious mercenary ship, Yasmeen controls her crew, fights off enemies of all kinds, enjoys surprise and danger, and regularly smokes cigarillos.  Ms. Adele performs Yasmeen with a deep, throaty, and heavily accented voice.  While Yasmeen was raised in Constantinople, she often reminded me of Natasha in the Rocky and Bullwinkle cartoons.  It is particularly disconcerting when Yasmeen and hero Archimedes converse with one another – Yasmeen’s voice is much lower than that of Archimedes.

The problem is…I’m not sure how else this might have been narrated.  Ms. Adele performs Yasmeen as written but reading about it and listening to it are two different things.  Fortunately, Yasmeen thinks more than she speaks and her thoughts are performed with a pleasant British accent.  But even that is disconcerting as I had to readjust to her spoken voice yet again.  I found I could adjust to Yasmeen’s low voice after listening for about 20 minutes.  But I had to have the same adjustment period each time I began listening again.

Despite my problems listening to the voice of Yasmeen, I will definitely read the next book in Ms. Brook’s The Iron Seas series.  And if Ms. Adele is the narrator, I will once again go with the audio version.  I truly enjoy Ms. Adele’s voice and the emotion and excitement she brings to an already exciting series.  I just think Yasmeen’s voice works better for me in my imagination than it does out loud.

Always – Iris Johansen

Review written by Diana

Narrated by Janet Metzger

I had fun listening to this vintage, old school romance but I wouldn’t want to make a habit of it.  Always was originally published by Loveswept in 1986 and does it ever show its age.  It’s an eye opener to hear a hero describe himself as “highly sexed” while he wonders if a woman is “frigid” because she has no men in her life.  But things rolled merrily along once I adjusted to 1986-romancelandia-speak and sensibilities.

Clancy Donahue is head of security for Sheikh Alex of a fictional middle eastern emirite.  He’s set up a trap at a Bahamian island resort for terrorist financier Martin Baldwin using Baldwin’s ex-wife, cabaret singer Lisa Landon, as bait.  Lisa refuses to cooperate with Clancy’s plan even though she knows her ex is scum because “I bore his child!”  Oh, Lisa.  Her plan to flounce off Paradise Key island is thwarted when Clancy knocks her out with drugs and literally carries her off to his luxury lair.  Are you still with me?  Because Clancy’s tender concern for Lisa in the light of uh-oh-I-overdosed-her is quite touching and the beginning of our romance.  Lisa quickly forgives Clancy, terrorists come after them, Clancy heroically saves Lisa’s life, they fly off to the fictional desert sheikhdom, fend off the terrorists some more, meet up with the characters from the other books in the series – all while they fall in love.  Lisa has no problem giving up her career because she wasn’t serious about it anyway.  Oh, Lisa. Lucky for her Clancy came along.

Narrator Janet Metzger doesn’t do character voices.  Her reading is error-free, smooth, and well paced.  I’m not complaining because this is a choice in narration style that can work quite well, as it does here.  I am more appreciative of subtle narration than I am of overripe actor melodrama that detracts from the material.   So, nice job, Ms. Metzger.

To anyone too young to remember how things really were in 1986, please know that drugging and kidnapping women was not okay in real life – just in soap operas and romance. It was fun!

Copper Beach – Jayne Anne Krentz

Review written by LinnieGayl

Narrated by Tanya Eby

Jayne Ann Krentz is the reason I started reading romance novels over 15 years ago and she has been an auto-buy for most of that time.  However, many of her Arcane Society books were more miss than hit with an over-emphasis on the paranormal components and a downplay of the actual romance.  Therefore, I was a bit leery to listen to Copper Beach, the first in her new Dark Legacy series.  I’m very glad I did.  While it did contain a fair amount of psychic elements, they didn’t strike me as overwhelming.  More importantly, Tanya Eby’s narration made this book very enjoyable.

Copper Beach primarily concentrates on the relationship between Sam Coppersmith and Abby Radwell.  Abby is an unusual rare book dealer who uses her special psi talents to decode books that have been psychically masked.  When someone attempts to blackmail her to locate a particularly rare lab book, Abby hires Sam to help her locate it.  It turns out Sam has his own reasons for wanting the lab book.

For large parts of the book only Sam and Abby are on page.  This focus never felt claustrophobic.  They’re an engaging, interesting couple brought to life by Ms. Eby’s narration.  They are at times playful, other times sexy, other times angry, but most importantly, they’re always respectful of each other.  No matter what the emotion, Ms. Eby is spot on in her narration.  I knew when one of them was mad.  I knew when they were being playful.  And I always knew who was speaking.

There’s a lot of humor in Copper Beach. In that sense, it felt more like Ms. Krentz’s earlier books.  And the narrator does an excellent job conveying the sense of fun between Sam and Abby.

Was this my favorite Krentz book?  Definitely not – that’s reserved for some of her older works.  But I really enjoyed this one and I particularly recommend the audio version.

The Unexpected Millionaire – Susan Mallery

Review written by Melinda

Narrated by Catherine Carr

The Unexpected Millionaire was an unexpected surprise – I generally find Mallery’s books to be less than original and not anywhere near DIK range for me.  But this one was entertaining and funny and wildly romantic especially if you go for the “opposites attract” plot.

Willow is the middle child of three sisters and while the older and younger sisters have become successful professionals, Willow is still looking for her passion and her way in life.  Not that she isn’t passionate – she is, about many things – she just isn’t very committed to any of them.  Mostly Willow takes joy in taking in strays (animals and people) and fixing them.

When she finds herself up against Kane, the head of security for a local rich fellow, Willow finds she wants to fix him as well since he is also a gun-toting, ex-military and even ex-gang member type of guy.  But Kane isn’t looking for a woman and definitely has no desire to be changed or fixed.  He’s pretty clear with her about it as well – he has specific goals and she doesn’t fit into them.

Here is where Mallery’s voice shines.  The dialog is realistic but humorous and Kane’s true nature comes through.  Willow is a Chatty Cathy type, with Kane more silent, and the relationship grows slowly enough to be believable.  Both Willow and Kane tugged at my heartstrings throughout.

Catherine Carr is new to me, and her narration was pretty dang good!  Her dialog delivery was realistic, her character and gender differentiation excellent.  However, there were a couple of times I winced at her emphasis within a sentence – as though she was reading it for the first time and hadn’t skimmed ahead to see where she was going.

All in all a great, fun, romantic and incredibly short read, at only 4 hours and 15 minutes.

Dangerous Passion – Lisa Marie Rice

Review written by Kaetrin

Narrated by Karen White

I’m not a Lisa Marie Rice aficionado but I have read a few of her books.  There is something cracktastic about them.  You know how some people love B movies?  They’re schlocky, improbable, unintentionally funny, and somehow delicious.  Well, LMR is kind of like that for me.  The heroes are always uber-alpha, super-protective, borderline (or not so borderline) stalker types who fall instantly in love with the heroine and want to do everything for their woman – all the time.   This is my first Rice novel in audio but I knew going in that there was going to be a lot of over-the-top action, insta-love and hot sex.  How would it translate to audio though?

Victor “Drake” Dracovich is a Russian/Eastern European arms dealer living in New York.  Grace Larson is an artist who is enjoying some financial stability for the first time – someone is buying every piece of her work as soon as it appears in the Feinstein Gallery.    Drake has enemies who find out about his obsession with his favorite artist (he watches Grace through the gallery’s alley window two afternoons a month and has done so for a year.  Really.) and those enemies launch an attack.  Because Drake is awesome, they survive and hole up in Drake’s penthouse apartment and “get to know each other.”  Bad guys continue trying to get to Drake while Drake and Grace have lots of energetic and explicit sex and ultimately live HEA.  All in around three weeks.

There is a lot of ridonkulousness in this story.  Grace never questions the origins of Drake’s wealth other than to ask if it had anything to do with drugs.  After mere days, she is ready to leave her life and live with him forever and ever and not see or speak to any of her former associates ever again.  And then there is the fact that Drake decided she was his special lady forever and ever before he even spoke to her.  I could go on.  But, that’s Lisa Marie Rice.  You have to expect that going in.

I did spend quite a bit of time wondering how narrator Karen White coped with the explicit sex scenes and overuse of the “c” word, especially in the first half of the book.  Props to her for not just breaking out with “Oh, really?” at various points through the book and reading it straight.  I got a headache from all the eye rolling I did.  Victor’s accent was well done and his voice was deep and deliberate while Grace’s voice was effectively performed as the naive near-virgin she actually is.

The real problem on audio is the navel gazing.  For a book with so much over the top action, there is a lot of boring internal monologue and it took a long time for anything to actually happen. The initial scene at the art gallery took over 1.5 hours of listening time.  In print, I skim over those bits but I can’t underread in audio and despite the schlocky goodness, I found myself getting bored.

I enjoyed the narration but overall, I think LMR’s books are better in print.

A Game of Chance – Linda Howard

Review written by Lea Hensley

Narrated by Kali Dziuba

Over the years, Linda Howard’s backlist has slowly been released in audio format with no pattern and little consistency.  I looked forward to the day I’d finally see A Game of Chance in audio and, sure enough, it just appeared one day at Audible with no prior notice.  I immediately proclaimed its release on Twitter and snatched it up.  Yes, it was a first for narrator Kali Dziuba as far as I could tell but I didn’t care.  I had to hear and judge for myself.  Unfortunately, this audio review could be limited to one word – letdown.

Chance Mackenzie is a highly trained undercover operative who is not only ruthless but very good at finding his man.  He is the classic tough alpha hero as only Linda Howard can write and, I must admit, I have a weakness for her heroes.  They all tend to be stinkers to some degree, but Chance is the biggest stinker of all – so much so that I dubbed him “The hero you love to hate” ten years ago when I first read and reviewed A Game of Chance.

Sunny Miller is the daughter of a terrorist Chance is planning to take down.  He decides to romance information out of Sunny and then use her as bait to bring her father out of hiding.  He fully implements his plan including faking a plane crash on a deserted island and making Sunny fall in love with him.  Chance is surprised to find Sunny is not only a kind and gracious woman, but a survivalist as well.  And, she is hiding from a father she greatly fears.

I have read A Game of Chance in print numerous times and I’ve always relished the thought of Chance’s comeuppance.  It’s part of my delight with the entire book.  But it’s hard to understand just how much Chance deserves that comeuppance with Kali Dziuba’s interpretation of his character.  Where is his ruthlessness?  His cavalier attitude?  Where are his strong alpha traits and his immense confidence?  Where is his lack of regard for women?  It is on the printed page but missing in audio.

In the short period of time Zane (Chance’s brother and hero of Mackenzie’s Pleasure) appears in A Game of Chance, I heard a self-assured man who knows his business.  When I heard Ms. Dziuba’s performance of Chance, I couldn’t help but envision a teenage girl who ends her statements with a questioning note.  And although Ms. Dziuba gives him a satisfying deep voice, all I heard was that irritating uplifting of his voice at the end of sentences.  She does seem to learn the nature of Chance’s character as the book progresses and I heard less of the high school student and more of a determined hero as the book hit its final half.

The strengths of the narration lie in the performance of Sunny’s character (it’s just as my mind envisioned while reading the print version) and Ms. Dziuba ability to effectively differentiate Sunny from Chance.

However, the narration lacks sophistication and the understanding that although romance is a fantasy of sorts, it’s still serious business when the book calls for dramatic situations.  Kali Dziuba’s narration is too sweet and sounds like she is reading a children’s story.  Her reading has an “Isn’t this darling?” tone and therefore, I was often jarred from the story during a simple narrative passage.

Although I’m not as crazy for alpha heroes as I once was, I’m sure I’ll return to A Game of Chance at some time in the future.  But since I need those alpha heroes to sound like the highly confident take-charge creatures they are, it will be in print, not audio.

Note – the announcement of the narrator at the beginning of the recording is one other than Kali Dziuba.  Researching further, I can’t verify with any certainty the identity of the narrator but I believe it is Dziuba.

Ending Notes

Our 2012 Listening Challenge began last month.  There is still time for you to join in.  Come see us at our Goodreads group to discuss your progress.  Or, share your update with us in the comments area below.

I’m announcing news for the Speaking of Audiobooks column and other audio tidbits on Twitter – look for SpeakingofAudio.

For those new to our Speaking of Audiobooks column, be sure to check out our audio archives for further recommendations and discussions.

Our Speaking of Audiobooks Goodreads group keeps growing and we now have 195 members.  It’s easy to join and it’s a great place for discussion in between our columns.

To find a full listing of all of our audiobook reviews since the beginning of our Speaking of Audiobooks column, go to our Speaking of Audiobooks Goodreads Mini-Review bookshelf.  We presently have over 250 romance audiobook reviews.

Enjoy your listening!

- Lea Hensley

Then I read three books in a row that convinced me I was lying to myself.

• Because of You by Jessica Scott looks at love in the setting of today’s military between a wounded sergeant and a nurse. In many ways it reminds me of Cheryl Reavis’ The Older Woman, another in my personal AAR Top 100 list, except with buddies for the nurse and soldier instead of a grandmotherly landlady as charming peripheral characters.  Like The Older Woman, Because of You explores war wounds and breast cancer, two of today’s hot spots, and like the other book isn’t an easy read. It reminded me all too vividly of visits I made to my cousin Jerry in a VA hospital after he returned from the Vietnam War as a paraplegic. Instead of taking me away from reality, it brought all the memories and feelings back to me.
• Scandals by Sasha Campbell tells the gritty story of two African American women who are pushed into stripping for a living. One had been in college when her love for a man who wanted her barefoot and pregnant caused her to choose poorly and drop out of school. The other, through a faulty foster system, was given no direction and dumped on the streets too young to make even marginally beneficial decisions  I taught in a junior college for over two decades and saw the women Campbell depicts over and over again. While some I helped, many I didn’t. Again, this book brought me back to reality and often during the book, I could put a real face to the purportedly fictional story Campbell was telling.
• Beautiful Disaster by Jamie McGuire also brought me back to college, but this time closer to my own college experience with the dating, drinking, and smoking that was prevalent at the time. Again, I could put real faces and names to the characters in the book and suffered along with them.

All three of these books immediately went on my personal DIK list for the impact they made on me and will show up in my next AAR Top 100 list. But none of them correspond with the lie that I most enjoy books that take me out of my time and place. Each is a contemporary and each has a personal connection to me.

So I went back to my Top 100 list. Fortunately, eight of the top ten fit my lie, but so many of the rest don’t that I’ve decided to change my story. Now when I’m asked, I can honestly say that I have favorites in all subgenres and that I’m pretty much open to any romance.

What about you? When someone asks what kind of romances you like best, what do you say? Looking at your personal Top 100 list, do your favorite books reflect what you’re saying? Or like me, do you have to revise your answer?

- Pat Henshaw

Recently I’ve run across the opposite of the magic moment. This is a scene in which an author, with just a few lines, turns you against her hero or heroine. It’s an act or statement that makes you wish the other party would get with someone else, anyone else. It’s the I-can’t-get-over-what-just-happened blues. It can ruin a good book or at the very least, ruin the HEA.

They vary in type of course. My least favorite is the act of malice. I first came across such a moment in the Stephanie Plum series. At the very start of the popular love triangle, in One for the Money . For those unfamiliar with the series, unemployed Stephanie has just become a bounty hunter in a desperate attempt to evade eviction. Joe Morelli, with whom she has an interestingly convoluted history, is one of the men she is meant to bring in. They engage in numerous sparring matches, most of them funny till the moment Joe leaves Stephanie in a very compromising position, forcing her to call for help while fully naked. It crossed a line for me. The action was meant to humiliate. It was cruel. I couldn’t help but wonder what would happen the next time Joe got really mad at Steph. A bit of slapping around? I rooted for Ranger in the romance department from that moment on.

Another moment that ruins things for me is the petty act. Some small, mean spirited action that involves a nasty bit of one-ups- man-ship. For me, that moment came when Eric, of the Sookie Stackhouse series, tells Sookie the secret of Bill and the Queen. Sookie would have found out anyway but Eric chooses to tell her this at one of the worst possible times. While she is in a hospital, physically and mentally harmed already. It causes the maximum amount of anguish conceivable. This seemed so seventh grade to me, so beneath what a thousand year old powerful being should do, that it ruined Eric as a romantic hero for me. I know many root for him to be “the one” for Sookie but that moment will forever leave me cold to their love. And waiting for the next moment this grown man/vampire feels like acting thirteen.

The truly too stupid to live(TSTL) moment is one that happens far too often in romance. Most recently I encountered it in Sex, Lies and Valentines. When FBI Agent Danita Cruz goes on an undercover assignment, she apparently doesn’t bother with some kind of plausible cover. Instead, she tries to throw villains off her tail by purring a convoluted work history and background at them, figuring the combination of beauty, ditz and cleavage will have them thinking of other things. Seriously? I can buy an arms dealer falling for blue eyes and double D’s but not to the point that he wouldn’t do a simple background check. Especially not if the person he was talking to couldn’t answer simple questions like “What do you do for a living?” and “Where do you live?”. I was actually offended by this scene. Had the author not watched one moment of TV? Had she missed the crucial moments of MI-5 Season One when an agent tried this and tragically failed?

The final moment that can ruin a character for me is the selfish moment. It’s an act that shows that thinking beyond themselves just isn’t something they are going to be doing a lot of. I love Rachel Gibson but in Lola Carlyle Reveals All, there is a moment that yanked me out of the story a bit. After all their adventures together, all the love and loyalty shown by Max, Lola asks him to leave his job for her. It flew in the face of every pop-psychiatrist’s advice against changing your loved one and also just came across as petty. It had an “I mostly love you, let’s just start working on what I don’t” feel to it. That moment took a lot of the glow out of this particular book for me.

So what about you? Are there particular scenes or moments that just yank you out of the story? Any particular action that made you dislike a hero or heroine?

– Maggie Boyd

I’ve loved a number of Georgette Heyer’s novels, so I had high hopes for this one. However, after Chapter One, I started to fear that this would be rough going. The book certainly seemed light and capery. However, it also brims over with inscrutable Regency-esque slang and the only characters who seemed to have much personality were the unpleasant ones. The basic set-up is this: Matthew Penicuik is a very wealthy old miser. He has called his great-nephews to his drafty old country house so that they can learn the terms of his will. Penicuik has decided to leave all of his wealth to his ward, Kitty Charing, on the condition that she choose and marry one of the nephews. This news prompts proposals from an uptight rector and an impoverished Irish earl who proposes more out of terror of his mother’s wrath than any real desire for Kitty.

Faced with such a plethora of promising choices, Kitty seeks out Freddy Standen, another of the great-nephews, and they strike a deal. They will form a sham engagement so that Kitty can go stay with Freddy’s family and have a month in London. As an added bonus, the fake engagement will hopefully awaken jealousy in the dashing Jack Westruther, the great-nephew Kitty really wants to marry. It’s a plot that sounds just goofy enough to be a lot of fun, but as the action moved toward London, I still found myself slogging through some awful, slangy dialogue and I couldn’t tell whether the heroine was going to turn out to be fun or horribly feisty.

In London, the book takes on a different pace and began to truly engage me. Kitty is not the most vividly drawn Heyer heroine I’ve ever read, but she isn’t repulsive either. And then there’s Freddy. Freddy Standen quickly became one of my favorite characters in a long, long time. He’s mild-mannered and initially seems a bit dim, which stands in stark contrast to the more alpha Jack Westruther. Though this novel was originally published in the 1950s, readers will immediately recognize Jack Westruther as a fairly standard-issue Duke of Slut, albeit one who has some good lines of dialogue.

As the story develops, it takes on a lighter and more humorous tone even as the plotting grows more intricate. We meet Freddy’s family, including his high-spirited sister Meg who hosts Kitty. And in London, Kitty finds herself drawn into both awkward social situations and attempts to assist in the romantic intrigues of others. One of the other great-nephews surfaces in need of Kitty’s aid, and of course her new friend Olivia would be in dire straits if Kitty couldn’t help her find a way to be with her true love. In these moments, Kitty’s friendship with Freddy deepens and he really gets a chance to shine. As it turns out, Freddy might not have much use for the romantic literature that Kitty and her governess clearly enjoyed, but he knows just what to say or do in every social situation. If you need to plan an elopement, extricate yourself from unsuitable company in graceful fashion, or simply charm a society hostess, Freddy’s the one for the job. In his understated and sometimes self-effacing way, he turns out to be one of the most considerate and also one of the most sensible men I’ve come across in a romance novel for ages. And in my book, this made him utterly charming.

Kitty is not so well-developed a character as Freddy, but she’s likable enough. And I enjoyed the interwoven strands of the various romantic plots in this book, as Kitty’s friends and some of the other grand-nephews pursue love – or at least a mistress. The book got off to a rough start for me, so I’d probably give it a B grade if I were reviewing. If you can handle the overuse and abuse of Regency slang, though, Cotillion winds up being a merry dance indeed.

– Lynn Spencer

Personally, my love of audiobooks and reliance on them as a form of entertainment drastically changed seven years ago when my daughter presented me with an iPod and told me there was a much easier way to listen to audiobooks.  It’s all digital for me now, even if it means I must convert a CD to a digital file for final listening.  And purchasing digitally also means I listen to more audiobooks.  Having something only a click away can be good for the soul (but possibly bad for the budget).

However, I know through communicating personally with listeners, as well as reading comments both here at Speaking of Audiobooks and at our Goodreads group, that many rely on (and often prefer) hard copies for their listening.

Libraries play a strong role in hard copy listening as well with many of our listeners planning ahead for the newest releases or looking beyond their local library for borrowing.  Digital lending is on the increase as well.

Whether you listen to one audiobook a year or ten a month, please take our short survey and tell us where do you obtain your books and what do you listen to?

– Lea Hensley

Why not? Well, I’m jealous of my reading time.  With work and my responsibilities to AAR, leisure time is sparse and there’s a lot competing for my leisure attention.  Would I rather read a book by an author I’m not sure about or play it safer with an author I already know and love?  The safe bet wins almost every time.

And, gee, what about TV?  Would I rather take a chance on a book or catch up on episodes of Angry Boys?

Digital downloads have changed far more than the world of books.  Now with my Roku player, I have access to almost every movie or TV show ever made — and that’s a whole lot different from the VCR days when I had only what I’d taped and the limited availability of my local video store.  Want to watch the British version of The Office again?  I can.  That and a whole lot more.

So, back to my dilemma.  With so much competing for my attention during my leisure time, it’s getting tougher and tougher to make the cut.  And that leaves me the odd woman out when it comes to things like Buried Treasures.

Obviously, I do read new authors, but that’s after hearing significant buzz about somebody who’s too good to miss.  I discovered Sherry Thomas and Elizabeth Hoyt that way and I’m very glad I did.  Now, they’ve taken their place of my list of tried and trues.  But, am I missing some good stuff?  Absolutely.  I’m certain of it.

So, that leaves me in the unadventurous category of reader.  And for the most part I’m okay with this.  I’m a far more adventurous TV watcher than I am a reader — I love offbeat comedies like Summer Heights High. I’m also a big drama fan.  I loved The Hour on BBC America and, while I think I’m finally done with American Idol, I’m totally hooked on The Voice.  Thanks to digital downloads I can watch all these great shows on my time.

And it’s definitely cutting into my reading time, leaving me in that unadventurous reader category.

What about you?

- Sandy AAR