As my long time readers know, I have been having trouble with my eyes for years now. I have a somewhat unusual form of glaucoma, called Narrow Angle Glaucoma, that has been treated fairly successfully. I’ve had numerous surgeries along the way, and my next is scheduled for mid-October. That one is a fairly common procedure, but with a twist – I have a cataract in my left eye, but it has somehow attached itself to my iris. My surgeon says it’s just a few more steps for him to take, and that he can do it in his sleep – which I begged him not to do!
Due to surgery to repair a hole in my macula, I ended up with a small blind spot in my right eye. It is due to scar tissue, which I discovered when I had to take the vision test to renew my driver’s license. I had to read some lines, and when I finished, the woman at the DMV asked me to please read the last column. But I didn’t see another column! I had to get a letter from the eye doctor to renew my license, in which I learned a somewhat scary fact – you can actually be legally blind and still allowed to drive, provided you have a note from the doctor.
I know as I age, it is only going to get worse, not better. I have pretty much given up on reading print books, and thank God for the Kindle. I feel so blessed that this is happening to me now, when there are digital options available. If this had happened to me in a previous generation, I would have been screwed. With all that, I decided I had best learn to listen to audiobooks.
Over the years, I’ve tried many times to listen, but I always found my mind wandering. I would be driving along and realize I had no idea what was happening in the book I was listening to. I ended up successfully listening to some children’s books, and read the entire Harry Potter series on Audible. Then I graduated to the Outlander series. I had read all the print books, but my BFF Judy told me to try the audiobooks, too – she loved the reader. Davina Porter is the narrator, and she is Scottish but completely understandable (not always the case!), and she really added depth to the stories. Not only did I listen to them all, but so did my husband! I also watched the series on Starz, with subtitles because Scottish/British accents are not always understandable to me. Porter has retired with only one book left in the series, so the publisher has entrusted it to one of the stars of the TV series, Kristin Atherton, who plays the new Jenny, starting in season 7 (IYKYK). Not only will she read the last book in the series when (???) it comes out, but she has reread the entire series. You can now listen to either narrator. I haven’t tried them yet, though I will definitely be listening to the last book in the series that she reads.
Meanwhile, I have finally found that I can listen to romances on audio successfully. Makes sense, that’s what I read, primarily, so why not listen to them too? That said, I have found many books that I love, and several others that I just couldn’t listen to. Sometimes it was the narrators, sometimes it was the story itself.
Recently, my friend Nora suggested I try the Lucky River Ranch series by Jessica Peterson. I snagged the first book, Cash, from Hoopla, my favorite library audiobook app. I listened to the first few chapters and had to stop. I love Western romances, but apparently, I don’t like Western accents! I grabbed the ebook instead and loved it. I haven’t tried that with most of the audiobooks I’ve stopped, however, because they weren’t recommended by someone I trust but rather suggested by the publisher or algorithm.
I am privileged to have access to advance copies of upcoming titles and have started many audiobooks that way. I have also not finished many of them. There are also many audiobooks that I borrowed from my library but didn’t finish, but unfortunately, I didn’t keep records of those.
They are divided into two camps: books that I just didn’t like the story enough to keep going, and you can tell those by how far I got. And books that I didn’t like the narrator, and you can tell those by how far I didn’t get.
Coming in Hot by Josie Juniper, narrated by Max Rauch & Cecily Foster: 53%
Crash Landing by Annie McQuaid, narrated by Emma Love: 47%
Joy Ride by Ellen Meister, narrated by Sarah Naughton: 27%
Santa Overboard by Carolyn McBride, narrated by Maria Marquis: 47%
32 Days in May by Betty Corrello, narrated Joy Nash: 2%
The Carsons of Lone Rock Books 1-4 by Maisey Yates, narrated by Samantha Cook: 3%
Claire Casey’s Had Enough by Liz Alterman, narrated by Stephanie Rose: 1%
The Four Engagement Rings of Sybil Rain by Hannah Brown, narrated by Cherami Leigh: 1%
If you’ve read my audiobook reviews, you know that there are some narrators who irritated me, but I pushed on and listened to them anyway. I guess sometimes I have more patience than other times.
I remember when I worked for the public library prior to listening to audiobooks, I had patrons who selected audiobooks by the narrator and didn’t really care about the author or even the genre. I haven’t tried that yet, but it seems like most of the narrators I like generally read in the romance genre, so maybe that wouldn’t help me spread my wings, so to speak.
Is there a narrator that you love? Will listen to anything they read? Or a narrator you hate and wouldn’t listen to even if your favorite author had the narrator reading their book? I’d love to hear about your audiobook experiences! I am looking for suggestions as I travel along my audiobook journey. Please leave comments below. I read them all. Thanks!
9/2025 Stacy Alesi, AKA the BookBitch
Stacy Alesi's BookBitch.com™ 