Audiobooks might not be for everyone. Personally. I love audiobooks but of course only those where the narration is amazing. Because when this happens, an audiobook can add a whole new level of awesome to a story. Sometimes I even wish I would have a longer commute to work so that I could listen to the audiobooks for longer. Now, that fall is coming I will find myself more often taking a hot bath to relax and also this is the time for audiobooks for me.
There are some series where I even do not want to read the book and rather wait for the audiobook because the narration is so outstanding.
So here are some recommendations for those who would like to starts with audiobooks and have yet to get to know which narrators are outstanding and which might be “meh”
Favorite Narrators
I only have a couple of narrators I love deeply, but those I think are just incredible!
1. Justine Eyre
She’s an actress and I just love her voice and the range of different voices she can create! She narraters tons of books ranging from Young Adult to Adult.
I fell in love with her for her narration of the Fallen Series, where she created a level of passion transported with her voice that I found just fuelled my love for these books even more.
Among the books she narrated are Silvia Day’s books, the Onyx Series from Jennifer L.Armentrout and books from Gena Showalter. When I saw that Justine Eyre narrates the Lux Series, I switched to the audiobooks just for the pleasure of listening to her voice.
Find audiobooks on audible narrated by Justine Eyre
- audible list – around 200 audiobooks all narrated by Justine
- The Fallen Series by Lauren Kate
- The Onyx Series by Jennifer L.Armentrout
2. Luke Daniels
Luke Daniels is another outstanding narrator which I love and admire deeply. He’s an actor, writer and director among being also one of the best audiobook narrators out there.
I got to know him because of his outstanding performance for The Iron Druid Chronicles where he gave so much life to this story that I would never ever simply read these books, no. I need to listen to Luke Daniels bringing Atticus and Oberon to live as if the would be real!
Find audiobooks on audible narrated by Luke Daniels
- audible list – around 200 books!
- The Iron Druid Chronicles by Kevin Haerne
- A Mortal Instruments Story “Shadowhunters and Downworlders: A Mortal Instruments Reader”
3. Phil Gigante
He’s famous for his sexy voice. Yes ladies, his voice is toe-curling! He narrated all of Karen Moning Highlander books which made them even sexier when listening to them. But, I love him even more for his narration of the Fever Series together with his wife.
Because I love his voice so much I decided to listen to a Young Adult story I didn’t really wanted to read at first, but when I saw that he was going to narrate it, I decided to got for it. Sadly, even his voice couldn’t make me love the book..
But yes, I do buy books because of a narrator.
Find audiobooks on audible narrated by Phil Gigante
- audible list – around 200 books!
- The Fever Series by Karen Marie Moning (Book 5 Shadowfever is right now on sale for only 3.99)
And now, apart from having my favorite narrators there are some books and series I only listen to the audio. Here are my favorite Audiobook series
Bloodlines Series by Richelle Mead narrated by Emily Shaffer
Emily Shaffer narrator many of Rachelle Mead books and I love her voice. The Bloodlines series is one of my favorite audio series and I have Fiery Heart already pre-ordered!
- Bloodlines series on audible
The Morganville Vampire Series by Rachel Caine, narrated by Cynthia Hallow
I love this series and I started to listen to the audiobooks around book5 I guess. With the last two books the narrator has changed, but still, these books are perfect audiobook!
- The Morganville Vampires on audible
Chicagoland Vampires by Chloe Neill, narrated by Sophie Eastlake
At first Cynthia Hallow narrated these books but then she was replaced by Sophie Eastlake, which is where I started with the audiobooks! She’s awesome and gives Ethan the perfect sexy voice! Again, here I have the audiobooks from this series on pre-order!
- Chicagoland Vampires on audible
Honorable Mention – Lesley Livingston, Author and Narrator of her own books
Lesley Livingstons is the author of the wonderful “Wondrous Strange” series and the new “Starling Series” and apart from being an amazing author, she’s also an actor and so decided to narrate her books herself! It’s awesome ladies! Especially since she knows her books so well, she’s perfect for it!
- Wondrous Strange on audible
- Starling Series on audible
Now, I am looking forward to hear your experience about audiobooks. What are your favorite Narrators, which books you only listen to the audio.
Or, never tried an audiobook before? Why? Maybe you try to start now?
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My fave audiobook narrator is Khristine Hvam. She did Daughter of Smoke & Bone, Why We Broke Up, Daniel Handler; and Pure, Julianna Baggott.
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Oh I must check her out then. !!! I think I even have the second Smoke and Bone book as an audiobook lol !
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I’m not an audiobook listener but I’m definitely bookmarking this page, just in case!
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Try The Iron Druid books I promise you’ll love them. Or one of Phil Gigantes books – holy shit girl, he has such a smooth voice.
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I’ve recently discovered audiobooks and can’t get enough of them. I agree with you! With the right narrator can add a new element of awesomeness to a novel. I like to listen to audiobooks that I would find hard to read. My most recent was Night Film. Thanks for sharing this great post.
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This is such a great list! If only audiobooks weren’t so expensive . . . that, and I don’t really have my own credit card, and I procrastinate to plug on earphones.
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Don’t like the way Justine Eyre read Angel’s Flight by Nalini Singh. Not buying her again.
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I’m kind of new to audiobooks. I have listened to them here and there through the years but its only been since Spring that I have listened to them daily. I only listen while cleaning and so it takes awhile to get through them, but it sure makes time go faster!
I agree that the narrator can make or break it. But I haven’t listened enough to have narrators memorized. I did listen to an Iron Druid book so I know that guy is amazing though!
Most my audios are sent for review so I have only selected by stories I want to read/hear and not by narrator but as I listen to more and more I think that could change. Sometimes a person is so good at it you just want to listen to them forever!
This is a great post, I can see referring to it in the future. Thanks!
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One of my absolute favorite audio book narrator has got to be Katherine Kellgren who narrates LA Meyer’s Bloody Jack series. She does the voices of all the characters so well and brings them all to life. I believe that she could read the phone book and make it interesting.
Re comment above about the Daughter of Smoke and Bone audio book – that narrator is also very good.
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I have been listening to audiobooks daily for the last two months and am loving it! I have broadened my reading horizon as I have been listening to books that I don’t think I would have enjoyed as much in the written form. Some of my recent favorites were THE NIGHT CIRCUS and LISEY’s STORY – great narrators!
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Oh I have several favorite narrators, I actually started a shelf on Goodreads named Awesome Audio Narration. My absolute favorite is a toss up between Stephen Fry’s narration of the Harry Potter series and Neil Gaiman’s narration of some of his books. Both are equally brilliant! A couple others I love are Bahni Turpin who narrates Stacia Kane’s Downside series, Amanda Ronconi who narrates Molly Harper’s Jane Jameson books, and Tim Curry who narrated Garth Nix’ Abhorsen series . There are SO many more I could name, but those are among my top favorites
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I love audiobooks too. I don’t have any favourite narrators yet, but I will make sure to keep track from here on out. 🙂
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I love Luke Daniels’ narration of the Iron Druid Chronicles. I’ve listened to two of the books and think it’s far superior to reading them. Especially because he pronounces all those oddly spelled Celtic names.
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I adore audiobooks! I’ve always got one going that I listen to on my commute. It’s also good for passing time while doing mundane tasks like the dishes and folding laundry. 🙂
I love Justine Eyre’s narration too! She was really good in the Fallen series. I had no idea she also narrated the Lux series too. I definitely need to check that out.
I prefer Cynthia Hallow’s narration of the Chicagoland Vampire books, but perhaps that’s because I started the series on audio. By the time narrators changed, I’d gotten used to the way Cynthia Hallow delivered the voices, so Sophie Eastlake just sounded wrong somehow.
My favorite narrator is Lorelei King. She does the Charley Davidson and Mercy Thompson series. She is really amazing.
Awesome post!
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Michael Page! He narrates the Gentleman Bastards series and is freaking amazing. Unique voices for each character and each of the different accents the characters adopt (there are a lot!). I just wish he would narrate more series that I’m interested in listening to 🙁
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[…] Different Types of Books – Christina @ Christina Read YA explains why fantasy trumps contemporary (for her). – Pat @ The Girl Who Keeps Reading talks about life as a genre hopper. – Katie @ Doing Dewey talks about short story collections. – Danny @ Bewitched Bookworms has created a guide to finding outstanding audiobooks. […]
I *love* audiobooks, I think I’ve listened to at least 20 of them so far this year…they’re what keeps me on track for my reading goal, lol, since I spend so much time in my car!
One of my favorite narrators is Edoardo Ballerini…I’ve listened to a couple books he’s narrated and he does such a great job! I’m also enjoying the narrator of The Cuckoo’s Calling (Robert Glenister), though I’ve never listened to him before.
I’ll be checking out some of the narrators you’ve mentioned, now…they probably have read some of the books on my wishlist! 🙂
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[…] Danny has written a guide for outstanding audiobooks. […]
I always love when authors narrate their own books in some form or another. Tamora Pierce, YA Fantasy author, narrates many of her books along with Full Cast Audio providing character voices. Philip Pullman does the same in the marvelous His Dark Materials trilogy. And Neil Gaiman did a wonderful job on Stardust (though I think he’s done more of his books). I also loved the narration of the Hitchhiker’s Guide books and Kristen Cashore’s Graceling, Fire, & Bitterblue.
I’ve been meaning to check out Jim Butcher’s Dresden series, as some of the books are narrated by James Marsters (Spike from Buffy the Vampire Slayer), but haven’t gotten around to it yet =(
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I don’t know that I’ve ever listened to an audiobook. I find this post interesting though. I think a great narrator could make all the difference in really enjoying listening to a book.
But that said, I love reading. And i cannot imagine listening to my favorite book instead of reading it. I think maybe it would be cool to listen to it after reading it. And definitely audio books could be great if you have a commute in the car or are doing housework.
Richelle Mead’s Bloodlines series is one of my favorites. I saw you mentioned that you only listen to this series. I sort of cringed when I read that. I just cannot imagine doing this.
Also something I’m curious about. I’m gathering most people that listen to audio books include them in their goodreads totals. Does goodreads have a way to differentiate between books read vs listened to? Do you mention that you listened to the book vs read it in your reviews?
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Simon Vance is one of my favorite narrators. He does a good job with accents, putting emotion into characters’ voices, and does female voices as well as male voices believably which is really all I ask for 🙂
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[…] from Bewitched Bookworms shared some tips on how to find a good audiobook (Thank you, I am buying some on Audible because of your […]
Great guide! I loved reading the first book in the Iron Druid series and I could see how having a great narrator would definitely add to the experience. It’s a very conversational text.
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[…] A Guide to Find Outstanding Audiobooks by Bewitched Bookworms […]
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