Narrated by Angela Dawe
Lovers of Nora Roberts’ traditional contemporary romances will not want to miss the opportunity to listen to Playing the Odds, Book 1 in Ms. Robert’s long running series, The MacGregors, which was originally published in print in the 1980s. Narrated by Angela Dawe, this tale centers around the theme of “Betting on Love” and is a great representation of why publishers should consider bringing favorite backlist titles to life through the creation of an audiobook with a good narrator. Ms. Dawe definitely tilts the odds in favor of reliving this classic tale in audio format.
Serena MacGregor is tired of having her life predetermined for her. Growing up in a well to do family and having attended the right schools, she was well on her way to following straight into her parents’ selected path until she decided to rebel.
Much to her father’s chagrin, that rebellion brought her to a cruise line, where she took a job as a blackjack dealer, in hopes of finding her true self. It is on her last voyage that she meets Justin Blade. Part Comanche, and definitively a professional gambler of some sort, Justin intrigues her in a way that no other man has been able to do in a very long time. Serena had already determined to quit her casino cruise job, believing it to be the perfect training to use her family money to launch her own casino operations. Just as she’s about to entrust her heart to Justin, however, she learns a shocking secret regarding Justin’s background that causes her to question everything all over again. Moreover, an additional, yet to be revealed, secret may actually leave her in great imminent danger. Will Julia’s HEA still be possible once she learns that she just may have been played?
Having previously listened to a number of Angela Dawe’s contemporary romance narrations, and for the most part having enjoyed them (for example – Tiffany Snow’s Point of No Return), I knew that Ms. Dawe would deliver a relatively solid rendition. As expected, she excelled in bringing Serena and Justin to life.
While Ms. Dawe does have a relatively distinctive sound (and therefore I suggest that you sound sample her work before buying the audiobook), I found all of her characterizations pleasing in Playing the Odds. In particular, I highly appreciated her distinctive voicing of each character, making it easy to tell who was speaking without reliance on dialogue tags.
Ms. Dawe also is quite adept at communicating the mood of the scene simply with the speed and tone of her delivery. This quality greatly aids the listener’s experience making it more akin to listening to a movie, than reading a book, which further enhances the effect of the story.
All in all, I enjoyed Playing the Odds, and look forward to further exploring Ms. Roberts’ backlist now that Brilliance Audio has released many of her titles in audiobook format.
BJ
Narration: A-
Book Content: B
Steam Factor: For your burning ears only
Violence: Minimal
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Publisher: Brilliance Audio
Playing the Odds was provided to AudioGals by Brilliance Audio for review.
The MacGregors are some of the best of Nora”s backlist and I liked them immensely, but Brilliance is on my enemy list after deleting their audios from public libraries’ Overdrive catalog. And I am not a fan of Angela Dawe, so two strikes against Playing the Odds. But, thanks for the review.
Wow, Mel! I hadn’t realized that Brilliance had deleted all their audios from Overdrive. That decision actually could backfire on them. Sometimes I will take a chance on an author, narrator or series if it’s available at the library, even if I would never buy it. Libraries rarely have complete catalogs, so if I stumble upon an author/narrator/ or series that way, I may actually use my treasured Audible credits to buy more. Without a chance to experiment though, I’m likely to use my credits for authors/narrators/series that I know I will enjoy.
Yes, I hear you on Angela Dawe. She has a unique sound that either works for you or rubs you the wrong way. I’m not, for example, her biggest fan when it comes to HR narrations (see my review of Highland Barbarian), but I usually enjoy her contemporary romance narrations.