Narrated by Justine O. Keef
Rock star hero? Nalini Singh? Can you say romance catnip?!!
David Rivera has had his eye on his band publicist Thea Arsana since he met her. The timing to approach her never seemed quite right. Now, however, she has finally broken things off with her fiancé and he can make his move.
Except, she shoots him down. Thea doesn’t date clients. David’s not going to give up, however. It will take all of David’s skills to convince her to give him, and them, a chance.
Rock Courtship should work for me. As my intro suggested, rock stars and Nalini Singh are two of my favorite things when it comes to romance. The hero is swoon-worthy with his constancy in regards to the heroine, and the heroine is confident and an equal to the hero. Yet I found myself more middle of the fence when it came to the plot and characters. It isn’t a terrible book but I feel meh about the whole piece rather than yippee.
And this, I feel, is due to Justine O. Keef’s performance. Keef is not a bad narrator, there are no loud background or personal noises, but I didn’t warm up to her. There are a couple of instances she sounds like a golf narrator; she will be speaking normally then suddenly switch to a lowered pitch with extreme enunciation. I assume this is where she had an edit but I wish it had been more normal sounding. Then there are the intimate moments; she made me cringe each time the couple is in the throes of passion. They sounded so overwrought. Think Meg Ryan in When Harry Met Sally.
I must admit, besides these two instances, the rest of her performance in Rock Courtship was solid. Her male characters are some of the deepest and realistic portrayals I’ve heard. The accents she demonstrates—Balinese, American, Australian—sound appropriate. Again, however, I am not really feeling her overall performance. Something about her voice rubs me wrong. I am not particularly excited to try her again, definitely not if she can bring down a Singh piece, where the writing is always crisp and engaging but I may try her again. So many of the reviewers I follow love her, I feel obligated to try her one more time before I completely rule her out.
Diana
Narration: C+
Book Content: B-
Steam Factor: For your burning ears only
Violence: Minimal
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Publisher: Tantor Audio
Rock Courtship was provided to AudioGals by Tantor Audio for review.
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I’ve not tried this series, but I love both of her paranormal romance series. I’ve not heard this narrator before. It is a shame she wasn’t that good. The this author’s other two series have great narrators.