My Favourite Audiobook Narrators

I absolutely love this week’s prompt! I am constantly listening to an audiobook and I do think that a narrator can make or break the experience. There are some books I might not have read at all if they were read by a different narrator!

Julie Whelan

I have a feeling that Julie Whelan will be on a lot of lists today! She is one of the first narrators who I fell in love with and made me really appreciate audiobooks. I also think she has an amazing range as you can see from the five books I have chosen. All of these are favourites but are from a range of genres. Far From the Tree and I’ll Give You the Sun are both hard-hitting YA contemporaries, The Lonely Hearts Hotel is historical fiction, Part of Your World is romance, and Educated is nonfiction. Check out this New York Times article if you want to learn more about her!

Bahni Turpin

If you asked me if I could only listen to one narrator for the rest of my life who would it be, I would have to tell you Bahni Turpin. I cannot begin to tell you the excitement I get when I discover that she is the narrator of a book! I instantly know I am in for an experience. There are so many books that are on my TBR simply because Bahni Turpin narrates them!

Imogen Church

I am currently listening to Ashes of the Sun, so Imogen Church is on my mind and I am just not realizing how talented she is. I find when you have one narrator doing many voices, especially different genders, it can be distracting but Imagoen Church has mastered it! Admittedly, I am not the biggest Ruth Ware fan but I have enjoyed listening to the ones I have read and that all comes down to Imogen Church’s narration. And, for an underrated book, The Glittering Hour is one of my favourites and is historical fiction.

Ray Porter

Project Hail Mary is one of the best audiobooks I have ever listened to and that all comes down to Ray Porter’s performance. It was incredible! My first time listening to a book narrated by Ray Porter was Silver Linings Playbook and I will be honest and say that I don’t think I would have enjoyed the book if I read it physically instead. I bought The Apollo Murders the day it was released because I love Chris Hadfield but I haven’t read it yet. I just discovered that Ray Porter is the audiobook narrator while putting this post together and am downloading the audiobook as we speak!

Kevin R. Free

If you have listened to the Murderbot series, you know how incredible Kevin R. Free is! He really embodied that character and brings them to life. It is amazing! The Sun Does Shine is one of my favourite non-fiction titles and Kevin R. Free does it justice in his narration. All of F.T. Lukens’s books are on my TBR and I am just now realizing that Kevin R. Free narrates them. That makes me even more excited to get to them!

Natalie Naudus

This is only a small sample of the audiobooks that I have listened to and loved that were narrated by Natalie Naudus. She also narrates a ton of books that are on my TBR, including all of the books in the Drowning Empire series and romances like Exes and O’s by Amy Lea. I think that Natalie Naudus does an amazing job at making each of the books she narrates sound unique!

Avi Roque

Avi Roque is a narrator I fell in love with last year! I did listen to Cemetery Boys when it came out and thought the narration was next-level incredible but I don’t think Avi Roque had narrated a ton of books back then so I never looked further into them until I listened to What Moves the Dead. It was one of my favourite narrations ever so I was thrilled to see they also narrated Lakelore and listened to that right away. They also narrated quite a few of the books in that YA remix series that I have been loving!

Dan Stevens

I was an avid watcher of Downton Abbey and adored Dan Stevens, so I was thrilled to discover that he also narrates audiobooks! I don’t think I would have ever read Agatha Christie if he didn’t narrate a few of her books and I think the only way I will read her work is if he is the narrator. It is an experience. I just love his voice! The Prince of Mist is going to be my next audiobook and I was pleasantly surprised to discover that Dan Steven narrates it! I read Frankenstein in high school and hated it but have been saying for years I want to try it again as an adult. The fact that there is a version that Dan Steven narrates means that there is a great chance this will happen!

Jakobi Diem

If you are looking for a new favourite romance narrator, you have to listen to something read by Jakobi Diem. From what I can tell he narrates the majority of Kennedy Ryan’s books and is the reason I will listen to his books whenever I can! I was also excited to see that he is narrating S.A. Cosby’s next book, All the Sinners Bleed, which is a thriller and comes out on June 6th,

Cassandra Campbell

Cassandra Campbell is a prolific historical fiction narrator and so many of her books are on my TBR. I wanted to give a shout-out to her narration of The Painted Girls because it is one of my favourites and is underrated. I didn’t realize she narrates Great Circle but I do own a physical copy and will be immersion reading it!

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