Both narrators have very distinctive voices (Cendese especially), so YMMV, but Cendese as the cuddly but clueless hockey himbo, Cohen, and Toma as the academically superlative but romantically sidelined grad student, Seth, in a playful college romance, really lets those voices shine. I have listened to so many books narrated by Alexander Cendese and Iggy Toma, and I typically find the combination delightful, but this is the one I’m suggesting. Goal Lines & First Times by Eden Finley and Saxon James Narrated by Alexander Cendese and Iggy Toma

Plus, Lukov is one of Zapata’s most popular books.

The style is unusual and absolutely not for everyone, but I enjoy Dalton’s calm tones with enough intonation to give us Jasmine’s attitude, and Teddy Hamilton’s voice is mellifluous, bringing Ivan to life even though he’s not reading any full chapters. Zapata’s books are all first person from the heroine’s perspective, and typically that narration would simply be done by a woman reading the whole book, but in this case, Callie Dalton narrates the story, and Teddy Hamilton voices only Ivan’s lines. So without further ado, before you give up on audiobooks, try these: From Lukov With Love by Mariana Zapata Narrated by Callie Dalton and Teddy Hamilton I decided to organize these more or less (how does one even compare apples and oranges, anyway?) in order so we end with my absolute, top, I-squee-to-everyone recommendation. I might do another smutty six featuring narrators I like to listen to, but for today we’re looking at the combination of great stories brought to life with great narration. I’m sure I’ve listened to audiobooks that I might have thought were just okay if I had read them, but the narrator brought the story to life in such a way I thought it was fantastic. A narrator can make or break an audiobook. (I mean, I would, but my shopping trips would be less fun.)Īside from one’s ability to process audiobooks or not, there’s the matter of narrators.

Holly and Ingrid were recently bemoaning (might be a strong word, but if they weren’t, they should have been) the fact that they can’t process audiobooks, and there I sat, wondering how on earth I’d live without them. I don’t read nearly as fast as Holly or Ingrid, and I really like to multitask in certain areas (embroidery and movie night, anyone?).

Final Play by Eden Finley