Heather K (dentist in my spare time)'s Reviews > Shaking the Sugar Tree
Shaking the Sugar Tree (Sugar Tree, #1)
by
This is why you have to be SO careful who narrates your audiobook! I could barely concentrate on the story, the audiobook was so bad.
1 star for the audiobook + 1 extra star for the benefit of the doubt. With all of these 5 star reviews, this book must be better than what I got from it, right?
This review will be mostly about how the audiobook didn't work for me. I can't/won't comment much on the story because I didn't get very far into it (33%, where I DNF-ed).
The MC in this book is supposed to be 33 with a thick, specific Southern accent. The narrator of this book sounds like a grandpa ---> mistake #1. I researched this narrator after I decided to DNF this one, and this narrator IS a grandpa. While some older men might be able to pull off a younger voice, this narrator, Wayne Messmer, can't. It sounds borderline nasty (in a bad way) when the narrator says some of his lines. It was a huge turn off.
Also, the accent that the narrator adopts for this role is very odd. It sounds almost like a parody of what the accent is supposed to be. It was distracting and uncomfortable. In addition, he doesn't do much vocal differentiation between the characters so the conversation was really hard to follow.
I also had a major problem with the cadence of the narrator. It sounded like he randomly interjected commas into each sentence. His pauses and line breaks were really weird and made the story sound unnatural and choppy.
Finally, the quality of the narration was off. There was a ton of static in the background, which was distracting and unprofessional sounding.
I have nothing but complaints. If I want to analyze the story itself, I think I'll have to buy the ebook.
**Copy provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review**
by
Heather K (dentist in my spare time)'s review
bookshelves: audiobook, read-to-review-arc, romance, m-m, everyone-else-loves-it, did-not-finish, little-to-no-sex-content, narrator-horrible
Mar 23, 2014
bookshelves: audiobook, read-to-review-arc, romance, m-m, everyone-else-loves-it, did-not-finish, little-to-no-sex-content, narrator-horrible
This is why you have to be SO careful who narrates your audiobook! I could barely concentrate on the story, the audiobook was so bad.
1 star for the audiobook + 1 extra star for the benefit of the doubt. With all of these 5 star reviews, this book must be better than what I got from it, right?
This review will be mostly about how the audiobook didn't work for me. I can't/won't comment much on the story because I didn't get very far into it (33%, where I DNF-ed).
The MC in this book is supposed to be 33 with a thick, specific Southern accent. The narrator of this book sounds like a grandpa ---> mistake #1. I researched this narrator after I decided to DNF this one, and this narrator IS a grandpa. While some older men might be able to pull off a younger voice, this narrator, Wayne Messmer, can't. It sounds borderline nasty (in a bad way) when the narrator says some of his lines. It was a huge turn off.
Also, the accent that the narrator adopts for this role is very odd. It sounds almost like a parody of what the accent is supposed to be. It was distracting and uncomfortable. In addition, he doesn't do much vocal differentiation between the characters so the conversation was really hard to follow.
I also had a major problem with the cadence of the narrator. It sounded like he randomly interjected commas into each sentence. His pauses and line breaks were really weird and made the story sound unnatural and choppy.
Finally, the quality of the narration was off. There was a ton of static in the background, which was distracting and unprofessional sounding.
I have nothing but complaints. If I want to analyze the story itself, I think I'll have to buy the ebook.
**Copy provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review**
Sign into Goodreads to see if any of your friends have read
Shaking the Sugar Tree.
Sign In »
Reading Progress
March 23, 2014
– Shelved as:
to-read
March 23, 2014
– Shelved
November 6, 2014
–
Started Reading
November 6, 2014
– Shelved as:
audiobook
November 6, 2014
– Shelved as:
read-to-review-arc
November 7, 2014
– Shelved as:
romance
November 7, 2014
– Shelved as:
m-m
November 7, 2014
– Shelved as:
everyone-else-loves-it
November 7, 2014
– Shelved as:
did-not-finish
November 7, 2014
– Shelved as:
little-to-no-sex-content
November 7, 2014
–
Finished Reading
March 26, 2016
– Shelved as:
narrator-horrible
Comments Showing 1-42 of 42 (42 new)
date
newest »
message 1:
by
~Mindy Lynn~
(new)
-
rated it 5 stars
07 nov. 2014 19:11
reply
|
flag
My problems are all with the audiobook. I feel neutral on the story as of now.
It should make you nervous, honestly. I've had narrators ruin a story.
It gets weirder over time and more annoying over time.
Adrien English audiobooks are some of my all time favorites. I also am obsessed with Rhys Ford's Dirty Kiss series on audio.
Skip this!!
Most people love the ebook so I think I'll try again at a later date with the ebook.
I don't know one person who enjoyed this audiobook. I've read a ton of 1 and 2 star reviews of the narrator.
I think I'll do that!
Oh great! Thanks! I am obsessed with Tessa Dare's Spindle Cove audiobooks!
I can't believe it! REALLY?! The author can't determine it? I'm astonished! It is so important to have a good narrator for a book, a bad narrator can ruin EVERYTHING! NOt to have any influence at your audio-work...it is awful!
Oh good! I have Dangerous Ground in audiobook!
Yeah... it was upsetting.
Yes, I agree!
It depends on how your contract is written when you sign it - if you give the publisher all audio rights then you may not get a say. Just like with some pubs the author doesn't have much control over covers. Or potentially choosing a translator if you get translated to another language.
That's where it pays to read the contract, even when you're so excited that someone actually likes your book enough to publish it.
Yup, I saw your review. The narrator was all wrong.
Pretty much the only way to control this is to produce it yourself, which means retaining audio rights at the time of contract, and either entering into some kind of royalty share program or taking on all production costs yourself.
Good to know! I still don't think this guy was right for this part.
Thanks! I think I have to try it again in ebook form. The narration was just... no!
I can still hear that terrible narration in my head. It killed the book for me.
I might have even bought one! I'll let you know! :)
I wonder if that's true because I always see authors like TJ Klune talking about narrators and narrator selection. I'm sure some authors have more say than others!