Talented narrators lack a unified accent strategy.
This modern-day My Fair Lady, set in Atlanta, is all about accents. Country-club employee Holly’s accent is a mix of Atlanta and Mississippi, narrated ably by Suehyla El-Attar Young. Luisa, a journalist hoping to entrap a financier at Holly’s club, was born in Puerto Rico, and Alejandra Reynoso provides authentic Spanish dialogue forvarious members of Luisa’s family. Their coconspirator, Elijah, has a backwoods Georgia accent and learns the Mississippi accent from a linguistics professor from England. While both narrators deliver the story with true heart, their different voicings lead to inconsistent characterizations. With El-Attar Young, Holly sounds pragmatic, but with Reynoso, she sounds naïve and incompetent. Elijah’s accents also vary by narrator, neither of whom performs a convincing British accent.
Talented narrators lack a unified accent strategy.Pub Date: April 7, 2026
Duration: 12 hrs, 29 mins
DD ISBN: 9781668164778
Publisher: Simon & Schuster Audio
Review Posted Online: April 28, 2026
A model and a mogul get married in Vegas on a bet, and Diana Luke narrates their story with élan. While it would be easy to portray Leila Darling as a scheming caricature or Carter Bain as a ruthless businessman, Luke never crosses that line. Her portrayal of Leila is generous and encompasses the full range of her character--from the formidable professional at the top of her game to the vulnerable woman who is unsure if she can trust a man with her heart. Likewise, Luke's portrayal of Carter showcases both his business acumen and his emotional vulnerability as he opens himself up to Leila. While loosely connected to the previous Unconventional Brides volumes, this can easily stand alone.
Pub Date: N/A
Duration: 9 hrs
DD ISBN: 9781501968471
Publisher: Recorded Books Inc.
Review Posted Online: Jan. 22, 2026
After her divorce, Roberta Jewett, with her three daughters, returns to Camden, Maine, to start a new life. Such an independent move in 1916 brings difficulties with her mother, her in-laws and the townspeople. Dukes's performance, while skillful, sometimes suffer in scenes of emotional content. His pace slows, and his reading acquires the peculiar emphasis of someone trying to get instructions across to a non-English-speaking person. The effect is disturbingly laughable. When he resumes his normal pace, the story revives and personalities emerge again, but the awkwardness remains as an odd interruption to Spencer's drama of pain and love, dispelling Dukes's carefully constructed characterizations.
Pub Date: N/A
Duration: 3 hrs
Publisher: Dove
Review Posted Online: Jan. 22, 2026
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