Audio Slave: Beautiful Bitch by Christina Lauren and the importance of quality narration


Title: Beautiful Bitch (Beautiful 1.5)
Author: Christina Lauren

Genre: Contemporary Romance, Adult
Publisher: 
Simon & Schuster Audio
Pub Date: July 2013
Story Rating: 3.5 Stars
Narration Rating: 5 Stars G.G/2 Stars K.H.

Our thoughts...
  

Fun ~ Witty ~ Quick


Beautiful Bitch is a novella in the Beautiful series and it reads and acts just like a novella should. It provides an extra glimpse into the lives of Chloe and Bennett with both points of view represented. It is not a necessary read if you’re reading the whole series but if you plan on reading it I suggest you avoid the audiobook.

I would like to focus this review primarily on the narration. I feel this audiobook is a great example of the difference between a high-quality narrator and one who leaves much to be desired. I love Grace Grant, as you know, and feel she did a great job narrating this. She consistently excels at bringing a character’s personality to life and can successfully portray the opposite sex in a believable fashion.

The same cannot be said of Kirby Heybourne. Every time that man spoke I felt like I was listening to an X-rated episode of The Wonder Years. His Bennett sounds like a sissy who needs to grow a pair instead of the hard-heated brute we know and love. His Chloe is even worse; she sounds flighty and passive, as if she knits Kleenex cozies in her spare time instead of a Beautiful Bitch who worked her behind off to get where she is. I would have given up on this audiobook if not for Grace Grant and Christina Lauren. Honestly, I’m being generous with giving him two stars.

I also took issue with the obvious disconnect between the two narrators. Bias aside, Grace Grant established the precedence for the characters in Beautiful Bastard as well as for name pronunciation. One would hope those things would be maintained throughout the series for the sake of consistency. Why didn’t anyone catch the fact that a client’s name was being pronounced two different ways?

Overall Beautiful Bitch is a fine story with awkward narration. Stick to the eBook for the sake of avoiding unnecessary frustration.




2 comments:

  1. I am also not a fan of Kirby. My friends and I call him The Kirbs. I heard some of his newer YA is better, but overall I'm not a fan of his narration style. I love Grace Grant, though! I am going to binge read this series before Beautiful Secret comes out!

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    1. I love that! I'll have to start calling him The Kirbs. This is my first time through the series and I'm hoping to be caught up in time for Beautiful Secret. I'm loving it! ~Jenny

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