Interviews with audiobook narrators Carrie Piper and Erin Mallon
HEA's Jessie Potts chats with audiobook narrators Carrie Piper and Erin Mallon, and check out some audio excerpts from Temptation by K.M. Scott and Kyland by Mia Sheridan.
INTERVIEW WITH CARRIE PIPER
Carrie Piper, who reads K.M. Scott's Temptation with co-narrator David Drummond, has narrated some steamy books, such as Dare to Resist by Laura Kaye (only $2!), and One Wicked Night by Kelly Jamieson. Her voice is perfect for alpha heroes, and listeners will love the back and forth between her and David in Temptation.
What Temptation is about (courtesy of Copper Key Media and Audible.com):
Cassian March, the public face of Tampa's most exclusive nightspot, Club X, has a great life. Women, sex, and money are his for the taking, and no man indulges his desires more. Life is short, and he plays hard. He lives by only one rule - never let a woman get close.
Olivia Lucas needs a job, and if that means working at a club that specializes in making members' wildest fantasies come true, then that's what she'll do. A girl's got to pay the rent, right? She never expected to fall for the gorgeous owner of Club X, though, but a man like him would never go for someone like her. Or would he?
What's your favorite scene in Temptation?
Carrie: I think the opening scenes really set up a sympathetic, relatable character in Olivia. You want her to succeed. Olivia also has great scenes with her friends who are a support system and sounding board. The author weaves in a history to their friendship so they seem grounded in reality. This really helps when you get to the "love stuff" in ensuing chapters.
Who was your favorite character to narrate?
Carrie: Olivia. In this instance I only read the Olivia chapters so the point of view is always Olivia. But I also had to voice the three brothers who run The Club. It's fun to find distinct male personalities through a voice-only interpretation.
Any fun or interesting things happen while narrating Temptation?
Carrie: I had to call the other narrator who plays the male lead to make sure we were on the same page about the characters, their vocal qualities and the way we would agree to pronounce the characters' names, etc. It's kind of funny and awkward and embarrassing when you are chatting with a complete stranger about scenes with this kind of "erotic" subject matter. It brings out the total dork in me.
What are you currently working on?
Carrie: I have just started a biography of Joy Davidman, wife of C.S. Lewis. So the pendulum has swung to the other side of narrator life. Lots of research and consulting with Merriam-Webster. I'm running the gamut, lately. Keeps it lively!
Check out an audio excerpt of Temptation by K.M. Scott, narrated by Carrie Piper and David Drummond (full audiobook available at Audible.com):
(If you can't see the video here, you can watch it on YouTube.)
INTERVIEW WITH ERIN MALLON
Erin Mallon, who narrate's Mia Sheridan's Kyland with Stephen Dexter, has narrated some of my favorite listens, such as Sweet Evil by Wendy Higgins, Everblue by Brenda Pandos and Exquisite Captive by Heather Demetrios. Her voice is perfect for strong heroines and bad-boy heroes (especially with accents!).
What Kyland is about (courtesy of Mia Sheridan and Audible.com):
Dirt poor. Hillbilly. Backwoods hick. Mountain folk.
Tenleigh Falyn struggles each day to survive in a small, poverty-stricken coal-mining town where she lives with her sister and mentally ill mother. Her dream of winning the college scholarship given to one student by the local coal company and escaping the harshness of her life keeps her going.
Kyland Barrett lives in the hills, too, and has worked tirelessly - through near starvation, through deep loneliness, against all odds - to win the Tyton Coal Scholarship and leave the town that is full of so much pain.
They're both determined not to form any attachments, but one moment changes everything. What happens when only one person gets to win? When only one person gets to leave? And what happens to the one left behind?
Kyland is a story of desperation and hope, loss and sacrifice, pain and forgiveness, but ultimately a story of deep and unending love.
What's your favorite scene in Kyland?
Erin: Hmm. How do I do this without spoiler alerts? There are a string of scenes involving Kyland and Tenleigh and how they deceive each other in order to take care of each other that hit me pretty hard. I also found myself really drawn to any scenes that take place in the grocery store and the bar. Those are two places where you meet many of the colorful local characters that make the town of Dennville come alive for the reader.
Who was your favorite character to narrate?
Erin: I really enjoyed working on Tenleigh's mother. I think the character is written so beautifully and truthfully. She's a woman who's lost so much, someone who clings to the past because it was when she felt most beautiful, most valuable. At first glance, her words seem positive and hopeful, but there is so much fear and pain behind them. It was also a fun challenge to discover how she speaks differently when off and on her medication. She goes through enormous change throughout the story, and that is always exciting.
Any fun or interesting things happen while narrating Kyland?
Erin: Actually, yes. I'm going to go out on a limb here and offer a story that is most definitely TMI. I'm a new mom. Part of this miraculous journey involves pumping breast milk while away from your baby. On a lunch break during Kyland sessions, the room the studio sets aside for such purposes was occupied, so I locked myself in my side of the recording booth, sat down on the floor in the dark and got to business. I had 20 minutes until my awesome (young, male) engineer and I were to resume our session, so I figured I was good to go with some privacy. Not five minutes into my task, I sense movement on the other side of the window. My engineer had returned and little did I know that my microphone was picking up all the crazy sounds the breast pump makes (Ever heard one of these? They're quite expressive) and blaring them through his speakers. He hightailed it out of there immediately, horrified.
What are you currently working on?
Erin: A lot! I'm in the midst of recording the latest two books in J.B. Salsbury's awesome Fighting Series, which follows the stories of some strong, resilient women and the MMA fighters who love them. I'm diving into recording A Love Called Simon, a lovely romance by Sandi Lynn, and I'm starting prep work on two series: The Bound and Broken Series by Rebecca Shea and The Badge of Honor Series by Susan Stoker. Books, books, books!
Check out an audio excerpt from Kyland by Mia Sheridan, narrated by Stephen Dexter and Erin Mallon (full audiobook available at Audible.com):
(If you can't see the video here, you can watch it on YouTube.)
Jessie Potts, also known as Book Taster, adores books in all forms. She also does reviews for RT Book Reviews magazine and works in the submissions departments at Dreamspinner Press and Entangled YA. You can follow her on Twitter (@BookTaster).