One Voice to Rule Them All

I listen to audiobooks often—on my runs and walks and even in the car. Although my time in the car is barely anything, I still listen to them whenever I drive, even on the five-second trip to Publix, where it takes longer to plug in my iPhone and press start. And because stories are so important to me, if I love a book I’ve finished enough to give it a five-star rating, you better believe I’m getting its audiobook. Well, depending on who’s narrating—if it’s Abby Cradan, Angela Dawe, Carmen Rose, or Julia Whelan reading, I’m listening.

I like a little spice to cut through my misery on an especially dreadful run—defined as a summer run in my sultry Miami neighborhood. Emily Henry churns out stories that turn an otherwise drudgery of a summer run into a side-stitching event that almost makes me run another mile to finish a chapter. Almost.

Of course, no audiobook is the work of the author alone. It takes a certain kind of narrator to add nuance, flavor, and rhythm to a performance.

My audiobook apps are brimming with books I wouldn’t have read if it weren’t for their narrators because it’s a freaking art. I realized this at my first author event when I read—hands shaking, voice cracking, words blurring—excerpts of two chapters from my novel. It’s an arduous task to get the beat just right—reading the words right. Even with practice—reading aloud to the ether, as I did—I barely made my words sound half-pleasant.

So, this year, I was absolutely delighted to add Emily Henry to my repertoire of Julia Whelan-narrated audiobooks. I went with Book Lovers first. It was an easy choice because Whelan suggested it in her Happily Ever Crafterwriting course, which she taught with Emily Stone.

The Henry-Whelan duo is similar to eating a crispy salt and vinegar chip—I can’t just have one, so I bought them all! Those two are like tango dancers. Henry’s words slinked through Whelan’s voice box effortlessly. The words are vivid, smooth, and beautiful. 

I won’t go through each book; every reviewer on the planet has already covered them ad nauseam. However, I will illustrate—in no particular order—what I love the most about Henry and Whelan’s rom-com partnership.

I just finished Funny Story, Henry and Whelan’s latest adult romance novel with similarly themed, illustrated covers. Out of the five, it’s the spiciest with the sex scenes. This one has a (and I don’t understand why hetero-romance novelists rarely do this) description of fellatio. 🔥 Maybe description is not quite the right word because it’s artful, not tawdry. In fact, Henry doesn’t shy away from oral sex at all, which I think is beautiful. We have oral sex—gay, straight, lesbian, and beyond. It’s the perfect alternative to penetration and, in some cases, even hotter to embellish on the page. Although it’s only a few lines in her novels, it’s not rushed—or distasteful. 

Being of the bookish set, I appreciate reading—or listening to, in this case—stories about writers or anyone whose occupation is remotely related to books. Each novel, in some way, portrays bookish characters, such as a couple of librarians, a journalist, an editor, a literary agent, novelists, one short-story published English teacher, and a cozy mystery reader. Henry never forgets to include a bookstore, a library, or someplace where page-turning is the order of the day.

The author also has a penchant for making her bookish characters exceptionally hot; I love that. There’s nothing wrong with a bright, educated, thoughtful, hot person, and Whelan—who seems to be a male-voice virtuoso—brings them to life with a husky flair. I thought for sure Whelan would trip up with the various male voices in Happy Place, but no. Each male character had a distinct mouthpiece.

Henry’s books, somehow, also contain a queer character. Whether it’s the l’aunties (lesbian aunties), a gay brother who’s getting married, or a lesbian couple who forms part of the best friends sextet, queer people exist in Henry’s novels; her main characters don’t just live in a bland world of straight white people interacting with each other. Besides, diverse characters add a note of reality to a novel, and Happy Place is Henry’s most character-varied novel. I read and listen to plenty of queer fiction, and sometimes, there are only queer characters. While I love to be represented, queer-only characters in a story aren’t realistic.

I read good writing, be it queer or heterosexual fiction, and I will put down a book three-quarters of the way because I can’t take another ill-formed sentence or because the characters seem one-note; Henry’s writing is fluid, thoughtful, and engaging. 

Although they’re romance novels, Henry doesn’t entirely write formulaic. Her work doesn’t always contain perfectly timed third-act breakups. Her books are also dynamic, delving into deep-seated childhood traumas her characters try so hard to overcome. I love how she sometimes alternates chapters with the present and past to present a complete picture. In the audiobooks, Whelan’s perfect pitch to Henry’s marvelous words—the happy, sad, sarcastic, miserable, and ecstatic emotions—are intensely voiced. Whelan’s myriad of tones is simply astounding.

So, this summer, lace up your runners and add a little Henry-Whelan secret sauce to your library for a breezy romp around your favorite vacation spot. You’ll breeze right through the swelter.