Amy's Favorite Audiobook Narrations of 2024

 In 2024, I listened to 38 audiobooks. I love listening to audiobooks while I walk, drive, clean, and craft.

I’ve already posted my Favorite Books of 2024 which included my FAVORITE AUDIOBOOK NARRATION OF 2024, Julia Whelan’s narration of The Measure by Nikki Erlick. The novel earned a 4-star rating from me and almost made my Top Ten novels of the year! I’ve listened to Whelan narrate about a dozen novels and she always does a fantastic job narrating with an amazing vocal repertoire and terrific voice acting.  However, for this novel, she was absolutely spectacular! I give her particular props for her old man voice in this one. Incredible. A+

There were a few more audiobook narrations which received A+ ratings from me this year. These novels weren’t all in my Top Ten but the audiobook narrations and productions were so great they deserve recognition. I’d love to hear more audiobooks from these people!

To get an A+ from me, narrators have to be excellent voice actors, have a large repertoire of voices which are used perfectly for the book's diverse cast of characters, and have no glaring sound production issues. I’m listing these audiobooks in the order in which I liked the novels and including the rating I gave each novel as well as my comments about the narration. To read my full review of the books below, click on the titles.

Julia Whelan (again!) narrating The Women by Kristin Hannah (5 stars), historical fiction. Yes, she earned two A+ ratings from me this year! That is the main reason why she won narrator of the year for me. I just thought her work on The Measure was slightly more impressive than in The Women. But they were both incredible! She did an amazing job with many accents and male voices.

Kristin Atherton and Helen Lloyd narrating All the Broken Places (The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas #2) by John Boyne (4-1/2 stars), historical fiction. This was perfect casting for young and old Gretel. Young Gretel required a pretty large voice repertoire including many different accents. Atherton was marvelous with these including the male voices! And Lloyd was pitch perfect in her role as a comfortable, yet guilt-ridden, older woman looking back on her regrettable youth.

January LaVoy and Will Damron narrating Listen for the Lie by Amy Tintera (4 stars), contemporary mystery.  They were both phenomenal with incredible vocal repertoires. Since the novel includes interviews with multiple people, they had a huge cast of characters to portray and they seemed to give each one their own recognizable voice! LaVoy even had amazing male voices. At times, the audiobook production would include both of their voices during interviews and that was seamlessly and successfully accomplished! I almost made this one my Favorite Narration of the Year. It’s a very close second!

Saskia Maarleveld narrating The Briar Club by Kate Quinn (4 stars), historical fiction. Maarleveld is a fantastic voice actor who has narrated all of the Kate Quinn novels I’ve heard. She’s a fantastic voice actor with a multitude of voices and accents in her repertoire. Most interesting to me, though, was the recorded interview she did with the author at the end of the novel. Her natural voice is absolutely nothing like any of the voices I’ve heard her use in narrations! This makes me respect her even more for not relying on her own speaking voice at all!

Ellen Archer narrating Things I Wish I Told My Mother by Susan Patterson and Susan DiLallo (3 stars), women’s fiction. Archer did a terrific job with voice acting as well as displaying several different voices and accents. She even sang which always earns extra points with me.

So, what were your favorite narrations this year?