Austenesque Lovers TBR Pile Challenge 2026 discussion

Hey,
I was listening to a audio book and the narrator didn’t have a British accent. I am not a native English speaker, som I am not sure where exactly the accent is from… But it seemed to have a southern American sound.
It really annoyed me, so I stopped listening to it, though I might go back to it later.
Have any of you had the same problem?

I'm VERY pickey about the narrators I can listen to.

I must listen to samples about 10 times before deciding if I'll purchase that audiobook or not. (For narrators I don't know)

Since our favorites are fully booked, I've noticed authors are going further afield in their hiring. I'm sure cost is part of the calculation also.

There are many I just can't listen to, and yes, I've noticed 2 were non-british accents.

I agree Sam. Some narrators just don't suit my ears at all.

Interestingly though I recently listened to a book which I found very average but it was narrated by Stevie Z. It helped but there is a limit to what a good narrator can do to an average book.

Craftyhj wrote: "I agree Sam. Some narrators just don't suit my ears at all.

Interestingly though I recently listened to a book which I found very average but it was narrated by Stevie Z. It helped but there is a ..."

I love when that happens. That's when you know the narrator was a performer and did their job well!

I'm no native speaker, either and I therefore prefer a British accent because it's easier to listen to. But I encounter some modern variations that take place in the US and the narrator had an American accent. After some minutes of adjustment I found it fitting for that story and has no problems following. But I think that these narrators spoke nevertheless quite clearly despite the accent 😉

I am glad, I nat the only one who is picky.
I don’t mind an American accent at all, when is appropriate for the story :-)

i'm not able to tell one accent from another, i only know if it's easy to listen to or not
some people put me to sleep unless speeded up

This is the main reason I don't listen to a great deal of JAFF on the whole. I do listen to some of them on Audible Plus but mostly only as a "reread". I find I get pulled out for a book when words are not pronounced correctly to my British ears or intonation is not "British". This is most noticeable when the words are coming out of the mouth of a character.

As an example I was listening to a book last week, narrated by one of the very best of the narrators, but they consistently pronounced Westerham (the nearest location to the fictional Hunsford) incorrectly. I just couldn't stop myself from correcting it out loud each time!

I do enjoy audio books and I listen to tons (mostly vintage crime) and I do enjoy listening to the JAFFs but mostly as a reread where I already know that I enjoy the plot. I wouldn't want non-British wrinkles in the narration to give me a lesser impression of a book which is new to me.

I do really appreciate that Q&Q put all of their books on Audible Plus as I am listening to more JAFF than I used to.