Best Audiobook: Romance
The winner and shortlist for the Best Audiobook: Romance category at The British Audio Awards - aka the Speakies - organised by The Bookseller and The Stage
For audiobooks specific to the romance genre, including titles that might have elements of history or fantasy. The audiobook categories celebrate the process from text to listener, including the work of the narrator and audio production team.
Winner
Rivals
Jilly Cooper
WF Howes
Georgia Tennant
It could have been hard to fire new interest in a book that was published 37 years ago and had just been turned into a blockbuster Disney+ series. WF Howes and actor Georgia Tennant managed it with an exuberant interpretation that was the perfect foil to print and TV.
“The narration is very entertaining and the differentiation of the ensemble of characters is excellent,” the judges said. This award is testament to the enduring popularity of Jilly Cooper, who died in October.
Shortlist
Default Step
Bad Publicity
Bianca Gillam
Bloomsbury
Lucy Boynton
Liam Procter, 2020 Recordings
Bianca Gillam's fizzing lovers-to-enemies-to-lovers rom-com featuring Andie, who has just landed her book publicist dream job, only to discover the first author she is to take on a month-long tour is Jack, her hated ex from university. Read with verve by Bohemian Rhapsody star Lucy Boynton.
Love
Elizabeth von Arnim
Naxos
Lucy Scott
John Foley
First UK audiobook in 25 years of Elizabeth von Arnim's classic centred around 47-year-old Catherine's romance with "flame-haired" twentysomething Christopher, which scandalises London society (and was based on von Arnim's own relationship with a much younger man). Read by Lucy Scott, who previously narrated five von Arnim novels for Naxos.
Love, Rebooted
Katy Summers
Audible Originals
Emily Atack, Stuart Martin
N/a
Narrators Emily Atack and Stuart Martin bring out both sides in Katy Summers' friends-to-rivals-to-(possibly?)-lovers story of happily single thirtysomething Liv and long-lost uni pal Finn who, after a merger of their companies, suddenly find themselves vying for the same job.
Rivals
Jilly Cooper
WF Howes
Georgia Tennant
N/a
A fresh take on Jilly Cooper's witty 1980s bonkbuster set amid toffs, Tories and the cuthroat world of regional television. Released to coincide with the Disney+ adaptation and merrily read by Georgia Tennant, wife of the mini-series' star, David Tennant.
Swept Away
Beth O'Leary
Quercus
Connor Swindells, Rebekah Hinds
Heavy Entertainment/David Roper
Beth O'Leary's both epic and close-proximity romance has Lexi and Zeke waking up after a drunken one-night stand on Lexi's houseboat to find it has been swept out to sea. Co-narrators Rebekah Hinds and Connor Swindells keep up the tension – and the heat.
The Cinnamon Bun Book Store
Laurie Gilmore
One More Chapter
Regina Reagan
Rhys Maslen
Veteran narrator Regina Reagan sweetly brings Laurie Gilmore's bestseller to life, in which bookshop owner Hazel is vexed by someone leaving secret codes to a treasure hunt in her store. Gorgeous local fisherman Noah, who has been crushing on Hazel for months, offers to help solve the mystery...
