Loved Joel Leslie - Kudos!

Any additional comments?

You know what I love most about this story? Even though it's short, it manages to make me laugh, sigh, cry a little, fan myself, and feel all the fluffy feels.

Charlie has been resigning himself to being alone for a long time; his father's harsh words being a constant companion since taking over the station after his dad's death years ago. But Travis breaks through all his walls and barriers and steals Charlie's heart...one nose nudge at a time.

And damn if it doesn't make *me* melt every time.

Joel Leslie does a fantastic job bringing these characters to life. He sounds authentically Aussie and Texan, brings depth and nuance to the story, and displays every emotion beautifully.

Kudos sir, I can't wait to hear Book 2!

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12 people found this helpful

READ this beautiful romance, don't do the audio

What would have made Red Dirt Heart better?

Nothing could make the story better. The story is fantastic! One of my favorite MM romances. I have read it several times. I really wanted the audio to be great, but it wasn't.

How could the performance have been better?

Pretty much everything. See my review.

Any additional comments?

Audio edition, narration Joel Leslie.
5 hours 7 minutes

Overall: 1
Performance: 1
Story: 5*

*The story rating of 5 is based on the book, since the story is fantastic. I have read it several times.

This is one of my favorite mm romance books (series). Charlie and Travis are very dear to me. I was of course looking forward to this audio.

Audios can make or break a book, or sometimes just be okay.

This audio did not work for me at all. It pains me, but it's my honest opinion. I managed to get through three chapters, which is a bout 50 minutes of the book, before acknowledging defeat and stopping.

The narrator's voice/accent for Charlie is really bad, in my opinion. And since the whole book is in Charlie's first point of view, I didn't like it at all.

First of all, Charlie sounds way older than he is (26, I believe). I kept thinking Charlie sounded like I imagine George's voice would sound like, and George is in his fifties! Meanwhile, George's voice sounded like he was in his eighties. There was a lot of "shaking" in the voices that did that.

Second, the narration is so slow. I use the Audible app to listen, and I had to speed it up to 1.2 to make it somewhat manageable to listen to, speed wise. But it didn't take away the main problem.

The Australian accent is too overdone. It's too much, too over exaggerated, too much tone or intonation, or what it is called in English when the tone of voice goes up and down, both in the middle of sentences and at the end of them. It made for a very up-down intonation when listening. I also feel the narration is too overplayed, overacted in a way. Well, it sounded like this for me. It was really grating to listen to. So I had to stop after only three chapters.

How will I know the Australian accent was bad, or sounded bad to me, you might say. The simple answer is, I don't, really. I did some googling, though, searching for audio book with (native) Australian narrators and listened to a whole bunch of samples on Audible. I also looked up how to do Australian accent on Youtube, to get a feel of it. Apparently, an Australian accent is hard to do, and there isn't a "set" Australian accent, since it's only a country, but a whole continent, and there are a lot of accents depending on where you're from in Australia. To me personally it didn't sound native Australian, but more trying to imitate what's thought of as an Australian accent, if that makes sense.

Anyway, that's my two cents.

I'm so sad that it didn't work out for me.
My advice, please read this book instead.

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8 people found this helpful

Awesome !

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This is a great story and now a great audio. Joel Leslie knocks my socks off

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Wonderful series

This is one of my favorite series and I was thrilled it came out on audio. There are 4.5 books in the series and I really hope they all come out in audio. Each book is better than the last IMHO. Joel Leslie's performance is great. It took me a few chapters to get into his characterizations and Australian accents, but once I did, I was swept into the story. This story is set in the Australian Outback on the 3rd largest sheep station in Australia. Charlie, the station owner, is deeply in the closet when an American exchange student comes to the station for three weeks.

The story is told from Charlie's POV only and it is heartbreaking that due to "father issues" he has resigned himself to a life of solitude. Therefore he has a lot of trouble accepting the love Travis is offering. The whole thing comes to a head when Travis is almost killed and Charlie is faced with the prospect of him going back to America. Joel Leslie's performance of the highly emotional confrontation at the end brought me to tears. He really knocked it out of the park.

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6 people found this helpful

I adore the book, not the narration

What did you like best about Red Dirt Heart? What did you like least?

I bought RDH1 because I loved reading it, but the narration just did not work for me. There are other narrators who are better suited to perform stories set in Australia. I just could not even get through the first chapter...so disappointed

What didn’t you like about Joel Leslie’s performance?

It sounded contrived.

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4 people found this helpful

A beautiful love story with amazing narration

It took me a while to finally get to this one, but I am so glad that I did. What I got was a beautiful story of love and acceptance . Joel Leslie's narration was AMAZING as usual, he was spot on the accents. Now off to listen to book 2 :)

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Beautiful

Beautiful story that now we can Enjoy hearing with the Right accents! Highly recomended!

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Intense and emotional...5 stars!

I have two words for you...Australian cowboy. If that's not enough to pique your interest, let's thrown in an American farm boy from Texas. The accents alone are enough to do me in. Add in the fact that our Australian cowboy is firmly closeted thanks in large part to his deceased father's negative influence and an attraction between our two main characters that is intense and grows stronger every day and you've got the buildup to an emotional eruption ready to go.

One thing I can say about N.R. Walker's characters no matter which book of hers I'm reading is that they are complex, have lots of depth, and will make you emotional as well as they grow and evolve throughout the story. Charlie is a prime example of this--he's denied himself for so long thanks to his father's emphatic assertion that a "fairy" can't run Sutton Station. Charlie has let this color his life-and not in a good way-even though it is blatantly clear to anyone who knows him that he CAN run it, and he does a damn good job of it. I felt so bad for him, suppressing his own nature and wants when even those who love him and call him family try to encourage him that it's okay to be who he is and love who he wants.

Enter Travis-and thank goodness he came to Sutton Station. He's the kind of guy who will tell you like it is, and doesn't worry about what other people will say. He's strong and hard-working, dedicated and pitches in to help even though he's just arrived. He's the perfect man to show Charlie how things could be if Charlie would just open up. The physical chemistry between the two is amazing, and the naughty scenes between them range from wild and passionate to intimate and sweet.

N.R. Walker paints a vivid picture of life on a farm in the Outback, and brings Travis and Charlie's story to life so perfectly-expressing the intensely emotional bond the two forge so well that it hurt to think that Travis was only supposed to be there for a short while before going back home. The scene in the kitchen between them right before Travis is supposed to go home is one of my favorite scenes (and not just from this book, I mean overall), and when it comes to the audio version, Joel Leslie does a simply phenomenal job at relaying the intensity and tremendous feeling occurring in that scene-he honestly left me breathless.

This was a remarkable start to this series, and I highly recommend this story to any M/M romance fan 18+ (that's for the adult language and super sexy, steamy, naughty M/M sexual content). 5 stars for Red Dirt Heart!

Audiobook notes:
Joel Leslie did a superb job at voicing Charlie and Travis, especially in the scenes that expressed raw emotion and heightened feelings. He injects passion into the characters voices and thoughts, and really brought Red Dirt Heart to life for me. And I've got to say it again--that kitchen scene is filled with such energy and emotion...you'll see what I mean when you listen, and I think you'll agree. 5 stars for the audio!

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NR Walker + Joel Leslie = ABSOLUTE PERFECTION!

Warning: this review is going to sound a bit gushy.

This is one of my all-time FAVORITE series…ever. And when I found out that one of my favorite vocal performers was going to be performing this story, I HAD to have it.

This book, as well as the rest of the books in this series, is everything I ever want in a story. They just make me FEEL…well, everything. And I didn’t possibly think I could feel any more about these stories…until I heard it. And then I somehow felt it more. I know that Joel Leslie is talented. I’ve heard him perform many stories and loved them all. But his performance of this story and these characters was nothing short of sheer perfection. This is not a simple narration, this is a performance. One that sucks you in with every word uttered and emotion conveyed. And trust me…I was waiting for him to slip up between the Texas accent and the Australian accent because that has to be really hard to keep straight. But it never happened. And not to emasculate Mr. Leslie but I think my favorite voice was Ma.

Oh, Charlie with all his insecurities and Travis with his quick wit and endearing patience…I just absolutely love them. The sexual tension is off the charts between these two. Travis is the perfect match for Charlie and is exactly what he needs. In this book, Travis is my favorite of the two (that later changes) because he makes me laugh out loud. The emotions toward the end of the book and the way Mr. Leslie delivers them brought me to tears.

I’m sad I’m finished listening to this story as just like every time I finish one of Ms. Walker’s books I’m left feeling bereft and have a hard time reading anything else for a couple of days. If you haven’t listened to or read these stories, I beseech you…READ or LISTEN to them right now. You absolutely won’t be sorry.

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Great story with a good narrator! Must listen!

Would you listen to Red Dirt Heart again? Why?

Yes. The story is enjoyable and the narrator's voice is easy to listen to. I liked how he brought to life the various characters in the story.

What was one of the most memorable moments of Red Dirt Heart?

I think the end when even though he is hurting, Travis goes to the kitchen and confesses to Charlie.

What does Joel Leslie bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

I loved how each character had a different voice. It made the characters more real than if i just read it myself.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

Yes! In fact, I practically did.

Any additional comments?

By now, all of you know how much I like to listen and review audiobooks, and this one was also an M/M. It’s my secret (or not so secret addiction). LOL. I can’t help it! So do you want to know all about Red Dirt Heart by N.R. Walker? LOVED IT AND I NEED BOOK TWO AND THREE STAT! This really don’t end on a cliff hanger, but you will want to know more about Charlie and Travis when the book ends.

Travis is visiting Australia in order to learn more about how farmers grow crops in different parts of the world. And the outback is vastly different from his country home in Texas. Charlie has come to terms with the fact that he will always be alone. He is also afraid that his employees will learn that he is gay. His fear is so great that he almost passes up an opportunity to be with Travis, but thankfully Travis has a mind of his own. Things are completely easy for these two, but they are learning.

So first my review for the story…4.5 stars. This book had feelings aplenty and the story line was great. Like it said, it didn’t completely leave you hanging, but you do want to know more about what happens between Charlie and Travis. Well written, the story flows from one chapter to the next. Nothing is rushed and the characters are fully developed. Not even the love story part of the book was rushed, which some M/M authors tend to do.

Now for the audio review…4.5 stars. I thought long and hard about this rating and floundered a bit between 4 and 4.5 stars. Honestly, in the beginning I was leaning more towards 3.5 stars. The voice starts off a little rough and I wondered if I would like Joel Leslie’s interpretation of the book, however, he was able to differentiate between the different characters and bring each one to life. There were a couple of times when his accents seemed to merge, but for the most part, by the end of the book, he had them down. His intonation was steady and flowed, and he didn’t have annoying long pauses where there didn’t need to be one. By the end of the book, he completely won me over. Each character was unique and he changed his voice to suit each one. He also read beautifully. Not once did it feel choppy or stagnant. My issue in the beginning had more to do with the voices and how he seemed almost unsure. He picked it up rather quickly though and after a couple of chapters I no longer had any issues. If I compare his reading to other audiobooks I have reviewed, I would say it was better than most, which is the reason I decided to give it the higher rating.

Overall…4.5 stars. The story is enjoyable and the reading done by Joel Leslie is entertaining. If you like M/M and you like audiobook, you have to check this one out. If you don’t like audio, but love M/M, check this one out.

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