Laurie GermaineOn Fridays here at Storyteller Squad, we usually post book reviews. Several months ago, I posted a quick review on a couple of Jennie Goutet’s historical romances, and today, I’m highlighting her once again, along with several other authors. But I’m not reviewing books so much as spreading the word about the growing number of authors who have started YouTube channels to share their audio books with readers/listeners.
The authors listed below write clean content and most of their books involve some kind of romance between the main characters. They don’t get paid from YouTube until they reach 1000 subscribers, however, so if you listen to any of these books and you enjoy them, I encourage you to subscribe to the author’s channel as a way to support her. And maybe subscribe to one or two of their newsletters. Jennie is an ex-pat living in France, so I find her newsletters interesting to read. Janette Rallison is a hoot in her letters, and Rose Fresquez offers freebies, news, and links to other authors in hers.
Here they are, in no particular order:
Jennie Goutet: https://www.youtube.com/@JennieGoutet The only book of hers I have not enjoyed is A Daring Proposal, as I felt the narrative was too much in the characters’ heads and there were unnecessary/unreasonable misunderstandings between the two main characters. Aside from that, however, I have enjoyed all of her other books.
Mindy Burbidge Strunk: https://www.youtube.com/@mindyburbidgestrunk7846 She has two full-length novels on her channel and hopefully more to come, as I thoroughly enjoyed both Mistaken Identity and Reforming the Gambler. Mindy also offers a novella with an AI narrator, but I haven’t been able to push myself past the first several minutes, as listening is too painful to bear. AI might have come far in some fields (and too far in others, IMO), but where book narration is concerned, it still has far to go when compared with a human narrator’s intuition and inflection.
Meg Easton: https://www.youtube.com/@megeastonauthor Meg writes contemporary romance (the first two authors listed write historical), but I confess I have yet to finish listening to one of her books. I think that has more to do with me and the mood I’m in, however, than the content of her books. If you like contemporary romance and aren’t in a weird funk like my current self, I encourage you to give Meg’s books a listen.
Rachel Morgan: https://www.youtube.com/@AuthorRachelMorgan I love love love her books, even though as I re-listen to some of them, I pick up on more “telling.” Nonetheless, these fantasy stories will sweep you away into new worlds and immerse you in her characters’ lives. Disclaimer: she uses mild language at times, but the romance is clean. My two favorite series are the Ridley Kane Chronicles, and City of Wishes, the latter of which I reviewed here.
Rose Fresquez: https://www.youtube.com/@RoseFresquezBooks I have not listened to her books yet, but she writes contemporary interracial Christian romance, has a stellar newsletter, and a long backlist of novels under her name. I have subscribed to her channel to support her and because at some point, I’m going to be in the mood for clean contemporary romances!
Janette Rallison: https://www.youtube.com/@janetterallison8748 Janette has been writing for decades, and I first discovered her through her witty, sassy YA romances. My favorite novels to date are My Fair Godmother, My Unfair Godmother, and My Fairly Dangerous Godmother, which involve contemporary teenagers thrust into the twists and retellings of famous fairy tales. Very fun. Janette also writes YA science fiction with darker undertones as CJ Hill. Her YouTube channel currently offers a smattering of audiobooks that reflect the different styles in which she’s written, and she’s working hard to get more of her backlist on her channel and gain more subscribers.
That’s all I have this time around. Do you know of other authors who offer their clean reads on YouTube? If so, share in the comments!
Gretchen Carlson
Julane Fisher
Kristen Gwen
Very interesting. I didn’t know any of that about the authors reading their book on Youtube.
They’re not reading their books so much as putting their audio books on YouTube, to listen to for free. I don’t know how they make any money in this endeavor, but it’s becoming more popular. At least, I’m becoming aware of more authors doing this. It’s great for those who want to listen to books but can’t afford the audio prices, but at the same time, I think the authors might be getting a bum deal out of it. It does make me rethink things from my end, as a writer needing to figure out audio versions for my own books.