The Best-Narrated Romance Audiobooks (Chosen by Women) — And Why Those Voices Work
Romance listeners are vocal (pun intended) about narration: a few minutes with the wrong voice can sink an otherwise great love story, while the right performance makes chemistry crackle. Below, I highlight recent “voted by listeners” standouts, then unpack what research says women tend to enjoy in a narrator’s tone, timbre, and delivery.
“Transportation was proposed as a mechanism whereby narratives can affect beliefs.”
That “narrative transportation” effect is turbocharged in audio. Studies show narrator performance and narration style significantly drive emotional connectedness—key reasons romance audiobooks feel extra immersive.
Women’s listener-voted favorites (recent highlights)
Goodreads Choice Awards 2024, Readers’ Favorite Audiobook: Funny Story by Emily Henry, narrated by Julia Whelan—a rare double where the Romance winner also won the Audiobook category, underscoring how much listeners value Whelan’s intimate, emotionally precise delivery.
Audie Awards 2025, Best Romance: This Could Be Us by Kennedy Ryan, narrated by Ines del Castillo & Jakobi Diem—listeners and judges praised its duet performance and emotional range.
Audible Editors’ Best of 2024 (Romance lists): roundups featured listener-beloved performances across contemporary and romantasy, including Henry’s Funny Story and Cara Bastoné’s titles known for witty, emotive reads.
“The experience of listening to audiobooks… positively contributes to emotional engagement.”
What the science says women tend to like in voices
Large and small studies converge on a few consistent preferences in male voices: lower fundamental frequency (pitch) and expressive intonation are often rated more attractive by women. This doesn’t mean “as low as possible,” but rather a warm, stable low with musicality.
“Women were significantly more attracted to lower vocal pitch and higher intonation patterns.”
Timbre also matters. Research notes that breathiness can soften the impression of dominance and convey approachability—useful in romance where tenderness and safety are core.
Beyond pitch, emotional prosody—the patterning of rhythm, tempo, and micro-changes in tone—shapes comprehension and feelings. Positive prosody improves listening comprehension; narrators who can shade banter, yearning, and vulnerability without sounding theatrical win listener loyalty.
Add in parasocial bonds—the one-sided relationships listeners form with familiar voices—and you get sustainable loyalty to certain narrators (e.g., Julia Whelan, Andi Arndt). Voice-only media fosters intimacy, which helps explain why romance communities “auto-buy” by narrator.
“As listeners, we understand the power of a performance—narrators can bring a character to life… and make us (ugly) cry.”
Which women-favorite narrators keep coming up?
Industry and community sources repeatedly surface names like Julia Whelan, Andi Arndt, Shane East, Sebastian York, Zachary Webber, Joe Arden, and others, cited for their warmth, believable dual-POV chemistry, and skilled character work.
“Human narrators offer something more like a home-cooked meal.” —Julia Whelan on why performance beats AI
Why women dominate the romance audience (and what that means for audio)
Legacy reader snapshots put romance audiences at roughly ~82% women / 18% men. While newer polls show rising male fandom in some samples, women still constitute the majority of buyers—shaping which narrational styles thrive. The intimacy of headphones, combined with narrators who balance strength with tenderness (lower male pitch, expressive prosody, controlled breathiness), seems to align with common relationship goals such as trust, commitment, and emotional safety.
Legacy snapshot of romance readership by gender. Source: RWA and industry compendia.
Watch/learn from the specialists
Julia Whelan — Mic Check (Audible video series): behind-the-booth clips on technique and emotional fidelity
AudioFile podcast & features: recurring craft discussions with top narrators on pacing, breath, and character intimacy
Quick FAQ
What makes a romance narrator “work” for women listeners? A warm, lower (for male) or soft-bright (for female) pitch anchored by expressive prosody and believable intimacy cues; research ties these to attractiveness and comprehension.
Who are the most cited favorites right now? Julia Whelan and Andi Arndt top many lists; listener forums also praise Shane East, Sebastian York, Zachary Webber, Joe Arden, and others for duet/dual-POV chemistry.
Which recent “women-voted” winners should I sample first? Funny Story (Whelan) via Goodreads Readers’ Favorite Audiobook 2024, and the Audie-winning This Could Be Us (del Castillo & Diem) for a polished duet.
Are male voices with very low pitch always better? Not necessarily. Studies note preference for lower pitch plus expressive intonation; extreme low without warmth can sound cold or domineering in romantic contexts.
References
AudioFile Magazine. (2025, August 25). Hold onto that summer feeling with irresistible romance audiobooks. AudioFile Magazine.
AudioFile Magazine. (n.d.). Narrators. AudioFile Magazine.
Audible Editors. (2024, November 13). The 10 best romance listens of 2024. Audible.
Audible Editors. (2024–2025). Best of 2024 collections. Audible.
Dylman, A. S., et al. (2025). Prosody! When intonation helps students to comprehend words better. Educational Psychology. Advance online publication.
Goodreads. (2024, December 4). Meet the winners of the 2024 Goodreads Choice Awards. Goodreads.
Green, M. C., & Brock, T. C. (2000). The role of transportation in the persuasiveness of public narratives. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 79(5), 701–721.
Ji, D., et al. (2024). Why do we listen to audiobooks? The role of narrator performance in listener engagement. SAGE Open, 14(2).
People Magazine. (2025, May 27). Meet Julia Whelan, the narrator behind everyone’s favorite audiobooks. People.
Romance Writers of America. (n.d.). About the romance genre. Romance Writers of America.
Suire, A., et al. (2019). Male vocal quality and women’s preferences: Pitch, timbre, and attraction. Evolutionary Psychological Science, 5(4), 389–398.
The Audio Publishers Association. (2025). Audies winners and finalists. Audio Publishers Association.
The Everygirl. (2024, December 6). Goodreads Choice Awards winners recap. The Everygirl.
The Smithsonian Magazine. (2013, April 24). Why women like deep voices and what they say about men. Smithsonian Magazine.
Tandfonline Review. (2024). The sound of emotional prosody: Nearly three decades of research. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 19(1), 5–21.