Samantha Brentmoor has become an unavoidable voice in the audiobook industry, for every listener’s pleasure. Her energy and her suave voice have seduced many ears, and it’s just the beginning.
She’s collaborated successfully with Elizabeth O’Roak several times already, and tomorrow January 25 releases another book, The summer you found me. As I was lucky enough to listen to it in advance, and since the Summer series is very special, I felt it was a great time to ask her some questions about her career.
What is your absolute favorite thing about narrating audiobooks and voice over work in general?
I love telling stories. I love getting to step into the pov of someone who is so different than me and try to understand them and give them honesty. I love that connection to readers through the microphone and this intimate experience we have in your earbuds. I love that process of trying to distill and find the voice for characters through clues the writers have given me. You know in the cartoon work I do all I’m given is a sketch and brief character description so I just have to really make a choice and run with it. As a chronically indecisive person that process of having to make a choice and run with it is really satisfying.
And your less favorite thing?
I think it’s hard to say no and manage my calendar. As someone who has a voracious appetite for this work and is lucky enough to work in many genres and VO types I find myself saying yes to a lot of work. I always love discovering new authors, I always want to make room for authors that want to work with me again, I’ll never say no to a big fantasy, I find a meaningful non-fiction so satisfying and I will crowbar any cartoon or videogame into my calendar. I also am passionate about the work I do as a producer and helping clients bring their work to audio. But that means that all I’m doing is working and not filling my well with LIFE and other things that fill that creative tank. So learning how to manage that appetite is my least favorite thing.
That or having to step into book 10 on a small town series where there’s that one dinner scene with 30 characters from the previous books all in their 30s with a general american accent. I mean, a girl only has so many voices. 
You’ve been consistently working with Connor Crais lately. What do you think authors and audiobook producers are looking for when they pair you up with him?
So I actually cast Connor for Summer You Found Me and it was largely driven by the fact that I knew he’d be a great fit for Beck. So I think a lot of times producers start with who is best for each character FMC/MMC and oftentimes those types of characters mean that certain narrators are paired up as they are often associated with those types of roles. I think technically we have a similar timbre so in dual narrations where we are voicing the opposite sex it feels more consistent. I think we also have fairly similar approaches to how far we go with character voices and our narrative cadence so books we are on together sound more consistent. I’ve been lucky enough to work with Connor on many projects over time so I think we really get the energy the other person is bringing to the story so it’s easy to match each other.
Elizabeth O’Roark has written challenging female characters in her Summer series, and you’ve voiced all of them. Which one was the most difficult to do? Which one was your favorite?
DON’T MAKE ME CHOOSE MY FAVORITE ELIZABETH CHARACTERS! I love that even in her lighter Devil series the women were complex and on the surface hard to understand. But to me that makes them so real. In the summer series I think that Kate is the most difficult because she makes such stereotypically “bad” choices and needing to honor the truth of those choices while also understanding that listeners can’t hate her was a really narrow line to walk. I definitely over thought every day in the booth with her so that was so hard. But I think because of that actor journey I went on and the arc she goes on to find herself and redemption she’s my favorite.
In a previous conversation about the latest, Kate, you said: “I think if we can love her through this we can maybe love ourselves through some of our worst moments.” It’s an interesting take on anti-heroes/anti-heroines in literature. Can you tell us more about that?
So for a lot of readers certain subgenres of romance are all about ideals and escapism and fantasy, as such the characters in those books are immediately likable and make good honorable choices throughout. That’s awesome, we all need those books in the mix. I think in this series and this book specifically Elizabeth is exploring some trickier and in my opinion more realistic love stories and it can be easier to judge the characters for that. There’s the idea that the things we pick on in others are actually things we don’t like about ourselves- And I think Kate exemplifies us at our worst instincts. She indulges in them where perhaps some of us temper them. So I think that if we can cheer for her redemption and trust she’s going to find her way and WANT her to find her way we can apply that same sensitivity to ourselves. I think it can be therapeutic to read a story about a woman that you are internally saying “WTF!?” to at the start and then loving at the end. And look, Kate says those awful things to herself. She’s not delusional. I think about how harshly we can all speak to ourselves as women and how we convince ourselves we are unworthy of goodness and love because of things we have done, or not done and I think Kate lives that experience. I also love that as much as Beck’s love is a balm to some of that, Kate’s real growth comes from herself.
Kate’s story is also incredibly personal to me. Without sharing too much there are very tangible things about her experience that I know first hand and I think for me being able to narrate that was really powerful. Being able to go back through that process of “wow, I have been an utter asshole for arguably good and sometimes not so good reasons but I’m still worthy of making amends and being loved” was incredibly meaningful. So maybe I’m projecting a little on how much we can heal through her journey. 😉
I hope to see more anti-heroines in books. Shows like Fleabag were so popular because they showed a fully three dimensional woman that we could see ourselves in and in loving her and cheering for her, I think we can love and cheer for ourselves. Or at least I hope we can.
There is a whole separate conversation where we want and encourage these terrible qualities in the male main characters of romance and don’t even need their redemption but I won’t clog this interview with that dissertation.
You have a podcast with fellow narrator Rose Dioro, the Rosemoor Roundtable. What do you want to show about your profession through those episodes? What is your experience adding to the ongoing conversation about romance audiobooks?
Rosemoor Roundtable is such a passion project for me and Rose. Three things ground that project. It came out of the idea that she and I were doing a lot of interviews and seeing a lot of the same kind of surface questions rehashed- “What accents are hardest” etc. So we wanted a space to chat about deeper issues. Then the fact that given the solitary nature of our industry you don’t get the chance to really discuss those topics with your colleagues inspired us to create a platform where we could chat meaningfully with folks in the industry. Finally, with the rise of social media we were seeing a lot of misinformation being spread around and presumptions about how the work is made and what goes into each aspect of making an audiobook. So with that all in mind we launched the series.
It has been a really great experience for us and we’ve been so encouraged by the caliber of colleague that has been excited to be a part of those discussions. Which I think speaks to the fact that there aren’t a lot of places where these conversations are happening and as artists we are all hungry to have them. I’ve been encouraged to see the number of comments we get from folks that say “wow I didn’t know that about X” or “I’m going back to this convo to inform my work in X”. I think that is a lot of why we wanted to do this. Mostly we want to show off how thoughtful and complex this work can be and give space for those of us that work tirelessly in it to sit back and reflect on some of these subjects.
Along the years, several narrators have added writing to their arsenal, Connor included. Are you planning on joining the trend?
I think about this all the time as someone who has written fiction casually for myself and my personal friend group for decades. I have two wildly different draft projects that I tinker on in the background. One is really narrator driven and reflects the types of stories and characters I want to see my peers perform in and another is a more epic thing I’ve been sitting on for a while. The thing is I respect writers so much and recognize how much time and space would need to be set aside to do it right so until I have carved out that time I don’t think I can really say “I’m jumping on the trend”.
Your presence on social media is unique. You aren’t afraid to show a more personal—and sometimes quirky—side of you. When other prominent narrators are choosing to stay mostly incognito, why do you think it’s important for you to engage with listeners in a more open way?
Haha I’m nothing if not… quirky. So I actually started showing up on social media in a more discrete way. I did a whole mysterious kind of sultry photo shoot that was my whole IG feed and never showed myself. I tried to share and create content that was more about this persona and less about me personally- and tbh that content kind of tanked. Then I started doing a few interviews and it started to feel weird and then I attended my first convention and it felt really hard to maintain this persona. Eventually I landed on something that feels really honest but still protects the parts of my life and myself that I don’t want to share with folks.
I started to learn, that for me at least, the pseudonym exists to help separate the work I do in different genres for audiobook producers and to protect Samantha from the people who only know my real name, as there are a lot of people who do not read romance that would really not understand what this genre and community is about and cause issues for me if they knew about Samantha. Also I have done some kids cartoons and video games that have active fandoms that seek me out and I don’t want someone underage to stumble across some of the content I perform here.
But I’ve found that showing up as me in this community has been really well received. I think that is different for everyone though. There is something to be said for the value in maintaining that mystery so listeners can get lost in a story. But as I do things like the Rosemoor Roundtable and conventions I just needed to show up as myself. I think today most listeners decide how deeply they want to engage so if knowing my face or my… quirkiness… takes away from the characters I portray I find that listeners just avoid engaging in that content.
Are there future projects you’re excited to share with us?
Gah so many! I’m loving being a small part of the Mate Games series by Kim Lorraine and Meg Anne. I was thrilled to narrate my first Laura Pavlov book that released this month. I obviously am passionate about this next book The Summer You Found me by Elizabeth O’Roark. And then there are a number of really fun duets and rom coms that are about to be released that I think people are going to have a blast with.
A game of this or that:
Connor Crais or Jason Clarke? I can’t choose between Connor or Jason so let’s say, why choose?!
Funny romance or angsty romance? I’m an asshole and hate to choose between funny or angsty because I need BOTH in my life for balance and I find enjoyment from both. But for the purposes of this interview let’s say angsty because I just finished recording a bunch of funny stuff.
MF or FF? As a bi woman I choose both MF and FF but for the purposes of recording let’s say FF because I haven’t recorded nearly enough of those.
Electro industrial music or sweet pop songs? I’m far too passionate about music to answer this without having the actual artists to consider bc there is some trash pop and some trash electro industrial but there is some amazing shit in both.
Cake or pot roast? Pot roast. Every time. (that one was easy)
That was a BLAST! If you can’t wait to listen to The summer you found me by Elizabeth O’Roark, narrated by Samantha and Connor Crais, you can already get it on Audible.
If you click on Samantha’s picture at the top, you’ll find her website with a list of some of her most recent works. You can also follow her on Instagram.
Check out Audible to buy The summer you found me by Elizabeth O’Roark. I also recommend the rest of the series, it’s worth it.
Samantha is also a new voice in the Mate Games by Meg Anne and K Loraine, and since the first book in the new series has already been released, you should try it before book 2 comes out in February.
If like me, you enjoy Stella Hunter and Samantha together, spread the word: #huntmoor (for some FF narrated by delicious voices)
You should also definitely take a look at the Rosemoor Roundtable podcast, where podcasts are broadcast, and even on Youtube.
Finally, you can check out her tag to read my reviews of her work!
Vero Ticker 