Living Dead Girl by Kelly Gunderman - Audio Book Tour

Author: Kelly Gunderman

Narrator: Veronica Orosco

Length: 6 hours 15 minutes

Publisher: Kelly Gunderman

Released: Dec. 11, 2020

Genre: Young Adult

In this young adult thriller perfect for fans of Pretty Little Liars, Thirteen Reasons Why, and Sadie, a teenage girl is about to find out how far would she will go to get revenge on those who have taken everything from her. When 17 year old high school senior Kaitlyn Davis is almost raped and then brutally murdered at a party by three boys she goes to school with, she uses her dying breath to swear that they will pay for what they’ve done. When she wakes up the next morning, she is a bit blurry on the night before and gets a big surprise - she’s alive? How? Soon, things start getting weird - it seems as though no one can see her or hear her, and no matter what she does, she can’t seem to feel anything, such as temperature. She can still move things around and touch others, and the room suddenly drops about 30 degrees wherever she is, but why? That’s when she is forced to accept it - she’s dead. At first, Kaitlyn grieves the loss of her short life - there are so many things that she is going to miss out on, so many things that she will never get to do. But then she gets angry, and she remembers her promise to get revenge on those who had taken her life. Setting out to give them what they deserve, Kaitlyn has no plans to stop until she gets the revenge she desires.

Kelly Gunderman was born a child of the late eighties in small-town Pennsylvania. A bibliophile in her own right, she is hoping to one day surpass the number of pages she has turned with those she has written of her own accord. Having recently completed her Bachelor’s in Early Childhood Development, Kelly suddenly found herself with a bit more free time than usual, and began her immediately successful foray into blogging and Freelance Writing, which subsequently led to her renewed desire to finally put her ideas and imaginings “on paper.” Focusing primarily on the Young Adult genre, Kelly is the author of Finding Me and Living Dead Girl. She currently resides in her original home town with her husband, their two daughters, and a few cats that constantly challenge the sanity of all with their ill-advised attempts at what can only be assumed to be world domination.

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Veronica brings both a youthful and genuine voice to commercial, narration, audio books, audio dramas, animation, eLearning courses and make-believe characters alike. A great description of her voice can be found in girl next door, wholesome, invigorating and fresh medium tone. Her voice acting is an extension of her amazing acting skills. If you need not just a voice but an actor with that voice, look no further.

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Q&A with Narrator Veronica Orosco

When did you know you wanted to be an audiobook narrator?
- I started my pursuit of acting in 2011, and had to do some voice over work for a short film I was a part of. When I saw the finished product and heard my voice over the film, I was like ‘wow, this could be something’. As I started my research into voice acting, audiobooks would come up often and I thought how fun it would be to lend the voices I like to just use for my own enjoyment, possibly bring some joy to those who could listen to me bring a story to life! My credits can be found on my IMDB page under Veronica Pierce, my stage name.
How did you wind up narrating audiobooks? Was it always your goal or was it something you stumbled into by chance?
- I started in audio dramas, perfecting my character voices before I landed my first audiobook, a vampire romance! It was something I stumbled upon, since I am an avid reader, loved the Twilight series and Harry Potter series, and thought what fun this would be to voice! I do love voicing in audio dramas so naturally seemed audiobooks were next on the list!
Did you find it difficult to “break into” audiobook narration? What skill/tool helped you the most when getting started?
- It was a bit difficult at first, since I had no prior audiobook experience or examples to showcase. I had to use commercial read excerpts or snippets from audio drama work I had done to show my performance capabilities, the different character voices I could do, etc. Also, learning about the audio quality, what it takes to properly edit an audio file to meet certain quality standards really helped to land me that first narration job.
What are your favorite and least favorite parts of narrating an audiobook?
- My favorite parts about narrating a book are becoming the characters in the story. I like to get to know each character by using the author’s descriptions of them and really hone in on what the author was trying to convey in their personalities. My least favorite parts are editing the audio files as this can be a very cumbersome yet fulfilling process, but I am a perfectionist so when I hear a small thing I dislike, I wind up re-recording the line all together which creates more work for myself.
What about this title compelled you to audition as narrator?
- I was intrigued by the title, so when I was browsing authors who were looking for narrators, I saw this book and clicked to read the synopsis and loved it! I thought this would be a great fit for me asn the title character was a young woman who is trying to solve a mystery of sorts and I was drawn in. So I took a chance and submitted a read for consideration, never dreaming I would actually get the chance to voice this amazing book!
Who are your “accent inspirations”?
- Ah, so much fun with accents! I do a British accent, Australian accent, Spanish accent, German Accent and Southern Accent fairly well and have used these in many of my projects. Accent inspirations for me are: Olvia Newton John, Kelly Macdonald, Emily Blunt, Sofia Vergara, Penelope Cruz, Reba McEntire, Holly Hunter, Rachel Weisz to name a few
How did you decide how each character should sound in this title?
- I read through this book first entirely first to get a good feel for each character. I took Kaitlyn under my wing and really just gave her my own voice, so I played her as if I truly was her. In Dana, I took inspiration from one of my closest friends to be able to understand how her friendship towards Kaitlyn played in this book, fun loving and her wild side! For the boys, I really thought about every boy I knew in my highschool days and gave them some character from the boys of my past. I was even inspired to open up my High School yearbook to take a dive into my own past.
How does audiobook narration differ from other types of voiceover work you've done?
- I think the biggest difference for me is that you have to be able to separate the strictly narration part of the book from the character voices themselves so there is some distinction. In other voiceover work I have done, you play a single character, or read in a singular voice and not have to juggle being distinctive in one sole recording.
What do you say to those who view listening to audiobooks as “cheating” or as inferior to “real reading”?
- To those who say this I would say, this is a new medium of enjoyment much like radio was back in the days before television existed. Really listening to someone bring words to life can open up your visual imagination much more than any movie with the best effects can! You really should give it a try to see how hearing a story being told rather than you reading it to yourself can make you appreciate what the sound of someone voice can do to elevate a book you may have already read, like never before!
What bits of advice would you give to aspiring audiobook narrators?
- Practice, practice, practice! That old adage is very true and I would suggest reading out loud to yourself and to anyone willing to be your audience! You can see how well of a storyteller you really are by seeing how you can successfully captivate your audience or even start to pick up on nuances in your voice that you may never have noticed. Most important, have fun!