Hola Audiophiles!
As with this week’s In the Club newsletter, this edition of Audiobooks comes to you from a sleep-deprived, dewy-skinned person who looks a lot like me, sitting in a hotel patio in some serious Miami humidity trying to crank out some revisions before she hops on a cruise to Cuba.
This humidity is no joke, y’all! I’ll suffer the sheen of sweat for the glow it gives my skin but this hair…. it is multiplying by the second. Who cares though! It’s vacation time. I’ve got my audiobooks locked and loaded and am ready for some serious R&R.
But first… let’s audio.
Sponsored by Oasis Audio and The Ravenwood Saga by Morgan L. Busse.
Lady Selene is heir to the House of Ravenwood and the secret family gift of dreamwalking—the ability to enter a person’s mind and manipulate their greatest fears or desires. Soon Selene discovers her family’s dark secret: The Ravenwood women are using their gift for hire to plot assassinations. Selene is torn between upholding her family’s legacy or seeking the true reason behind her family’s gift. Her dilemma comes to a head when she is tasked with assassinating the one man who can bring peace to the nations, but who will also bring about the downfall of her own house.
Latest Listens
I did end up finishing Nocturna by Maya Motayne, narrated by Kyla Garcia, a Latinx-inspired fantasy trilogy that comes out in May. It’s about a prince grieving the loss of the brother who was taken from him in a failed coup and who should have been the heir to the throne. The prince isn’t convinced that his brother is dead so much as kidnapped and goes to some sketchy lengths to get him back, unleashing an ancient, deadly power in the process that he must now do all he can to destroy. He’s accompanied by the mysterious face-shifting thief he meets at a high-stakes card game, who accompanies him reluctantly but ends up being an invaluable partner in this quest.
Overall, I loved the story! It was great to spend some time in a magical word where the spells are commands spoken in Spanish and where characters use the descriptor maldito quite profusely. I can’t wait to see where else the story goes in the next two books.
I do however wonder if maybe I’m running into an issue that I’ve long suspected might be a problem for me in listening to fiction on audio: I don’t think I’m as emotionally impacted when I do audio vs print! This might come down to narration; thinking back to On the Come Up by Angie Thomas, narrator Bahni Turpin really does the thing. She had me tearing up a few times with her passionate rendition of Bri. Kyla Garcia does perfectly fine job with Nocturna but I don’t think I really felt some of those scenes in my chest like I might have if I’d been reading it in print. Does anyone else have this issue?? Discuss.
Listens on Deck
Nothing new to add here since I’m about to get on a boat. Here’s a recap on the books I hope to tackle this trip:
- Save Me the Plums by Ruth Reichl: when food writer goddess Ruth Reichl writes a food memoir, you read that sh*t. Narrated by Ruth on audio… check please!
- The Editor by Stephen Rowley, narrated by Michael Urie – a struggling writer in 90s NYC gets his big break with the help of some lady named Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis
From the Internets, Etc
Audiofile Magazine has a piece up on their blog on poets and audiobooks. It features discussion of work my Maria Popova, Richard Blanco, and Leonard Cohen. So rad.
Over at the Riot
Speaking of the power of a good narrator… Rioter Heather Bottoms wrote a great piece on some of her favorite audiobook narrators. She has a background in theater so you know she appreciates a good voice actor.
Over at the Book Riot YouTube channel, I share some vacation reading tips that clearly involve audiobooks because duh.
That’s all I got today! Shoot me an email at vanessa@riotnewmedia.com with audiobook feedback & questions or find me on Twitter and the gram @buenosdiazsd. Sign up for the In The Club newsletter, peep the Read Harder podcast, and watch me booktube every Friday too!
Stay bad & bookish, my friends.
Vanessa