Category: Audiobooks

Readers with kids often ask me for recommendations so they can make reading women in translation something they do as a family, so I thought I’d start with two books for young people. The one is Inkheart, which I have listened to and relistened to countless times over the years. The book follows a young girl named Meggie whose father repairs books. She loves her quiet life with her dad, but when a mysterious visitor named Dustfinger shows up at their door, Meggie’s whole world begins to change.

This audiobook is the perfect adventure for any young bookworm who has always wondered what they would do if they ever had the opportunity to meet the characters from their favorite books. Lynn Redgrave performs the book perfectly, creating the most incredible voices for each of Inkheart’s memorable characters. 

Narrated by Lynn Redgrave (Prince Caspian by C.S. Lewis and The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield)

As the second book that would be perfect for the kids in your life, I have to tell you about A Winter’s Promise, which is part of a quartet of fantasy novels translated from French by Hildegarde Serle. Our protagonist, Ophelia, lives in a world where people live on Arks, floating pieces of land that each have their own culture and customs. Her parents decide to marry her off to a man far to the north, sending her off to meet her future in-laws with just her chaperone as company. Soon, Ophelia finds herself entangled in the political machinations of the different factions in her new home. Emma Fenney does a fantastic job capturing the large cast of characters and providing distinct voices for them that help the listener remember who is who.

Narrated by Emma Fenney (Envy by Amanda Robson and The Stylist by Rosie Nixon)

Like many readers back in 2015, I found myself entangled in the incredible story that is Elena Ferrante’s Neapolitan quartet. Lena and Lenu are two best friends from a working class neighborhood of Naples. Their relationship is fraught with jealousy, competition, and manipulation. For the entire series, we watch as these two characters are drawn back to each other again and again through the decades. If you want a saga that will capture your attention from the first page until the last, this is it! Hillary Huber narrates the audiobook edition, giving listeners a narrator that they can get invested in and stick with for the entire series.

Narrated by Hillary Huber (Library at Mount by Char by Scott Hawkins and Final Girls by Riley Sager)

I listened to Notes of a Crocodile last year, and it stood out as one of my favorite audiobooks. The story begins with an unnamed narrator writing her story of attending university in Taiwan in the 1980s. She describes her experience falling in love with another girl in her class and her own struggle with internalized homophobia. As her story unravels, we watch as she creates a found family for herself in her search for a place to belong. Jo Mei narrates the audiobook skillfully, capturing the voice of the unnamed protagonist so well.

Narrated by Jo Mei (The Eighth Girl by Maxine Mei-Fung Chung)

Winner of the 2016 Man Booker International Prize, The Vegetarian needs no introduction. The novel focuses on a young woman who decides to become a vegetarian, much to her family’s horror. As time passes, they become more and more convinced that the protagonist needs to be pulled out of what they believe to be an irrational belief. Narrators Janet Song and Stephen Park draw listeners into the story quickly, making this audiobook incredibly engrossing.

Narrated by Janet Song (All you Can Ever Know by Nicole Chung) and Stephen Park (The Street of a Thousand Blossoms by Gail Tsukiyama)

The Enlightenment of the Greenage Tree begins with the death of the narrator. Although dead, she remains with her family as they flee the city for the Iranian countryside. There, each family member experiences their own fantastical journey to untangle meaning from the series of tragedies that they’ve experienced. Azar uses her own imagination and inspiration from Persian folklore to weave together a narrative all her own. One of my favorite narrators, Priya Ayyar, creates the perfect feel for the audiobook edition.

Narrated by Priya Ayyar (Amal Unbound by Aisha Saeed and The Night Diary by Veera Hiranandani)

Before listening, I’d heard so many wonderful things about this fantastical title, which features the title character, Elatsoe, and her adventures in a world much like our own, but with vampires, elves, and many more otherworldly creatures. Through a secret passed down by generations of Lipan Apache women, Elatsoe possesses the ability to summon the dead. But her mother always warned her: only ever summon the spirits of animals, never the ghosts of humans.

But when her cousin dies in a car wreck, she feels incredibly tempted to call upon him to help find out what happened. Before she can make a decision, her cousin visits her in her dreams and tells her that he was murdered. Determined to find justice for her cousin, Elatsoe heads to her cousin’s home in rural Texas and begins questioning the townspeople.

I’ve been wanting to read this novel from the moment I learned that it existed, so I couldn’t have been more thrilled to listen to the audiobook on the trip. From the first few moments of the story, the concept and worldbuilding captured my attention. There’s something special about the way Little Badger creates Elatsoe’s world.

Kinsale Hueston performs the novel in a way that captures Elatsoe’s personality, humor, and strength. Hueston hasn’t narrated many audiobook titles yet, and I look forward to hearing more from her!

Narrated by Kinsale Hueston (Race to the Sun by Rebecca Roanhorse)

This quiet novel focuses on Yao Tian, a Chinese singer, who has travelled to the United States for a concert. But when he takes an extra gig to help pay for his daughter’s tuition, he has no idea that this choice will change his future forever. I loved listening to Liberty discuss this book on All the Books—I immediately went and found the audio after listening to her describe it!

Narrated by Feodor Chin (A Single Swallow by Zhang Ling and The Ruin of Kings by Jessica Lyons)

A man is murdered and his three adult kids all have a reason, besides their incredible inheritance, to want their father dead. There’s nothing like a messy family novel, so of course Not a Happy Family is right in my wheelhouse. And if you love a novel with all sorts of twists, family secrets, and gasp out loud moments, then this is for you.

Narrated by Ellen Archer (Room by Emma Donoghue)

There’s nothing like listening to a poet read their own work, so of course I’m all here for Maggie Smith’s new collection Goldenrod. These poems focus on the ideas of solitude, parenthood, love, memory, and so much more. There’s something about the way that Smith captures snapshots of everyday life that makes her poems all-engrossing.

Narrated by the Author

I love a good fairytale retelling, but this one hits a bit differently. Adele is a guardian of folks who live in the town of Oakvale, which is surrounded by a dark wood. These guardians wear red cloaks and hoods, harkening back to a certain young woman wandering through a wolf-infested forest. This fascinating take on a beloved tale is sure to not disappoint.

Narrated by Taylor Meskimen (West by Edith Pattou and Saint Anything by Sarah Dessen)

Perfect for any Star Wars lover, this young adult author Justina Ireland spins a tale of Sylvestri Yarrow, who’s been carrying the weight of the family business on her young shoulders ever since her mother passed. There’s also a Jedi Knight and her padawan who are summoned to Coruscant under mysterious conditions. Justina Ireland brings all of her action writing skills to her take on the beloved Star Wars universe, and I am here for it!

Narrated by Keylor Leigh

The moment I heard about Ghost Forest, I knew I had to listen to it. This novel, told in vignettes, follows a family from Hong Kong that moves to Canada. But while his wife and daughter move across the world, the father stays in Hong Kong for work. Our unnamed protagonist shares snippets of her life with us, always circling back to her father and his visits or his absence. When her father becomes ill, the protagonist begins to ponder her life, her father’s life, and what it means for her.

The women in the story create a backbone for the novel as they constantly tell each other stories. As we listen to them share their memories, each new chapter reveals something new about the family, and we begin to see a more complete picture of our protagonist.

There’s an incredible scene where our protagonist tries to figure out how to tell her very ill father that she loves him. This one moment gives us a deeper understanding of the full extent of our protagonist’s emotional struggle as she tries to connect with her father.

Pik-Shuen Fung narrates the audiobook, performing her poetic prose beautifully. She presents each vignette as a polished gem for us to admire, her prose and voice perfectly blending together to create a truly wonderful listening experience. The novel is full of deeply emotional moments where Fung’s narration feels like part of the story itself.

Narrated by Pik-Shuen Fung

As a huge Jasmine Guillory fan, I hit play as soon as the romance novel hit my iPhone’s audiobook app. I loved this whirlwind romance between Ben Stephens, who works in marketing, and Anna Gardiner, whose Hollywood star is on the rise. It contains all the best things: witty banter, plenty of food, and steamy sex scenes. Janina Edwards performs the audiobook perfectly, as always.

Narrated by Janina Edwards (The Secret Lives of Church Ladies by Janina Edwards and No One Is Coming to Save Us by Stephanie Powell Watts)

The author of the much-beloved Wayfarer series has created a brand new world to dive into, beginning a new series with A Psalm for the Wild Build. Years before the novel begins, the robots of Panga became sentient and walked away from their lives of servitude. They now wander the forest. When a tea monk meets a robot who asks him, “What do you need?”, the monk begins to think and interrogate the question. Emmett Grosland captures the vibe of a monk meeting a sentient robot, which I can’t imagine has been a kind of audiobook that comes up often for audiobook narrators.

Narrated by Emmett Grosland

OH MY GOODNESS, this audiobook!! I’d never read Samantha Downing before, but as soon as I heard David Pittu’s rendition of Tony Crutcher’s narrative voice, I was hooked. Crutcher hates the students at the private school where he teaches English Literature, so he doesn’t really care when a series of mysterious deaths happen on campus. But when people start digging into his personal life, he’s had enough. From start to finish, I hung on every word, unable to stop listening (who needs sleep?!).

Narrated by David Pittu (Last Call: A True Story of Love, Lust, and Murder in Queer New York by Elon Green and The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt)

Our protagonist arrives at the Hague with a one-year contract to work as an interpreter. While she gets to know her new home in New York City, she finds herself entangled in other people’s lives who are also snared in their own messy relationships. The engrossing whirlwind of her life causes her to take a look at her choices in a new way that makes her reassess her place in the world. Audiobook narrator Traci Kato-Kiriyama captures the viewpoint character’s perspective so well in her performance.

Narrated by Traci Kato-Kiriyama, (The Phone Booth at the Edge of the World by Laura Imai Messina and The Memory Police by Yoko Ogawa)

While I didn’t have the internet after Elsa came to town, I listened to audiobooks downloaded on my phone. It felt restorative to listen to Robin Wall Kimmerer read her audiobook Braiding Sweetgrass to me. Each essay in the book focuses on a different aspect of how human beings are part of nature, holding key roles in many of its ecosystems. There’s just something so special with how Kimmerer encourages folks to think about their actions and how that affects the natural world around them.

With her encouragement, I walked outside and began looking at the palm trees and tall grasses around my house. I moved outside of Appalachia for the first time back in October, so many of the plants were unfamiliar to me. I pulled out my Seek app and began learning about the different species of fauna that make their home near mine.

That’s where Robin Wall Kimmerer shines best. With her stories of learning how to weave baskets from freshly felled trees to scooping algae out of her pond, you get the sense she knows the wildlife around her intimately, as fellow sharers of the land. There’s so much wisdom in this book. I know it’s one I’ll listen to again and again.

Narrated by Robin Wall Kimmerer

This incredible novel came out in hardcover last summer, but we FINALLY have an audiobook as of the end of last June. I adored Even As We Breathe and can’t stop talking about it. This work of historical fiction follows a disabled Cherokee man named Cowney who gets a summer job at the historic Grove Park Inn in Asheville, North Carolina. While WWII rages on, the US military is using the inn to hold prisoner foreign diplomats of enemy countries. When a young Japanese girl goes missing, Cowney is racially profiled and brought in for questioning. Kaipo Schwab performs the audiobook with such emotional depth, capturing Cowney’s perspective perfectly.

Narrated by Kaipo Schwab, who is also part of the cast who performs Black Sun by Rebecca Roanhorse and Kink edited by Garth Greenwell and R.O. Kwon

This week, The Birds of Opulence arrived in my audiobook app, and I could not have been more excited. I’ve waited for the audio edition for several years now and feel overjoyed that the time has finally arrived! Affrilachian author Crystal Wilkinson is the current Poet Laureate of Kentucky, but she also writes fiction! The Birds of Opulence is in many ways a family story that focuses on the different generations of Black women in the same community. Narrator Allyson Johnson captures the beautiful cadence of Wilkinson’s incredible prose.

Narrated by Allyson Johnson, who also performs The History of White People by Nell Irvin Painter and Fearing the Black Body by Sabrina Strings

Though the audiobook for Pure America was delayed only a couple months, I could not have been more thrilled to have one of my most anticipated releases of 2021 finally in my hands (well, in an audiobook app on my phone, which I was holding…close enough!). Perhaps most well known for her book What You Are Getting Wrong About Appalachia (which she wrote in response to the unfortunately popular Hillbilly Elegy), Catte is back with Pure America, a look at the role of eugenics in Virginia. With the #FreeBritney movement saturating our newsfeeds, this audiobook comes at the perfect time. The discussion around Britney’s conservatorship has shined a spotlight on how America’s healthcare and legal systems have repeatedly failed and often actively harmed disabled people. Pure America tackles this same topic with Catte’s signature attention to detail and finesse. Jo Anna Perrin performance shines when she’s narrating the complicated details throughout the book, making it easy for listeners to follow along.

Narrated by Jo Anna Perrin, who also performs What You Are Getting Wrong About Appalachia by Elizabeth Catte

As a kid, I used to listen to audiobooks on my boom box like there was no tomorrow. I fell in love with the audiobook production company Full Cast Audio, which produced books from children’s authors Tamora Pierce and Bruce Coville. But my favorite book of theirs was the full-cast production of His Dark Materials Trilogy. I still listen to the series every few years and cry at the end of The Amber Spyglass every time.

Narrated by Philip Pullman and a full cast

I’ve written a couple of times about my love of playing video games and listening to audiobooks. Sabriel inspired many of my adventures in World of Warcraft—Abhorsen is even my character’s name! Tim Curry (yes, THE Tim Curry) narrates this dark story of the Abhorsen, the title of the person tasked with hunting down necromancers throughout the Old Kingdom. Curry does a particularly excellent job voicing Mogget, a cat (sort of) who is the Abhorsen’s official companion and provides much of the book’s comedic relief.

Narrated by Tim Curry

As a disabled person, I rarely see that part of myself in books. But when I heard about Disability Visibility, I knew I had to pick it up. The essays from the writers inside were everything I’d hoped they’d be, and I felt seen in ways I never had before. Later, Alice Wong told me she wanted as many disabled people included in the project as possible, so she was delighted that Alejandra Ospina, who is also disabled, was chosen to perform the audiobook.

Narrated by Alejandra Ospina

As an Appalachian, I can’t help but notice that folks often have a certain memoir in mind when they think of Appalachian Literature. So when Appalachian writer Deesha Philyaw started taking the world by storm with her short story collection, The Secret Lives of Church Ladies, I couldn’t have been more thrilled. Philyaw has this way of capturing her characters on a page that is all-engrossing. The all-star audiobook narrator Janina Edwards performs the collection, making the listening experience as close to perfection as you can get.

Narrated by Janina Edwards

I remember The Fifth Season not just as my first time listening to N.K. Jemisin, but also as the first time I remember adoring Robin Miles. There’s a video online where Miles and Jemisin discuss the making of the audiobook edition, and it’s this magical piece of insider perspective on what a narrator brings to the table.

Narrated by Robin Miles

After her incredibly successful debut You Should See Me in a Crown, Leah Johnson is back with Rise to the Sun, another young adult queer romance. Like most of the bookternet, I adored Johnson’s first novel, especially since the audiobook edition is narrated by Alaska Jackson, who became an instant favorite of mine. Jackson is back to narrate Rise to the Sun, but this time with Lexi Underwood, and the two make a fabulous team.

Narrated by Alaska Jackson and Lexi Underwood

The moment I heard Adam Lazarre-White read the first line of this book, I became hooked. The novel focuses on two ex-cons whose sons are both murdered. They carry a lot with them, including their mixed emotions about their sons being gay and very much in love with each other. But their quest for justice for their sons unites them in a single cause. So buckle in. Crosby’s second novel is just as all-engrossing as his first.

Narrated by Adam Lazarre-White

Sonali Dev is back with another Jane Austen retelling, and this time she’s retelling Sense and Sensibility. The novel focuses on Yash Raje, California’s first Indian American gubernatorial candidate, who starts to spiral after witnessing his friend become a victim of a hate crime. Yash’s family turns to his sister’s best friend, India Dashwood, to help teach Yash stress management. This is a romantic comedy, so you can see where this is going, but with Sonali Dev’s storytelling, it’s sure to be quite the journey. As an added bonus, one of my favorite narrators, Soneela Nankani, performs the audiobook!

Narrated by Soneela Nankani

I have been salivating over this latest work from the author of Cinderella is Dead for months, and I somehow missed that it’s a modern take on The Secret Garden?! When Briseis’ aunt dies and leaves her a rundown mansion in rural New York, Bri and her parents leave Brooklyn behind for the summer and head to the creepy old house for some R&R. Bri hopes to use this time to hone and control her gift: she can grow plants from tiny seeds to full blooms with a single touch. But the sinister old house has other plans involving a very specific set of instructions, an old-school apothecary, and a walled garden filled with super deadly botanicals that only Bri’s family can enter. So we not not only get a magical lineage, tonics and tinctures, and a mysterious queer love interest, but I’m told this book features some of the most supportive parents in contemporary YA fiction. Sold! (YA fiction)

Read by Jordan Cobb (A Song of Wraiths and Ruin by Roseanne A. Brown, Deathless Divide by Justina Ireland)

I’ve been hearing sooo much buzz about this one! Godolia warlords are spreading their tyrannical rule over the Badlands using giant mechanized weapons called Windups. Eris is a gearbreaker who specializes in destroying Windups from the inside, but she lands in a Godolia prison when one of her missions goes awry. That’s where she meets Sona, a Windup pilot and obviously Eris’ mortal enemy, right? Plot twist!! Sona has a secret: she actually infiltrated the Windup program to destroy Godolia from within. As they join forces to take on their deadist mission yet, they grow closer as comrades, as friends, and (body roll!) maybe a lil something more. (YA science fiction)

Read by Catherine Ho (Black Water Sister by Zen Cho), Cindy Kay (These Violent Delights by Chloe Gong)

This is a fictionalized version of the very real story about Belle da Costa Greene, J. P. Morgan’s personal librarian. She was hired as a twenty-something to curate a rate collection of manuscripts, art, and books for Morgan’s library, a role in which she excelled. But she kept a secret to herself all the while: she was Black. She wasn’t born Belle da Costa Green but Belle Marion Greener, the daughter of the first Black graduate of Harvard and a well-known advocate for equality. She claimed her dark skin came from her alleged Portuguese heritage when she was really African American. I wonder just how many more stories there are out there of Black Americans who had to pass as white to protect themselves, their families, and their legacy. The answer of course is many, and I hope we see more and more of those stories being told more widely. (historical fiction)

Read by personal favorite Robin Miles (The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid, The Fifth Season by N.K. Jemisin)

Liberty described this one as an over-the-top thriller and a locked room mystery on wheels, so fasten your seatbelts for a Riley Sager special! This one takes place in November 1991 when college student Charlie’s best friend has been murdered by the Campus Killer. To escape the grief and guilt, she decides to go back home to Ohio, opting to share the long drive with a stranger named Josh who she met on a campus message board. It all seems fine at first, but the further they get into the drive, the more she begins to suspect that she might have hitched a ride with a killer.

Read by Savannah Gilmore – I’m not familiar with Gilmore’s work, but samples of other titles sound super crisp, clear, and great for building the tension of a thriller.

I’m not even close to done with this one, but I have to talk about it because I’m loving it so much (thanks to Jamie for recommending this one over and over again)! This is an adult novel that is mostly told from the point-of-view of children in the slums of India, starting off as a coming-of-age narrative and moving slowly into noir territory. Nine-year-old Jai has watched a ton of police procedural shows, so he feels pretty confident in his crime-solving skills. When a classmate goes missing, he enlists the help of schoolmates Faiz and Pari to find out whether it’s a bad djinn is responsible for the disappearance, or a really bad person.

It starts off as a somewhat of a game, but things take a dark turn when more children go missing. Frustrated by the adults and police’s refusal to take the sudden onslaught of disappearances seriously, Jai, Faiz, and Pari take it upon themselves to get to the bottom of things.

The pacing of this book is excellent, and the narration a wonderful balance: I find adults narrating children to be real bad so much of the time, but Indira Varma, Himesh Patel, and Antonio Aakeel do an excellent job with age-appropriate storytelling that doesn’t border on the super-pitchy and ridiculous.

The Joshis are outwardly an immigrant success story and the quintessential Indian American family. Bina is a pillar in her community, Deepak a successful psychiatrist. Their eldest daughter is following in the footsteps of her father’s career; their middle daughter is getting engaged to a longtime family friend; and their youngest son is a blessing—because all sons are! Then a family scandal cracks the veneer of perfection surrounding the Joshis; friendships unravel, a marriage is shaken, and rejections lead to overwhelming self doubt. In the midst of public humiliation, the Joshis learns that sometimes families fall apart only to come back stronger than before. (fiction)

Read by Soneela Nankani (Recipe for Persuasion by Sonali Dev, The Widows of Malabar Hill by Sujata Massey)

Six beloved, best-selling, critically acclaimed authors come together in this beautiful celebration of Black teen love. Set during a New York City summer when a heatwave blankets the city in darkness, the collection is comprised of interlinked stories that are as hilarious as they are heartwarming, a testament to the light of love and the power of Black joy. (young adult, romance)

Read by an ALL STAR TEAM, are you ready for this!? Joniece Abbott-Pratt, Dion Graham, Imani Parks, Jordan Cobb, Shayna Small, A.J. Beckles, Bahni Turpin. What a lineup!

This is the first book in the next installment of the historical Lady Janies series. While the first three books focused on Lady Jane Grey, the Mary books now set their sights on one of my favorite historical figures, Mary Queen of Scots. In Renaissance France, Mary is Queen of Scotland and the jewel of the French court. But also: she’s sometimes a mouse. You read that right: a mouse. When the French king meets a suspicious end, Mary and her betrothed Frances are forced on the throne. Mary will need to keep her shapeshifting identity a secret, otherwise heads might just start to roll. (young adult, historical fiction)

Read by Fiona Hardingham (Rosaline Palmer Takes the Cake by Alexis Hall, An Ember in the Ashes by Sabaa Tahir)

Jessamyn Stanley is a proudly fat, Black, queer yoga teacher whose first book Every Body Yoga got me to see a place for myself in yoga. While that book focused on the how, Yoke is about the why. “This yoga of the everyday is about finding within life’s toughest moments the same flexibility, strength, grounding energy, and core awareness found in a headstand or Tadasana or cobra pose.” Jessamyn is very real, very funny, and very no-f*cks-given on social media; I have no doubt these very personal essays on self-love, body positivity, race, sexuality, cannabis, and more will follow suit. (nonfiction, spirituality)

Read by the author

Aubrey, a self-identified “Southern cracker”, and Daniel, the mixed-race son of Jamaican immigrants, were high school classmates and friends in a North Florida town. Years after they’ve lost contact, Daniel is living in New York when he hears of Aubrey’s death. Now comfortable in his queerness, he’s left to confront his love for Aubrey. He begins a frantic search that takes him back to the place of his upbringing, tinged by racism and poverty, to find out not only what happened to Aubrey, but to find meaning in her death. (fiction, LGBTQ)

Read by Landon Woodson (Light It Up by Kekla Magoon, That Way Madness Lies by Dahlia Adler)

This book, I heart it so. I haven’t read Beth O’Leary’s The Flatshare, but I was obsessed with The Switch last year. This next rom-com was exactly what I needed, though a little more hard-hitting than I expected it to be. Lemme give you the deets.

Addie and Dylan spent a summer falling in love under the Provence sun. Addie was a wild child working at her friend Cherry’s glamorous villa as a caretaker for the summer. Dylan was a wealthy Oxford student vacationing at that very villa, a trip he elected to make on his own when his family bailed after a big dramatic fight. From the moment Addie and Dylan locked eyes for the first time, it was game over. Twas a wild, romantic, sexy, and sun-drenched affair.

Years later, that bliss is entirely a thing of the past when the now former couple’s lives collide most comically: on their way to their friend Cherry’s wedding (you know, the one with the villa), Addie and her sister Deb are involved in a crash. Addie looks in the rear view mirror to get a look at the car behind her, and wouldn’t ya know: it’s Dylan in the driver’s seat. With one car wrecked and time a’ticking, Addie and Deb (very) begrudgingly agree to drive Dylan and his best friend Marcus to the rural Scotland wedding. Things so super smoothly and there’s absolutely no drama or awkwardness.

Obviously, I’m kidding. It’s a hot damn mess! There’s clearly all kinds of unresolved stuff between Addie and Dylan, details of which are revealed in alternating perspectives and in flashbacks to happier (then unhappier) times. It’s got some heavy stuff (trigger warnings to follow) and there’s some good commentary on the immense value of therapy. I won’t lie, I spent a LOT of time despising the Marcus character, and I think this would make a great book club read for the discussion of “what’s the difference between loyalty and just hanging onto a toxic friendship” thing, a topic with a lot of grey area when you take into account the “hurt people hurt people” thing, and that most of us don’t want to be defined by the actions of our youth. The book is also absolutely hilarious, even a little slapstick at times in an unexpected but delightful way. The side characters here add a lovely touch and I laughed out loud more than a few times.

The narration felt spot on for Addie and Dylan specifically, from the tender moments to the sensual ones and the raw expressions of hurt and betrayal. This was much heavier than I expected, but also that much more delightful when the HEA came around. It felt earned and not thrown together just for the sake of the HEA. (romance, rom-com)

(tw: sexual assault, non-graphic) 

Read by Eleanor Tomlinson (One Day in December by Josie Silver) and Josh Dylan (Saturdays at Noon by Rachel Marks)

Awww yeah, the conclusion to Olivia Waite’s Feminine Pursuits series is here! After losing their piano shop to a con man in London, Sophie and her family move to a new town to start anew. Sophie meets stunning beauty Madeline Crewe and immediately suspects the silk-weaver of being up to no good—no one’s that good looking without having something to hide, surely! As for Maddie, she just needs oooone more big score to finally fund the weaver’s union. The last thing she needs is a nosy piano teacher poking around in other peoples business. Only one thing left to do: seduce her into the cause. Is it time for a body roll? I think it’s time for a body roll. (romance)

Read by Morag Sims (Pride and Premeditation by Tirzah Price, The Hunting Party by Lucy Foley)

Familia, I have been a big ol’ slacking slacker who slacks about including poetry audiobooks this year! This one was brought to my attention and I just couldn’t look away. Author Therese Estacion survived a rare infection that almost killed her, but not without losing both her legs below the knees, several fingers, and her reproductive organs. With elements of Filipino horror and folk tales, Estacion pulls from stories of ogres, mermen, and gnomes straight from Filipino children’s nightmares and weaves them in with imaginings from the hospital room where she spent months in recovery. This promises to be a unique work of poetry and an immersive, if haunting, listening experience. (poetry)

Read by the author

The follow up to The Silent Patient sorta feels like if The Secret History were a psychological thriller set in Cambridge instead of New England, but with less outright elitism and really scary rich people (this is a gross oversimplification, just trying to communicate some of the vibes and themes). Mariana is a troubled therapist grieving the loss of her husband. Her niece is a student at Cambridge, where Mariana once studied herself, and she’s bereft when her friend’s dead body is found. That friend was a member of a secret society known as The Maidens, a group of young female students who fawn over Greek tragedy professor Edward Fosca in most icky fashion. When other members of The Maidens start turning up dead, Mariana knows it’s the untouchable Fosca who’s done it. She’ll stop at nothing to prove it, and doing so will mean confronting some buried memories and unprocessed trauma. (mystery/thriller)

Read by Kobna Holdbrook-Smith (The Old Drift by Namwali Serpell) and Louise Brealey (The Largesse of the Sea Maiden by Denis Johnson)

Yeah, I’m including a second thriller because LAWD this sound like a ride! Oliver is a recovering addict who finally has everything he wanted: sobriety and stability, including his wealthy trauma surgeon partner Nathan. He knows he has no business going to a gay bath house, and even less business following a complete stranger into a private room therein. Just like that, a line is crossed, one Nathan can never ever know about. But then! Things go horribly wrong and Oliver barely escapes with his life. It’s bad, it’s very bad, and what to tell Nathan? That’s when Oliver falls back on old habits: he lies. Just in reading the description, I was saying aloud, “Nooooooo don’t do iiiiiitttt!” This sounds so thrilling and twisty. (thriller)

Read by Michael Crouch (They Both Die at the End by Adam Silvera) and Daniel Henning (The House in the Cerulean Sea by TJ Klune)

Can we talk about that gorgeous cover? The power! Voya has long awaited her Calling, the trial all witches must go through before they come into their powers. Then the unthinkable happens—she fails. When an ancestor offers Voya an unprecedented second chance at the Calling, the price for redemption is steep: it will mean sacrificing her first love—who she’ll have to find and fall for first—and her entire family will lose their magic if she fails once again. This is also the first in a series, can’t wait to dive in. (YA fantasy)

Read by Joniece Abbott-Pratt (Legendborn by Tracy Deonn, The Other Black Girl by Zakiya Dalila Harris)

You may hear “witch trials” and think exclusively of Salem, but thousands upon thousands of women died as a result of witch hunts all over Europe, too. This historical novel begins in the German duchy of Württemberg in 1618 right as the plague is spreading and The Thirty Years War has begun. When illiterate widow Katharina is accused of being a witch by a deranged woman in their small town, Katharina’s scientist son must use his talents to defend his mother against the hysteria. Facing financial ruin, torture, and possible execution, Katharina tells her side of the story to her neighbor and friend Simon, a reclusive widower with dangerous secrets of his own. (historical fiction)

Read by Natasha Soudek (The Ministry for the Future by Kim Stanley Robinson, The Regional Office Is Under Attack! by Manuel Gonzales)

Socialite Jewel Van Hanen is known for her super popular video-sharing app, Golden Rule. After a mysterious year-long hiatus from the app, she surprises everyone again when she comes back with a big announcement: she’s inviting six Golden Rule users on an all-expenses-paid getaway at her private estate and calling it the Golden Weekend. When the invitees get to Jewel’s estate, she hits them with another announcement. They’re going to play a game she’s calling The Cruelest Jewel, an elaborate escape-room style situation wherein the players must complete a series of tasks for a chance at being one of two winners of $500,000. Let the games begin! (contemporary YA)

Read by Joniece Abbott-Pratt (The Other Black Girl by Zakiya Dalila Harris, Legendborn by Tracy Deonn, Raybearer by Jordan Ifueko)

Malini is a princess held captive in a decaying temple by her despotic, woman-hating brother. Priya is a maidservant and survivor of a temple massacre whose hiding a secret about her true nature. When Malini witnesses the terrifying magic that Priya possesses, she sees not only a woman she could love, but way to overthrow her brother. (fantasy)

Read by Shiromi Arserio (Thorn by Intisar Khanani, Unnatural Magic by C.M. Waggoner)

Danielle Henderson’s childhood was unconventional. At age 10, she was abandoned by a mom who chose her abusive, drug-addict boyfriend over her daughter, leaving Danielle to be raised by grandparents who thought their child-rearing days were far behind them. She grew up Back, weird, and uncool in a predominantly white neighborhood in upstate New York, the perfect storm of factors for an identity crisis. “Under the eye-rolling, foul-mouthed, loving tutelage of her uncompromising grandmother – and the horror movies she obsessively watched – Danielle grew into a tall, awkward, Sassy-loving teenager who wore black eyeliner as lipstick and was struggling with the aftermath of her mother’s choices.” But her grandmother also instilled in her a faith in her abilities, one she’d draw from to go on and save herself. (memoir)

Read by the author

“What if Dear Abby was a Mexican man on Grindr?” This was the question that made me snort-laugh during a recent episode of Keep It! The podcast hosts interviewed author JP Brammer, the self-described “Chicano Carrie Bradshaw” of his generation. The first time someone called him “Papi” was on the popular gay hookup app Grindr. It was maaaaybe fine at first, but it kept happening over and over and over again (and as a Latina who’s been called Mami by non-Latinx men more times than I can count, I am triggered!). The radicalized moniker and all the messiness around it became the inspiration for his wildly popular advice column, named… you guessed it, Hola Papi! This book sounds like a hilarious and moving story about JP’s experience growing up biracial and closeted in America’s heartland.

Read by the author

I was feeling super impatient the other day as I waited for my Libby holds to come in and started looking up available audiobooks like I sometimes do. This one from my TBR popped up and it was the perfect twisty weekend listen.

At the start of the book, Jules is living at a resort in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico when a strange interaction with a fellow guest leaves her rattled. That’s when we learn that Jules is in hiding, and now it seems she’s been found and must go on the run again. The book then progresses backwards with each chapter, revealing bits of her tragic childhood and eventual friendship with the rich and glamorous Imogen, who by the way has mysteriously gone missing. The further back the story goes, the more clear it becomes that we don’t really know anything about Jules or Imogen at all.

I “figured it out” pretty quickly, if that’s even the best way to describe this mystery, one of those thrilling reads that’s less about a whodunnit and more about the why. You’ll be confused for a good part of the book, but not in a bad way. Every chapter is a new revelation and a whole new batch of what-the-f*ckery. The narration by Rebecca Soler (Caraval by Stephanie Garber, The Hazel Wood by Melissa Albert) was taught and tense, never giving more away than was called for in the moment. I listened this one on a hike and found my pace quickening during the especially tense parts. So fun!

If you’re looking for a mystery with a less traditional structure, complex characters, and explorations of women’s relationships and ambition, this one’s for you.