Audio Book

Audiobook: All the Blues in the Sky

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by Renée Watson
Read by Bahni Turpin
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Or listen at Libro.fm
Content: This talks pretty explicitly about the violent death (due to a hit-and-run) of a beloved friend. It may touch some nerves with sensitive readers. It’s in the Middle Grade (grades 3-5) section of the bookstore.

Sage’s thirteenth birthday party was supposed to be a fun afternoon and evening with her best friend. Except that, on her way to Sage’s party, her best friend was killed in a hit-and-run by a drunk driver. Suddenly, Sage’s world is turned upside down as she deals with the tragic death of her closest friend. It’s not easy: she’s dealing with survivor’s guilt, with the sympathy (and pity) of her classmates, and just learning to make new friends. It’s not an easy journey, and even as she grieves, new, good things come into her life.

Watson is a remarkable writer, and is able to capture so much emotion and pain and sadness in so few words. Sage’s pain and heartbreak and grief came through the page (well, audiobook) loud and clear. Some of that, though, is Turpin’s excellent narration. She’s long been one of my favorite narrators, mostly because she captures the essence of the characters and the words so well. I felt Sage’s pain. And yet, the book was hopeful. Sage was beginning to work through the grief and guilt, good things were happening. And when more bad news came, Sage was better equipped to deal with it. I know kids shouldn’t “have to” deal with things like this, but the truth is they do. And having a book that can help them see what the grieving process might look like is an incredibly helpful thing.

It’s also an excellent book for its own sake.

Audiobook: Emily Wilde’s Compendium of Lost Tales

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by Heather Fawcett
Read by Ell Potter & Michael Dodds
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Others in the series: Emily Wilde’s Encyclopaedia of Faeries, Emily Wilde’s Map of the Otherlands
Content: There are some intense moments and a bit of faerie violence. It’s in the Science Fiction/Fantasy section of the bookstore.

Spoilers for the first two, obviously.

Emily and Wendell have returned to Wendell’s kingdom, the Silver Loopie, for him to take his place as ruler. It’s not all fun and games, because the former queen, Wendell’s stepmother, isn’t quite dead yet and has put a curse on the land poisoning it. It’s up to Emily, and her immense knowledge of fairy stories, to figure out which story this is playing out as, and how to set the Silver Loopie to rights. And, maybe somewhere along the way, she will figure out how to be the queen of a faerie realm.

I probably guessed somewhere along the way, that this was going to be the end of Emily and Wendell’s adventures, and while I’m sad to see them go, I love the way Fawcett wrapped them up. It had everything I have come to adore about these books: faerie magic, a bit of tension between Emily and Wendell, her dog Shadow (love the dog!), and adventures that she approaches scholarly. It was as charming and as wonderful as the other two.

I do have to admit that I got an advance copy of this book, and tried to read it but couldn’t connect with it. It wasn’t until I picked it up in audio and started listening that I realized that these books, while charming and delightful on their own, are made for audio. Potter does such as wonderful job capturing Emily’s voice and mannerisms, that she makes Emily just jump off the page. They are truly delightful as audiobooks

And, to be honest, I’m okay with the series ending. What I would like, though, is a spin-off series featuring Emily’s niece Ariadnae (not sure of the spelling of that one!). That would be delightful.

A thoroughly charming ending to a thoroughly charming series.

Audiobook: Onyx Storm

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by Rebecca Yarros
Read by Rebecca Soler, Teddy Hamilton, Justis Bolding & Jasmin Walker
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Others in the series: Fourth Wing, Iron Flame
Content: It’s super sweary, super violent, and lots of on-screen sexytimes. It’s in the Romance section of the bookstore.

Spoilers for the first two books, obviously.

It’s picking up again, where Iron Flame left off – there’s venin (I think that’s how you spell it), Xaden’s turning into one (though he’s trying hard to stop it), the king won’t let refugees in, and they need to find Andara’s (is that spelled right?) dragon family.

And we’re going to spend 500+ (23 hours!) pages doing this.

I started out liking this one – Solner is still delightfully unhinged, I thought the travels around the islands were interesting, and it was nice to have Violet back being a smart badass again. But, as the book went on I lost patience with it. It dragged in the middle. I wanted to punch Xaden in the face on a number of occasions. I hated the “I wanted you but I don’t trust myself” parts and the miscommunication. The last one was a lot, but this was even MORE. And by the end, I was just not interested. (Speaking of the end: I hated it. So much.)

And, after three 500 page books in a five-book series that could have been a solid trilogy, I think I’m done. I have zero interest in where the story is going, in Violet and Xaden’s future, or in all the many plot strings Yarros left undone.

(If I consider reading the fourth when it comes out, remind me that I’m probably going to be annoyed and frustrated with it and that it’s probably not going to be worth my time.)

Audio Book: The Broposal

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by Sonora Reyes
Read by André Santana & Alejandro Antonio Ruiz
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Content: There is domestic abuse, swearing (including multiple f-bombs), threats of ICE reads, talk of drug abuse, and on-page sex. It’s in the Romance section of the bookstore.

Alejandro – Han for short – and Kenny have been best friends since second grade. Han’s an undocumented immigrant, and Kenny has been in a long-term on-and-off again relationship. When Kenny breaks up with his girlfriend (she was making him choose between her and Han) and then witnesses some of the discrimination and uncertainty that Han goes through as an undocumented person, he gets this idea: why don’t he and Han get married? It’ll help Han get his green card and head toward citizenship, and no one ever needs to know it’s fake, right?

Except, as they get more into it, they discover that they have deeper feelings than “just” best friends. But a conniving boss and a desperate ex-girlfriend threaten to throw a huge wrench in their plan. Will they be able to get to their wedding day with their relationship still intact?

I liked this one a lot. I liked how Reyes tackled tough subjects like abuse and discrimination against undocumented people. I liked the support of both Han’s and Kenny’s families. I liked that these men were 23 and still trying to figure everything out. I really liked the narrators; they probably made the book for me. It was sweet and charming, hitting the tropes without being overly fluffy, which I also appreciated.

Definitely a good one to pick up.

Audiobok: The Honey Witch

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by Sydney J. Sheilds
Read by Mia Hutchinson Shaw
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Content: There is some swearing, including a couple f-bombs, and some attempts at on-page sex (long story). It’s in the Romance section of the bookstore.

Marigold Claude has never fit in in her early 19th-century upper class home. She doesn’t really have talents, she has no interest in marrying, and after a botched relationship with George, she’s convinced she’s never even going to fall in love. She’s convinced she has no purpose. That is, until her grandmother comes and tells her that she’s actually a Honey Witch and she’s destined to take over the isle of Innisfree. Once there, she re-meets her childhood friend, August, and his best friend, Lottie, whom she’s attracted to. Except there’s a problem: as the Honey Witch of Innisfree, she’s been cursed to never fall in love.

That’s basically a plot – I told someone earlier that it’s a sapphic love story where they’re battling against an evil witch (which they do, but not until the last 5 chapters of the book). There is no historical accuracy – if it’s not the magic that gives it away, no one seems to have any issue with queer romance and there’s even queer marriage. Go figure. That said, I really enjoyed this one. I think a lot of it was the narrator. Shaw was fantastic. I adored her accents, and she kept me interested and engaged the whole way through. I did feel that the end dragged out a bit, but other than that, it was good fun.

Audiobook: Is She Really Going Out With Him?

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by Sophie Cousens
Read by Kerry Gilbert
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Content: There is some swearing, including multiple f-bombs, and a couple of fade-to-black sex scenes. It’s in the Romance section of the bookstore.

Anna Appleby is just trying to keep her job as a columnist at a Bath magazine. Except there is someone – Will – in-house who is trying to steal her thunder and the new bosses want something more “intimate” out of her. So, she finds herself with a gimmick: she and will will run complimentary dating columns, and hers will be an offline one, where her two kids (ages 13 and 7) pick out who she’s going to date.

As Anna goes on both weird and interesting dates, she comes to realize that the one person she keeps thinking about is probably out of bounds. And she’s not really interested in a relationship. Or is she?

This one was incredibly charming. I liked the premise a lot – there were silly dates and uncomfortable dates, and the people Anna met (and not just the ones she went out with) were just delightful. I did like the push and pull between her and Will and thought that they were both stubborn and fun together. I did like the added level of Anna dealing with her ex and his new girlfriend, and the complications with co-parenting.

And Kerry Gilbert was an absolutely delightful narrator to share the journey with. This one was lot of fun!

Audiobook: Heist Royale

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by Kayvion Lewis
Read by: Jade Wheeler
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Or listen at Libro.fm
Others in the series: Theives’ Gambit
Content: There’s people breaking the law (obviously) and talk of underage (for America) drinking. It’s in the YA section of the bookstore.

When we last left Ross, she came in second in the Gambit, which is not what she wanted. She’s had work over the past six months, but she still has the threat of someone wanting to kill her family hanging over her head. And then there’s the rivalry over who is going to run the Organization. Ross – and her friends – get roped into another gambit this time on teams and for the control of the Organization. Who will take the ultimate prize?

I’ll be up front: while this was fun, it wasn’t as fun as Thieves’ Gambit. That one was new, original, and a lot of fun. This one was almost a re-hashing of the first one. There were moments – at one point, they infiltrate a high-end casino in Moncao and there’s an intense moment when the owner catches Ross and tries to catch her out on cheating (but he doesn’t). That was very satisfying. But, because of the title, I was expecting a heist or a long con – something like Heist Society or Oceans 11 – and I just didn’t get that. That said, the narrator was excellent, and she kept me interested, even when I stopped caring about Ross and her relationship to her mother or her friends. I’m just not entirely sure the Thieves’ Gambit needed a sequel.

And maybe that’s where the problem lies.

Audiobook: Lost and Lassoed

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by Lyla Sage
Read by: Jason Clarke and Samantha Brentmoor
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Others in the series: Done and Dusted, Swift and Saddled
Content: There’s quite a bit of swearing – these characters don’t hold back – and a lot of on-page sexytimes. It’s in the Romance section of the bookstore.

It is well established that Gus Ryder and Teddy Anderson do not like each other. They’ve been at each other’s throats, barely civil for years. So, when Gus needs a babysitter for his daughter while her mother is away in Jackson Hole, the last person he wants is Teddy. But Teddy is freshly out of a job because the owner of the boutique she works at decided to sell out and close, and she needs not only the money, but something to do. And who doesn’t love Riley? She’s adorable. What starts as an uncomfortable truce grows into something more over the summer – but what happens at the end, when Camille comes back? Will Gus and Teddy stick? Or will they go back to sniping at each other.

I may have cowboy romance burn out, because I wanted to like this one more than I actually did. I think part of it was Clarke’s narration: his Gus voice was so low and gravelly that I had to crank the volume up just to hear him (I’m not one for deep voices, I guess). Which was more annoying than it should have been. But, while I like enemies to lovers a lot, this one lacked banter. I think it’s because the bulk of the enemies-to-lovers tropes that I like took place in the previous two books, and that just left the resolution for this one. Which kind of left me flat. I wasn’t thrilled with the way Emmy ended up in this one – she was quite self-centered, which you could blame on planning a wedding – and I disliked some elements of the way Sage wrote Teddy and Emmy’s friendship. I did like Teddy and Riley together; that came off as genuine, sweet, and fun.

I think it was me, though. I like cowboys and trucks and rural Wyoming well enough (shoot, those are my people, as my grandmother would have said), but maybe I need a break from them for a little bit.

Audiobook: Twenty-Four Seconds from Now…

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by Jason Reynolds
Read by Guy Lockard
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Content: It’s a book about teen sex. There is none actual, but there is a lot of talk about it. There is also swearing, including multiple f-bombs. It’s in the Teen (grades 9+) section of the bookstore.

Neon and his girlfriend, Aria, have been talking about this night for months: they have been dating for two years and are ready to have sex. Except, as the book opens, Neon is in the bathroom, freaking out. As the book unfolds, going backward in time, we learn about Neon and Aria’s relationship to each other, to their families, and to their friends. We learn about how Neon’s parents are handling him having a steady boyfriend and about their relationship to each other. We learn about Neon’s highs and lows, and basically how he got to this specific moment, in the bathroom, about to take this step.

I think this is an important book. Seriously: I think a book that is frank about consent and parents having healthy discussions about sex with their children is important to have out there. It’s a magnet for the book banners, who don’t want any sex near teens, but honestly, I think honest discussion is a better way to deal with teens having sex rather than ignoring it. And Reynolds knows how to write about difficult subjects with humor and in ways that kids (and yes, parents) can relate to.

This is also a book that I think I enjoyed a lot more on audio. Lockhard Is a fantastic narrator, and he made all the characters come alive for me. It’s a quick read/listen, and I’m glad I did.

Highly recommended.

Audiobook: We Solve Murders

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by Richard Osman
Read by Nicola Walker
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Content: There are some murders (obviously: it’s in the title), but nothing gory, as well as mild swearing (and maybe one or two f-bombs that I’m not recalling right now). It’s in the Mystery section of the bookstore.

Amy Wheeler is a bodyguard-for-hire, and very good at her job. She’s a professional, and is determined to protect her latest client, the bestselling mystery author Rosie D’Antonio. Except someone is out to kill Amy instead. The one person she can trust is her father-in-law, Steve. A retired cop-turned-low-stakes PI, Steve just wants to be at home. But he cares about his daughter-in-law, and when she asks, he comes. Even if it means flying across the world. (Though he does get spoiled by all the private jets he flies on.) The question is: can they figure out who is trying to kill Amy (and set her up for several other murders) before they actually manage to succeed?

Oh, this one was a lot of fun! I listened to The Thursday Murder Club and thoroughly enjoyed it, so I’m not surprised. This one had a lot of twists and turns and action plus quite a bit of humor and kept me thoroughly entertained. It ended up being one of those books that wanted to keep listening to. Part of that was Walker’s narration; she was absolutely fabulous with the characters and driving the narration forward. But the other part is Osman’s gift for not only writing fully fleshed-out older people (him and Clare Pooley, honestly) but for writing a solid mystery that kept me entertained while also guessing at whodunit.

Highly recommend this one.