Fiction

Jackpot by Nic Stone

December 28, 2019 Leave a Comment

I forgot to write a review for this book and I read it so long ago; so please check out the audiobook review I wrote forAudioFile magazine! This was narrated by Nic Stone and I was blown away by her performance.

Listeners will find winning humor in this audiobook as narrator and author Nic Stone provides a flawless, upbeat performance. She gives voice to Rico and Zan–teenagers on a mission to find an unclaimed winning lottery ticket that could help Rico’s struggling family. Stone taps into Rico’s perseverance and strength as she tries to keep her family financially afloat. To track down the winning ticket, she reluctantly ropes in Zan, whose breezy laid-back tone reflects his privileged upbringing–opposites quickly attract! Listeners get the bonus of hearing the flirtatious back-and-forth between the teens, including Zan’s capricious way of mispronouncing Rico’s surname. Stone also brings a delightfully over-the-top performance to the inanimate objects that act as a Greek chorus.

Psst. Don’t forget to check out AudioFile Magazine’s website and podcast for more audiobook content.

In Search of Us by Ava Dellaria

December 27, 2019 Leave a Comment

Rating: Unrated | 384 Pages| Contemporary YA | Release Date: 2/26/2019

Angie’s family has always been her and her mother Marilyn. Their bond is unbreakable but when Angie finds evidence that there might be more to the death of the father she never knew; she sets off on a road trip to L.A with her estranged ex-boyfriend to where the story of her past began. Which is where Marilyn’s story starts in 1998 Los Angeles.

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Good Omens by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett

September 1, 2019 Leave a Comment

12 hours 32 minutes | Adult SFF | Harper Audio | Audio Release Date: 11/10/2009

In this 1990 Sci-Fiction/Fantasy debut novelist Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett tell a satirical story about the end of the world. I went in knowing this book was about an angel and a demon teaming up to stop armageddon, but Good Omens also involves a book of prophecies, a witch hunter, the four horsemen of the apocalypse and…an 11-year-old antichrist.

I have a vague memory of a teacher talking about this book when I was 9th grade but I’d kind of forgotten about it. I was reading a lot of Left Behind books at that time so I can’t imagine what I would have thought about this tongue and cheek interpretation of the end days. The only reason I picked it up this year is so I could check out the Amazon Prime show. A show that I was Streisand Effected into knowing about. I had no idea this show was even a thing until the controversy.

I found this book to be imaginative and kind of weird and the humor felt very British. There are a lot of plots threaded into the story and I feel like some of it may have gone over my head. I’m sure this is a book like this holds up well to re-reading, In fact, I started the show and the show is essentially a scene by scene remake of the book and things kept clicking while I watched the show that I hadn’t noticed when reading.

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Book Review : The Care and Feeding of Ravenous Girls by Annisa Gray

June 18, 2019 Leave a Comment

304 pages | Berkeley | Adult Fiction | Release Date: 02/19/2019

I like a book with a really long title. Just throwing that out there.

The Care and Feeding of Ravenously Hungry Girls is this blend of African-American, Women’s and Literary fiction that I’m starting to find myself drawn to more.

This is a very human story of the Butler siblings who are brought together after their seemingly perfect elder sister, Althea, and her husband Proctor are convicted of a crime that shakes up their small lakeside town.

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Spin By Lamar Giles

May 6, 2019 Leave a Comment

Rating: unrated | 10 hours 50 minutes | Scholastic | YA Thriller | Release Date: 01/30/2019

Last weekend Virginia Beach hosted something In The Water Festival and they honestly should have just started throwing these books out at the audience. Spin is a love story to the underground music scene and the tradition of Tidewater musicians.

DJ ParSec started from the bottom with nothing but her best friend Kya’s tech skills, mismatch DJ equipment and a passion for music. After blowing up online and gathering a rabid fanbase DJ ParSec was on her way up— until she is found dead– now it is up to Kya and ParSec’s estranged social media manager, Fuse, to find justice.

Giles knows how to write a solid thriller, he keeps the stakes high and has his characters face danger at nearly every turn, especially from DJ ParSec’s most devoted fans whose intense network is keeping tabs on Kya and Fuse. Along the way Kya and Fuse, who have never seen eye to eye, begin to bond through their shared grief. It was great reading a story about complicated female friendship.

Giles does not hold back when it comes to violence and peril his characters face, but I’ve always found it interesting that the language remains fairly tame.

Spin really taps into the world of social media fandom with a dash of action, and suspense that will keep you guessing until the end.

Check out the audio review on Audiofile

A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman

September 24, 2018 Leave a Comment

368 pages | Washington Square Press | Contemporary | 07/15/2014

Along with Ikea, The Skarsgard family and fish-shaped candy, Fredrik Backman is the newest Swedish export making money moves in the U.S.

Ove is best described in the novel as “a man with his hands perpetually in his pockets”. He is the human equivalent of the Old Man Yells at Cloud meme. At 59-years old he has a fondness for the way things used to be and fights progress with indignation and a solid hurmph. Ove has a plan for what should come next in his life, a plan that gets turned upside down by the boisterous family that moves in next door, a mangy old cat and a community of unlikely neighbors.

Backman writes with a capricious tone with an infinity for in medias res. This book is translated from Swedish and there were only a few times where I felt like something wasn’t translating

I’m not sure what I expected from this book but it as a lot more fun than I was anticipated. Ove truly becomes an endearing figure, and I really like stories that explore life in all its stages a la The Curious Case of Benjamin Button or Big Fish.

A quaint, heartwarming story that is satisfyingly earnest and has universal appeal for fans of contemporary fiction.