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audiobook

The Brilliant Death by Amy Rose Capetta

March 8, 2020      Leave a Comment

⭐⭐⭐⭐

Rating: 3.5 out of 5.

9 hours 44 min. | Viking | YA Fantasy | Release Date: 10/30/18

In this Italian inspired fantasy, we travel to the mountains of Vinalia and meet Teodora “Teo” Di Sangro, the second daughter of a high ranking family. Teo has a secret. She’s a strega who uses her magic to turn the men who have wronged her family into objects. You know…like a straight-up serial killer.

Stregas are supposed to be things of the past but when tragedy strikes her family, Teo joins up with Cielo– a mysterious orphaned strega who can change genders– to teach her how to become a boy and take over as the Di Sangro family son.

…

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What She Knew by Gilly Macmillan

September 13, 2019      Leave a Comment

⭐⭐⭐

Rating: 3 out of 5.

 

12 Hours 2 Min | Crime/Suspense | Harper Audio | Release Date: 12/01/2015

I am one of those people who really got into true crime after listening to the Serial podcast. I like how true crime gives you a snapshot of people’s lives and how chance encounters and small moments can change lives forever.

Because I dive so much into true crime I don’t generally gravitate towards crime fiction however, I was in the mood for some plotty fiction with momentum and maybe some plot twists— crime fiction seemed to fit the bill and  What She Knew was one of the top audiobooks on Scribd. It’s ominous background and san-serif text instantly told me it was suspense/crime fiction.

Set in the small city of Bristol, England What She Knew flips POV between Rachel, a recently divorced single mother and Detective Inspector Clemo; their paths collide when Rachel’s eight-year-old son is abducted in broad daylight. Rachel has an emotional outburst during a press conference that makes the public suspicious of her. As the case hits the national spotlight both Clemo and Rachel endure public outrage, dark family secrets and lies that threaten to crumble the investigation.

 Because of the first person POV it feels in the beginning like there is some unreliable narrator stuff happening or that there was going to be a major plot twist, but honestly most of this book felt like a procedural with the kind of bonkers out of left-field reveals you’d find in a 2010’s episode of Law and Order SVU –that had nothing to really do with the main crime.

Audiobook narrators Penelope Rawlins and Dugald Bruce-Lockhart are a dynamic pair. They really work the silences in the text and give emotional moments room to breathe. They capture the hopelessness of the situation as everyone scrambles to find the missing child. Rawlins narration mimics Rachel’s fragility as she endures harsh accusations and is publicly shamed for losing her own child. Bruce-Lockhart gets that tough authoritative tone as Inspector Clemo, but I really liked his no-nonsense lilting portrayal of the Scottish police chief.

I like reading books that take place in other countries and it was a nice change of pace to read a British book that didn’t take place in London. I think my only real barrier to entry was trying to understand how their police system works.

When I finished this book I thought it was a little outlandish and that the portrayal of the media and police was over the top…then I listened toTrue Crime Obsessed talk about The Disappearance of Madeline McCann  which just had a lot of rampant and harmful speculation, so I wonder if Gilly McMillian was inspired by the case at all ?

Suspenseful and a little head scratchy this is a book that will keep you on your toes, but doesn’t quite hit the landing.

 

How It Happened by Michael Koryta

December 31, 2018      Leave a Comment

⭐⭐⭐⭐

Rating: 4 out of 5.

 10 hrs. 39 min. | Hachette Audio | Release Date: 5/15/18

I love a good mystery thriller and I picked this one up because I saw Christine Lakin was the narrator. Lakin only performs the first chapter of this book and her performance of Kimmy Crepeaux, a guilt-ridden down on her luck, small town twenty-something opioid addict confessing her role in a double murder, was a stand out and chilling performance. Robert Petkoff takes the lead for the rest of the book and captures the anguish and heartbreak that follows the gruesome confession. They both commit to the distinct New England accent without overdoing it.

In most crime stories getting the confession is the end of the story, but for FBI agent Rob Barrett it’s just the beginning as he scours the small town of Port Hope, Maine to prove nothing about this crime is what it seems. Koryta makes excellent use of the setting and current events about class, false confessions, and opioid addiction to weave a mystery that forces Barrett to come to terms with what the truth really means.

I’ve never heard of Michael Koryta and based on what I’ve read online and seen in bookstores, at just 36 years old, he seems to be part of the new generation of authors behind the so-called “Dad Books” a la Dean Koontz, Lee Childs, and David Baldacci.

I also see on his website that Kroyta is an award-winning journalist, which is probably why Barrett’s journalist love interest was portrayed realistically, HOWEVER this means the book fails the Audie Cornishtest where the female journalist sleeps with a source.

Next time I need a page-turning read I know exactly where I’ll turn.

 

Finding Yvonne by Brandy Colbert

December 10, 2018      Leave a Comment

 Rating: unrated | 288 pages | Little Brown For Young Readers| Contemporary | 8/07/2018 

Finding Yvonne is a small slice-of-life story of a formerly ambitious and passionate violinist who has lost her spark for music.  Losing her passion is a big struggle for Yvonne because to her father– a  successful chef /restaurateur–and Warren, her potential boyfriend/ father’s sous chef, passion is everything. Then a fateful meeting with a pair of talented eclectic street musicians in Venice Beach sends Yvonne spiraling down a path that leads to inspiration, heartache, and possibly love.

My first thought on this book was that this was totally a book teenage me would have liked. Yvonne is a black middle-class girl who is learning to bake and loves food. I’ve been reading a lot of books with black girl protagonists from all sort of background and it’s made me realize just how limited the options were back when I was a teen.

One of my biggest pet peeves in YA is what I call the Jerk!Dad, where the Dad is a jerk for no apparent reason. Yvonne’s father manages to straddle the line and I’m glad we are starting to see more nuance in the YA dad department. Yvonne’s father is successful and supportive but he uses pot and work to keep barriers up between him and Yvonne.

Colbert does an amazing job of building the specific world and community her characters live with less than 300 pages.

Check out the audiobook review on AudioFile !

AudioFile’s 2018 Best Young Adult Audiobooks

November 28, 2018      Leave a Comment

It’s that time of year again to share AudioFile Magazine’s 2018 Best Young Adult Audiobooks. Click the links to read the reviews. Visit the Audiofile Ezine to check out the rest of AudioFile Magazine’s 2018 Best Audiobooks.

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Space Opera by Catherynne M. Valente

September 17, 2018      Leave a Comment

⭐⭐⭐⭐

Rating: 4 out of 5.

Release Date: 08/20/18 | Science Fiction | 9 hours 45 minutes | Saga Press

The aliens have arrived— and in order for humanity to prove itself as a sentient species worthy of being welcomed into the greater galaxy, they must compete in an intergalactic singing competition.

Luckily, Earth’s been given a leg up as the welcome committee has already chosen the musical group most likely to place; The long defunct and estranged glitterpunk glamrock band Decibel Jones and The Absolute Zeroes. Now, Decibel Jones (aka Danesh Jalo) and Oort St. Ultraviolet (aka Omar Caliskan ) two middle-aged, washed up former rockstars have to get the band back together, travel across the universe and give a performance that will prevent the total annihilation of all of humanity.

This.Books.Is.Bonkers.

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