Follow your bliss with these romance audiobooks that will take you into late summer and beyond. Find favorite authors and narrators, the themes and tropes we can't stop listening to, and a good dose of summer sunshine.
For pure pleasure, literary themed-stories cannot be beat, and the cherry on top is the combination of author Emily Henry and narrator Julia Whelan. Their newest joint endeavor, GREAT BIG BEAUTIFUL LIFE, is an Earphones Award-winning homage to the power of stories. As two writers vie to win a biography job with a larger-than-life heiress, Whelan digs into the details with different characters, finding drama in all the juicy details.
Grand deceptions are a favorite romance plot, and they're featured in THE LOVE HATERS by another popular duo, author Katherine Center and narrator Patti Murin. Imagine working on a Coast Guard video when you can’t swim. Murin plays up the humor and desperation as videographer Katie navigates a difficult assignment and an unexpected attraction.
Forced-proximity survival stories are a must-listen for many of us, and if you add in second-chance-at-love, Mia Sheridan’s HEART OF THE SUN is guaranteed to give you all the feels in this Earphones Award-winning performance. Narrators André Santana and Annalee Scott build the story—from the history that Tuck and Emily share to the plane crash they survive to the dystopian Earth they face together. Santana packs intensity and longing into his narration of Tuck, while Scott’s mid-range voice is clear and appealing.
Jasmine Guillory’s FLIRTING LESSONS, read by Heidi Franklin, has so many favorite romance themes, listeners won’t be able to resist this opposites-attract contemporary F/F romance. Franklin’s breezy, textured voice introduces Taylor, whose exploits are legendary, and her pact with the more reserved Avery to help her practice her dating skills. Chemistry ensues, and Franklin is a great choice to narrator Guillory’s latest.
Small towns and uncovering a serial killer’s trail feature in Nora Roberts’s latest romantic suspense novel, HIDDEN NATURE. Narrator January LaVoy’s low, liquid voice glides over the words, bringing quiet thrills as listeners meet Sloan and Nash in the small town of Heron’s Rest. As Sloan’s investigation of disappearances yields dangerous leads, her romance with local contractor Nash heats up. This Earphones Award-winning audio is sure to please romantic suspense fans. And, for another small-town romance, this one with a humorous vibe, try DREAM ON, RAMONA RILEY with narration from Gail Shalan, whose throaty voice is very well suited to the characters’ ages and the two young women’s second-chance-at-love story.
Summer can allow us to do some soul searching, and so here are two audiobooks on the theme of figuring out who you are. In SALTY, SPICED, AND A LITTLE BIT NICE, narrator Eunice Wong depicts Ellie Pang’s fresh start bakery endeavor, far away from her family’s influence. Wong’s choices of pitch and pacing tap into Ellie’s struggles toward independence. With FUTBOLISTA, narrator Robb Moreira delivers the rapid-fire bilingual dialogue in English and Spanish as he explores a Texas soccer player’s interest in a fellow male college student. Moreira gives Villa’s main character a realistic, likable persona for listeners to fall for.
These summer-themed romances range from the poignant PIONEER SUMMER to the adventure-driven THESE SUMMER STORMS. PIONEER SUMMER features a translated text and narration from Edoardo Ballerini. It tells the story of two male campers who reunite after twenty years apart. There’s a spare heartbreak to their romance that Ballerini deftly captures in his Earphones Award-winning performance. THESE SUMMER STORMS is a contemporary from two beloved entertainers—author Sarah MacLean and narrator Julia Whelan. Alice joins her estranged family for an unusual inheritance announcement in Rhode Island. Whelan faithfully represents her wariness and the many island characters she will encounter while fulfilling her father’s last wish.
And make time for two dual-narration audiobooks with the “falling for the brother’s best friend” trope—IF ALL ELSE SAILS and PROBLEMATIC SUMMER ROMANCE. IF ALL ELSE SAILS takes place in Virginia, where Josie arrives on her summer vacation to find no family members, only a disgruntled hockey player who needs both nursing and a sailing companion. Narration from Andi Arndt and Patrick Zeller adds to the audio’s slowly revealed layers. PROBLEMATIC SUMMER ROMANCE—narrated by Elizabeth Lamont and Eric Nolan—takes place in Sicily. The narrators highlight the characters’ age difference while selling listeners on the unlikely but oh-so-tempting romance.
