During this twelfth week of the SYNC season, with thanks to HighBridge Audio and HarperAudio, we get to hear of legendary transformations. Humans have always had a soft spot in their story-loving hearts for characters who undergo changes that are corporeal, spiritual, or something else. This week’s free audiobooks give us a pair of such transformative tales.

Narrator Piper Goodeve conducts us into the world of THE LANTERN’S EMBER, by Colleen Houck, which brings shades of the Legend of Sleepy Hollow and beyond to listeners. Jack guards the portal to the Otherworld, his sentence for making a deal with the devil hundreds of years ago. Along comes the young witch Ember, who manages to slip into that Otherworld without his protection. Goodeve makes this charmed and charming fantasy an excellent choice for families with teens to take along on a camping trip and is sure to spark some original retellings of other legends around an evening campfire.

Brave and bold listeners can then continue their SYNC week listening with Elana K. Arnold’s RED HOOD, in an Earphones Award-winning performance by January LaVoy. There’s blood, there’s a stalkerish classmate turned wolf, there is pleasure, and there are various pains in this Red Riding Hood offspring. Experienced narrator January LaVoy pauses to reflect on this compelling storytelling that's both fresh and legendary:

Can legends change us even as they tell us of monumental changes that happened to others in other times? You might find your beliefs about that altered with this week’s free audiobooks!