Khristine Hvam does a stellar narration of this young adult epistolary novel featuring a quirky, troubled teen. After Brynn's older brother died from a drug overdose, her grades plummeted, taking her from honors courses to the applied academics classes located in the basement of her high school. When a class assignment requires her to write to a personal hero, she chooses... Read More

Groff's Sunshine State features no amusement park. While each story in this collection is richly told, the subject matter is often dark, tense, dangerous. It seems the state itself is safe for no one--not children or their mothers, a father, or man's best friend. That said, Groff's words and performance make this an irresistible listen. She is warm while matter-of-fact and... Read More

Narrator Soneela Nankani brings a ton of sparkle to this sweet story of friendship, ambition, insecurity, and falling for the wrong twin. In earnestly read diary entries addressed to female movie directors, we learn of high schooler Twinkle Mehra's desire to become a director herself and to finally be noticed by her classmates and the swim star Neil Roy. We also learn of Sahil,... Read More

Buy this audiobook for yourself and for the young people in your life. The stories, expertly read by a cast of fantastic performers, are inspiring, moving, and empowering. Each biography is about two minutes long and introduces a rebel woman from ancient history to modern times. Some are household names (Jane Austen); others will be new to listeners (astronomer Wang Zhenyi).... Read More

Narrator Saskia Maarleveld's way with French, American, and German accents adds to the enjoyment of Ann Mah's audiobook, set among France's Burgundy vineyards. Surprises await Kate, a Californian studying for the Master of Wine exam, when she visits her ancestral French home. While she expected to help with the grape harvest, she also meets a former love and discovers evidence... Read More

Ever-improving precision in engineering has been the key to industrial growth from the start of the Industrial Age to today. Author/narrator Simon Winchester chronicles this progression in a series of profiles. Each section focuses on a single individual, such as Henry Royce of Rolls-Royce and Frank Whittle, who invented the turbojet engine. Winchester's writing style is... Read More

A new dinosaur turns up every week, Steve Brusatte of the University of Edinburgh says. Thus, human knowledge of the giant beast who still exists in smaller avian form needs filling in. Patrick Lawlor's narration injects Brusatte's enthusiasm into the informative writing. Brusatte's timeline updates the dinosaur saga, emphasizing their storylines while mixing in stories of... Read More

It's no surprise that avante-garde filmmaker David Lynch's memoir/biography is far from ordinary. Lynch and his close friend, journalist Kristine McKenna, have compiled a multifaceted look at this singular talent. Lynch delivers his point of view in a slightly scratchy tenor. He sounds honest, amused, and friendly as he recounts moments from his childhood and later life that... Read More

You'd be forgiven for comparing narrator Marin Ireland and author Fredrik Backman to the great hockey tandem Mark Messier and Wayne Gretzky. Like Messier and Gretzky, Ireland and Backman are quite the formidable pair (as was discovered when Ireland narrated Backman's bestseller, BEARTOWN.) Backman's new novel picks up where BEARTOWN left off, and Ireland doesn't miss a beat (or... Read More

Sarah Kendzior narrates her essays from the past several years, political critiques of American labor, power, and injustice, in this powerful audiobook. While the title invokes the American Midwest, and portions of the audiobook are written directly from that perspective, the overall theme of social injustice is not exclusive to that region. Actions often thought to be pillars... Read More

Katie Daniels and Cassidy Price, New York City-based corporate attorneys, meet on a fateful morning following the implosion of Kentucky-transplant Katie's marriage plans. Narrator Allyson Ryan's empathetic performance navigates the women's relationships and sexual experiences as the plot's point of view alternates. Lesbian-identified Cassidy's lower register and somewhat... Read More

Listeners will be disappointed if they are expecting a tense, fast-paced spy novel. Yes, this is an audiobook about a young, female CIA operative charged with spying on the politicians and revolutionaries who are plotting the military coup in Argentina in the mid-1960s. But it's also a beautifully written novel about a young woman who is looking for the strength to accept and... Read More