New Reviews by Title: U-Z

The third installment of the Hart and Mercy series, narrated by Kacie Rogers, begins with Rosie and her partner, Duckers, inspecting a faulty portal to the mythical Tanria. After they touch a strange smudge in the machine, it further malfunctions. Soon the elusive genius Adam Lee arrives to assess his invention's problems, ultimately leading to Rosie, Adam, Duckers, and his ex... Read More

Narrator Maria Marquis demonstrates her impressive range of accents and emotional nuance in this complex mystery taking listeners from Philadelphia to Tuscany. Julia Pritzker suffers devastating losses; as a child she loses her adoptive mother, and as the story opens, listeners encounter her witnessing the brutal murder of her husband. The plot pivots internationally when... Read More

Barrie Kreinik's narration pulls listeners into the life--and often directly into the mind--of Rachel Nardelli. A college student focusing on journalism, Rachel is struggling. She isn't sure about her major, her friends, her boyfriend, or her future--and she drinks too much, often blacking out. When her old middle school nemesis, Alison Petrucci, is found murdered right after... Read More

Nancy Wu narrates a story of an alternate reality in Japan in which children are created artificially, not by intercourse. Wu brings a measured clarity to Amane's perspective as she and her ex-husband search for love in this unique society. Wu captures both Amane's deep discomfort with her world and the intensity of her private longings. Wu's understated delivery is... Read More

The youthful voice of Shannon Tyo is fitting for Vera, a 10-year-old Korean American girl who resides in a dystopian United States with her complicated family. While Vera presents as a conscientious, anxious, overachieving pre-teen, her Russian Jewish father, Anglo Saxon stepmother, and vociferous half-brother (who loves to expose himself to incoming houseguests) are totally... Read More

Hamilton Clancy masterfully presents this magical Hurricane Katrina story and historical travelogue. Listeners meet 12-year-old Vernon, who is grieving his mother's death and feeling shocked that his dad wants to leave New Orleans despite their home having survived the storm. Then he meets feisty Alisa, whose mom is intending to move to Houston for work. Soon, the youths... Read More

Narrator Mira Sorvino enchants as she portrays Jess Capodimonte Baratta, a good Italian daughter from New Jersey who finds the courage to break free from a life that seems to be happening without her consent. When an unwanted revelation and an unexpected windfall from her beloved Uncle Louie turn Jess's life upside down, she seeks clarity and a fresh start in her family's... Read More

Narrator Sarah Skaer takes listeners on a magical summer sojourn in this new English translation of Kashiwaba's 1975 fantasy. Sent alone to Misty Valley instead of Nagano, where her grandparents live, Lina is taken aback to learn she's expected to work for her keep. Skaer's pleasant lilt conveys the narrative as Lina works in various establishments along what the residents call... Read More

When a nonfiction audiobook is described as "monumental," it can be challenging for listeners. But Courtney B. Vance makes this biography of pioneering Black sociologist W.E.B. Du Bois highly accessible. The work is still long and detailed, but Vance's pace and tone keep it from seeming tedious. He varies his voice to suit the material, especially in denoting irony or when... Read More

Golden Voice Rupert Degas returns to transport listeners to New Zealand and Indonesia in the fourth Yoga Mat mystery. Fans will recognize returning characters, while listeners new to the series will find enough backstory to follow along. Australian secret agent Ric Peters wrestles with the dangers of his job and his need to protect his fiancée, Elaina, a lawyer and yoga... Read More

Despite its off-putting title, this audiobook is worth listening to. Golden Voice Kevin R. Free delivers the urgent tone, informative style, and crisp pacing of this eye-opening work. Free gets Grunwald's sometimes snarky tone--for example, when the author shares his tasting notes on fake meat and other engineered foods. Free also embraces the factual reporting. The text is at... Read More

Three acclaimed podcasters share a collection of wisdom from their own experiences and those of the 118 mostly female luminaries they interviewed. Their stories all involve adversity: self-doubt, oppression, and the challenges of family, workplace, and personal relationships. Drawn from people in diverse fields, the compact quotations fit nicely into 20 types of life... Read More

Part gothic fiction and part domestic thriller, this creepy, compelling listen features Helen Baxendale's and Jamie Glover's excellent narrations. After surviving a nearly fatal accident, Emily and her husband, Freddie, relocate from London to Larkin Lodge, a remote Dartmoor estate. Emily begins to have unsettling experiences while alone, and her husband worries about her... Read More

Narrator Krysta Gonzales adds emotional depth to this moving story about finding the courage to speak up. Fifth grader Daisy Jackson, dubbed "weird, sad, and silent" by two classmates, spends her time alone. After lashing out at her mother's abusive boyfriend, Daisy becomes withdrawn; she "invisiblizes" herself, befriends a stray cat, eats lunch with the school librarian, and... Read More

This series of essays by Tess Sanchez, actor Max Greenfield's wife, is intended to be humorous, but her nasal-tinged, if well-enunciated, narration doesn't mask the privileged tone of its not very relatable personal stories. Greenfield, who wrote and narrates the foreword, offers a more professional audio performance. Sanchez's writing about her life as a casting director who... Read More

Elizabeth Lamont's lively performance transports listeners to the Netherlands in this second-chance romance, which also includes a marriage of convenience. When a workplace relationship goes south, American Dani loses both her job and her boyfriend, and impulsively takes a new position in Amsterdam. There she runs into Wouter, her first love, who lived with Dani's family as an... Read More

Those who love the much-lauded work of Jane Austen need look no further than this audiobook for guidance and companionship. Charles Armstrong is a confident narrator of this exhaustive examination of Austen's novels. His voice is pleasant, and he has an appropriately dignified accent. The pace can build until it gets quite fast, and the tone approaches sounding robotic when... Read More

Ell Potter narrates this YA novel, inspired by the legend of the Zikmund bell in Prague. The Strauss family has been tasked for generations with caring for their sentient city's bell towers in order to contain a great evil that lies sleeping within. When teenager Mina's bell rings 13 times on her patrol, it's up to her to prevent the ensuing destruction. Potter's sophisticated... Read More

Mindy Kennedy and Ryan West perform this emotional small-town romance. Clay has always loved Josie. But when they got married, they never knew the world would be so against them. They faced obstacle after obstacle until Josie's pain was too much to bear. Can time heal wounds as they come clean about past secrets and try a second chance at love? Kennedy's passionate performance... Read More

This audiobook, narrated by Gisela Chípe and André Santana, features best friends Javi and Mari, who find themselves in a complicated situation. Years ago, they made a pact to approve each other's partner, but now Mari is engaged to a man Javi hasn't vetted. What's more, he secretly loves her. As Javi scrambles to stop the wedding, the tension between the pair builds in this... Read More

A trio of narrators embody three celebrity friends who are trying to deal with the pitfalls of fame and fortune while growing up in the public eye. Dominique Salvacion is Miranda, a child movie star who goes from fun-loving party girl to rehab failure. Caroline Hewitt is Germaine, whose celebrity is based on being an heiress to a real estate magnate and who questions her fame... Read More

Ifan Huw Dafydd gives a performance worthy of this emotional and powerful debut, winner of the Swedish book of the year award, the August Prize. Listeners will become attached to Bo, an elderly man who is determined to keep his son from taking his dog, Sixten, now that his wife is in a facility for dementia, leaving him with only part-time caregivers. Journal entries added by... Read More

Joan Baez fans of a certain age will cherish this sweeping collection of poems about her life, her friends, and her sensitive reactions to the world around her. Because this is a personal diary, only the author could have delivered this writing with such arresting impact. Baez's timbre may reveal her stage of life, but it expresses the gravitas you'd expect from one of the... Read More

Octogenarian Eliza Pickney is the matriarch of her vast homestead in the lush South Carolina Low Country, and her plan to preserve the family land in a conservancy disrupts her descendants' expectation of inheritance. The story unfolds in two timelines: Jenna Lamia charmingly narrates Eliza's stories from her early life, while Cassandra Campbell superbly portrays Eliza in her... Read More

Luke Arnold delivers a gritty, charismatic narration of this fourth installment of the Fetch Phillips series. Now retired, Fetch has traded private investigation for running a friend's café in the magical ruins of Sunder City. When Detective Simms, voiced with a memorable reptilian lisp, seeks his assistance in investigating a fellow officer's murder, Fetch declines. However,... Read More

For the second installment in the Philomena McCarthy series, Katy Sobey once again delivers a strong narration, She assumes the voices and accents of characters ranging from an English girl to Eastern-European gangsters, along with posh and not-so-posh Londoners. "Phil" is an officer with the Metropolitan Police whose father is a crime boss. While on patrol she encounters a... Read More

Media powerhouse Barry Diller, at 83, offers an articulate, humble, and utterly honest account of his varied life. Dillard's narration is workmanlike, moving the narrative forward in a somewhat monotonous manner. That unvaried tone sharply contrasts with the fascinating story of a young, not very aggressive personality who nonetheless became highly influential in the... Read More

Kathleen McInerney's narration is gentle and sweet in this adaptation of the novel THE WILD ROBOT into a picture book. Music ranges from bright to apprehensive in this story of Roz, a robot who washes up on an island, learns to live like the animals, and raises a gosling named Brightbill. Tension occurs when Brightbill must migrate and Roz cannot, but McInerney never conveys a... Read More

Melanie Crawley and David Thorpe narrate this increasingly disturbing mystery rife with red herrings. Listeners meet Susanna and Matt, who are grieving over the loss of their infant when they hire Reka, a young Hungarian nanny, to care for their 4-year-old. From the audiobook's opening, an ongoing unease prevails. Crawley's Susanna sounds vulnerable, especially when she begins... Read More

Imogen Church demonstrates her talent for superb characterization and spot-on timing as she delivers this twisty mystery. Reporter Lo Blacklock has left the UK and is now living in New York with her husband and two young sons. When she travels to Switzerland to attend the opening of a luxury hotel, her trip turns out to be the beginning of sinister events that build on... Read More

Saskia Maarleveld skillfully narrates this well-researched historical account. Italy surrendered to the Allies in 1943, and Nazi Germany quickly invaded. Many brave Italian women, hiding in plain sight, secretly delivered messages, weapons, and food to Resistance fighters. The biography focuses on four brave Italian women whose subversive activities included hiding bombs in... Read More

Nancy Kwan, the trailblazing Eurasian actress, dancer, and singer, narrates her life story in an appealing manner. The preface, narrated by her cousin Kevin Kwan sets the tone and provides an overview of the woman who was a 1960s sex symbol in movies and in Broadway productions such as FLOWER DRUM SONG. Kwan tells stories of living internationally and her marriages, the final... Read More

Narrator Mayuri Bhandari introduces Pakistani American Ziya Khan, who is feeling resigned after receiving another rejection of her latest book submission. Out of her desperation comes a wish granted: Aashiq, the physical manifestation of her literary talent, whose purpose is to help her make life changes. Bhandari portrays Ziya in a well-modulated voice with hints of... Read More

Narrators Amanda Ronconi and Teddy Hamilton combine their talents to tell the story of Linney Seaworth, a witch, and Gray Brockhurst, who owns a ghost tour business. On the island Starfall Point in the Great Lakes, Linney and her two sisters are tasked with protecting the island's residents from ghosts. Ronconi narrates the chapters from Linney's point of view, while Hamilton... Read More

Greg Hernandez's talents as a narrator shine in this twisty time-travel thriller. When journalist Ray Burton discovers a collection of items in a trunk that include a note dated 1870, he's thrust into an adventure that spans multiple time periods and countries. Along the way, he encounters other time travelers from vastly different backgrounds. Tension builds as the U.S.... Read More

Micaela Blei's narration of her 2006 experience with a Divine Feminine course is expressive, touching, and humorous. Through "Moth"-style storytelling, she shares how the self-help class transformed her confidence and approach to life, especially in finding love. At the time, Blei loved her work as a third-grade teacher, but her lack of a love life kept her from feeling truly... Read More

In this outstanding guide to all aspects of managing people, an international executive coach and former Microsoft insider explains her approach to becoming all you can be as a developer of people. She narrates her ideas and suggestions with authenticity and confidence. Combined with her accessible thinking and vivid examples, the clarity and compassion in her performance will... Read More

To understand the life of the Zbigniew Brzezinski, one must understand the history of Poland--and not just 20th-century Poland. This idea is a major thesis of this extensive and authoritative biography of the Carter Administration's national security advisor, whose worldview and approach to communism ultimately led to the downfall of the Soviet Union. Michael David Axtell... Read More