Skip to main content

December 2, 2019 - January 6, 2020

This contest period's winners were Judy C. from Colorado Springs, CO and Harriet G. from Huntington, CA, who each received an audiobook copy of Michael Crighton and Daniel H. Wilson's THE ANDROMEDA EVOLUTION, read by Julia Whelan, and Bernard Cornwell's SWORD OF KINGS, read by Matt Bates.

Kristine
The Library of Lost & Found by Phaedra Patrick
Narrator Name: Imogen Church

Rating the Audio Performance
5
One of my favorite narrators! Beautiful voice but also so many different voices for all the characters. Made me feel like I was within the story.
Rating the Book's Content/Storyline
5
Loved this book! Reminded me that there are very good people still in the world! And perfect timing for this sentiment during the holiday season!

Tessa
Nine Perfect Strangers by Liane Moriarty
Narrator Name: Caroline Lee

Rating the Audio Performance
5
Caroline Lee sets a good pace and is up to the task of voicing a wide range of characters.
Rating the Book's Content/Storyline
3
2.5 stars. It’s not Moriarty’s best work, in my humble opinion. On the one hand I really enjoyed some of these guests’ stories. On the other hand, I didn’t really like any of these characters, and was completely irritated by Masha’s psychobabble new-age philosophy on fixing what was wrong with them. I also didn’t like the ending, with its fast-forward to weeks or years later in order to catch up on what happened.

Ricki
The Wedding Party by Jasmine Guillory
Narrator Name: Janina Edwards

Rating the Audio Performance
4
Edwards's voice was very believable for both characters.
Rating the Book's Content/Storyline
4
Very fun romance with realistic and likeable characters.

John
Dangerous Alliance by Jennieke Cohen
Narrator Name: Morag Sims

Rating the Audio Performance
5
Morag Sims brings out every witty nuance!
Rating the Book's Content/Storyline
5
Terrible accidents keep happening, and only the strong will survive!

Carolyn
The Girl From Berlin by Ronald H. Balson
Narrator Name: Fred Berman

Rating the Audio Performance
4
This book is part of a series, all read by the same narrator, which I have enjoyed!
Rating the Book's Content/Storyline
4
I love all the twists and storylines Balson uses in his series.

Judy
The Orphan's Tale by Pam Jenoff
Narrator Name: Jennifer Wydra and Kyla Garcia

Rating the Audio Performance
5
For some inexplicable reason, I typically prefer male narrators for the audiobooks that I listen to while driving to and from work. Jennifer and Kyla were a total exception to this usual preference and read the book in a compelling way.
Rating the Book's Content/Storyline
5
I found myself not wanting to get out of the car when I reached my destination because I was so wrapped up in the story and its characters.

Francisca
Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman
Narrator Name: Cathleen McCarron

Rating the Audio Performance
5
Cathleen McCarron does an excellent job of performing the audiobook. I loved her Scottish brogue for Raymond, and the clipped, sometimes confused, tone she used for Eleanor. And her voice for Mummy just gave me chills.
Rating the Book's Content/Storyline
5
What a marvelous character-driven novel! I loved Eleanor as much as I was frustrated by her. Her conversations with Mummy gave us clues to the trauma in her past that resulted in the fragile woman she is when we first meet her. I love the way the friendship between Raymond and Eleanor develops; how he introduces her to possibilities, but also accepts her at face value. Honeyman gives us some wonderful supporting characters as well; even if their scenes are small, they are fully developed and add to the richness of the novel. A fantastic debut novel!

Richard N B
November Road by Lou Berney
Narrator Name: Jonathan McClain

Rating the Audio Performance
5
I listened to the audio which was marvelously performed by Jonathan McClain. Fast-paced delivery and good character voices.
Rating the Book's Content/Storyline
4
Frank Guidry is on the run from the mob because he’s figured out his boss’s role in the JFK assassination. Charlotte Roy is running from an unhappy marriage, taking her two girls to a new life. When they meet in New Mexico, Guidry sees the perfect disguise and turns on the charm to convince Charlotte that he can help her. It’s a fast-paced thriller. I found it riveting, from beginning to end.

Laura
This Tender Land by William Kent Krueger
Narrator Name: Scott Brick

Rating the Audio Performance
4
The tone of the narrator matched the time period and mood of this story. I have listened to other books by this narrator.
Rating the Book's Content/Storyline
5
The storyline is a newer one for me. I did not know much about the struggles people went through in this time period of our nation. I fell in love with Odie, Emmy, Mose and Albert and their journey toward family. This is my January book club pick.

Tessa
The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas
Narrator Name: Bahni Turpin

Rating the Audio Performance
5
Bahni Turpin does a superb job narrating the audio. She really shows the range of Starr’s emotions as the events unfold. I also liked the way she interpreted Maverick and Lisa (Starr’s parents), as well as her boyfriend, Chris. It’s an emotionally-charged story, but Turpin never over-acted the story. Brava.
Rating the Book's Content/Storyline
4
Sixteen-year-old Starr Carter is the narrator of this contemporary novel that deals with some major social issues facing America. I love the way that Thomas writes these characters. The realities of living in an urban neighborhood that is stressed by unemployment, gangs, poverty, drug use and broken families are all present. Thomas gives Starr a relatively stable home environment: a family-owned house, neighbors who look out for one another, and, most importantly, two parents who love one another, work hard, and set a good example for their children. The novel raises more questions than it gives solutions. But these are issues than need examining, and this is a great way to start the conversation.

Harriett
Lionheart by Sharon Kay Penman
Narrator Name: Emily Gray

Rating the Audio Performance
5
Ms. Gray's ability to create so many and varied character voices is amazing. She does them with the dialect of Plantangenet, French and Lingua Romana. Enviable.
Rating the Book's Content/Storyline
5
Having first been enthralled with Ms. Penman's first book, THE SUNNE IN SPLENDOUR, which I purchased in a drugstore in St. Albans, England, decades ago, I have devoured her historical fiction like a starving shark. This one in the series tells the tale of Richard the Lionheart, John, Eleanor after the death of Henry II and his exploits into the Holy Land. Though fiction, the reader gets a remarkable amount of history in a compelling style.

Anna Servati
Pretty Girls by Karin Slaughter
Narrator Name: Kathleen Early

Rating the Audio Performance
4
As disturbing as this was, I could not stop listening. The audio performance was excellent. At first I thought it was narrated by two people. She did an excellent job going back and forth between characters.
Rating the Book's Content/Storyline
4
I could visualize some of the scenes which was good and bad - good because it was so well written and bad at times because of the disturbing actions. It had lots of twists and turns, which I like.

Francisca
Pachinko by Min Jin Lee
Narrator Name: Allison Hiroto

Rating the Audio Performance
4
Allison Hiroto goes a very good job narrating the audiobook. She has a lot of characters to deal with but was able to give them sufficiently unique voices so as I was not confused. I do wish the text version had a family tree, however.
Rating the Book's Content/Storyline
4
This is an epic work of historical fiction that follows four generations of one Korean family living in Japan, beginning in 1910 and ending in 1989. I was quickly drawn into the story and eagerly followed Sunja’s story, but I did get a little bored with the repetition towards the end. Still, I was engaged and invested in these characters’ stories, and the setting and timeframe gave me some insight into a culture about which I know little.

Tessa
The Swiss Family Robinson by Johann David Wyss
Narrator Name: Frederick Davidson

Rating the Audio Performance
2
Frederick Davidson has clear diction and he sets a decent pace, but his tone of voice makes the father/narrator sound even more superior than Wyss has written him (if that’s even possible). Also, this edition is one that has the narrator referring to the only woman in the party as “the Mother” without any name or even a hint at a personal connection, which just irritated me no end.
Rating the Book's Content/Storyline
3
Originally published in 1812, this is a classic adventure tale of a mother, father and four sons who are shipwrecked on an unnamed (and apparently uncharted) tropical island in the South Seas. I had never read the book, though I had seen the Disney movie back in the ‘60s. My adult self recognizes the glaringly implausible (and, frankly, impossible) scenarios, but the adventure still captures the imagination.

Sherri
Hide by Lisa Gardner
Narrator Name: Maggie-Meg Reed

Rating the Audio Performance
5
Well done - kept me interested and able to follow most of the characters.
Rating the Book's Content/Storyline
4
Suspense novel with a complicated plot that kept my interest. Annabelle Granger is trying to solve the mystery of why her family was always on the run, always moving. After the death of her parents, she's on her own until to figure out the "why" and try to end her life of running. Along the way, she discover there might be a link to the recent find of 6 young girls buried on a psych hospital long closed. Language and pedophilia a bit hard to stomach, but mostly a relevant part of the plot.

Mary Pat
Assassin’s Apprentice: The Farseer's Trilogy, Book 1 by Robin Hobb
Narrator Name: Paul Boehmer

Rating the Audio Performance
5
The narrator makes it clear who is speaking.
Rating the Book's Content/Storyline
5
Both my daughter and I enjoyed the book, which is the first of a terrific series.