Written in the Stars (audiobook review)

*From my Goodreads review.* Opposites attract in this delightful fake relationship romance set on the streets of Seattle! Author Alexandria Bellefleur and narrator Lauren Sweet are perfectly paired in this fun, contemporary romance, drawing out both the characters’ and story’s humor, heart, and insecurities about love. Elle Jones is an eternal optimist about romance. Sure, the dates she’s gone on lately have not ended well. Nevertheless, she agrees to a blind date with her astrology “Oh My Stars” coworker’s sister, Darcy. However, Darcy is barely tolerating the series of dates her brother has set her up on. After being burned by her fiancée, she’s sworn off love, preferring to immerse herself in work and curl up with episodes of a favorite soap opera. Both of their families are simultaneously well-meaning and insensitive to their needs. Supporting characters, particularly their mothers, are really well-characterized by Sweet, adding another level of realism to Elle’s and Darcy’s interactions and behaviors. In a bid to get everyone off their backs, the two women agree to fake date until New Year’s Eve. Sweet’s performance draws out the nuances of the women’s personalities, essential on this HEA journey, as they grapple with their growing attraction and baggage. Will they make it beyond New Year’s? I highly recommend you listen and find out for yourself! This review is based on an advance listener copy obtained from the publisher via Netgalley. Written in the Stars Author: Alexandria Bellefleur Narrator: Lauren Sweet HarperAudio Publication Date: November 10, 2020

2018 Audie Award Winners

Image via Audio Publishers Association

 

On May 31st, the Audio Publishers Association revealed its selection of award-winning audiobook productions from the past year at its annual celebration. The 2018 Audie Award Winners span numerous categories, including Audiobook of the Year, individual and group performances, marketing, production, and various genres. 

Click HERE for a full list of finalists in each category.

 

 

AUDIOBOOK OF THE YEAR
Lincoln in the Bardo by George Saunders
Narrated by Nick Offerman, David Sedaris, George Saunders, and a full cast
Random House Audio

AUDIO DRAMA
Brother Francis: The Barefoot Saint of Assisi by Paul McCusker
Read by Joseph Timms, Owen Teale, and Geoffrey Palmer, et al.
Augustine Institute

AUTOBIOGRAPHY/MEMOIR
Born to Run by Bruce Springsteen
Narrated by Bruce Springsteen
Simon & Schuster Audio

BEST FEMALE NARRATOR
The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas
Narrated by Bahni Turpin
HarperAudio

BEST MALE NARRATOR
Born a Crime: Stories From a South African Childhood by Trevor Noah
Narrated by Trevor Noah
Audible Studios

BUSINESS/PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT
Peak Performance by Brad Stullberg and Steve Magness
Narrated by Christopher Lane
Brilliance Publishing

EROTICA
Claim & Protect by Rhenna Morgan
Narrated by John Lane
Harlequin Audio

EXCELLENCE IN DESIGN
In Death Limited Collector’s Edition by J.D. Robb
Design by Carissa Dreese
Brilliance Publishing

EXCELLENCE IN MARKETING
Transform Your Commute Campaign
Penguin Random House Audio

EXCELLENCE IN PRODUCTION
Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle and Stephen Fry
Narrated by Stephen Fry
Audible Studios

FANTASY
The Strange Case of the Alchemist’s Daughter by Theodora Goss
Narrated by Kate Reading
Simon & Schuster Audio

FICTION
Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman
Narrated by Cathleen McCarron
Penguin Audio

HISTORY/BIOGRAPHY
Loving Vs. Virginia by Patricia Hruby Powell
Narrated by Adenrele Ojo and MacLeod Andrews
Dreamscape Media

HUMOR
Carpet Diem: Or…How to Save the World by Accident by Justin Lee Anderson
Narrated by by Matthew Lloyd Davies, published by Tantor Audio, a division of Recorded Books

INSPIRATIONAL/FAITH-BASED FICTION
Catching the Wind by Melanie Dobson
Narrated by Nancy Peterson
Two Words Publishing

INSPIRATIONAL/FAITH-BASED NON-FICTION
Fire Road: The Napalm Girl’s Journey Through the Horrors of War to Faith, Forgiveness, and Peace by Kim Phuc Phan Thi
Narrated by Emily Woo Zeller
HighBridge Audio, a division of Recorded Books

LITERARY FICTION & CLASSICS
House of Names by Colm Toibin
Narrated by Juliet Stevenson, et al.
Simon & Schuster Audio

MIDDLE GRADE
See You in the Cosmos by Jack Cheng
Narrated by Kivlighan de Montebello, Brittany Pressley, Michael Crouch, et al.
Listening Library

MULTI-VOICED PERFORMANCE
Restart by Gordon Korman
Narrated by Jonathan Todd Ross, Laura Knight Keating, Ramon de Ocampo, et al.
Recorded Books

MYSTERY
The Girl Who Takes An Eye for An Eye by David Lagercrantz
Narrated by Simon Vance
Random House Audio

NARRATION BY THE AUTHOR OR AUTHORS
Norse Mythology by Neil Gaiman
Narrated by Neil Gaiman
HarperAudio

NON-FICTION
American Wolf: A True Story of Survival and Obsession in the West by Nate Blakeslee
Narrated by Mark Bramhall
Random House Audio

ORIGINAL WORK
Romeo and Juliet: A Novel by David Hewson
Narrated by by Richard Armitage
Audible Studios

PARANORMAL
Curse on the Land: SoulWood, Book 2 by Faith Hunter
Narrated by Khristine Hvam
Audible Studios

ROMANCE
The Duchess Deal by Tessa Dare
Narrated by by Mary Jane Wells
HarperAudio

SCIENCE FICTION
Provenance by Ann Leckie
Narrated by Adjoa Andoh
Hachette Audio

SHORT STORIES/COLLECTIONS
The Language of Thorns: Midnight Tales and Dangerous Magic by Leigh Bardugo
Narrated by by Lauren Fortgang
Audible Studios

THRILLER/SUSPENSE
The Fourth Monkey by J.D. Barker
Narrated by Edoardo Ballerini and Graham Winton
Recorded Books

YOUNG ADULT
The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas
Narrated by by Bahni Turpin
HarperAudio

YOUNG LISTENERS (UP TO AGE 8)
Trombone Shorty by Troy “Trombone Shorty” Andrews
Narrated by Dion Graham
Live Oak Media

Buffering by Hannah Hart – audiobook review

Buffering is that time you spend waiting for the pixels of your life to crystallize into a clearer picture; it’s a time of reflection, a time of pause, a time for regaining your composure or readjusting your course.

Hannah Hart, host of “My Drunk Kitchen” on YouTube and author of My Drunk Kitchen: A Guide to Eating, Drinking, and Going with Your Gut (2014), shares her life experiences in her new memoir, Buffering: Unshared Tales of a Life Fully Loaded. Hart infuses her memoir with the warmth and humor that endears her to fans. The author shares her experiences of growing up in California with a fractured family; her struggles with sexuality, self-harm, faith, and fame; and more. Her conversational style of writing made me feel like she was riding in the passenger seat of my car as I commuted. All of the exclamation points, italics, and caps found in the text are brought to life as she reads.

Readers and listeners who have never watched her videos or read her previous book, will still find connection through the trials and triumphs of Hart’s life.

Buffering: Unshared Tales of a Life Fully Loaded
Hannah Hart
Produced by HarperCollins
Length: 5 hours, 59 minutes
ISBN-10: 1441719202
ISBN-13: 978-1441719201
Released: October 2016

Available as an audiobook from Amazon, Audible, Barnes & Noble, and Overdrive (check your local public library for availability in both eAudio and CD), as well as many other retailers.

Join the discussion on Goodreads!

***Quotes come minus pagination because I do not have a text copy of the book. Remember rewinding a cassette or CD in an attempt to write down song lyrics? Yep, this was just like that.***

June is Audiobook Month!

 

This month publishers and book supporters shines a spotlight on LGBT+ and on Audiobooks. My ears are tuned into audiobooks five days a week. If I could, I’d have more than one set of ears and oodles of hours in a day so that I could share a broader selection of reviews. As a result, whenever I pick up a book that sounds interesting, I automatically wonder: Is there an audiobook version of this?

Thankfully, you can acquire LGBT+ audiobooks through online sellers such as Audible/Amazon, Scribd, Barnes & Noble, and Audiobooks.com, etc. Depending on your local public library, you can borrow audiobooks through Overdrive, Hoopla, and One Click Digital, as well as on CD. You can also find a selection via your local public library (CD and digital editions). I hope that not only will production increase so that more titles will be available in audio formats, but that they will be more widely available at libraries. 

Feel free to share LGBT+ audiobooks you’ve read and enjoyed, in the comment section below!

You can read more about this month’s celebration of auditory pleasures via the links below. I’ll add to the lists as I find more sources (:

General Postings celebrating Audiobook Month 2016

• Audio Publishers Association
• Unabridged Access
• The Booklist Reader
• Books on Tape
• HuffPost Books

LGBT+ (Publishers who produce LGBT+ audiobooks) – It’s not a complete listing, by any means. If you know of any audiobook production companies that release LGBT+ titles that are missing from this list, let me know in the comment section. Thank you!

• Dog Ear Audio
• Macmillan Audio
• Brilliance Audio
• HarperAudio
• Recorded Books
• Audible
• HighBridge, a division of Recorded Books
• Open Book Audio
• Bella Books
• Bold Strokes Books

 Postings about LGBT+ audiobooks (Please let me know in the comments if you’ve read any postings on this topic)

• Read Proud, Listen Proud
• The Queer Ear (Lambda only posted one article, but I’m hoping they’ll revive this as a regular column. I’d be happy to step in!)
• Beacon Broadside
• The Lesbian Romantic Podcast

***Did you know Lin-Manuel Miranda narrates Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe by Benjamin Alire Sáenz ?!!! I used Amazon as a link so that you can listen to a sample.***

 

 

 

 

 

 

Saving Alex – audiobook review

 

Saving Alex
Authors: Alex Cooper with Joanna Brooks
Narrator: Luci Christian Bell
Produced by HarperAudio
March 2016
Length: 8 hours, 48 minutes

“You can be here three months or three years…” Johnny emphasized upon Alex’s arrival at the unlicensed residential treatment center. She would hear this same speech reiterated many times over the course of the next eight months. And so began her harrowing experience…

Saving Alex is the powerful memoir of Alex Cooper, a young woman who endured conversion therapy in St. George, Utah. Alex grew up in a devout Mormon family in Southern California. Although she had anticipated a less than warm reception when she came out as a lesbian to her parents at the age of 15, she was shocked when her parents demanded she leave immediately. After a few weeks in exile at the home of the local Mormon congregation’s bishop, she is whisked away to St. George, Utah, to stay with her grandparents. Instead, her parents deposited her at an unlicensed “residential treatment program”, led by Johnny and Tiana Siale, a married couple in the local Mormon community. It is here that she spent eight arduous months struggling to retain her identity and sanity in the face of aggressive homophobia. Her journey led her to challenge (and win) the courts for the right to protection under Utah law as an openly gay teenager.

Alex also invites the reader/listener to know her as a complete person, rather than hide a trait that may paint her as less than perfect. As a child and a teenager, she recalled feeling restless and how she sometimes clashed with her parents. Just as she acknowledged the parts that make her whole, so did she look (and continues to look) for the humanity in her parents and the community that refused to see her or hear her.

Luci Christian Bell narrates this intimate, moving account with sensitivity and respect. Her youthful voice transports the listener inside the account, revealing Alex’s uncertainty, pain, and loneliness, as well as highlighting moments of hope and joy. She delivers a nuanced performance as the stand-in narrator for Alex Cooper’s memoir.

It’s hard not to feel your blood boil as you hear Luci give voice to the demeaning treatment that the couple subjected Alex to in an attempt to break her down and “cure her”.  Tiana’s behavior seemed more insidious and complex as she vacillated between comforter and victimizer: hatching new punishments, such as demanding that Alex face a wall for weeks with a backpack full of rocks on her back, and calling Alex by the sugary nickname “Alexi” and confiding her fears about her husband’s violent temper.

I cringed every time that Luci, speaking as Tiana and Johnny, called Alex by a cutesy nickname. Luci’s delivery of their manipulative affection made my skin crawl. The couple seemed to believe that they acted in Alex’s best interest. This is especially evident at the end of the book when they are angered by Alex and her legal defense. Luci’s voice seamlessly transitions from affectionate and chiding to explosive and combative.

I highly recommend this audiobook. The production quality is fantastic and Luci excels at the helm. The only times I pressed pause was to go to work and sleep.  For a woman who once felt like her voice fell upon deaf ears, Alex  now has the opportunity to be heard by countless ears.  I hope that by sharing her experiences more laws will pass outlawing “conversion therapy”.

Additional Reading

 Human Rights Commission: Policy and Position Statements on Conversion Therapy 

Read the White House’s response to the We the People petition to ban conversion therapy in all 50 States.  https://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2015/04/08/petition-response-conversion-therapy