Audiobooks to Help You Celebrate Pride Month: Fiction, Non-Fiction, and Listens for Littles

This year, for Pride Month, some areas are easing back into normal life while other places are still in lockdown. So if you’re looking for a safe way to celebrate this month, why not pick up a new LGBTQIA+ audiobook! Keep reading to see some of the best listens to press play on for Pride or check out our full lists by clicking the applicable link: The Best LGBTQ+ Fiction, The Best LGBTQ+ Non-Fiction, LGBTQ+ Must-Listens for Kids and Teens.


Fiction

Detransition, Baby by Torrey Peters, narrated by Renata Friedman

Publisher Summary:

Reese almost had it all: a loving relationship with Amy, an apartment in New York City, a job she didn’t hate. She had scraped together what previous generations of trans women could only dream of: a life of mundane, bourgeois comforts. The only thing missing was a child. But then her girlfriend, Amy, detransitioned and became Ames, and everything fell apart. Now Reese is caught in a self-destructive pattern: avoiding her loneliness by sleeping with married men.

Ames isn’t happy either. He thought detransitioning to live as a man would make life easier, but that decision cost him his relationship with Reese—and losing her meant losing his only family. Even though their romance is over, he longs to find a way back to her. When Ames’s boss and lover, Katrina, reveals that she’s pregnant with his baby—and that she’s not sure whether she wants to keep it—Ames wonders if this is the chance he’s been waiting for. Could the three of them form some kind of unconventional family—and raise the baby together?

This provocative debut is about what happens at the emotional, messy, vulnerable corners of womanhood that platitudes and good intentions can’t reach. Torrey Peters brilliantly and fearlessly navigates the most dangerous taboos around gender, sex, and relationships, gifting us a thrillingly original, witty, and deeply moving novel.

Read more and sample the audio →


On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous by Ocean Vuong, narrated by Ocean Vuong

Publisher Summary:

On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous is a letter from a son to a mother who cannot read. Written when the speaker, Little Dog, is in his late twenties, the letter unearths a family’s history that began before he was born—a history whose epicenter is rooted in Vietnam—and serves as a doorway into parts of his life his mother has never known, all of it leading to an unforgettable revelation. At once a witness to the fraught yet undeniable love between a single mother and her son, it is also a brutally honest exploration of race, class, and masculinity. Asking questions central to our American moment, immersed as we are in addiction, violence, and trauma, but undergirded by compassion and tenderness, On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous is as much about the power of telling one’s own story as it is about the obliterating silence of not being heard.

With stunning urgency and grace, Ocean Vuong writes of people caught between disparate worlds, and asks how we heal and rescue one another without forsaking who we are. The question of how to survive, and how to make of it a kind of joy, powers the most important debut novel of many years.

Read more and sample the audio →


Red, White & Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston, narrated by Ramon De Ocampo

Publisher Summary:

When his mother became President, Alex Claremont-Diaz was promptly cast as the American equivalent of a young royal. Handsome, charismatic, genius-his image is pure millennial-marketing gold for the White House. There’s only one problem: Alex has a beef with the actual prince, Henry, across the pond. And when the tabloids get hold of a photo involving an Alex-Henry altercation, U.S./British relations take a turn for the worse.

Heads of family, state, and other handlers devise a plan for damage control: staging a truce between the two rivals. What at first begins as a fake, Instragramable friendship grows deeper, and more dangerous, than either Alex or Henry could have imagined. Soon Alex finds himself hurtling into a secret romance with a surprisingly unstuffy Henry that could derail the campaign and upend two nations and begs the question: Can love save the world after all? Where do we find the courage, and the power, to be the people we are meant to be? And how can we learn to let our true colors shine through? Casey McQuiston’s Red, White & Royal Blue proves: true love isn’t always diplomatic.

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Gideon the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir, narrated by Moira Quirk

Publisher Summary:

Tamsyn Muir’s Gideon the Ninth unveils a solar system of swordplay, cut-throat politics, and lesbian necromancers. Her characters leap off the page, as skillfully animated as arcane revenants. The result is a heart-pounding epic science fantasy.

Brought up by unfriendly, ossifying nuns, ancient retainers, and countless skeletons, Gideon is ready to abandon a life of servitude and an afterlife as a reanimated corpse. She packs up her sword, her shoes, and her dirty magazines, and prepares to launch her daring escape. But her childhood nemesis won’t set her free without a service. Harrowhark Nonagesimus, Reverend Daughter of the Ninth House and bone witch extraordinaire, has been summoned into action. The Emperor has invited the heirs to each of his loyal Houses to a deadly trial of wits and skill. If Harrowhark succeeds she will be become an immortal, all-powerful servant of the Resurrection, but no necromancer can ascend without their cavalier. Without Gideon’s sword, Harrow will fail, and the Ninth House will die. Of course, some things are better left dead

Read more and sample the audio →


Non-Fiction

The Pink Line by Mark Gevisser, narrated by Vikas Adam, Mark Gevisser

Publisher Summary:

More than five years in the making, Mark Gevisser’s The Pink Line: Journeys Across the World’s Queer Frontiers is a globetrotting exploration of how the human rights frontier around sexual orientation and gender identity has come to divide—and describe—the world in an entirely new way over the first two decades of the twenty-first century. No social movement has brought change so quickly and with such dramatically mixed results. While same-sex marriage and gender transition is celebrated in some parts of the world, laws are being strengthened to criminalize homosexuality and gender nonconformity in others. A new Pink Line, Gevisser argues, has been drawn across the world, and he takes readers to its frontiers.

In between sharp analytical chapters about culture wars, folklore, gender ideology, and geopolitics, Gevisser provides sensitive and sometimes startling profiles of the queer folk he’s encountered on the Pink Line’s frontiers across nine countries. They include a trans Malawian refugee granted asylum in South Africa and a gay Ugandan refugee stuck in Nairobi; a lesbian couple who started a gay café in Cairo after the Arab Spring, a trans woman fighting for custody of her child in Moscow, and a community of kothis—“women’s hearts in men’s bodies”—who run a temple in an Indian fishing village.

Eye-opening, moving, and crafted with expert research, compelling narrative, and unprecedented scope, The Pink Line is a monumental—and vital—journey through the border posts of the world’s new LGBTQ+ frontiers.

Read more and sample the audio →


The Other Mothers by Jennifer Berney, narrated by Xe Sands

Publisher Summary:

Jenn Berney was one of those people who knew she was destined for motherhood-it wasn’t a question of if, but when. So when she and her wife Kelly decided to start building their family, they took the next logical step: they went to a fertility clinic. But they soon found themselves entrenched in a medical establishment that didn’t know what to do with people like them. With no man factoring into their relationship, doctors were at best embarrassed and at worst disparaging of the couple.

Soon Jenn found herself stepping outside of the system determined to disregard her. Looking into the history of fertility and the LGBTQ+ community, she saw echoes of her own struggle. For decades queer people have defied the patriarchy and redefined the nuclear family-and Jenn was walking in their footsteps.

Through the ups-and-downs of her own journey, Jenn reflects on a turbulent past that has led her to this point and a bright future worth fighting for. With clarity, determination, and hope, The Other Mothers gives us a wonderful glimpse into the many ways we can become family

Read more and sample the audio →


The Bold World by Jodie Patterson, narrated by Jodie Patterson

Publisher Summary:

In 2009, Jodie Patterson, mother of five and beauty entrepreneur, has her world turned upside down when her determined toddler, Penelope, reveals, “Mama, I’m not a girl. I am a boy.” The Pattersons are a tribe of unapologetic Black matriarchs, scholars, financiers, Southern activists, artists, musicians, and disruptors, but with Penelope’s revelation, Jodie realizes her existing definition of family isn’t wide enough for her child’s needs.
 
In The Bold World, we witness Patterson reshaping her own attitudes, beliefs, and biases, learning from her children, and a whole new community, how to meet the needs of her transgender son. In doing so, she opens the minds of those who raised and fortified her, all the while challenging cultural norms and gender expectations. Patterson finds that the fight for racial equality in which her ancestors were so prominent helped pave the way for the current gender revolution.
 
From Georgia to South Carolina, Ghana to Brooklyn, Patterson learns to remove the division between me and you, us and them, straight and queer—and she reminds us to celebrate her uncle Gil Scott Heron’s prophecy that the revolution will not be televised. It will happen deeply, unequivocally, inside each and every one of us. Transition, we learn, doesn’t just belong to the transgender person. Transition, for the sake of knowing more and becoming more, is the responsibility of and gift to all.

Read more and sample the audio →


How We Fight For Our Lives by Saeed Jones, narrated by Saeed Jones

Publisher Summary:

Haunted and haunting, How We Fight for Our Lives is a stunning coming-of-age memoir about a young, black, gay man from the South as he fights to carve out a place for himself, within his family, within his country, within his own hopes, desires, and fears. Through a series of vignettes that chart a course across the American landscape, Jones draws readers into his boyhood and adolescence—into tumultuous relationships with his family, into passing flings with lovers, friends, and strangers. Each piece builds into a larger examination of race and queerness, power and vulnerability, love and grief: a portrait of what we all do for one another—and to one another—as we fight to become ourselves.

An award-winning poet, Jones has developed a style that’s as beautiful as it is powerful—a voice that’s by turns a river, a blues, and a nightscape set ablaze. How We Fight for Our Lives is a one-of-a-kind memoir and a book that cements Saeed Jones as an essential writer for our time.

Read more and sample the audio →


Kids and Teens

She’s Too Pretty to Burn by Wendy Heard, narrated by Frankie CorzoBailey CarrStephen Dexter

Publisher Summary:

The summer is winding down in San Diego. Veronica is bored, caustically charismatic, and uninspired in her photography. Nico is insatiable, subversive, and obsessed with chaotic performance art. They’re artists first, best friends second. But that was before Mick. Delicate, lonely, magnetic Mick: the perfect subject, and Veronica’s dream girl. The days are long and hot—full of adventure—and soon they are falling in love. Falling so hard, they never imagine what comes next. One fire. Two murders. Three drowning bodies. One suspect… one stalker. This is a summer they won’t survive. Inspired by The Picture of Dorian Gray, this sexy psychological thriller explores the intersections of love, art, danger, and power.

Read more and sample the audio →


Baby & Solo by Lisabeth Posthuma, narrated by Nick Walther

Publisher Summary:

Seventeen-year-old Joel Teague has a new prescription from his therapist: a part-time job, the first step toward the elusive Normal life he’s been so desperate to live ever since The Bad Thing happened. Lucky for Joel, ROYO Video is hiring. It’s the perfect fresh start-he even gets a new name. Dubbed “Solo” after his favorite Star Wars character, Joel works his way up the not-so-corporate ladder without anyone suspecting What Was Wrong With Him. That is, until he befriends Nicole “Baby” Palmer, a smart-mouthed coworker with a chip on her shoulder about… well, everything, and the two quickly develop the kind of friendship movie montages are made of. However, when Joel’s past inevitably catches up with him, he’s forced to choose between preserving his new blank slate persona and coming clean-and either way, he risks losing the first real friend he’s ever had. Set in a pop-culture-rich 1990s, this remarkable story tackles challenging and timely themes with huge doses of wit, power, and heart.

Read more and sample the audio →


You Should See Me in a Crown by Leah Johnson, narrated by Alaska Jackson

Publisher Summary:

Liz Lighty has always believed she’s too black, too poor, too awkward to shine in her small, rich, prom-obsessed midwestern town. But it’s okay—Liz has a plan that will get her out of Campbell, Indiana, forever: attend the uber-elite Pennington College, play in their world-famous orchestra, and become a doctor.
But when the financial aid she was counting on unexpectedly falls through, Liz’s plans come crashing down… until she’s reminded of her school’s scholarship for prom king and queen. There’s nothing Liz wants to do less than endure a gauntlet of social media trolls, catty competitors, and humiliating public events, but despite her devastating fear of the spotlight she’s willing to do whatever it takes to get to Pennington. The only thing that makes it halfway bearable is the new girl in school, Mack. She’s smart, funny, and just as much of an outsider as Liz. But Mack is also in the running for queen. Will falling for the competition keep Liz from her dreams… or make them come true?

Read more and sample the audio →


Between Perfect & Real by Ray Stoeve, narrated by Mw Cartozian Wilson

Publisher Summary:

Dean Foster knows he’s a trans guy. He’s watched enough YouTube videos and done enough questioning to be sure. But everyone at his high school thinks he’s a lesbian—including his girlfriend Zoe, and his theater director, who just cast him as a “nontraditional” Romeo. He wonders if maybe it would be easier to wait until college to come out. But as he plays Romeo every day in rehearsals, Dean realizes he wants everyone to see him as he really is now—not just on the stage, but everywhere in his life. Dean knows what he needs to do. Can playing a role help Dean be his true self?

Read more and sample the audio →


Related Articles

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• 13 #OwnVoices Audiobooks to Diversify Your Shelf

• Interview with ‘Soar, Adam, Soar’ author, Rick Prashaw and narrator, John Dickhout


New to Audiobooks.com? Get your first book free, PLUS a bonus book from our VIP selection when you sign up for our one-month free trial. Digital audiobooks make audible stories come to life when you’re commuting, working out, cleaning, cooking, and more! Listening is easy with our top-rated free audiobook apps for iOS and Android, which let you download & listen to bestselling audiobooks on the go, wherever you are. Click here to get your free audiobooks!

Staff Pick: The Lost Village by Camilla Sten

TitleThe Lost Village

AuthorCamilla Sten

NarratorAngela Dawe

Scary movies are pretty much all I watch these days from paranormal to slasher and everything in between, they offer a much-needed escape from reality. Watching these freaky flicks while sitting safe and cozy inside really makes you thankful that you’re not dealing with a murderous man in a mask or an angry spirit looking for its revenge.

So, with that in mind, it’s not surprising that when The Lost Village by Camilla Sten popped up in my recommended listens and I saw that it was touted as Blair Witch Project meets Midsommar, hello?? I didn’t even hesitate to pick this one up! These comparisons really do hold up too! The Lost Village had the same uneasy found footage style of The Blair Witch Project while inserting the story of a mysterious secluded Scandinavian village a la Midsommar.

This unputdownable listen follows Alice Lindstedt and her group of friends as they travel to a remote village where almost 900 of its residents vanished back in 1959 leaving nothing in their wake but an abandoned newborn and woman stoned to death in the town square. Alice and her friends are determined to make a documentary and find out what truly happened in this “lost village,” but production is halted as unexplainable things begin to happen, equipment goes missing or is wrecked, and the crew starts seeing things that shouldn’t be there.

The narration by Angela Dawe is really what brought this story to life and allowed me to paint a better picture of each character in my mind. Her narration gave me a feeling of actually peeking behind the curtain of Alice’s internal monologue. There were points of this book that the description of the scene really gave me the creeps, so if you’re a horror/thriller novice, get ready for some nightmare fuel.

The Lost Village was a wild ride with all the suspense, and twists and turns that you could want and it left me guessing until the end. If you’re a fan of a good horror flick or anything from Riley Sager, you’ll definitely want to jump into this audiobook next.

Publisher Summary:

The Blair Witch Project meets Midsommar in this brilliantly disturbing thriller from Camilla Sten, an electrifying new voice in suspense.

Documentary filmmaker Alice Lindstedt has been obsessed with the vanishing residents of the old mining town, dubbed “The Lost Village,” since she was a little girl. In 1959, her grandmother’s entire family disappeared in this mysterious tragedy, and ever since, the unanswered questions surrounding the only two people who were left—a woman stoned to death in the town center and an abandoned newborn—have plagued her. She’s gathered a small crew of friends in the remote village to make a film about what really happened.

But there will be no turning back.

Not long after they’ve set up camp, mysterious things begin to happen. Equipment is destroyed. People go missing. As doubt breeds fear and their very minds begin to crack, one thing becomes startlingly clear to Alice:

They are not alone.

They’re looking for the truth…
But what if it finds them first?

Come find out.

Read more and sample the audio →


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• Book Clubbin’: 9 Discussion Questions for The Sanatorium by Sarah Pearse

• Staff Pick: Theme Music by T. Marie Vandelly


New to Audiobooks.com? Get your first book free, PLUS a bonus book from our VIP selection when you sign up for our one-month free trial. Digital audiobooks make audible stories come to life when you’re commuting, working out, cleaning, cooking, and more! Listening is easy with our top-rated free audiobook apps for iOS and Android, which let you download & listen to bestselling audiobooks on the go, wherever you are. Click here to get your free audiobooks!

Audiobooks to Inspire Your Spring Cleaning This Year

Spring has arrived and I don’t know about you, but I am more than ready to embrace all things spring! Warm and sunny weather, busting out the spring/summer wardrobe, and even spring cleaning.

If you know you need to jump into a deep clean of your house or even just need to go through your belongings to start the decluttering process, but you’re not sure where to start and need a little inspiration, hello, we are here for you.

Click here to view our full list of spring cleaning audiobooks or keep reading for some specific recommendations for great listens that will put a pep in your step and get you stoked to get cleaning.


The Easy Life by Lynsey Crombie, narrated by Lynsey Crombie

Publisher Summary:

Welcome to The Easy Life, where your kitchen always sparkles, your closet is organized, and your to-do list has an end. It sounds almost too good to be true, but TV’s Queen of Clean, Lynsey Crombie—mother of three, pet owner, Instagrammer, This Morning cleaning expert, and head of her own cleaning business—has all the tips, tricks, and routines you need to create a happy and healthy home environment.

In her latest book, Lynsey expands on her eco-friendly, tried-and-tested tips for cleaning, while also providing a series of interactive to-do lists, quick cleaning challenges, and hacks to take the stress out of managing your home. Whether you’re finding that you now have time to finally get to all those deep cleaning tasks or that having all your family at home means you need every trick to keep life organized, Lynsey has you covered.

Read more and sample the audio →


The Conscious Closet by Elizabeth L. Cline, narrated by Elizabeth L. Cline

Publisher Summary:

From journalist, fashionista, and clothing resale expert Elizabeth L. Cline, “the Michael Pollan of fashion,” comes the definitive guide to building an ethical, sustainable wardrobe you’ll love.

Clothing is one of the most personal expressions of who we are. In her landmark investigation Overdressed: The Shockingly High Cost of Cheap Fashion, Elizabeth L. Cline first revealed fast fashion’s hidden toll on the environment, garment workers, and even our own satisfaction with our clothes. The Conscious Closet shows exactly what we can do about it.

Whether your goal is to build an effortless capsule wardrobe, keep up with trends without harming the environment, buy better quality, seek out ethical brands, or all of the above, The Conscious Closet is packed with the vital tools you need. Elizabeth delves into fresh research on fashion’s impacts and shows how we can leverage our everyday fashion choices to change the world through style. Inspired by her own revelatory journey getting off the fast-fashion treadmill, Elizabeth shares exactly how to build a more ethical wardrobe, starting with a mindful closet clean-out and donating, swapping, or selling the clothes you don’t love to make way for the closet of your dreams.

Read more and sample the audio →


The Art of Discarding by Nagisa Tatsumi, narrated by Karen Cass

Publisher Summary:

The book that inspired Marie Kondo’s The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up, Nagisa Tatsumi‘s international bestseller offers a practical plan to figure out what to keep and what to discard so you can get–and stay–tidy, once and for all.

Practical and inspiring, The Art of Discarding (the book that originally inspired a young Marie Kondo to start cleaning up her closets) offers hands-on advice and easy-to-follow guidelines to help readers learn how to finally let go of stuff that is holding them back—as well as sage advice on acquiring less in the first place. Author Nagisa Tatsumi urges us to reflect on our attitude to possessing things and to have the courage and conviction to get rid of all the stuff we really don’t need, offering advice on how to tackle the things that pile up at home and take back control. By learning the art of discarding you will gain space, free yourself from ‘accumulation syndrome,’ and find new joy and purpose in your clutter-free life.

Read more and sample the audio →


Clean Mama’s Guide to a Healthy Home by Becky Rapinchuk, narrated by Tiffany Morgan

Publisher Summary:

In Clean Mama’s Guide to a Healthy Home, Becky Rapinchuk, author of Simply Clean and creator of the popular cleaning website Clean Mama, provides a step-by-step guide to take charge of your home’s wellness with a comprehensive, all-natural cleaning system.

Cleanliness is about detoxing, embracing organic, all-natural methods and products, and protecting the environment. Moms look to Becky to guide them in the best cleaning practices for their home, and will welcome Clean Mama’s Guide to a Healthy Home, which shows that going natural isn’t just a better way to a cleaner home-it’s vital to the health of our bodies, our families, and our planet.

Read more and sample the audio →


Hinch Yourself Happy by Mrs Hinch, narrated by Mrs Hinch

Publisher Summary:

Mrs Hinch has taken the nation by storm with her infectiously addictive charm, her clever cleaning hacks and her passionate belief in the life-changing magic of tidying. Now she’s here to show us that cleaning – aka hinching – doesn’t have to be that job you dread, not when Mrs Hinch is here to show you her sparkly ways.

In Hinch Yourself Happy, Mrs Hinch invites you into her home where you’ll find everything from tips for easing stress and anxiety through cleaning to Mrs Hinch must-haves and step-by-step hinching guides. You’ll even hear the story of Mr and Mrs Hinch and their ‘dorgeous’ boy, Henry.

Read by Mrs Hinch herself, Hinch Yourself Happy will help you turn your house into a home.

Read more and sample the audio →


The CHAOS Cure by Marla Cilley, narrated by Marla Cilley

Publisher Summary:

Are you suffering from CHAOS, otherwise known as Can’t Have Anyone Over Syndrome? If your house is a jumble of dirty dishes, piles of paper, and never-ending laundry, you are probably afflicted. But don’t give up hope, because now there’s an antidote: The CHAOS Cure.

In her eagerly anticipated new book, Marla Cilley—aka ‘The FlyLady’ to the hundreds of thousands who visit her website for daily domestic inspiration—reaches into our homes to help make housecleaning more meaningful and life less messy. With a little bit of armchair therapy and plenty of practical, tactical tips—such as ‘On the Fly!’ quick fixes and genius uses for sticky notes—she’ll help us get our houses in shipshape order before we can break a sweat. Along the way, the FlyLady teaches us to embrace household maintenance as an act of self-care, and to enjoy the soothing satisfaction of an orderly habitat.

Before you know it, you’ll be on the fast-track to living CHAOS-free, surrounded by sparkling serenity

Read more and sample the audio →


The Joy of Less by Francine Jay, narrated by Teri Schnaubelt

Publisher Summary:

Having less stuff is the key to happiness: Do you ever feel overwhelmed, instead of overjoyed, by all your possessions? Do you secretly wish a gale force wind would blow the clutter from your home? If so, it’s time to simplify your life!

The Joy of Less is a fun, lighthearted guide to minimalist living:
Part One provides an inspirational pep talk on the joys and rewards of paring down.
Part Two presents the STREAMLINE method: ten easy steps to rid your house of clutter.
Part Three goes room by room, outlining specific ways to tackle each one.
Part Four helps you get your family on board and live more lightly and gracefully on the earth.

Francine has helped hundreds of thousands of people declutter their homes and simplify their lives with her bestselling book, The Joy of Less.

Read more and sample the audio →

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New to Audiobooks.com? Get your first book free, PLUS a bonus book from our VIP selection when you sign up for our one-month free trial. Digital audiobooks make audible stories come to life when you’re commuting, working out, cleaning, cooking, and more! Listening is easy with our top-rated free audiobook apps for iOS and Android, which let you download & listen to bestselling audiobooks on the go, wherever you are. Click here to get your free audiobooks!

Staff Pick: The Push by Ashley Audrain


TitleThe Push
Author: Ashley Audrain
Narrator: Marin Ireland

My goal for 2021 is to venture outside of my comfort zone with the audiobooks I listen to. Every year I say that I’m going to do this, but by the end of the year when recapping what I listened to, it’s all young adult, thrillers, and horror. What can I say, I like what I like.

So, in January I decided to take a little leap and jump into The Push by Ashley Audrain. Described as a psychological drama, this story follows Blythe Connor and her experience of motherhood. Blythe is excited for the arrival of her little girl, Violet, but soon comes to realize that something may be wrong with her new “bundle of joy.” Blythe’s husband, Fox, dismisses her worries and, as time goes on, Blythe begins to question her own sanity.

While I’m just a cat mom and haven’t spawned any human children at this point in my life (you’re welcome, world), I still found it so easy to relate to Blythe’s struggles with womanhood and her relationship with her own mother. At times, the audiobook was hard to listen to, but only because through Marin Ireland’s masterful narration, Blythe’s stress, hurt, and the pressure she felt were conveyed so well.

The second person narration of the story combined with the bite-sized chapters made this a propulsive listen that I couldn’t (and didn’t want to) pause. I was so invested in Blythe’s story that I just had to know how it all turned out.

If you’re a fan of We Need to Talk About Kevin, family dramas, or slow-burning thrillers, then you’ll definitely want to check out The Push for your next listen!

Publisher Summary:

A tense, page-turning psychological drama about the making and breaking of a family—and a woman whose experience of motherhood is nothing at all what she hoped for—and everything she feared

Blythe Connor is determined that she will be the warm, comforting mother to her new baby Violet that she herself never had.

But in the thick of motherhood’s exhausting early days, Blythe becomes convinced that something is wrong with her daughter—she doesn’t behave like most children do.

Or is it all in Blythe’s head? Her husband, Fox, says she’s imagining things. The more Fox dismisses her fears, the more Blythe begins to question her own sanity, and the more we begin to question what Blythe is telling us about her life as well.

Then their son Sam is born—and with him, Blythe has the blissful connection she’d always imagined with her child. Even Violet seems to love her little brother. But when life as they know it is changed in an instant, the devastating fall-out forces Blythe to face the truth.

The Push is a tour de force you will read in a sitting, an utterly immersive novel that will challenge everything you think you know about motherhood, about what we owe our children, and what it feels like when women are not believed.

Read more and sample the audio →


New to Audiobooks.com? Get your first book free, PLUS a bonus book from our VIP selection when you sign up for our one-month free trial. Digital audiobooks make audible stories come to life when you’re commuting, working out, cleaning, cooking, and more! Listening is easy with our top-rated free audiobook apps for iOS and Android, which let you download & listen to bestselling audiobooks on the go, wherever you are. Click here to get your free audiobooks!

Book Clubbin’: 9 Discussion Questions for ‘Where the Crawdads Sing’ by Delia Owens

Welcome back to our monthly blog feature, Book Clubbin’!

Is one of your resolutions for this year to read more books or start a book club? If you’re reading this, this is your sign to take the plunge! We know that it can be a little tough with stay-at-home orders, lockdowns, and social distancing, but don’t let it stop you! Start up a virtual book club with a couple friends where you can chat all about your latest read/listen via Zoom, FaceTime, or whatever you choose!

This month’s Book Clubbin’ pick is Delia Owen’s Where the Crawdad’s Sing. Chances are, you’ve heard of this book a lot over the past few years. Where the Crawdads Sing was Owens’ debut novel and it held its ground on the New York Times Fiction Bestsellers list for 25 weeks in total. So, you know it’s worth a listen!

Where the Crawdads Sing takes us to Barkley Cove, North Carolina in 1969, where rumors have circulated of the ‘Marsh Girl’ for years. When the handsome Chase Andrews is found dead, all fingers point to Kya Clark, the so-called ‘Marsh Girl.’ But there is more to Kya than meets the eye. After surviving alone in the marsh for so long, she yearns to be loved and when two men in town become intrigued by her, Kya is opened up to a new life…until the unthinkable happens.

Ready to start chatting about Where the Crawdads Sing with your bookclub, then get started with the discussion questions below. Beware— SPOILERS ahead.

—————MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS!————

1) Jumpin’ and Mabel know that Kya is living on her own as a 10 year-old, and while they do offer support through clothing and other transactions, they never contact anyone to come remove her from the marsh. Why do you think this is?

2) Kya decides not to return to school after she was bullied. How do you think this affected her life?

3) Chase and Tate are both drawn to Kya, how do their relationships with her differ?

4) How did the fireflies that Kya observed one night influence her outlook on relationships and contribute to her actions later in the book?

5) Delia Owens is not only an author, but also a zoologist and has studied animals in remote parts of the world. Do you think her experience seeped into Where the Crawdads Sing? What similarities do you see with both Kya and wild animals?

6) Let’s discuss Kya’s trial. Do you think that the local’s presumptions and opinions about her colored the case and its outcome?

7) Did you suspect that Kya actually did kill Chase? Were you surprised when Tate found Kya’s secret stash/confession after her death?

8) Thinking of the title, why do you think Delia Owen titled her novel, Where the Crawdads Sing?

9) Reese Witherspoon’s production company is planning to adapt this novel into a movie. Which actors do you picture for the characters in the book?

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Staff Pick: Fable by Adrienne Young

TitleFable
Author: Adrienne Young
NarratorsEmma Lysy

As a millennial who grew up obsessing over The Pirates of the Caribbean (and all the sequels), I’ve always had a fascination with ships, pirates, lost treasure, and the open sea. Jump to the present — I’m all “grown up” and still can’t say no to a good book about an adventure at sea. Enter Fable by Adrienne Young.

Fable follows a spunky, clever, and underestimated teenager aptly named Fable. We meet her a few years after her father abandoned her on an island of thieves just after their family ship had sunk, killing her mother. Fable bargains with West, a local trader, to gain passage to The Narrows on his ship, the Marigold, so she can reunite with her father. It turns out that it’s not as simple as that, since West isn’t exactly who she thought he was.

If you find it hard to get into a book right away, don’t worry, that is not an issue for Fable. This young adult fantasy audiobook immediately pulled me in with the immersive writing and before I knew it I felt as if I were standing aboard the Marigold listening to the crashing waves.

Emma Lysy creates the perfect picture through her narration for how I viewed Fable. She’s matter-of-fact, bold, and determined, which is the exact type of heroine I’d like to look up to as a young adult.

Need I say more? Well, if you need any other reason to pick up this adventurous listen, Fable was selected as the October pick for Reese’s new YA book club! So, there’s bound to be lots of talk about this book over the next while. Plus, it’s a duology, so there’s more to come and I for one can’t wait to hear what’s next for fearless Fable.

Publisher Summary:

Filled with all of the action, emotion, and lyrical writing that brought readers to Sky in the Deep, New York Times bestselling author Adrienne Young returns with Fable, the first audiobook in this new captivating duology.

Welcome to a world made dangerous by the sea and by those who wish to profit from it. Where a young girl must find her place and her family while trying to survive in a world built for men.

As the daughter of the most powerful trader in the Narrows, the sea is the only home seventeen-year-old Fable has ever known. It’s been four years since the night she watched her mother drown during an unforgiving storm. The next day her father abandoned her on a legendary island filled with thieves and little food. To survive she must keep to herself, learn to trust no one and rely on the unique skills her mother taught her. The only thing that keeps her going is the goal of getting off the island, finding her father and demanding her rightful place beside him and his crew. To do so Fable enlists the help of a young trader named West to get her off the island and across the Narrows to her father.

But her father’s rivalries and the dangers of his trading enterprise have only multiplied since she last saw him and Fable soon finds that West isn’t who he seems. Together, they will have to survive more than the treacherous storms that haunt the Narrows if they’re going to stay alive.

Fable takes you on a spectacular journey filled with romance, intrigue and adventure.

Read more and sample the audio →


New to Audiobooks.com? Get your first book free, PLUS a bonus book from our VIP selection when you sign up for our one-month free trial. Digital audiobooks make audible stories come to life when you’re commuting, working out, cleaning, cooking, and more! Listening is easy with our top-rated free audiobook apps for iOS and Android, which let you download & listen to bestselling audiobooks on the go, wherever you are. Click here to get your free audiobooks!