Dynamic Duos: 7 Literary Collaborations that You Didn’t Know About

Posted on May 18, 2018 by Lena Yang

The stars have aligned and it is Gemini’s time to shine! In honour of the sign’s representative twins, Castor and Pollux, here are some reads penned by authors who are actually duos writing collaboratively in disguise.

1. Love and Other Words by Christina Lauren, narrated by Erin Mallon
Duo: Christina Hobbs and Lauren Billings, friends who met over fanfiction

Macy Sorensen is settling into an ambitious if emotionally tepid routine: work hard as a new pediatrics resident, plan her wedding to an older, financially secure man, keep her head down and heart tucked away. But when she runs into Elliot Petropoulos—the first and only love of her life—the careful bubble she’s constructed begins to dissolve. Read more and sample the audio.

2. The Last Mrs. Parrish: A Novel by Liv Constantine, narrated by Suzanne Elise Freeman, Meghan Wolf
Duo: Sisters Lynne Constantine and Valerie Constantine

Amber Patterson is tired of being a nobody. She deserves more—a life of money and power like the one blond-haired, blue-eyed goddess Daphne Parrish takes for granted. Amber’s envy could eat her alive…if she didn’t have a plan. Before long, Amber is Daphne’s closest confidante. But a skeleton from her past may undermine everything that Amber has worked towards. Read more and sample the audio.

3. Wildcat by Max Monroe, narrated by Jeremy York, Ava Erickson
Duo: Secretive friends Max and Monroe

Wildcat: a football formation in which the ball is snapped, not to the quarterback, but to another player lined up in the quarterback position.
Wild, Cat: a beautiful woman from the sky, who hooked me against the rails, and has me on the ropes. Sweet like honey, with a hint of sass burning behind her pretty brown eyes, she took over my heart without warning.
Read more and sample the audio.

4. Sunday Silence: A Novel by Nicci French, narrated by Beth Chalmers
Duo: Nicci Gerrard and Sean French, an English husband-and-wife team

After a body is discovered beneath the floorboards of Frieda’s house, Frieda finds herself a person of interest in a murder case. The corpse is only months old, but the chief suspect appears to have died more than seven years ago. Except as Frieda knows all too well, he’s alive and well and living in secret. And it seems he’s inspired a copycat…Read more and sample the audio.

5. A Casualty of War by Charles Todd, narrated by Rosalyn Landor
Duo: Mother-and-son writing team, Charles and Caroline Todd

Though the Great War is nearing its end, the fighting rages on. While waiting for transport back to her post, Bess Crawford meets Captain Alan Travis and later becomes entangled in the mysterious relationship between Alan and his cousin, Lieutenant James Travis. Bessie’s search for answers will lead her into unexpected danger and bring her face to face with the wounds of war that not even peace can heal. Read more and sample the audio.

6. The Hand That Feeds You by A.J. Rich, narrated by Ann Marie Lee
Duo: Established authors Amy Hempel and Jill Ciment

The duo paired up for this book, which their dying friend Katherine Russell Rich didn’t have time to write. When Morgan Prager’s fiancée, Bennett, is mauled to death, Morgan attempts to locate Bennett’s parents. In the search, she finds that he has several fiancées, and fits the clinical definition of a sociopath. When these other women are murdered one by one, Morgan’s research into Bennett suddenly takes on the urgency of survival. Read more and sample the audio.

7. A Death in the Family by Michael Stanley, narrated by Nyambi Nyambi
Duo: South African writing team, Michael Sears and Stanley Trollip

Faced with the violent death of his own father, Assistant Superintendent David ‘Kubu’ Bengu is baffled. Who would kill such a frail old man? Kubu’s frustration grows as his boss bans him from being involved in the investigation. When Kubu defies orders and sets out on the killers’ trail, startling and chilling links emerge, spanning the globe and setting a sequence of shocking events in motion. Read more and sample the audio.

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STAFF PICK: The Death of Mrs. Westaway by Ruth Ware

Posted on May 15, 2018 by admin

Post by Pam Campbell

Title: The Death of Mrs. Westaway
Author: Ruth Ware
Narrator: Imogen Church

How am I so late to jumping on the Ruth Ware bandwagon? My lateness to discovering her work aside, I am so glad my introduction to Ruth Ware was with The Death of Mrs. Westaway.

We meet Hal Westaway – a struggling Brighton Pier tarot card reader – late one night at the end of a typical day. It’s clear she is struggling; struggling with paying her bills, struggling to keep the loan shark at bay, struggling to keep warm in her tiny flat and struggling with the recent death of her mother. But tonight won’t be a typical night for Hal. Because tonight she receives a letter notifying her of the death of a grandmother and that she’s been named a beneficiary in the will.

Hal immediately knows there’s been some mistake. She is not related to this woman. There’s no way she would be beneficiary of a large estate. Or is there? Can she use her skills of cold reading people to fool the family and lawyers into believing she is the correct descendent? Does she have any choice? She could really use the money.

Using the last few pounds in her bank account, she decides to board a train and travel to the funeral to make her claim on the inheritance. When she finally meets the family and the grand estate house, Hal finds herself questioning whether or not she can go through with her deception. But like all families and old grand houses, things are not as they seem.

With hints of gothic mystery, intrigues, secrets and distrust, The Death of Mrs. Westaway will have you hypnotised from the start. It is apparent with this book that Ruth Ware is a brilliant storyteller. She slowly and meticulously brings about the twists and turns that make this story so engrossing. Add to that, the brilliant narration of Imogen Church and the listener is left with a wonderfully eerie listening experience.

Since this was my first Ruth Ware book, I can’t compare it to her previous novels. But if you were a fan of The Thirteenth Tale, by Diane Setterfield, you will thoroughly enjoy The Death of Mrs. Westaway.

STAFF PICK: Tin Man by Sarah Winman

Posted on May 15, 2018 by admin

Post by Miranda Winters-Sayle

Title: Tin Man
Author: Sarah Winman
Narrator: Sarah Winman

The first thing I noticed when I began Tin Man was the beautiful prose. The author, Sarah Winman, gives detailed descriptions of everything in her novel. By the time I finished the book, I could easily visualize every character, place, and object of importance in my mind’s eye. Every character felt real, as though I could easily have passed them in the street. This aspect is especially important for a novel like Tin Man, which introduces itself as a romance but turns out to be more of a character study of two men who found love.

Tin Man allows us to get inside the heads of Ellis and Michael who befriended one another in their teen years and quickly developed their relationship into something more. However, we discover at the beginning of the novel that Ellis married a woman named Annie, and Michael doesn’t seem to be in the picture. The rest of the novel is unravelling the threads to their story. What happened as they grew from young boys to men?

I wish I could say more, but this story greatly relies on mystery. When I began, I had nothing but questions.

Reading tin man was almost like putting together a puzzle — you slowly build towards answers, but nothing makes complete sense until you get to the heart of it.

Winman does a fantastic job of making sure to answer every question. Her reveals are surprising, and sometimes heartbreaking.

Tin Man relies on memory to tell the story. Time is not linear through the novel, as we begin in the present day and work our way backwards. Winman’s beautiful writing executes this perfectly: there is never any confusion over whether you are reading the past or present.

It was a real treat to have Sarah Winman narrating her own title. Having a female read a novel in which both protagonists are male can sometimes be jarring, but Sarah encapsulated the tones in which Ellis and Michael would speak. I think this is something special that only an author narrating their book can accomplish.

The Most Boring Audiobook You’ll Ever Listen To

Posted on May 10, 2018 by Michelle

Title: This Audiobook Will Send You To Sleep
Author: Professor K. McCoy and Dr Hardwick
Narrator: Bruce Alexander

Have you been itching to listen to an audiobook that’s more boring than watching paint dry? We’ve got just the thing! This Audiobook Will Send You To Sleep by Professor K. McCoy and Dr Hardwick is so boring, even the most caffeine-induced night owl will be sure to fall asleep after just a few short, colorless chapters. Some of the chapters include The Economic Statistics from the First Two Five-Year Plans in the Soviet Union. Another is Railway Gauges: An Overview. Even if these subjects sound mildly interesting to you, it is explained in such dull terms that you’ll be fighting to keep your eyes open.

Professor K. McCoy, a specialist in the analysis of hypnotic states and somnambulism (sleepwalking) and Dr Hardwick, an expert in stereotypical lethargy, wrote the book to help people achieve a desirable state of mind (boredom, lassitude, and disinterest) to fall asleep.

Narrator Bruce Alexander does a phenomenal job of remaining monotone throughout the audiobook, pausing frequently and sleepily. He succeeds in making the measurement of linear density of fibre, administrative bureaucracy of the Byzantine Empire, and Belgian political crisis even less exciting than one might have originally imagined. Due to the staleness of these subjects and danger of falling asleep, I do not recommend anyone listen to this audiobook while driving or cooking with the stove on.

If counting sheep and aromatherapy just aren’t cutting it for you anymore, listen to This Audiobook Will Send You To Sleep and get the best sleep of your life. Even if you don’t, at least you’ll be well-versed in the growth pattern of holly and recent developments in the taxonomy of molluscs.

STAFF PICK: The Language of Kindness by Christie Watson

Posted on May 8, 2018 by Michelle

Title: The Language of Kindness: One Nurse’s Story
Author: Christie Watson
Narrator: Christie Watson

When both of my grandmothers were diagnosed with Alzheimer’s, I was warned that their declining memories would mean that they could confuse the past with the present. In both cases, they talked about their lives as nurses as though in real time, unearthing stories that were once too intimate to share at family parties and Sunday dinners.

During a recent conversation with my maternal grandmother, she rattled on about what she was cooking for dinner that night and, in nearly the same breath, told me she had to go check on her patient. These memories confirmed what I always knew, and what anyone who loves or is a nurse knows — it is more than a career, but a lifelong passion defined by resilience, kindness, and compassion.

Christie Watson was a nurse for 20 years. In The Language of Kindness, she shares the powerful details of beloved patient relationships, including nursing a premature baby who defied its odds of surviving the night, washing the hair of a child fatally injured in a fire to remove the toxic smell of smoke, and comforting a patient suffering from an excruciating heart-lung transplant.

Like all nurses, Christie is there during some of our most vulnerable moments. The Language of Kindness is made even more compelling as Christie narrates it herself. Her steady and assured tone, even when narrating the most emotional parts of the audiobook, demonstrates her ability to remain calm under stormy circumstances, a trait she shares with my grandmothers.

I’m grateful to Christie for both her dedicated career and for giving me the perfect gift to give the nurses in my life. For too long, the only books for people in the medical field have been for doctors. This audiobook is easy to understand even if you haven’t taken Nursing 101, and will give listeners a new appreciation for one of the toughest and most overlooked professions.

Sample the audio and get the whole story.

Have You Heard the Hottest New Book Trend?

Posted on May 7, 2018 by Michelle

If you’ve noticed a recent trend in the domestic thriller genre, you’re not alone — we did too. “Moms in danger” titles are sweeping bestsellers lists and keeping us emotionally invested and stunned until the very end. Listen to a moms in danger title today.

1. The Other Mother by Carol Goodman, narrated by Nicol Zanzarella

When Daphne Marist and her infant daughter, Chloe, pull up the gravel drive to the home of Daphne’s new employer, it feels like they’ve entered a new world. Tucked in the Catskills, the stone mansion looks like something out of a fairy tale, its lush landscaping hiding the view of the mental asylum just beyond its border.
Read more and sample the audio.

2. The Temptation of Forgiveness by Donna Leon, narrated by David Colacci

An accident leads Commissario Guido Brunetti to uncover a longstanding scam with disturbing consequences. Surprised to discover from his superior, Vice-Questore Patta, that leaks are emanating from the Questura, Commissario Guido Brunetti is surprised more consequentially by the appearance of a friend of his wife’s with a request for intervention.
Read more and sample the audio.

3. Let Me Lie by Clare Mackintosh, narrated by Gemma Whelan and Clare Mackintosh

Two years ago, Tom and Caroline Johnson committed suicide, one seemingly unable to live without the other. Their adult daughter, Anna, is struggling to come to terms with her parents’ deaths, unable to comprehend why they chose to end their lives. Now with a young baby herself, she is determined to find out what really happened to her parents. But as Anna digs up the past, someone is trying to stop her.
Read more and sample the audio.

4. The Good Liar by Catherine McKenzie, narrated by Kate Rudd, Teri Clark Linden, Whitney Dykhouse and JD Jackson

Can you hide a secret with the whole world watching? When an explosion rips apart a Chicago building, the lives of three women are forever altered. A year later, Cecily is in mourning. She was supposed to be in the building that day. Instead, she stood on the street and witnessed it going down, with her husband and best friend inside.
Read more and sample the audio.

5. The Perfect Mother by Aimee Molloy, narrated by Cristin Milioti

Some people are so good at making perfect look easy. The May Mothers, a collection of new moms who gave birth in the same month, are out for a fun night when something goes terribly wrong: one of the babies is taken from his crib. As the police investigate and the media scrutinizes the mothers, damaging secrets are exposed, marriages are tested, and friendships are formed and fractured.
Read more and sample the audio.

6. Not That I Could Tell by Jessica Strawser, narrated by Erin Bennett

An innocent night of fun takes a shocking turn. When a group of neighborhood women gathers, wine in hand, around a fire pit where their backyards meet one Saturday night, most of them are just ecstatic to have discovered that their baby monitors reach that far. It’s a rare kid-free night, and they’re giddy. They drink too much, and the conversation turns personal. By Monday morning, one of them is gone.
Read more and sample the audio.

7. Our Little Secret by Darren O’Sullivan, narrated by Darren O’Sullivan

Chris is ready to join his wife. He’s planned this moment for nearly a year. The date. The time. The train. But he hadn’t factored in Sarah. So when Sarah walks on to the platform and sees a man swaying at the edge she assumes he’s just had too much to drink. What she doesn’t expect is to stop a suicide.
Read more and sample the audio.

8. The Glass Forest by Cynthia Swanson, narrated by Cassandra Campbell, Caitlin Davies and Jayme Mattler

In the autumn of 1960, Angie Glass is living an idyllic life in her Wisconsin hometown. At twenty-one, she’s married to charming, handsome Paul, and has just given birth to a baby boy. But one phone call changes her life forever.
Read more and sample the audio.

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Dynamic Duos: 7 Literary Collaborations that You Didn’t Know About

Have You Heard the Hottest New Book Trend?

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