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.

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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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April’s Top 10 Audiobooks.com Member Downloads

Posted on May 6, 2018 by Michelle

Listen to last month’s roundup of the top fiction and non fiction titles downloaded by Audiobooks.com members.

Fiction

1. Fallen by David Baldacci, narrated by Kyf Brewer and Orlagh Cassidy

Baronville has seen four bizarre murders in just two weeks. Amos Decker and his FBI colleague Alex Jamison are in Baronville visiting Alex’s sister and her family. Decker, with his singular talents, may be the only one who can crack this bizarre case. Only this time-when one mistake could cost him everything-Decker finds that his previously infallible memory may not be so trustworthy after all.
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2. I’ve Got My Eyes On You by Mary Higgins Clark, narrated by January LaVoy

After a party when her parents are away, eighteen-year-old Kerry Dowling is found fully dressed at the bottom of the family pool. The immediate suspect is her boyfriend who had a bitter argument with her at the party. Then there is a twenty-year-old neighbor who was angry because she didn’t invite him to the party. Or is there someone else who has not yet been seen on the radar?
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3. Birthday Girl by Matthew Iden, narrated by James Anderson Foster

Eight years ago, Elliott Nash’s daughter was murdered. Since then, everything the brilliant former criminal psychologist had is a memory-his child, his career, his wife, and his home. Now he lives on the streets around Washington, DC, with only a bottomless well of guilt and nightmares to make him feel alive. Until Amy Scowcroft solicits his help.
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4. Until You’re Mine by Cindi Madsen, narrated by Alexander Cendese and C.J. Bloom

You might’ve heard of me, Shane Knox, the guy who rose quickly through the MMA fighter ranks, only to crash just as fast. I’ve finally convinced the owner of Team Domination to take a chance on me. What I didn’t bargain for is the guy’s spitfire of a daughter. The closer we get, the more I want Brooklyn. The stakes are high, and I know there’s a big chance of both of us getting hurt, but I won’t stop until she’s mine.
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5. After Anna by Lisa Scottoline, narrated by Mozhan Marno and Jeremy Bobb

Dr. Noah Alderman, a widower and single father, has remarried a wonderful woman, Maggie Ippolitti. Maggie is overjoyed when she unexpectedly gets another chance to be a mother to the child she thought she’d lost forever, Anna. Maggie and Noah know that having Anna around will change their lives, but they would never have guessed that everything would go wrong, and so quickly.
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Non-Fiction

1. A Higher Loyalty by James Comey, narrated by James Comey

Former FBI director James Comey shares his never-before-told experiences from some of the highest-stakes situations of his career in the past two decades of American government, exploring what good, ethical leadership looks like, and how it drives sound decisions. His journey provides an unprecedented entry into the corridors of power, and a remarkable lesson in what makes an effective leader.
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2. Cowgirl Power: How to Kick Ass in Business & Life by Gay Gaddis, narrated by Gay Gaddis

As the owner of one of the largest woman-owned advertising agencies in the U.S., Gay Gaddis knows a thing or two about empowerment. Gay‘s insights are rooted in the spirited strength of the real cowgirl heroines of the 1920s and ’30s — gutsy risk-takers in everything they did. These cowgirls are celebrated as a metaphor for the power we all have to achieve far more than we think.
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3. This Is Me by Chrissy Metz, narrated by Chrissy Metz

When This Is Us debuted, a divided America embraced a show that celebrates human connection. The critically acclaimed series became America’s most watched-and most talked about-network show. As Kate Pearson, Chrissy Metz presents a character that has never been seen on television, yet viewers see themselves in her, no matter what they look like or where they come from.
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4. Factfulness: Ten Reasons We’re Wrong About the World — And Why Things Are Better Than You Think by Anna R. Rosling, Ola Rosling, and Hans Rosling, narrated by Richard Harries

When asked simple questions about global trends, we systematically get the answers wrong. So wrong that a chimpanzee choosing answers at random will consistently outguess teachers, journalists, Nobel laureates, and investment bankers. Factfulness offers a radical new explanation of why this happens.
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5. Crushing It! How Great Entrepreneurs Build Their Business And Influence — And How You Can, Too by Gary Vaynerchuk, narrated by Gary Vaynerchuk, Rich Roll and Amy Schmittauer

In this lively, practical, and inspiring audiobook, Gary dissects every current major social media platform so that anyone, from a plumber to a professional ice skater, will know exactly how to amplify his or her personal brand on each. He offers both theoretical and tactical advice on how to become the biggest thing on old standbys like Instagram, podcast platforms like Spotify, and other emerging platforms.
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STAFF PICK: Only Child by Rhiannon Navin

Posted on April 6, 2018 by Michelle

Title: Only Child
Author: Rhiannon Navin
Narrator: Kivlighan De Montebello

First grader Zach Taylor’s school is the latest to be flocked by reporters and thrown into the headlines for the most devastating reason: it has been added to the long list of school shootings in the United States. Told from the perspective of a six-year-old boy facing trauma and loss, Only Child could easily and heartbreakingly pass as non-fiction.

Crammed in a coat closet that smells like pee and his teacher’s coffee breath, six-year-old Zach and his classmates listen to gunshots firing through the halls of their school. A gunman entered the building, taking 19 young lives and forever changing the once peaceful community and Taylor family. Growing up far faster than any child should, Zach is a stunning example of the wisdom, optimism, and forgiveness of children that is so often forgotten as we age.

In the aftermath of tragedy, the Taylor family struggles to cope. Zach’s mother focuses on pursuing justice against the shooter’s parents, holding them accountable for the pain their son caused, despite backlash from the community, while his father is more distant than ever. As Zach’s world begins to crumble around him, he loses himself in a magical world of books and art that help lead him, and the adults in his life, on a path of healing and forgiveness.

The author’s ability to storytell from the perspective of a six-year-old boy is striking. Rhiannon Navin dug so deep in subtle, aching ways that I found myself pausing it for the sake of gathering myself. What made the story even more compelling was the narration by young actor Kivlighan De Montebello, who perfectly portrays Zach and made me even more emotionally invested in the story. While I always prefer listening to audiobooks over print, I strongly encourage anyone interested in Only Child to listen to it in audio in order to get the most powerful experience.

Sample the audio and listen to the whole story.

STAFF PICK: The Wife Between Us by Greer Hendricks and Sarah Pekkanen

Posted on March 23, 2018 by Michelle

Title: The Wife Between Us
Author: Greer Hendricks, Sarah Pekkanen
Narrator: Julia Whelan

I’m ashamed to admit my ego convinced me I could figure out the tangled anatomy of the love triangle in The Wife Between Us. The book description even warns that listeners will make many assumptions.

you will assume you are listening to a story about a jealous ex-wife.
you will assume she is obsessed with her replacement – a beautiful, younger woman who is about to marry the man they both love.
you will assume you know the anatomy of this tangled love triangle.
Assume nothing.

I thought my creative thinking and investigative skills would allow me to piece things together on my own long before the plot unfolded. I was dead wrong.

Filled with wild twists and turns that make it painful to hit pause, The Wife Between Us swallowed me into the rabbit’s hole of a seemingly picture perfect marriage with unimaginable secrets and dangerous truths. Narrator Julia Whelan makes this story even more tantalizing with her ability to transform into a spectrum of characters, from the calculating Vanessa to the condescending Richard to the impressionable Emma.

At the end of every chapter, I was dying to know more, hoping there would be a critical piece of evidence in solving the plot’s puzzle. More often than not, I was left with more questions than answers. Nothing could’ve braced me for its shocking ending.

The spellbinding relationship between authors Greer Hendricks and Sarah Pekkanen began nearly a decade ago when Hendricks was the editor of Pekkanen’s debut novel. They credit their similar narrative instincts and approaches to storytelling, as well as their ability to be “curious students of human nature,” to the success of The Wife Between Us.

Listen to a sample and get the whole story here.

February’s Top 10 Audiobooks.com Member Downloads

Posted on March 2, 2018 by Michelle

Listen to this month’s roundup of the top fiction and non fiction titles downloaded by Audiobooks.com members.

Fiction

1. The Wife Between Us by Greer Hendricks and Sarah Pekkanen, narrated by Julia Whelan

When you listen to this audiobook, you will make many assumptions. You will assume you are listening to a story about a jealous ex-wife. You will assume she is obsessed with her replacement – a beautiful, younger woman who is about to marry the man they both love.
You will assume you know the anatomy of this tangled love triangle.
Assume nothing.
Read more and sample the audio.

2. A Wrinkle In Time by Madeleine L’Engle, narrated by Hope Davis

Meg Murray, her little brother Charles Wallace, and their mother are having a midnight snack on a dark and stormy night when an unearthly stranger appears at their door. He claims to have been blown off course, and goes on to tell them that there is such a thing as a “tesseract,” which, if you didn’t know, is a wrinkle in time. Read more and sample the audio.

3. An American Marriage by Tayari Jones, narrated by Sean Crisden and Elisa Davis

Newlyweds Celestial and Roy are the embodiment of both the American Dream and the New South. But as they settle into the routine of their life together, they are ripped apart by circumstances neither could have imagined.
Read more and sample the audio.

4. Ready Player One by Ernest Cline, narrated by Wil Wheaton

Wildly original and stuffed with irresistible nostalgia, Ready Player One is a spectacularly genre-busting, ambitious, and charming debut-part quest novel, part love story, and part virtual space opera set in a universe where spell-slinging mages battle giant Japanese robots, entire planets are inspired by Blade Runner, and flying DeLoreans achieve light speed.
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5. Still Me by Jojo Moyes, narrated by Anna Acton

Louisa Clark arrives in New York ready to start a new life, confident that she can embrace this new adventure and keep her relationship with Ambulance Sam alive across several thousand miles. She is thrown into the world of the superrich Gopniks: Leonard and his much younger second wife, Agnes, and a never-ending array of household staff and hangers-on.
Read more and sample the audio.

Non Fiction

1. Extreme Ownership: How U.S. Navy SEALs Lead and Win by Leif Babin and Jocko Willink, narrated by Jocko Willnick

In Extreme Ownership, Jocko Willink and Leif Babin share hard-hitting, Navy SEAL combat stories that translate into lessons for business and life. With riveting first-hand accounts of making high-pressure decisions as Navy SEAL battlefield leaders, this book is equally gripping for leaders who seek to dominate other arenas. Read more and sample the audio.

2. The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business by Charles Duhigg, narrated by Mike Chamberlain

Named one of the best books of the year by The Wall Street Journal Financial Times and New York Times Bestseller. A young woman walks into a laboratory. Over the past two years, she has transformed almost every aspect of her life. She has quit smoking, run a marathon, and been promoted at work. The patterns inside her brain, neurologists discover, have fundamentally changed.
Read more and sample the audio.

3. Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis by J. D. Vance, narrated by J. D. Vance

From a former marine and Yale Law School graduate, a powerful account of growing up in a poor Rust Belt town that offers a broader, probing look at the struggles of America’s white working class, Hillbilly Elegy is a passionate and personal analysis of a culture in crisis, that of white working-class Americans.
Read more and sample the audio.

4. All-American Murder: The Rise and Fall of Aaron Hernandez, the Superstar Whose Life Ended on Murderers’ Row by James Patterson, narrated by Alex Abramovich

Football coaches, players, and fans called Aaron Hernandez unstoppable. His four-year-old daughter called him Daddy. The law called him inmate #174594. He was a college All-American who became the youngest player in the NFL and later a Super Bowl veteran. Aaron Hernandez’s every move as a professional athlete played out in the headlines, yet he led a secret life-one that ended in a maximum security prison.
Read more and sample the audio.

5. Fire and Fury by Michael Wolff, narrated by Holter Graham and Michael Wolff

With extraordinary access to the Trump White House, Michael Wolff tells the inside story of the most controversial presidency of our time. The first nine months of Donald Trump’s term were stormy, outrageous-and absolutely mesmerizing. Read more and sample the audio.

Tag Archives: Fiction

Have You Heard the Hottest New Book Trend?

April’s Top 10 Audiobooks.com Member Downloads

audiobooks_com

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.

you will assume you are listening to a story about a jealous ex-wife. you will assume she is obsessed with her replacement – a beautiful, younger woman who is about to marry the man they both love. you will assume you know the anatomy of this tangled love triangle. Assume nothing.

you will assume you are listening to a story about a jealous ex-wife.
you will assume she is obsessed with her replacement – a beautiful, younger woman who is about to marry the man they both love.
you will assume you know the anatomy of this tangled love triangle.
Assume nothing.