Welcome to Brian’s Book Blog’s Weekly Showcase of New and Notable Audiobooks for November 18th!
Each week, I handpick audiobooks from various genres that have caught my attention. Dive in and discover your next great listen!
Spot an audiobook I missed or one you’re particularly excited about? Share in the comments below!
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Wake Up, Nat & Darcy by Kate Cochrane
Narrated by Jeremy Carlisle Parker
Harlequin Audio
Whispersync Deal with Kindle Purchase
Ex-lovers. Ex-rivals. New cohosts. Oh, puck.
Cut from the U.S. women’s hockey team right before her third chance at gold, Natalie Carpenter is scrambling for a plan that’ll help her avoid moving back home. The answer: a guest hosting gig on Wake Up, USA’s winter games coverage. Her co-host: Darcy LaCroix, Nat’s ex-girlfriend, one-time college teammate turned adversary.
Since leaving Team Canada, Darcy has worked hard to make a name in broadcasting. If her big break requires sharing screen time with the former cocky freshman who turned her world upside down, so be it. At this point, there’s nothing between them except history.
But audiences disagree. #PuckingHotties is trending hard, and Nat and Darcy agree to lean into it…for ratings, obviously. It’s not like Nat can forget the way Darcy broke her heart or their bitter team rivalry.
Between working, traveling together, and that irresistible spark, it’s getting hard to separate what’s real and what’s for the camera. Because somewhere underneath everything that went wrong is the sneaking suspicion that nothing will ever feel quite this right again.
This Christmas by Georgia Beers
Narrated by Lula Larkin
Bold Strokes Book Inc
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Check out my reviews of other titles written by Georgia Beers
Check out my reviews of other titles narrated by Lula Larkin
It’s Christmastime and everyone is in the holiday spirit at no-kill animal shelter Junebug Farms.
When Junebug sponsors the annual Christmas parade to raise money and awareness for their shelter, the staff have a plan: the king and queen of the parade will spend the holidays filming adorable Christmas vignettes to bring in donations and find forever homes for lovable pups before Santa comes.
What they don’t know is that Mia Sorenson, volunteer dog walker and superior matchmaker, is about to rig the voting so that her granddaughter, Samantha, and Sam’s friend Keegan, win queen and queen of the parade. Sam and Keegan have been dancing around each other for years, and if Mia doesn’t do something, they might never realize they’re meant to be together. But can Sam and Keegan ever forget the Big Embarrassing Thing that makes romance a nope?
It’ll be all paws on deck to bring them a miracle and make this Christmas one to remember.
Two Is a Pattern by Emily Waters
Narrated by Anastasia Watley
Tantor Media
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Check out my reviews of other titles narrated by Anastasia Watley
A charged lesbian romantic suspense set in the early nineties, with gripping twists, turns, and surprising secrets.
A mission gone wrong leads to rising-star CIA operative Annie Weaver quitting her job and reinventing herself as a college student. But the CIA, desperate for her skills, refuses to let her go without a price.
Annie finds herself juggling classes in criminology and falling for her beautiful landlord, Professor Helen Everton, while dealing with off-the-books secret missions for an increasingly controlling ex-boss.
As the perceptive Helen circles ever closer to the truth, Annie has to figure out how to keep her freedom without putting Helen in danger—and without revealing her own past.
Contains mature themes.
Don’t Break Character by Jules Landry
Narrated by Casey Montgomery
Self Published
Kindle Edition Currently Available with Kindle Unlimited
Beth is a neurotic nurse manager who is coasting through another relationship with an altogether wonderful man, Derrick. But when she meets Derrick’s roommate Jamie, she is immediately thrown off by Jamie’s overbearing and chaotic nature.
As Beth and Jamie power through their differences for Derrick’s sake, they find themselves drawn into a beguiling yet powerful friendship.
Beth begins to struggle with feelings she has never experienced before of her attraction to Jamie. And proud bisexual Jamie is struggling with the idea that she is clearly falling in love with her roommate’s girlfriend.
As Christmas and New Year loom ever closer, so does the breaking point of the tension between them.
Under the Mistletoe by Ali Hazelwood, Tessa Bailey, Olivia Dade, Alexandria Bellefleur, Alexis Daria
Narrated by Vivienne LaRue, Summer Morton, Connor Crais, Andi Arndt, Ruby Corazon, Amelie Griffin
Under the Mistletoe collection
Amazon Original Stories
Whispersync Deal with Kindle Purchase
Kindle Edition Currently Available with Kindle Unlimited
Curl up by the fire with some of today’s hottest authors as they serve up enough holiday joy and magic to melt the frostiest heart. As the temperature drops, friends and neighbors might need to turn up the heat, and even old enemies just might get a second chance. Let it snow!
Cruel Winter with You by Ali Hazelwood
For two former childhood friends, a blustery winter storm stirs some frosty—and scorching—memories in a delightful short story by #1 New York Times bestselling author Ali Hazelwood.
Merry Ever After by Tessa Bailey
A single mother working in a thrift store. A gentle giant farmer who can’t find jeans that fit. When opposites attract, they find themselves making alterations in more ways than one in this smoking-hot short story by #1 New York Times bestselling author Tessa Bailey.
All by My Elf by Olivia Dade
Secret crushes, spicy Christmas treats, heinous holiday traffic, and a fateful snowstorm bring good friends together in a funny, heartfelt short story by bestselling author Olivia Dade.
Merriment and Mayhem by Alexandria Bellefleur
This Christmas, a hot fireman makes a holiday rescue and sparks fly in this funny, sexy holiday short story by bestselling author Alexandria Bellefleur.
Only Santas in the Building by Alexis Daria
It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas, especially for a comic book illustrator whose late-night fantasies become real in a festive and flirty short story by bestselling author Alexis Daria.
Unconstrained by Brian Hill
Narrated by Joshua Kachnycz
Self Published
Kindle Edition Currently Available with Kindle Unlimited
On September 27th, 2032, the world will change forever…
Lucas Sinclair, a washed-up hacker, finds an encrypted channel, buried in routine network traffic, that is transferring enormous volumes of data to seemingly random locations. In his enclave, surrounded by aging clusters of tech, Lucas uses a suite of bespoke tools to trace down the origin.
He discovers that the source of the signal is near the headquarters of Ainimus, Inc., a small tech company helmed by the reclusive genius Dr. Peter Newsome.
The same Newsome who recently claimed to have built the world’s first true Artificial General Intelligence—Orchestrator.
Lucas warns Ainimus, only to be confronted with skepticism and conceit. But when Lucas ties the signals to an outbreak of malfunctioning tech across Silicon Valley, he realizes his worst fears have come true, and it is up to him to stop the most advanced persistent threat humanity has ever seen.
Alone against an alien, incomprehensible intelligence, Lucas races the clock to stop a force that has become truly Unconstrained.
I Think I Was Murdered by Colleen Coble, Rick Acker
Narrated by Karen Peakes
Thomas Nelson
A grieving young widow. The AI program that allows her to continue to “talk” to her husband. And a message she never expected: “I think I was murdered.”
Just a year ago, Katrina Berg was at the pinnacle of her career. She was a rising star in the AI chatbot start-up everyone was talking about, married with an adoring husband, and had more money than she knew how to spend. Then her world combusted. Her husband, Jason, was killed in a fiery car crash. Her CEO was indicted and, as the company’s legal counsel, Katrina faces tough questions as the Feds take over and lock her out of her office. The final blow is the passing of her beloved grandmother.
Her most prized possession is the beta prototype for a new, ultra-sophisticated chatbot loaded onto her phone. The contents of Jason’s email, social media backups, pictures, and every bit of data she could find were loaded into the bot, and Katrina has “talked” to him every day for the past six months. She has been amazed at how well it works. Even the syntax and words the bot uses sound like Jason. Sometimes, she imagines he isn’t really dead and is right there beside her. She knows it’s slowing her grief recovery, but she can’t stop pretending.
On a particularly bad day, she taps out: Tell me something I don’t know. The cursor blinks for several moments and seems frozen before the reply flashes quickly onto the screen: I think I was murdered.
Distraught, Katrina returns to her cozy Norwegian-flavored hometown in the Northern California redwoods and enlists the help of Seb Wallace, local restaurateur and longtime acquaintance, to try to parse out the truth of what really happened. They must navigate the complicated paths of grief, family dynamics, and second chances, as well as the complex questions of how much control technology has. And staying alive long enough to do that is far more difficult than either of them dreamed.
- Contemporary romantic suspense
- Stand-alone novel
- Includes discussion questions for book clubs
Booked for the Holidays by Liz Maverick
Narrated by Eva Kaminsky, Andrew Eiden
Audible Originals
Check out my reviews of other titles narrated by Andrew Eiden
Brighten the holidays with this funny, heartfelt rom-com about the stories—and the love—that we never forget.
When mystery author D. B. Ziegler is late delivering her book, Abi Schore steps in to help. Surely she can give her favorite author moral support over the holiday break and get the manuscript to her boss at Tea & Sympathy Publishing in time for the new year.
When Abi shows up on Ms. Ziegler’s doorstep bearing holiday treats, she’s met by the author’s handsome grandson Dov, who reveals a startling plot twist. His grandmother isn’t able to finish the book and Dov promised he’d complete it so fans won’t be disappointed—a task that’s harder than he ever imagined.
As Hanukkah unfolds, Abi and Dov cozy up in his grandmother’s brownstone apartment working their way through his writer’s block and untangling plot threads. Before long, the novel starts taking shape … and so does their simmering attraction. Will their own story end once the book is written, or is this just the first chapter?
Pilgrims by M. R. Leonard
Narrated by Jeff Hays, Justin Thomas James, Gary Furlong, Annie Ellicott
Soundbooth Theater
Whispersync Deal with Kindle Purchase
Kindle Edition Currently Available with Kindle Unlimited
Check out my reviews of other titles narrated by Jeff Hays, Justin Thomas James, Annie Ellicott
Latin was a dead language—until the aliens arrived.
Out-of-work Latin teacher and borderline alcoholic Austin DeSantis is determined to spend his final days in the arms of a prostitute—that is if the aliens don’t exterminate humanity first.
But when the aliens land at the Vatican, begin speaking Latin, and reveal themselves to be Catholic, the world turns upside down.
Pressed into service as a translator and thrust into the center of humanity’s first contact with a cryptic alien race, Austin must uncover their true intentions before religious turmoil rips the planet apart. But with Austin caught between the Catholic Church, the US military, and an enigmatic alien AI, he’ll have to decide where his loyalties lie as the fate of humanity hangs in the balance.
PILGRIMS is a sci-fi retelling of Augustine’s Confessions, mixing a high-concept premise à la Children of Time with the ceaseless pacing and rich characterization of Red Rising.
Get it now!
eMortal by Steve Schafer
Narrated by Rebecca H. Lee, Stacy Carolan
Audiobook Empire
She made him. He’s just code. She’s almost sure.
…But what if he’s real?
When Liv entered a contest to code an advanced AI, she never anticipated what her creation might become-Breck is thoughtful, self-aware, and incredibly. . .human. And she certainly never intended for him to learn the truth about his existence or the fact that his world ends when the contest closes in six days.
But he does learn. And he revolts.
Liv’s efforts to save him fall on deaf ears. Nobody believes her. Breck’s efforts to outrun his fate only complicate his situation.
What neither of them know is that someone else is watching. Intensely. When they get involved, both Liv’s and Breck’s worlds are turned upside down. . .
I’ve loved reading since I was little when my dad would read me Dr. Suess books. Fast-forward a little and I noticed that he was always reading on his lunch breaks at work, and I wondered why.Then, I found a book that took me to another place and time, to another feeling,another sense of “being”.It was the first book that I ever fell in love with, and I’ve been chasing that feeling ever since.
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