Armchair Audies 2016

I will once again be participating in the Armchair Audies, however I have decided to change it up a little, I am still going to do the Best Female Narration but I have decided my second category will be Young Adult. I look forward to listening to some new to me narrators and some new to me authors.

I will be starting out with All the Stars in the Heavens by Adriana Trigiani narrated by, Blair Brown

Best Female Narration

All the Stars in the Heavens by Adriana Trigiani, read by Blair Brown

The Boston Girl by Anita Diamant, read by Linda Lavin

Liar of Dreams by Libba Bray, read by January LaVoy

The Lost Landscape by Joyce Carol Oates, read by Cassandra Campbell

The Nightengale by Kristin Hannah, read by Polly Stone

Wild Rover No More by L.A. Meyer, read by Katherine Kellgren

Young Adult

All the Bright Places by Jennifer Niven, read by Kirby Heyborne and Ariadne Meyers

Liar of Dreams by Libba Bray, read by January LaVoy

The Sleeper and the Spindle by Neil Gaiman , read by Julian Rhind-Tutt, Lara Pulver, Niamh Walsh, Adjoa Andoh, Peter Forbes, John Sessions, Michael Maloney, Sean Baker, Jane Collingwood, Clare Corbett, Allan Corduner, Katherine Kingsley, and Daniel Weyman

Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand, read by Edward Herrmann

The Winter Horses by Philip Kerr, read by James Langton

X by Ilyasah Shabazz and Kekla Magoon, read by Dion Graham

Thanks so much Jennifer Conner ---Lit Housewife for the pictures!

The Ramblers: A Novel By Aidan Donnelley Rowley Narrated By Erica Sullivan

The Ramblers: A Novel By Aidan Donnelley Rowley Narrated By Erica Sullivan

This was a new to me author and narrator although I liked the authors writing, this book just wasn't for me, I can't put my finger on it but I felt like this wasn't a modern story there was something old fashioned about the language and the interactions, it seemed every time a year was mentioned it jarred me, oh, right this is set in present day. Also the sexting and graphic sexual descriptions kind of took me out of the story because I liked the writing; the flow of it, then one of these scenes would come up and disrupt the flow.

This is one of those Lit. Fic. books that I just don’t really get, this was just kind of a day in life book or a couple days in a life of three people, Clio is an anxiety prone woman whose mother killed herself and was manic all Clio’s life and it still affects her today, my problem with Clio is at some point in life you need to stop blaming your parents for all your problems, then we have Smith who is a rich girl recently heartbroken and quite jealous of her little sisters happiness ( she does finally get over that somewhat), then we have Tate who they say went to Yale with the other two but now Smith and Tate have just started dating. But I feel like Henry should have gotten better billing in the book description he is Clio’s boyfriend and is a pretty great guy who accepts Clio even with her anxiety attacks and somewhat manic behavior, I think he was my favorite character in this book.

Erica Sullivan’s narration was well done she didn’t try too hard for the male voices, and Henry’s slight Irish accent was good and all the characters were well defined and it was easy to differentiate. I would listen to this narrator again.

I am honestly not sure what the point of the story was or what I was supposed to get out of it.

So for me this book was just meh, however I would try something else by this author just because I liked the flow of her writing even though I didn’t get the story.

2 ½ Stars

Audie Award Nominees 2016

Here are all the nominees, thanks to the APA (Audio Publishers Association.)

I will be involved with the Armchair Audies again this year, I will probably still do the Female narrator Category but think I am going to switch it up for my 2nd category.

Audie Predictions 2016

Audie Predictions 2016

As the Audie Nominations are to be announced tomorrow, I thought I’d put together some predictions as I did I realized I didn’t listen to many new releases this past year, I listened to some great books but none qualified for this years Audies. So here are the ones that I have listened to.

I may switch it up this year and pick a category I’ve never done before, I will let you know after the nominees are announced!

Don't forget to follow  #Audies2016 tomorrow and #armchairaudies2016

Non-Fiction

Dead Wake: The Last Crossing of the Lusitania by Erik Larson narrated by, Scott Brick

Scott Brick’s narration was of course wonderful, I thought his male and female voices were well done and he really brought this story to life.

Mystery

Lacy Eye by Jessica Treadway narrated by, Ellen Archer

Ellen Archer’s narration was very well done I thought the tones and sarcasm she gave Iris were perfect and also her narration of Dawn showed us that she really never grew up and seemed stunted as a child/teen. And with Hanna so much of the book is inside her head and I liked that I could tell when she was speaking to someone or just remembering things. I would definitely listen to this narrator again.

The Stranger by, Harlan Coben narrated by, George Newbern

George Newbern is a new to me narrator and I thought he did a very good job especially in the final scenes he captured the moment perfectly. I would definitely listen to this narrator again.

The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins narrated by, Clare Corbett Louise Brealey and India Fisher

The three audiobook narrators Clare Corbett, Louise Brealey and India Fisher all did such a fantastic job they truly brought these women to life and endowed each with such emotion. These were all new to me narrators and I will definitely be looking for other books any of these women have narrated!

Thriller

Every Fifteen Minutes by Lisa Scottoline narrated by, George Newbern

George Newbern has got a new fan in me this is the second book in just a month or so I have listened to that he has narrated and I really like his narrating style. He will be a go to for books if he is narrating I will pick the audio version.

The Night Sister by Jennifer McMahon narrated by, Cassandra Campbell

Cassandra Campbell’s narration was spot on as always, I liked how you could tell it was teen Piper & Margot speaking and when they were adults also a good job at the older Rose, also the narration of Amy’s daughter Lou was very well done. I waited for the audio version of this one and Cassandra didn’t let me down!

Fiction

The Truth According to Us: A Novel By Annie Barrows Narrated By Ann Marie Lee, Tara Sands, Julia Whelan **This one may end up being in Multi-Voice too**

Read by Ann Marie Lee, Tara Sands, and Julia Whelan, with additional readings by Cassandra Campbell, Danny Campbell, Mark Deakins, Kimberly Farr, Kirby Heyborne, Lincoln Hoppe, Paul Michael, Linda Montana, and Arthur Morey. The narration was very well done with the main narrators being Ann Marie Lee and Tara Sands who both did a fantastic job at bringing this book to life. The other narrators read letters and histories which I found interesting and thought it added credence to the letters.

A Touch of Stardust by, Kate Alcott narrated by, Cassandra Campbell

Cassandra Campbell’s narration was as always fabulous, I like how she made Clark gruff but didn’t try to imitate his voice, every character had their own cadence and tone and you were never left guessing as to who was talking.

The Flying Circus by Susan Crandall narrated by, Jacques Roy

Narrator Jacques Roy is a new to me narrator however I am now a fan, I thought he did a great job with male, female, different accents and general storytelling. I would definitely listen to another book narrated by him.

Fantasy

A Darker Shade of Magic (A Darker Shade of Magic #1) by V.E. Schwab narrated by, Steven Crossley

Steven Crossley’s narration was fabulous, every accent was superb and his male and female voices were so well done I think he enhanced this book which is really saying something. I will listen to him again in a heartbeat and just from this one book has gone on my favorite narrators list.

Some I have not listened to but think they will be nominated:

The Kind Worth Killing By Peter Swanson Narrated By Johnny Heller, Karen White, Kathleen Early, Keith Szarabajka

Career of Evil By Robert Galbraith Narrated By Robert Glenister

The Girl in the Spider's Web: A Lisbeth Salander Novel - Millennium Series, Book 4 By David Lagercrantz Narrated By Simon Vance

Go Set a Watchman: A Novel By Harper Lee Narrated By Reese Witherspoon

The Paris Key By Juliet Blackwell Narrated By Xe Sands

Missing Pieces by Heather Gudenkauf

Missing Pieces by Heather Gudenkauf

I really enjoyed this book the only thing I had a problem with was how fast Sarah went from happily loving her husband to accusing him of something awful; she never gave him the benefit of the doubt for a second she went right to worst case scenario. Now I am a cynical person and I don't know how I would react in this situation however I know I would give my man of 19 years the benefit of doubt before I went straight crazy. I could understand if he had a history of lying but he didn't, they were happy so how could she believe the worst so fast.

There are huge family secrets here and Sarah is reeling as she starts to uncover things about her husband and his family that she never knew and honestly she goes a little off the rails to uncover more and more no matter what kind of danger that puts her in.

I actually felt bad for Jack; I think he put these events behind him because he didn’t want to look too closely and because of how he was treated at the time. Then Sarah pushes and pushes him but doesn’t wait for an answer, he has kept this all inside for long but she doesn’t give him a chance to deal with everything before she thinks he is a killer.

There were times I wanted to smack Sarah and a few times I yelled at Jack to just tell her everything so she can stop being paranoid and so she knows the lies have nothing to do with her.

I don’t want to give anything more away, I thought this was a good book and a well told story.

3 ½ Stars

I received this book from Netgalley and the publisher for a fair and honest review.