​Audiobooks! You all know I love them and recommend them! Today, I'm sharing my top 5 for new listeners! I've been a long time advocate of audiobook listening and can't get enough of them! From Fantasy, to Science Fiction, to Dystopian, to Paranormal Romance, to Thrillers, to Memoirs - I listen to them all!  Audiobooks are great for listening during your work day and daily commute. They are also wonderful for when you're out shopping or cooking in the kitchen. Whenever you're doing something where your eyes and hands are occupied, audiobook listening is perfect!

I'm taking this opportunity to share my top 5 from my absolute favorite genres, Paranormal Romance, Urban Fantasy/Fantasy, and Science Fiction! Many of my recommendations cross the genres I've mentioned, so they are all great fun to listen to.  Check them out, I think that all of these series are winners with excellent narrators. I recommend them to both those seasoned audiobook listeners as well as newbie listeners. They are listed in no particular order, I loved them all. Enjoy!

​Mercy Thompson series by Patricia Briggs, narrated by Lorelei King.

​Welcome my #RustCity17 author feature series. Showcasing several of the talented authors that will be in attendance at the upcoming Michigan event, Rust City Book Con. 

A read and listen book review consist of time spent both reading the physical book and listening to the audiobook.  

I admit that I'm one of the Rhys character fan girls, so I jumped on this book the day it was released and finished it pretty quickly. Was I happy with the book? Generally yes. ​Was it perfect? No. Read on to find out if  A Court of Wings and Ruin lived up to the hype. 

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​Publisher: Bloomsbury USA Childrens /Recorded Books
Release Date: May 2, 2017
Format: Kindle, Audio MP3
Pages: 699 | Audio Length: 25 hours 8 mins
Narrator:​ Amanda Leigh Cobb​
Source: Kindle, Audible
Genre: Fantasy,  YA, New Adult
Rating: 4 bookmarks

Synopsis:  A nightmare, I’d told Tamlin. I was the nightmare.

Feyre has returned to the Spring Court, determined to gather information on Tamlin’s maneuverings and the invading king threatening to bring Prythian to its knees. But to do so she must play a deadly game of deceit—and one slip may spell doom not only for Feyre, but for her world as well. As war bears down upon them all, Feyre must decide who to trust amongst the dazzling and lethal High Lords—and hunt for allies in unexpected places.

This book had lots of buzz leading into it's release date. Being that I just fell in love with this world in book two, I had high expectations. This installment was essentially a war story. The art of subterfuge and war.  The secondary story-line revolved around family and love.  It's a complex tale and I think that Maas did a good job with this installment. 

Publisher: Lara Adrian, LLC | Tantor Audio
Release Date: January 16, 2017 | April 25, 2017
Format: Audio MP3
Pages: Hardcover: 214 ebook | Audio Length: 7 hrs and 26 mins ​
Narrator: Summer Morton
Source: Publisher
Genre: Romance, Contemporary,  Erotica
​Rating: 4 bookmarks

Synopsis: Passion knows no bounds...

Avery Ross is living a dream. After struggling all of her life to make ends meet, a chance encounter with a powerful, darkly handsome man has catapulted her into a dazzling new world of penthouse luxury, elegant parties, and a wild, consuming passion with her billionaire lover, Dominic Baine. Nothing is out of his reach in business or in pleasure, yet the only woman he wants is her. Nick sweeps her to sensual heights she has never dared explore, commanding her body the same way he commands her heart. Yet Avery knows the fantasy she’s living cannot last.

With dark secrets and a dangerous enemy haunting her past, Avery must find a way to trust Nick with the truth before it destroys everything they share. But Nick is harboring secrets of his own as well. And when they come to light, Avery will be forced to decide if the love she feels for Nick is strong enough to endure a betrayal she may never be able to forgive. 

*This audiobook was provided by the publisher in exchange for a honest review.

If you haven’t read book one, For 100 Days, no problem. You can start here. Lara Adrian knows how to include enough of the history without info dumping the reader so you’ll be able to jump right in easily. This trilogy has a lot of the genre familiar tropes. A not so rich woman with a murky past who falls into bed (and possibly love) with a sexy, rich, domineering and powerful man with his own set of emotional hang ups.  Lots of things going on in this book are typical to the genre tropes, and yet - going into it knowing what type of book to expect makes it more enjoyable.  It’s a fun, quick and easy listen. 

Publisher: NAL
Release Date: April 4, 2017
Format: ebook (Kindle)
Pages: 544
Source: Amazon 
Genre: Paranormal Romance, Urban Fantasy
Review Date: June 12, 2017
Rating: 3 bookmarks

Synopsis: ​Xcor, leader of the Band of Bastards, convicted of treason against the Blind King, is facing a brutal interrogation and torturous death at the hands of the Black Dagger Brotherhood. Yet after a life marked by cruelty and evil deeds, he accepts his soldier’s fate, his sole regret the loss of a sacred female who was never his: the Chosen Layla.

Layla alone knows the truth that will save Xcor’s life. But revealing his sacrifice and his hidden heritage will expose them both and destroy everything Layla holds dear—even her role of mother to her precious young. Torn between love and loyalty, she must summon the courage to stand up against the only family she has for the only man she will ever love. Yet even if Xcor is somehow granted a reprieve, he and Layla would have to confront a graver challenge: bridging the chasm that divides their worlds without paving the way for a future of even greater war, desolation, and death.

As a dangerous old enemy returns to Caldwell, and the identity of a new deity is revealed, nothing is certain or safe in the world of the Black Dagger Brotherhood, not even true love . . . or destinies that have long seemed set in stone.

I'm still enjoying this series, despite the three bookmark rating. When I first closed the book, I was at a four, but since then, I've had time to think about it and settle into my thoughts on The Chosen and my issues with the book which decreased my rating to a three.

Not many series ​can go on for this long and the author still manage to consistently deliver books that the fans love to argue over. Ward has done it.  Her BDB fans stay interested and waiting for the next book year after year. The series is still strong and I'm all in.  I just wish a few things were different in The Chosen. This story picks up exactly where The Beast ends. This installment centers around Layla and Xcor most, and to be brutally honest, I don't love them together. I don't really even like either of their characters, but I still enjoyed this book because of everyone else in the story. Blay and Qhuinn have a very substantiation part in this book. Not to forget Lassiter, Throe, Torhment, Vishous, and the King. They all have prominent parts in this installment and they added lots to the book. Without them, I fear I would find Layla and Xcor too boring.

Publisher: Bloomsbury USA
Release Date: June 6, 2017
Format: Hardcover
Pages: 288
Source: Publisher
Genre: Literary Fiction
Rating: 4 bookmarks

Synopsis:  After his mother's death, eleven-year-old Marcus is sent to live on a small South Carolina island with his great aunt, a reclusive painter with a haunted past. Aunt Charlotte, otherwise a woman of few words, points out a ruined cottage, telling Marcus she had visited it regularly after she'd moved there thirty years ago because it matched the ruin of her own life. Eventually she was inspired to take up painting so she could capture its utter desolation.

The islanders call it -Grief Cottage, - because a boy and his parents disappeared from it during a hurricane fifty years before. Their bodies were never found and the cottage has stood empty ever since. During his lonely hours while Aunt Charlotte is in her studio painting and keeping her demons at bay, Marcus visits the cottage daily, building up his courage by coming ever closer, even after the ghost of the boy who died seems to reveal himself. Full of curiosity and open to the unfamiliar and uncanny given the recent upending of his life, he courts the ghost boy, never certain whether the ghost is friendly or follows some sinister agenda.

*This book was provided by the publisher in exchange for a honest review.

​Gail Godwin has written a lovely and engaging tale exploring themes of loss, abuse, growth, friendship and love with an ambivalent ghost, haunted cottage, and revealing surprise conclusion in her newest novel, Grief Cottage.

Marcus Harshaw, the eleven year old protagonist, loses his mother in a tragic car accident and must travel to live with his only known relative, Aunt Charlotte. Charlotte, an edgy alcoholic artist who seems to disdain too much contact or unnecessary talk, quickly establishes a summer routine for Marcus that sets him free to explore his new small South Carolina island home. While Marcus is discovering and making contact with the ghost of a boy lost in a hurricane decades ago, Charlotte is working through her own crisis brought on by injuries from a drunken fall making her normal painting impossible. Charlotte and Marcus must each confront their own personal ghosts and secrets to find their way forward into optimistic new futures.

I can hear it now...."Tamara, YOU'RE reviewing Baywatch?!?!"  Yes, yes I am! The Rock...and muscles. Enough said. Well, there's more to be said. Starting with the fact that Dwayne Johnson aka The Rock is really likable in this movie. He always is. Zac Efron looked a little plastic to me for some reason, but he provided his fair portion of comedy. Together along with the rest of the Baywatch squad, they delivered the laughs. During two specific parts of the movie I was nearly in tears because I was laughing so hard.