Check out the latest Shelf Addiction interview! On today's podcast episode I'm interviewing audiobook narrator Jennifer Ledford. ​Come along as she shares with us some of her experiences recording Out of the Soylent Planet by Robert Kroese. 

Publisher: Ballantine Books/Random House Audio
Release Date: February 6, 2018
Format: MP3 Download
Pages: Hardcover: 400 | Audio Length: 12 hours 57 mins
Narrator:​ Jon Lindstrom
Source: Audiobook Publisher
Genre: Mystery, Thriller
Rating: 2 bookmarks

Synopsis: Nate McHale has assembled the kind of life most people would envy. After a tumultuous youth marked by his inexplicable survival of a devastating tragedy, Nate left his Adirondack hometown of Greystone Lake and never looked back. Fourteen years later, he's become a respected New York City surgeon, devoted husband, and loving father.

Then a body is discovered deep in the forests that surround Greystone Lake.

This disturbing news finally draws Nate home. While navigating a tense landscape of secrets and suspicion, resentments and guilt, Nate reconnects with estranged friends and old enemies, and encounters strangers who seem to know impossible things about him. Haunting every moment is the Lake's sinister history and the memory of wild, beautiful Lucy Bennett, with whom Nate is forever linked by shattering loss and youthful passion.

As a massive hurricane bears down on the Northeast, the air becomes electric, the clouds grow dark, and escalating acts of violence echo events from Nate's own past. Without a doubt, a reckoning is coming--one that will lay bare the lies that lifelong friends have told themselves and unleash a vengeance that may consume them all.

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

​The story begins with Nate McHale, aka “The Storm King”, taking the bus back home to Greystone Lake after being away for fourteen years. He is taking the bus because hurricane Medea is making her way toward his boyhood home and riding the bus is safer than flying. We learn that during his absence he has become an oncologist, a husband and father. He is weary about returning, but there are some questions he needs answered. The town and the lake hold terrible memories from his youth and Nate is unsure about what will be revealed during this reunion. Nate’s parents and baby brother drowned in the lake when their car was hit by another driver and Nate was the sole survivor.  The lake is also the keeper of fond memories, secrets and tragedy that he once shared with his high school buddies and his first love, Lucy Bennett.

​I adore audiobooks. I always recommend and encourage readers to try consuming a book audio style. Audiobooks are like fries... you can never stop at one! I'm happy to be sharing with you winning titles from my favorite genres!

Once again I'm partnering with Audiofile Magazine to share with you the 2017 Best Sci-Fi, Fantasy & Horror audiobooks! Be sure to head over to the AudioFile EZine to get access to the complete 2017 list!   

Get a closer look at the winners in the Sci-Fi, Fantasy & Horror categories! Listen to a few audio snippets and click on the audiobook covers to be taken directly to the AudioFile reviews. Enjoy!
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Publisher: Hutchinson / Random House Audio
Release Date: November 7, 2017
Format: MP3 Download
Pages: Hardcover: 288 | Audio Length: 8 hours 52 mins
Narrator:​ Karissa Vacker
Source: Audiobook Publisher
Genre: Suspense, Thriller
Rating: 4 bookmarks

Synopsis: It has been ten years since Abby Williams left home and scrubbed away all visible evidence of her small town roots. Now working as an environmental lawyer in Chicago, she has a thriving career, a modern apartment, and her pick of meaningless one-night stands.

But when a new case takes her back home to Barrens, Indiana, the life Abby painstakingly created begins to crack. Tasked with investigating Optimal Plastics, the town's most high-profile company and economic heart, Abby begins to find strange connections to Barrens’ biggest scandal from more than a decade ago involving the popular Kaycee Mitchell and her closest friends—just before Kaycee disappeared for good.

Abby knows the key to solving any case lies in the weak spots, the unanswered questions. But as Abby tries to find out what really happened to Kaycee, she unearths an even more disturbing secret—a ritual called “The Game,” which will threaten the reputations, and lives, of the community and risk exposing a darkness that may consume her.

With tantalizing twists, slow-burning suspense, and a remote, rural town of just five claustrophobic miles, Bonfire is a dark exploration of the question: can you ever outrun your past? 

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

​The story opens up beautiful Kaycee Mitchell having what may be a seizure and collapsing during mock elections in the last year of high school in the small rural town of Barrens, Indiana. Kaycee’s illness has spread across the campus and mass hysteria (think Salem Witch Trials) has taken over amongst the clique of mean girls. Eventually the other girls confessed to lying about their illness, but Kaycee never did.

With Thanksgiving and Christmas right around the corner, so many of us are traveling between now and the end of the year. Whether you're traveling a short or long distance, audiobooks make the ideal travel companion. Sitting around for during a layover? On a flight? Driving to to see family or friends in another state or up the road? On a train or bus? Want to block out the noise of your fellow travelers? Keep yourself entertained and press play on an audiobook!

I am an avid audiobook advocate. I enjoy a good book regardless if it's consumed by my eyes or ears. There are so many reasons why a audiobook appeals to me and one reason is that a good narrator can make the experience memorable and take the story to the next level. A narrator can make or break s story. If you're new to audiobooks or are looking for some recommendations, I'm sharing with you my top go-to narrators to get you started on your holiday listening, All of the narrators that I've selected have narrated a variety of genres, so no matter what your favorite genre is, one of these awesome voices will lure you into putting on the headphones!

Before you go, enter the awesome audiobook giveaway at the bottom of this post. Enter to win a fantastic selection of 10 audiobooks that have been generously donated by Galaxy Press, Hachette Audio, Harper Audio, High Bridge Audio, Macmillan, Penguin Random House Audio, and Post Hypnotic Press, Scholastic,Simon & Schuster Audio, and Tantor Audio.  This giveaway is US/Canada only and will close at midnight (11:59 pm ET) on November 30, 2017. Be sure to visit the other bloggers on this blog tour, check out the schedule here.

​I have some awesome suggestions for you to get your fiction audiobook experience kicked off in the right direction! I'm sharing my top 5 audiobook narrators (Fall 2017 edition)!  I'm always listening to audiobooks, so this list tends to morph and grow over time, but right now these are my favorites and I recommend them all.  Pairing these amazingly skillful voice talents along with a great story make fiction audiobooks irresistible.

​Publisher: G.P. Putnam’s Sons Books for Young Readers | Listening Library
Release Date: September 12, 2017
Format: MP3 Download
Pages: Hardcover: 368 pages | Audio Length: 11 hours 46 mins
Narrators: Nancy Wu​
Source: Publisher
Genre: YA Science Fiction
​Rating: 4 bookmarks

Synopsis: For the millions who log in every day, Warcross isn’t just a game—it’s a way of life. The obsession started ten years ago and its fan base now spans the globe, some eager to escape from reality and others hoping to make a profit. Struggling to make ends meet, teenage hacker Emika Chen works as a bounty hunter, tracking down players who bet on the game illegally. But the bounty hunting world is a competitive one, and survival has not been easy. Needing to make some quick cash, Emika takes a risk and hacks into the opening game of the international Warcross Championships—only to accidentally glitch herself into the action and become an overnight sensation.

Convinced she’s going to be arrested, Emika is shocked when instead she gets a call from the game’s creator, the elusive young billionaire Hideo Tanaka, with an irresistible offer. He needs a spy on the inside of this year’s tournament in order to uncover a security problem . . . and he wants Emika for the job. With no time to lose, Emika’s whisked off to Tokyo and thrust into a world of fame and fortune that she’s only dreamed of. But soon her investigation uncovers a sinister plot, with major consequences for the entire Warcross empire.

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

​The plot is an interesting concept that I've personally never read before. I liked it, very much. I didn't know anything about gaming in a books at this level, but Marie Lu has has gotten me interested in reading more! Speaking of gaming, Warcross is the ultimate game for these characters. The International Warcross Championships is the goal for hardcore players and hackers. That's the glue that brings all of the different characters together.

​Publisher:  Grand Central Publishing | Hachette Audio
Release Date: October 13, 2015 | October 15, 2015
Format: Audio CDs
Pages: Hardcover: 486 pages | Audio Length: 14 hours 23 mins
Narrator: Christopher Ryan Grant​
Source: Publisher
Genre: Romance, Contemporary Romance
​Rating: 4 bookmarks

​Synopsis: Colin Hancock is giving his second chance his best shot. With a history of violence and bad decisions behind him and the threat of prison dogging his every step, he's determined to walk a straight line. To Colin, that means applying himself single-mindedly toward his teaching degree and avoiding everything that proved destructive in his earlier life. Reminding himself daily of his hard-earned lessons, the last thing he is looking for is a serious relationship.

Maria Sanchez, the hardworking daughter of Mexican immigrants, is the picture of conventional success. With a degree from Duke Law School and a job at a prestigious firm in Wilmington, she is a dark-haired beauty with a seemingly flawless professional track record. And yet Maria has a traumatic history of her own, one that compelled her to return to her hometown and left her questioning so much of what she once believed.

A chance encounter on a rain-swept road will alter the course of both Colin and Maria's lives, challenging deeply held assumptions about each other and ultimately, themselves. As love unexpectedly takes hold between them, they dare to envision what a future together could possibly look like . . . until menacing reminders of events in Maria's past begin to surface.

As a series of threatening incidents wreaks chaos in Maria's life, Maria and Colin will be tested in increasingly terrifying ways. Will demons from their past destroy the tenuous relationship they've begun to build, or will their love protect them, even in the darkest hour?

Rich in emotion and fueled with suspense, SEE ME reminds us that love is sometimes forged in the crises that threaten to shatter us . . . and that those who see us for who we truly are may not always be the ones easiest to recognize. 

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

​I was really honored to help Tamara with this review of the Nicholas Sparks story "See Me." I have been quite a Nicholas Sparks fan since my emotional high school days pouring over "A Walk to Remember". In the last couple years I have lost track I am sad to realize he has 18 novels in total now! I have become quite behind on his books so I jumped in with fresh "eyes". 

Publisher: Blackstone Publishing | Blackstone Audio
Release Date: February 2, 2017
Format: Audio CDs
Pages: Hardcover: 368 pages | Audio Length: 11 hours 42 mins
Narrators: Alan Smyth , Bronson Pinchot , Suzanne Toren
Source: Publisher
Genre: Thriller
​Rating: 4 bookmarks

Synopsis: The day Adam Dunne's girlfriend, Sarah, fails to return from a Barcelona business trip, his perfect life begins to fall apart. Days later, the arrival of her passport and a note that reads "I'm sorry--S" sets off real alarm bells. He vows to do whatever it takes to find her.

Adam is puzzled when he connects Sarah to a cruise ship called the Celebrate--and to a woman, Estelle, who disappeared from the same ship in eerily similar circumstances almost exactly a year before.

To get answers, Adam must confront some difficult truths about his relationship with Sarah. He must do things of which he never thought himself capable. And he must try to outwit a predator who seems to have found the perfect hunting ground ...

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

​Adam Dunne and his girlfriend, Sarah, have been dating for 10 years. He is a screen writer who hasn’t held a steady job throughout their relationship. He is about to sell his first screenplay and receive a nice sum of money that will be deposited to his bank account, but first he needs to do a rewrite of the script. During this time, Sarah announces she has to take a trip to Barcelona for work for a few days which will give Adam plenty of free and uninterrupted time to work on script. Adam wants to go with her, but she insists he cannot afford it, the trip is work related and that he should really focus on the rewrite.

While Sarah is gone, he is bored and not as focused as he should be and decides to send Sarah a text through the WhatsApp app, but she doesn’t respond. He’s not worried at first because she is probably busy with business
meetings. But the plot thickens when Sarah’s parents call to inquire about her whereabouts, her best friend Rose reveals some truths, and she doesn’t show up at the airport gate when Adam arrives to pick her up.