​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.

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. 

I'm a huge fan of Lara Adrian's Midnight Breed series, so when I learned of For 100 Days and then I got the opportunity to listen to it on audiobook, I jumped at it.  Read my review and find out why For 100 Days earned a 4 bookmark rating! But before you do, watch the interview I did with Lara last fall. She gives me the scoop on this title! 

Publisher: Lara Adrian, LLC | Tantor Audio
Release Date: May 24, 2016 | August 16, 2016
Format: Audio MP3
Pages: Hardcover: 375 ebook | Audio Length: 9 hours and 34 mins 
Narrator: Summer Morton
Source: Publisher
Genre: Romance, Contemporary,  Erotica
​Rating: 4 bookmarks

Synopsis:  Pleasure has a price . . .

Just when everything in my life is falling apart, I find a chance to turn it around--to step into someone else's glittering world, if only for a little while. I become someone new, no longer the woman defined by an ugly past, but a woman freer and bolder than myself. A woman who isn't afraid to explore every passion, even at its darkest, with a mysterious and seductive man who believes my mask is real.

Handsome and commanding, enigmatic and irresistible, billionaire Dominic Baine is an obsession I cannot afford and should not risk. He ushers me into consuming new pleasures and addicting new desires, until the line between my real life and the fantasy one I've stolen with him begins to blur.

I know I cannot keep my truth from him. I know my past will not stay buried forever. But before I can make it right, everything comes crashing down. I have deceived this powerful, dangerous man . . . and now there is a price to be paid.

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

Publisher: Berkley Books | Penguin Audio
Release Date: May 2, 2017
Format: Audio MP3
Pages: Hardcover: 368 pages | Audio Length: 9 hours 51 mins
Narrator: Emily Rankin ​
Source: Publisher
Genre: Women’s Fiction, Chick Lit​
​Rating: 3 bookmarks

​​Synopsis: Lilian Girvan has been a single mother for three years—ever since her husband died in a car accident. One mental breakdown and some random suicidal thoughts later, she’s just starting to get the hang of this widow thing. She can now get her two girls to school, show up to work, and watch TV like a pro. The only problem is she’s becoming overwhelmed with being underwhelmed. 
 
At least her textbook illustrating job has some perks—like actually being called upon to draw whale genitalia. Oh, and there’s that vegetable-gardening class her boss signed her up for. Apparently, being the chosen illustrator for a series of boutique vegetable guides means getting your hands dirty, literally. Wallowing around in compost on a Saturday morning can’t be much worse than wallowing around in pajamas and self-pity. 
 
After recruiting her kids and insanely supportive sister to join her, Lilian shows up at the Los Angeles botanical garden feeling out of her element. But what she’ll soon discover—with the help of a patient instructor and a quirky group of gardeners—is that into every life a little sun must shine, whether you want it to or not…

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

Lilian lost her husband in a tragic car accident that she practically witnessed right outside her front door. She suffered a nervous breakdown after this incident and was hospitalized. Her supportive younger sister, Reichel, steps in to take care of her nieces, Annabel, age seven and Clare, age five.

The book opens with Lilian getting back to work as a textbook illustrator for Poplar Press and being a mom with her predictable routine of picking of the girls from school and typical mom stuff. But her routine is disrupted abruptly when her boss assigns her to a job to illustrate a book for the Bloem Company on vegetables and flowers, but there is a catch… she must attend a six-week gardening class. The class is instructed by the handsome Professor Edward Bloem who is also part owner of the Bloem Company. Lillian attends the classes with her daughters and her sister Reichel. However during the course, Lilian’s attraction to Edward “blooms”, but she struggles with it because she can’t seem to move past her love for her dead ​husband Dan. However, she soon finds out that love and gardening have a lot in common.

Publisher: Spiegel & Grau | Random House Audio​​
Release Date: March 7, 2017
Format: Audio MP3
Pages: Hardcover:  272  pages | Audio Length: 7 hours 51 mins
Narrator: Marisol Ramirez , Ramón de Ocampo
Source: Publisher
Genre: Literary Fiction, Historical
​Rating: 4 bookmarks

Synopsis: While her parents are away for a holiday weekend in the mountains around Cali, a teenager finds herself home alone for the first time, with the household help mysteriously gone, no phone connection, and news of an insurgency on the radio—and then she hears a knock at the door. The girl’s teacher recites Shakespeare in the jungle to a class of sticks, leaves, and stones, while his captors watch his every move. Another classmate, having escaped Colombia for the clubs of New York, is unable to forget the life she left behind without the help of the little bags of powder she carries with her. Taking place over two decades, The Lucky Ones presents us with a world in which perpetrators are indistinguishable from saviors, the truth is elusive, and people you love can disappear without a trace.

A prismatic tale of a group of characters who emerge and recede throughout the novel and touch one another’s lives in ways even they cannot comprehend, The Lucky Ones captures the intensity of life in Colombia as paramilitaries, guerillas, and drug traffickers tear the country apart. Combining vivid details of life under siege with a hallucinatory feel that befits its violent world, The Lucky Ones introduces a truly original and exciting new voice in fiction.

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

I’m going to just come right out and say it-nobody is lucky in The Lucky Ones.  If you’re looking for a happy-go-lucky book, this isn’t it.  But the language-it’s breathtaking.  I couldn’t wait to figure out what was going to happen next.
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The story is told from alternating viewpoints, with each chapter coming from a different character.  The one similarity between them all, though, is drugs.  With that being said, I felt that the main ‘character’ in the story wasn’t any one individual, but the drugs itself.  All of the characters seemed to be there for one main purpose, and that was to tell the story of narcotics.

We're back again with another installment of The Bourbon Kings.  Read on to find out why The Angels' Share earned a three bookmark rating. ​Read my review of The Bourbon Kings (book one).

Publisher: NAL | Penguin Audio​
Release Date: July 26, 2016
Format: Audio MP3
Pages: ebook: 426 pages | Audio Length: 12 hours 35 mins
Narrator: Alexander Cendese
Source: Audible
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Review Date: April 26, 2017
​Rating: 3 bookmarks

Synopsis: In Charlemont, Kentucky, the Bradford family is the crème de la crème of high society—just like their exclusive brand of bourbon. And their complicated lives and vast estate are run by a discrete staff who inevitably become embroiled in their affairs. This is especially true now, when the apparent suicide of the family patriarch is starting to look more and more like murder…

No one is above suspicion—especially the eldest Bradford son, Edward. The bad blood between him and his father is known far and wide, and he is aware that he could be named a suspect. As the investigation into the death intensifies, he keeps himself busy at the bottom of a bottle—as well as with his former horse trainer’s daughter. Meanwhile, the family’s financial future lies in the perfectly manicured hands of a business rival, a woman who wants Edward all to herself.

Everything has consequences; everybody has secrets. And few can be trusted. Then, at the very brink of the family’s demise, someone thought lost to them forever returns to the fold. Maxwell Bradford has come home. But is he a savior...or the worst of all the sinners?

The drama continues! In the second installment of this three book saga, Lane and Lizzie again take center stage and seem to be the center-point of the story. All of the family take on larger roles in the book and Lane's siblings get a fair amount of time. Ward gives us lots of detail on each of their story lines.  Edward and Gin are mostly equally on the page, and Maxwell gets a moment of his own.  I enjoyed that we delved deeper into the history of the family and we start to uncover even more family secrets. We get closer and closer to finding out who killed William Baldwine. 

I'm happy to be reviewing one of my favorite genres today. If you're a subscriber to my blog, then you know that I love an addictive Urban Fantasy or Paranormal Romance series. Want to see what I thought of the first two books before continuing? Click here to read my review of Seven Years. Click here to read my review of Six Months.  Read on to find out why Five Weeks earned a 4 bookmark rating!  

Publisher: Dannika Dark | Tantor Audio​
Release Date: March 25, 2014 (Audiobook: December 2, 2014)
Format: Audio MP3
Pages: ebook: 340 pages | Audio Length: Approx 12 hours
Narrator: Nicole Poole
Source: Audible
Genre: Paranormal Romance, Urban Fantasy
Review Date: April 5, 2017
​Rating: 4 bookmarks

Synopsis: ​Destiny will find you. 

Izzy has always loved the freedom and adventure of life on the road, but she’s recently decided to settle down—as much as a rogue wolf can. When her boyfriend gets her a job working at a hot Shifter bar, she runs into the last person on earth she expected to see again. 

Jericho isn’t the famous rock star he once was, though he still plays in a local band and loves to party. Beautiful women come and go, but music is his only passion—until a sassy redhead named Isabelle Monroe shows up unexpectedly. 

Fate reunites two former friends living with one foot in the present and the other in the past. But will they have a future when one of them is forced to choose between life and death? Old habits die hard, and sometimes the toughest addictions to shake are the ones that control our hearts. 

Izzy Monroe gets a job at a local shifter bar being reunited with the man she could never forget, Jericho. This story is one that I appreciated because they have a history, they are both wolves in the community, and know what and who they are. Which essentially puts them on equal footing. 

I'm not one to gravitate towards a story about a musician - but Jericho was fun to read about. Obviously I had to read this since it's a part of the series, but I'm also glad that I did. I like Jericho. He's one of the Cole brothers in the Weston Pack, a former famous rock star, now a local musician that tries to keep things low-key. He's not perfect, but he also shows his strength as he's really changed his life around. He came out of an addictive situation that a lot musicians deal with. Drugs, women, etc. It was all bad for him. At the root of it, he's a good guy and he proves that over and over in this book.