Here we are amid the Merry Month of May (although in my part of the world, I’m still waiting for the “merry” bit to show up because it’s been so cold and dreary!) and the Gals have been sorting through the new and upcoming release lists to provide you with a selection of the newly released/releasing audiobooks we’re most eager to get into our ears in the coming weeks. We’re mostly about contemporaries, paranormals and women’s fiction this month, although there are a couple of mysteries tucked in there as well, and they’re almost all paired with tried and trusted narrators, so hopefully you’ll find something here to tempt you!
Featherbed by Annabeth Albert
Narrated by Alexander Cendese and Kirt Graves
A favourite author and two excellent narrators; I’ve been doing some of the Vino and Veritas series in print and have earmarked some of them – including this one – for audio. There are more titles coming next month so expect to see some more of this series in my June Picks! – Caz
Indirection by Gregory Ashe
Narrated by Charlie David
Indirection is the first book in Gregory Ashe’s new series featuring North and Shaw from Borealis Investigations, two best friends – now lovers – who run a detective agency in St. Louis. This is a madcap story of murder and mayhem at a romance novel convention – it’s funny, it’s meta and the mystery is typically twisty. Charlie David did a really good job in the previous series, so I’m looking forward to more of the same. – Caz
Yet a Stranger by Gregory Ashe
Narrated by J.F. Harding
The second Ashe title to crop up this month, Yet a Stranger is book two in his First Quarto series set at Wroxall College in Wahredua, featuring grad student Theo and English major Auggie as they navigate a complicated personal relationship and solve murders! If you’ve read this one you’ll know it’s tough going – you’ll need a box of tissues and a punchbag handy! J.F. Harding is sure to be brilliant. – Caz
All Fired Up by Jenn Burke
Narrated by Tim Paige
I loved Jenn Burke’s Not Dead Yet series and was delighted to learn that she would be writing a sequel, this time featuring Evan, the ‘baby vamp’. He’s had a tough time of it, so I’m rooting for him to get his HEA. Tim Paige has got big shoes to fill (Greg Boudreaux narrated the original series) but I’ve been impressed with his work the few times I’ve heard him so far, so expectations are high. – Caz
I’m desperate for Evan to get a HEA! – Kaetrin
Other Half by Jordan Castillo Price
Narrated by Gomez Pugh
I’m a big fan of the PsyCop series; the stories are always inventive and the overarching plot is fascinating. I’ve done the series in audio rather than print because narrator Gomez Pugh is just So. Good, and I’ve been on tenterhooks waiting for the audio of Other Half to come out since the book appeared earlier this year. Spoiler – it’s great :) – Caz
Blind Tiger by Jordan L. Hawk
Narrated by Greg Tremblay
I haven’t read many books by this author; I reviewed his Spirits series here and have some more of his books on my TBR, but of course with this particular narrator, Blind Tiger was bound to catch my eye. – Caz
Excellent narrator and a new queer PNR series set in the 1920s. I have the ebook but I’m very tempted by the audio. – Kaetrin
People We Meet on Vacation (aka You and Me on Vacation outside the US) by Emily Henry
Narrated by Julia Whelan
Julia Whelan is a favourite narrator so I’m keen to try this one– Kaetrin
Frederica by Georgette Heyer
Narrated by Joe Jameson
Penguin Audio UK is releasing brand new recordings of Heyer’s historical romances using a mix of narrators, some I’m familiar with and others I’m not; but this one caught my eye because Joe Jameson is the narrator and I adored his performance in Alexis Hall’s Boyfriend Material last year. Yes, it’s a completely different kettle of fish, but if he handles the humour in the Heyer as well as he did in the Hall, I’ll be happy! – Caz
(Note – This title is not currently available in the US. The link is to Audible UK.)
Forgetful Hearts by Nicky James
Narrated by Nick J. Russo
This third book in the Hometown Jasper series is billed as an enemies-to-lovers/age-gap romance – plus there’s amnesia! Memory loss plots can be hard to pull off, but I like them when they’re done well, so fingers crossed. Nick J. Russo is a favourite narrator, and I’m sure he’ll do a great job. – Caz
Hostile Territory by Marie James
Narrated by Jacob Morgan and Callie Dalton
Jacob Morgan in romantic suspense –sign me up. He’s got just the voice for one of the take-charge, alpha heroes typical of the genre. I haven’t listened to Callie Dalton before, so I hope she measures up! – Caz
Running Lines by Jeris Jean
Narrated by Iggy Toma
I’ve never heard of this author, but I liked the sound of the story – a Hollywood-set romance between the latest “it” boy and the big name actor he’s been crushing on for years – and the reviews for the book are generally positive. But mostly? Iggy Toma. – Caz
Beth and Amy by Virgina Kantra
Narrated by Janet Metzger, Brittany Pressley, and Catherine Taber
What could be better than a reimagining of Little Women? This is the follow-up to Kantra’s 2019 Meg and Jo, and I’m so excited to see how things turn out for the younger two March sisters. I’m familiar with Brittany Pressley and Catherine Taber’s narrations, so I’m hoping this book will be brought to life as fully as the first installment. – Shannon
Happy Endings by Thien-Kim Lam
Narrated by Emily Woo Zeller
I’m not sure exactly how a sex toy business and a soul food restaurant go together but I’m curious to find out! – Kaetrin
Love Him Desperate by E.M. Lindsey
Narrated by Nick Hudson
I’m a bit behind with this series, but I really enjoyed the first two books and Nick Hudson’s narration has been excellent, so I’ll be picking this one up soon. – Caz
The Bridled Tongue by Catherine Mayrick
Narrated by Danielle Cohen
One of my friends read and enjoyed the book and ever since, I’ve been wanting to try it. – Kaetrin
The Invisible Husband of Frick Island by Colleen Oakley
Narrated by Sara Sheckels
Oakley’s latest novel sounds quirky and off beat enough to be intriguing. A woman, desolate after losing her husband, deals with her grief by pretending he’s still with her. The small town in which she lives joins in the pretense, and so, when a reporter comes to town on an unrelated matter, he’s drawn to and confused by the charade. Narrator Sara Sheckels is new to me, but I’m hoping for good things. – Shannon
Legacy by Nora Roberts
Narrated by January LaVoy
January Lavoy is again narrating the annual standalone RS Nora and that is usually a winning combination for me. – Kaetrin
A new Nora Roberts novel is always something worth celebrating, and this romantic suspense looks super creepy and enticing. January LaVoy is a masterful voice actor, so listeners are pretty much guaranteed something fabulous here! – Shannon
Devilry by Marley Valentine
Narrated by Cooper North and Aiden Snow
I enjoyed the author’s Without You and seeing as Devilry also has a pair of terrific narrators on board, I’m going to give this – which is billed as a student/professor romance – a go. – Caz
That Summer by Jennifer Weiner
Narrated by Sutton Foster
Weiner’s writing has changed quite a bit over the past few years, but whatever she writes, she manages to pull it off without a hitch. Needless to say, I’m super excited for this latest release, something that appears to straddle the line between women’s fiction and thriller. Sutton Foster is the narrator, and I’m intrigued by this choice since I absolutely love her on Broadway. – Shannon
Lots of interesting new books listed there. I’m definitely looking forward to Featherbed after enjoying it in print, plus All Fired Up. I loved the Not Dead Yet series and can’t wait to read Evan’s story.
It will be interesting to see how long it takes for the new Heyer recordings to make it across the pond. I’m not sure I’ll get any of them, although I’m interested in hearing how the narrators are. I love most of the narrations of the old Heyer recordings, with narrators like Phyllida Nash, Eve Matheson, and Cornelius Garrett, so I admit I’m curious to see how the new ones stand up. Phyllida Nash’s narration of The Talisman Ring is one of my favorite narrations ever.
There are several other books listed that I look forward to reading the reviews of, like Running Lines, Blind Tiger, and Hostile Territory. Looks like a fun few weeks!
I really enjoyed All Fired Up – I think my review of the book is running at AAR tomorrow. Tim Paige is a talented performer so I’m sure he’ll do a good job.
Not sure which of the titles you mention will get reviewed; they’re all self-published and since Audible/ACX changed the way they operate, we can only get review copies from the authors – which isn’t always possible, so it depends on which ones we feel like using credits on!
I have All Fired Up on audio to review so watch out for it at some point here. :)
I’m going to check out Running Lines for sure! I too LOVE Iggy Toma. Plus the premise sounds fun!
I’m a big fan of his, too. I’ve got Running Lines but haven’t had a chance to listen yet :) Next month is a bumper Iggy month; I’ve got three (I think) titles of his earmarked for review – Headstrong by Eden Finley (with Tim Paige), Fandom, also by Eden Finley and Unguarded by Jay Hogan – which he’s narrating with Gary Furlong. I may have squealed with delight when I saw that one!
I bought the two Gregory Ashe’s as soon as I saw that they had been released, which has added to my backlog of his audiobooks, as I still haven’t listened to The Same Breath! I haven’t managed to listen to much on audio recently…………..
I’m interested to see that Georgette Heyer’s audiobooks are being redone. I’ve got quite a lot of them but the narration is very variable. I remember enjoying Sylvester much more after listening to Clifford Norgate’s narration and not being able to get through Bath Tangle as Sian Phillips’ narration was so irritating! Clifford Norgate narrated Frederica, and I seem to remember it was one of the better ones, but it’s a long time since I listened to it! I do like Joe Jameson as a narrator though……………….
Whoops, can’t find how to edit!
Nicholas Rowe narrated Sylvester, not Clifford Norgate!
Hah, yes. I actually reviewed it (Sylvester) at AAR – https://allaboutromance.com/book-review/book-reviewsylvester/
The older – early 2000s – Heyer recordings were a mixed bunch – some, like Frederica and The Unknown Ajax) had fantastic narrators, and others didn’t. The batch released by Naxos a few years ago – we reviewed quite a few of them here – were all pretty good, but they’ve disappeared from Audible so I’m guessing the licences expired. I’m not familiar with many of the narrators in this new batch, although I have my fingers crossed! Also – the new Sylvester is narrated by Matt Addis, and he’s pretty good, so I’m planning on listening to that one when I get a chance.
Hmm, I’ve just listened to the samples of some of my favourite Heyers and some sound an improvement, but some definitely don’t! Venetia and Frederica aren’t released until August.
I hadn’t seen your review of Sylvester. It hadn’t been one of my favourites until I heard that audio!
Oh, I’ve always liked “The Wicked Uncle”! Venetia has always been my favourite Heyer, but Sylvester is probably in my top 5.
I have 19 Heyer books in my Audible library, but only two of those titles are still available to buy there, Friday’s Child (Eve Matheson) and A Convenient Marriage (Caroline Hunt). Almost everything else available by Heyer at Audible US are the mysteries and the abridged books, oh, and Frederica in Italian. Her books are popular still, so hopefully the new recordings are good, and they make it onto Audible in the US without too much delay.
All the Naxos recordings that came out in the mid 2010s have gone from Audible UK, which is a shame because they were really good – I can only think of one where the narration was a bit iffy. I’m no expert, but I would imagine that the publishing/audio rights are fairly complicated for book this old which have been repeatedly published by different companies. Back in 2014 I interviewed Nicolas Soames, who was responsible for those Naxos editions and he talked a bit about being unable to get the rights to record more of the books than they did at that time; I can only assume those rights had a limited time-span and have now expired, but it seems a shame that there can’t be more than one recording of these books available. After all, I can choose from many, many versions of Beethoven’s symphonies if I want to buy (another) one – although an internet search tells me that the situation as regards Heyer’s copyrights is a bit more complicated than most.
All those recordings were available internationally from the moment of release (the Naxos ones) so it does seem odd that isn’t the case with these new ones. I hope it’s just a delay.
The copyright situation is definitely complicated. Thanks for the link. The audiobooks I own through Audible are mostly marked “Audible Studios,” although I don’t think they actually produced them. I own a couple of the Naxos ones, but mostly not. The reason I don’t think Audible produced them is that I bought a DVD from England full of every book by Heyer in audio back in ~2008/2009, just about the same time they started showing up one by one on Audible US. I remember seeing the publication date of 200on several of the audiobooks, so they predate Audible’s release of them. Maybe my love of the audiobooks is in part because it was actually difficult together books then, and they were the way I was introduced to so many of her best works. I have a soft spot for them, I guess, like comfort food.
I read the Penguin UK press release about the audiobooks, saying they would release 50 of Heyer’s works in 2021. That’s a lot of books!