Release Week: 3 September 2024
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Release Week: 3 September 2024
Posted on 2024-09-03 at 12:00 by Samuel Montgomery-Blinn
PICKS:
The Life Impossible: A Novel By: Matt Haig, read by Joanna Lumley and Jordan Stephens for Penguin -- "When retired math teacher Grace Winters is left a run-down house on a Mediterranean island by a long-lost friend, curiosity gets the better of her. She arrives in Ibiza with a one-way ticket, no guidebook and no plan. Among the rugged hills and golden beaches of the island, Grace searches for answers about her friend’s life, and how it ended. What she uncovers is stranger than she could have dreamed. But to dive into this impossible truth, Grace must first come to terms with her past."
Creation Lake: A Novel By: Rachel Kushner, read by the author for Simon and Schuster -- "A new novel about a seductive and cunning American woman who infiltrates an anarchist collective in France—a propulsive thriller of glittering insights and dark humor."
Haunt Sweet Home By: Sarah Pinsker, read by Jennifer Blom, Jess Nahikian, Matt Godfrey, and Robb Moreira for Macmillan -- "When aimless twenty-something Mara lands a job as the night-shift production assistant on her cousin’s ghost hunting/home makeover reality TV show Haunt Sweet Home, she quickly determines her new role will require a healthy attitude toward duplicity. But as she hides fog machines in the woods and improvises scares to spook new homeowners, a series of unnerving incidents on set and a creepy new coworker force Mara to confront whether the person she's truly been deceiving and hiding from all along—is herself."
Colored Television: A Novel By: Danzy Senna, read by Kristen Ariza for Penguin -- "A brilliant dark comedy about love and ambition, failure and reinvention, and the racial-identity-industrial complex."
The Fallen Fruit: A Novel By: Shawntelle Madison, read by Robin Miles and Adenrele Ojo for Harper -- "Combining history and fantasy, a sweeping multi-generational epic in the vein of Kindred and The Time Traveler's Wife about a woman who travels through time to end a family curse that has plagued her ancestors for generations."
Small Rain: A Novel By: Garth Greenwell, read by the author for Macmillan -- "A poet's life is turned inside out by a sudden, wrenching pain. The pain brings him to his knees, and eventually to the ICU. Confined to bed, plunged into the dysfunctional American healthcare system, he struggles to understand what is happening to his body, as someone who has lived for many years in his mind."
The Night Guest by Hildur Knútsdóttir, read by Mary Robinette Kowal for Macmillan -- "Iðunn is in yet another doctor's office. She knows her constant fatigue is a sign that something's not right, but practitioners dismiss her symptoms and blood tests haven't revealed any cause. When she talks to friends and family about it, the refrain is the same — have you tried eating better? exercising more? establishing a nighttime routine? She tries to follow their advice, buying everything from vitamins to sleeping pills to a step-counting watch. Nothing helps. Until one night Iðunn falls asleep with the watch on, and wakes up to find she's walked over 40,000 steps in the night."
Safe Enough: And Other Stories by Lee Child, read by Edoardo Ballerini for HighBridge -- "Twenty crime stories by the creator of Jack Reacher, never before collected."
The Gods Below: The Hollow Covenant, Book 1 By: Andrea Stewart, read by Eunice Wong, Jonathan Waters, and Stephanie Németh-Parker for Orbit -- "A divine war shattered the world leaving humanity in ruins. Desperate for hope, they struck a deal with the devious god Kluehnn: He would restore the world to its former glory, but at a price so steep it would keep the mortals indebted to him for eternity. And, as each land was transformed, so too were its people changed into strange new forms—if they survived at all. Hakara is not willing to pay such a price. Desperate to protect herself, and her sister Rasha, she flees her homeland for the safety of a neighboring kingdom. But when tragedy separates them, Hakara is forced to abandon her beloved sister to an unknown fate."
In Our Likeness: A Novel By: Bryan VanDyke, read by Joe Knezevich for Brilliance -- "Graham Gooding is a leader at a tech start-up when his brilliant coworker—and work crush—Nessie Locke asks for help testing a new algorithm. Graham jumps at the chance to impress her, and to improve his floundering personal life. He soon discovers that the algo is more powerful than Nessie—or anyone—realizes. It was built to detect lies on the internet, but when Graham makes a small edit to Nessie’s online profile, hoping to see if the program will catch the lie, Nessie changes in real life. The algo can alter the real world. Now, so can Graham. No one knows what Graham has done, except his boss, enigmatic tech guru David Warwick. Graham is racked with guilt, but Warwick thrills to the possibilities of what they can do next."
Natural Selection: A Short Story By: Elin Hilderbrand, read by Erin Bennett for Audible Originals -- "When her boyfriend bails at the last minute, a New York woman embarks on their couples’ cruise alone to find that maybe the person she was supposed to fall in love with was herself."
BACKLIST WATCH:
Letting Go By: Philip Roth (1962), read by Luke Daniels for Blackstone -- "The first full-length novel from one of the most renowned writers of the twentieth century, the Pulitzer Prize–winning author of American Pastoral, tells the story of a mid-century America."
The Nymphos of Rocky Flats: Felix Gomez Series, Book 1 By: Mario Acevedo (2009), read by Andre Chapoy for Harper -- "Felix Gomez went to Iraq a soldier. He came back a vampire. Now he finds himself pulled into a web of intrigue when an old friend prompts him to investigate an outbreak of nymphomania at the secret government facilities in Rocky Flats. He’ll find out the cause of all these horny woman or die trying! But to do so, he must contend with shadowy government agents, Eastern European vampire hunters, and women who want him just for his body."
YA WATCH:
- When Haru Was Here By: Dustin Thao, read by David Lee Huynh for Macmillan -- "We Are Okay meets Wandavision in this novel about loneliness, complicated friendships, and what it means to let go."
MORE SCI-FI and FANTASY:
Roverpowered By: Drew Hayes, read by Amy Landon for Aethon -- "Wanda and Wumble are a small pair with vast ambitions. One an aspiring alchemist, and the other her faithful hound, the pair bond as wizard and familiar to begin their pursuit of magic. As a newly made wizard without any training, resources, or even a home to return to, Wanda will have to forge her own way on a path where constant dangers lurk. Even the simple act of furthering her alchemy education swiftly becomes a harrowing ordeal. Luckily for Wanda, Wumble is no ordinary hound. Contained within her one-eyed companion is a power many factions of the world are actively hunting for. A seed with unfathomable potential waiting to sprout. And anyone who trifles with Wumble’s wizard is in for a ruff time."
Murder Most Owl: A Magical Menagerie Mystery, Book 1 By: Sarah Fox, read by Hallie Bee Bard for Dreamscape -- "It's been years since screenwriter Georgie Johansen last visited her Aunt Olivia's farm in the coastal town of Twilight Cove, and things have certainly changed. First of all, it's now an animal sanctuary, and then there's the new farmhand who's as mysterious as he is handsome. Her first day on the farm, Georgie encounters the eccentric Dorothy Shale, an older woman who lives in a cabin in the woods. There are rumours that Dorothy's a witch, but Georgie doesn't believe that. Although, Dorothy does have an unusual magical presence around her…"
The Holy Terrors: A Holy Terrors Mystery, Book 1 By: Simon R. Green, read by Tim Bruce for Blackstone -- "Welcome to Spooky Time, the hit TV ghost-hunting show where the horror is scripted … and the ratings are declining rapidly. What better way to up the stakes—and boost the viewership—than by locking a select group of Z-list celebrities up for the night in the Most Haunted Hall in England and live-streaming the terrifying results?"
Behind the Crimson Curtain: The Crimson Curtain, Book 1 By: E.B. Golden, read by Vanessa Johansson, Shane East for Brilliance -- "A magical con artist and an actor turned revolutionary fight for freedom in an atmospheric fantasy debut where layered secrets and daring love clash on a stage of war."
The Cottage Around the Corner By: D. L. Soria, read by Victoria Villarreal for Random House -- "A feisty witch and a handsome mage must put their heated business rivalry aside to save their small town from supernatural forces in this charming contemporary fantasy romcom."
Jekyll & Hyde: Consulting Detectives By: Tim Major, read by Bronwen Price for WF Howes -- "When Muriel Carew attends a lavish society party, the last person she expects to bump into is her ex-fiancee Henry Jekyll, a man she's not seen for many years. When Jekyll turns out to be investigating a series of missing persons in London, Muriel is intrigued. But Jekyll is not working alone, and if Muriel wants to aid in the investigation, she must work with both Henry and his partner, the monstrous and uncouth Mr Hyde."
OVERSEAS WATCH:
- Six Lives By: Lavie Tidhar, read by a full cast for Head of Zeus -- "Six lives, connected through blood and history, each rooted in the dirt of their inheritance, look to the future, and what it might hold."