Welcome to Brian’s Book Blog’s weekly New and Notable Audiobooks Post for the Week of August 7th.
Comment below on any I missed or what you’re excited about!
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Holdout by Jeffrey Kluger
Narrated by Jeffrey Kluger
Penguin Audio
When evil forces are going unchecked on Earth, a principled astronaut makes a spilt-second decision to try to seek justice in the only place she knows how – the International Space Station.
Walli Beckwith is a model astronaut. She graduated at the top of her class from the Naval Academy, had a successful career flying fighter jets, and has spent more than 300 days in space. So when she refuses to leave her post aboard the International Space Station following an accident that forces her fellow astronauts to evacuate, her American and Russian colleagues are mystified. For Walli, the matter at hand feels all too clear and terrifying for her to be worried about ruining her career. She is stuck in a race against time to save a part of the world that seems to have been forgotten, and also the life of the person she loves the most. She will go to any length necessary, using the only tool she has, to accomplish what she knows is right.
The Insecure Mind of Sergei Kraev by Eric Silberstein
Narrated by Peter Berkrot
Self Published
Audiobooks narrated by Peter Berkrot
Math is perfect; people are not.
The year is 2100, and the chaos of the early internet era is long behind us. Mathematical proof ensures that neural implants can’t be hacked, and the Board of Reality Overseers blocks false information from spreading.
When undergraduate Sergei Kraev, who dreams of becoming a professor, is accepted into a prestigious graduate program in computer science, he is thrilled and throws himself into his assigned research project – one important enough that if he succeeds, he’ll earn the academic appointment of his choice.
But Sergei, plagued by insecurity, falls under the influence of Sunny Kim, the beautiful and charismatic leader of a K-pop cult. Sergei then makes a decision that leads him into a terrifying trap and places the lives of billions at risk.
With the clock ticking toward catastrophe, can Sergei escape and save the world?
Weaving together compelling characters and exotic locales, The Insecure Mind of Sergei Kraev is a classic tale of love, ambition, and self-interest building to a shattering finish.
“An absolutely riveting read – a can’t-put-down look at a world very much like our own, but with all our trends fast-forwarded.” (Author Drew Hansen)
“I’ve read thousands of sci-fi stories, and the thing that stands out for me here is the originality…it deserves to be read and enjoyed widely!” (Author and astronomer Bryan Gaensler)
“A history told from multiple voices, an evocative projection of the world we may invent to protect us – and the ways in which humans being human can game any system – this is a fantastic read that I couldn’t put down.” (Author and technologist Cindy Alvarez)
About the author: Eric Silberstein holds a degree in computer science from Harvard and is a winner of the MIT TR35 prize.
About the narrator: Peter Berkrot is a recipient of the Audiofile Earphone Award and Voice Arts Award for Best Voice. The Insecure Mind of Sergei Kraev is his 500th audiobook.
The Dark Side by Greig Beck
Narrated by Sean Mangan
Bolinda Publishing
The Dark Side is the ninth instalment in the Alex Hunter series from best-selling author Greig Beck.
Hundreds of thousands of miles away on the dark side of the moon, the Russian lunar base has self-destructed – all personnel are dead, except one. Olga Sobakin, the lone survivor, seeks refuge at the rival American base.
Olga tells the Americans her base was attacked by a horrifying and nightmarish creature – the pattern was the same – people vanished, leaving nothing behind but shredded clothing and an unidentifiable waste product. The Americans are sceptical of her story at first, but then people begin to disappear….
Back on Earth, just before the American lunar base went completely dark, a single message is received – ‘Lifeform’. Intercepted whisperings from Russian intelligence indicate a deadly spreading attack and a rising global threat. Escalated to priority one, there’s only one team up for the task.
Alex Hunter and his elite group of HAWCs are on a rescue mission to the desolate and darkest unknown. Who, or what, awaits them on the dark side?
The Dating Dare by Jayci Lee
Narrated by Natalie Naudus
Macmillan Audio
Audiobooks narrated by Natalie Naudus
With witty characters and heartrending romance, Jayci Lee, author of A Sweet Mess, returns with The Dating Dare – where two people might just find out how hard it is to resist falling in love with the right person.
No serious relationships. This is the one rule Tara Park made for herself and it has been working swimmingly, thank you very much. The occasional fling is fine, especially since she’s busy with Weldon Brewery. But when Seth Kim, temptation personified and her best friend’s new brother-in-law walks into her life, Tara might be willing to bend her golden rule…but only for four dates – the four dates she agreed to after a few good rounds of beer and a game of truth or dare. It’ll be fun. No biggie.
Seth Kim can’t believe Tara agreed to his dating dare. He’s leaving for a new job in Paris in a month and a no-strings attached fling seemed like a nice little distraction for both…. But their secret dates, while sweet and sexy, always hit roadblocks straight out of a romantic comedy. Thankfully, their non-dates and chance meetings are smoother, frequent, and heated. However, the more Seth sees of Tara, the less willing he is to let her go – and what was supposed to be a fun little game turns into something that neither of them are ready for.
But sometimes, the best things in life are the ones we never see coming.
A Macmillan Audio production from St. Martin’s Griffin
I Kissed a Girl by Jennet Alexander
Narrated by Natalie Naudus
Dreamscape Media
Audiobooks narrated by Natalie Naudus
Lilah Silver’s a young actress who dreams of climbing out of B-list stardom. She’s been cast as the final girl in what could be her breakout performance…but if she wants to prove herself to everyone who’s ever doubted her, she’s going to need major help along the way.
Noa Birnbaum may be a brilliant makeup artist and special-effects whiz-kid, but cracking into the union is more difficult than she imagined. Keeping everyone happy is a full-time job, and she’s already run ragged. And yet when the beautiful star she’s been secretly crushing on admits to fears of her own, Noa vows to do everything in her power to help Lilah shine like never before.
Long hours? Exhausting work? No problem. Together, they can take the world by storm…but can a connection forged over long hours in the makeup chair ever hope to survive the glare of the spotlight?
All Are Welcome by Liz Parker
Narrated by Carly Robins, Dara Rosenberg, Andrew Eiden, Janet Metzger, David de Vries
Brilliance Publishing
A darkly funny novel from a fresh new voice in fiction about brides, lovers, friends, and family, and all the secrets that come with them.
Tiny McAllister never thought she’d get married. Not because she didn’t want to, but because she didn’t think girls from Connecticut married other girls. Yet here she is with Caroline, the love of her life, at their destination wedding on the Bermuda coast. In attendance – their respective families and a few choice friends. The conflict-phobic Tiny hopes for a beautiful weekend with her bride-to-be. But as the weekend unfolds, it starts to feel like there’s a skeleton in every closet of the resort.
From Tiny’s family members, who find the world is changing at an uncomfortable speed, to Caroline’s parents, who are engaged in conspiratorial whispers, to their friends, who packed secrets of their own – nobody seems entirely forthcoming. Not to mention the conspicuous no-show and a tempting visit from the past. What the celebration really needs now is a monsoon to help stir up all the long-held secrets, simmering discontent, and hidden agendas.
All Tiny wanted was to get married, but if she can make it through this squall of a wedding, she might just leave with more than a wife.
Tracing Invisible Threads by C. Fonseca
Narrated by Cat Gould
Tantor Audio
Family secrets, strange coincidences, and stolen kisses with an alluring librarian are woven into this evocative opposites-attract lesbian romantic suspense.
Globe-trotting photographer Eleanor Heysen is edgy, sexy, and just passing through.
When a family mystery emerges while she’s back home in Melbourne, Eleanor crosses paths with intoxicating historian Alexa Bellamy. The self-assured picture-collections manager is irresistible.
Steamy kisses between the stacks at the State Library are one thing, but what happens when the ever-curious Eleanor shakes Alexa’s family tree and dark secrets tumble out?
Alexa is in an emotional free fall, overwhelmed by her broody, spirited, and likely fleeting admirer and the fear and betrayal stirred up from the truth about Alexa’s ancestors.
Is the invisible thread that brought the women together strong enough to pull them tighter? Or could it unravel and, just as Alexa fears, Eleanor will disappear?
Contains mature themes.
The Tyr: Arrival by Richard Fox
Narrated by R.C. Bray
Podium Audio
Audiobooks narrated by R.C. Bray
Can one family save a world?
Daniel Clay fought across the galaxy as a corporate soldier. He left the violence behind for a life of science, raising a family far from the bloodshed of the Corporation. With his wife, Sarah, and son, Michael, he studied the alien Tyr for years, hidden among their complex societies. Their mission should have ended with the arrival of a replacement team. Instead, the Clays’ corporate overlords choose a death sentence: an invasion fleet to conquer the Tyr.
This first contact will destroy the Tyr, and only Daniel Clay and his family can help fight back against the drug-fueled conscripts and military might of the invaders. The Clays must help the Tyr from the shadows or be killed by the Tyr who fear them…or by the Corporation they’ve betrayed.
But the Clays aren’t the only hidden power.
If you like Avatar or V, you’ll love The Tyr Trilogy, a series that combines the wonder, excitement, and drama of top-notch sci-fi.
Brought to the audio realm by none other than award-winning voice artist R.C. Bray.
Operation Nicaragua by Collin Glavac
Narrated by Marjan Glavac
Self Published
Keep your friends close, and your enemies closer.
Black operative John Carpenter can’t forget his last mission. After uncovering brokered deals between a Guatemalan cartel and the CIA, John searches for the truth while going behind the back of his handler. At the same time, John is ordered to get a Silicon Valley millionaire out of Nicaragua amidst student riots and deadly paramilitary. He needs all of his ingenuity and training to get the asset – and himself – out alive.
Meanwhile, CIA Chief Operations Officer Mike Morrandon knows corruption exists in the rival Political Action Group. Abandoning protocol, Mike uncovers information in a dangerous love affair that may give him the answers he needs to set things right…or cost him his life.
Time is running out. Dangerous Cuban operatives have surfaced for unknown reasons. Russian intelligence is mysteriously involved in CIA affairs. Enemies are looking like allies in a world of secrets where there is no trust.
After all, the enemy of my enemy is my friend….
Brace yourself for book two of Collin Glavac’s gripping and action packed John Carpenter Trilogy!
After the End by Joshua V. Scher
Narrated by Kevin Pierce
Aethon Audio
As a Doomsday prepper, he’s ready to survive the apocalypse. But what about the men hunting him?
It turns out Addison was right: The world as he knew it did come to an end by means of a killer virus.
He’s by himself now, near what was Sicily, Oklahoma, tending to a wilted vegetable garden, foraging for rabbits, and eking out not quite enough water from a dried-up well. It’s time to move. Uncle Izzy, whom he’s decided to seek out in his survivalist cabin hundreds of miles away, had prepared him well for an apocalypse – all but for the loneliness.
The plan is simple. Gun. Bow. Bike. Go.
If he could just make it across the state, then maybe…
But the virus didn’t quite kill everybody. And humanity isn’t all that humane anymore.
Ransacked and run-down, Addison learns all too quickly that hope is the enemy and trust is a liability. Survival has its costs.
In the land of the blind, the one-eyed man might be king, but in the land of the dead, he’s bait.
The literary bleakness of Cormac McCarthy’s The Road meets the survivalist thrills of Gary Paulsen’s Hatchet in this harrowing novel from Joshua V. Scher. Now a motion picture from Shout! Studios and 1157 Productions, out August 17, 2021.
Night, Neon by Joyce Carol Oates
Narrated by Joe Hempel, Chelsea Stephens
HighBridge
Audiobooks narrated by Joe Hempel
Audiobooks narrated by Chelsea Stephens
From literary icon Joyce Carol Oates comes a brand-new collection of haunting and, at times, darkly humorous mystery and suspense stories. These are tales of psyches pushed to their limits by the expectations of everyday life – from a woman who gets lost on her drive home to her plush suburban home and ends up breaking into a stranger’s house, to a first-person account of a cloned 1940s magazine pinup girl being sold at auction and embodying America’s ideals of beauty and womanhood.
Taken as a whole, the collection forms a poignant tapestry of regular people searching for their place in a social hierarchy, often with devastating and disastrous results. Rendered with stylish, fresh writing from an author who continues to push the envelope, the stories deftly weave in and out of a stream-of-consciousness to reflect the ways we process traumatic experiences and impart that uncertainty and uneasiness to the listener.
Originally appearing in publications as disparate as Harper’s, Vice, and Conjunctions, the stories comprising Night, Neon showcase Oates’ mastery of the suspense story – and her relentless use of the form to conduct unapologetically honest explorations of American identity.
The Guilt Trip by Sandie Jones
Narrated by Clare Corbett
Macmillan Audio
In the vein of the Reese’s Book Club x Hello Sunshine Book Club pick The Other Woman, Sandie Jones’ explosive new novel The Guilt Trip will have listeners gripped to the very last chapter.
They went away as friends.
They came back as suspects.
Rachel and Jack. Paige and Noah. Will and Ali. Five friends who’ve known each other for years. And Ali, Will’s new fiancée.
The three couples travel to Portugal for Ali and Will’s destination wedding. Arriving at the gorgeous clifftop villa, the weekend away is a chance to relax and get to know Ali a little better. A newcomer to their group, she seems perfectly nice, and Will seems happy after years of bad choices.
But when Rachel discovers a shocking secret about Ali, everything changes. As the wedding weekend unfolds, the secrets each of them holds begin to spill, and friendships and marriages threaten to unravel.
In Sandie Jones’ explosive new suspense novel, jumping to conclusions can become the difference between life and death.
A Macmillan Audio production from Minotaur Books
- The Mayor’s Mission (Home to Milford College #2) by Piper Huguley (Narrated by Shamaan Casey) - September 18, 2023
- New and Notable Audiobook Releases for the Week of September 17th on Brian’s Book Blog - September 18, 2023
- Trust in Truth by Emily Banting (Narrated by Lulu Russell) - September 15, 2023
Thank you Brian for posting a description of my audio of my son’s book Operation Nicaragua. We appreciate it very much.
All the best,
Marjan Glavac A Proud Dad