Welcome to Brian’s Book Blog’s weekly New and Notable Audiobooks Post for the Week of July 23rd.
Comment below on any I missed or what you’re excited about!
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No Rules of Engagement by Tracey Richardson
Narrated by Joana Garcia
Tantor Audio
Review Coming Soon!
Check out my reviews of other titles written by Tracey Richardson
Check out my reviews of other titles Narrated by Joana Garcia
With wounded soldiers all around her, Major Logan Sharp doesn’t have time to pamper some photographer from stateside. What spare energy she does have goes to worrying what she’ll do when she ships home from Afghanistan. Home—for Logan, the word means nothing. But photographer Jillian Knight is not what she expects, and certainly not what she needs complicating her last tour.
Leaving her partner and daughter at home, Jillian Knight is on assignment in Kandahar to record the heroic work of medical units in war zones. She knows it’ll be rough, but Logan Sharp’s dedication and competence is reassuring. Jillian finds herself looking forward to her encounters with the intriguing military doctor, understanding that a by-the-rules demeanor is a must for surviving in a land where life is cheap.
Intense feelings threaten to overwhelm their good sense, but they follow the rules. After a single heart-stopping kiss, they do the only thing they must—say goodbye. Keeping in touch is not part of the plan, but when their paths cross unexpectedly more than a year later, abiding by the rules is suddenly much harder than they ever expected.
Contains mature themes.
The Song in My Heart by Tracey Richardson
Narrated by Krystal Hammond
Tantor Audio
Review Coming Soon!
Check out my reviews of other titles written by Tracey Richardson
Check out my reviews of other titles Narrated by Krystal Hammond
Fame and money rained down on Dess Hampton like a monsoon. She couldn’t imagine needing more—until her golden voice was silenced. Now her quiet days are filled with her guitar and she savors every sunrise. Curious, and as a favor to a friend, she emerges to hear a rumored superstar in the making.
Music pours out of Erika Alvarez through her voice and her fingertips. She’s awed that the reclusive Dess Hampton wants to hear her sing, and then blown away when Dess agrees to sit in for a few gigs.
Dess can tell that Erika is destined for the life that she once had and wants no part of, ever again. But can the magic of the music they make together, and the growing love between them, trump Erika’s ambition and Dess’s fears? How much are they willing to sacrifice for it—and for each other?
Contains mature themes.
Paid in Full by Ann Roberts
Narrated by Sophie Daniels
Tantor Audio
Review Coming Soon!
$7.47 Whispersync Deal with Kindle Purchase
Check out my reviews of other titles written by Ann Roberts
Check out my reviews of other titles Narrated by Sophie Daniels
A quiet Sunday afternoon takes a deadly turn for real estate agent Ari Adams, who discovers the corpse of a business tycoon in one of her listings. When her best friend, Bob, becomes the prime suspect, Ari’s desire to prove his innocence puts her on a collision course with Detective Molly Nelson, the gorgeous homicide detective facing the enormous pressure of finding the power broker’s killer—fast.
When Bob disappears, Ari enters a world of betrayal and deception, causing her to question Bob’s innocence. She realizes that she may need to admit that Molly’s hunt for justice will lead to Ari’s greatest secret.
As both women hunt for Bob, they are drawn to each other—unable to control the desire that surfaces when they are together. While Ari desperately craves Molly’s attention, her devotion to Bob may force her to choose between the debts of the past and the promise of a happy future—if she can stay alive that long.
Just Like Home by Sarah Gailey
Narrated by Xe Sands
Macmillan Audio
$7.47 Whispersync Deal with Kindle Purchase
Check out my reviews of other titles Narrated by Xe Sands
Just Like Home is a darkly gothic thriller from nationally bestselling author Sarah Gailey, perfect for fans of Netflix’s The Haunting of Hill House as well as HBO’s true crime masterpiece I’ll Be Gone in the Dark.
“Come home.” Vera’s mother called and Vera obeyed. In spite of their long estrangement, in spite of the memories—she’s come back to the home of a serial killer. Back to face the love she had for her father and the bodies he buried there, beneath the house he’d built for his family.
Coming home is hard enough for Vera, and to make things worse, she and her mother aren’t alone. A parasitic artist has moved into the guest house out back and is slowly stripping Vera’s childhood for spare parts. He insists that he isn’t the one leaving notes around the house in her father’s handwriting… but who else could it possibly be?
There are secrets yet undiscovered in the foundations of the notorious Crowder House. Vera must face them and find out for herself just how deep the rot goes.
A Macmillan Audio production from Tor Books
The Work Wife by Alison B. Hart
Narrated by Soneela Nankani
Harlequin Audio
$7.47 Whispersync Deal with Kindle Purchase
Check out my reviews of other titles Narrated by Soneela Nankani
“A page-turner, an eye-opener, a heartbreaker, a delight, The Work Wife is that rare book that illuminates a world we never knew existed while also making us feel so much less alone in everyday life.” (Julia Phillips, author of National Book Award finalist Disappearing Earth)
“The Work Wife is a bold and wholly satisfying novel about power, ambition, and the price women must often pay for their dreams. I gobbled it up.” (Emma Straub, New York Times best-selling author of All Adults Here)
Zanne Klein never planned to be a personal assistant to Hollywood royalty Ted and Holly Stabler. But a decade in at 38, that’s exactly how she spends her days, earning six figures to make sure the movie mogul and his family have everything they could ever dream of and more.
However, today is no ordinary day at the Stabler estate. Tonight, everyone who’s anyone will be there for the Hollywood event of the season, and if the party’s a success, that chief of staff job Zanne’s been chasing may soon be hers. Which means she can buy a house, give her girlfriend the life she deserves, pay off her student loans.
Nothing’s going to get in Zanne’s way—not disgruntled staff, not a nosy reporter, not even a runaway hostess. But when Ted’s former business partner, Phoebe Lee, unexpectedly shows up right before go time, Zanne suddenly has a catastrophe unfolding before her—one with explosive consequences. As the truth comes out and Zanne realizes how deeply entangled she’s become in the Stablers’ world, she must decide if the sacrifices she’s made for the job are worth the moral price she has to pay.
Told over the course of a single day and from three fierce perspectives, The Work Wife is a richly observed novel about female ambition, complicity, privilege, and what happens when the brightest of stars aren’t allowed to shine.
The Godparent Trap by Rachel Van Dyken
Narrated by Maria Liatis, Jacob York
Forever
Life’s Too Short meets The Unhoneymooners in this sparkling, steamy, and swoon-worthy novel from number one New York Times best-selling author Rachel Van Dyken, in which two sworn enemies must share house, home—and maybe their hearts—when they become co-parents after a sudden loss.
Colby’s living her best life: As a popular food blogger, she gets to fulfill her dreams of exploring the globe. But her world comes crashing down when a tragic accident leaves her co-guardian of her best friend’s two adorable children. Not only does she need to put down roots—fast—but she’ll be sharing custody with the one man she can’t stand sharing a continent with, let alone a house.
Accountant-extraordinaire Rip values rules and plans. But when he loses his sister and his best friend and becomes an insta-guardian all in one night, Rip sees his organized life imploding. What he really doesn’t need is his sister’s irresponsible, flighty—albeit kind and gorgeous—best friend making it worse.
Rip doesn’t trust Colby to take their new responsibilities seriously, while Colby can’t believe Rip thinks children will thrive under his rigid control. Yet soon Rip and Colby discover they need each other more than they hate each other. Could it be possible that following their hearts is just what their new little family needs?
The Last Humans by Gregory D. Little
Narrated by Rene Kim
Self Published
$7.47 Whispersync Deal with Kindle Purchase – Kindle Edition available with Kindle Unlimited
In humanity’s last city, you’re either consumed by a monster, or you become one.
Sheltered in their fortress city, the last humans live in constant peril, assailed from without by alien invaders and from within by a deadly disease intent on mutating every citizen. After her best friend’s grisly death at the segmented claws of the alien revenants, Ward Chief Iazmaena Delgassi vows to restore safety to her city by running for a magistrate position on the city council. For if the aliens ever truly penetrate the walls, humanity will lose itself to the jaws of the hungry beasts.
On the night of her hard-fought victory, Iaz finds her boyfriend dead by his own hand, his last message to her a warning. Now alerted to the conspiracy orchestrated by Gene Sequencing, a tyrannical government agency with no accountability and a monopoly on the disease’s deadly secrets, Iaz forms a conspiracy of her own: a secret team to steal and decipher their restricted files. For reasons Iaz doesn’t understand, Gene Sequencing is determined to destroy her.
Vowing to protect the city from threats both inside and out, Iaz must balance her duty with her desire for justice. If she fails at either task, humankind will be a thing of the past, just another extinct species.
New Rules for Firefights by Michael Anderle
Narrated by Sarah Mollo-Christensen
Blackstone Publishing
Check out my reviews of other titles Narrated by Sarah Mollo-Christensen
Have you ever been sick of being the low man on the totem pole?
A trio of mercs feel your pain. Chill, Ivan, and Kortez have been slaving away as mercenaries for years. But enough is enough, and they are done putting up with being an afterthought.
Striking out alone is a risk, but mercenary work is not exactly in short supply …
In the depths of a mine-riddled world, the Swarm is stirring. Chitinous hordes boil up from the depths, claiming lives and resources.
Never let a good crisis go to waste, they say.
So what is our intrepid trio to do? Lock and load for thunderous action and the antics of a batch of ne’er do wells with more firepower than good sense!
Every Variable of Us by Charles A. Bush
Narrated by Ja’Air Bush
Tantor Audio
After Philly teenager Alexis Duncan is injured in a gang shooting, her dreams of a college scholarship and pro basketball career vanish in an instant. To avoid becoming another Black teen trapped in her poverty-stricken neighborhood, she shifts her focus to the school’s STEM team, a group of self-professed nerds seeking their own college scholarships.
Academics have never been her thing, but Alexis is freshly motivated by Aamani Chakrabarti, the new Indian student who becomes her friend (and crush?). Alexis begins to see herself as so much more than an athlete. But just as her future starts to reform, Alexis’s own doubts and old loyalties pull her back into harm’s way.
Thy Neighbor’s Wife by Georgia Beers
Narrated by Lula Larkin
Bold Strokes Books Inc
$7.49 Whispersync Deal with Kindle Purchase
Check out my reviews of other titles written by Georgia Beers
Check out my reviews of other titles Narrated by Lula Larkin
Alex Foster’s life is exactly as she wants it. She’s quit her job as an English teacher and has decided to hole up in her newly acquired lake house for the summer to try her hand at writing a novel. She has close friends; she has her dog; she plays volleyball. She is content.
Jennifer Wainwright is a wealthy young suburbanite whose life is exactly as she expected it would be. She’s married to her high school sweetheart, who is about to inherit his father’s law firm. She has friends. And she has the whole summer to work on decorating the new house on the lake she and her husband have just purchased as their summer home. She is content.
A chance meeting over a runaway pooch is the start of a journey for each woman. Over the course of one unbelievable summer set on the beautiful shores of Canandaigua Lake in Upstate New York, these two women will teach one another, learn from one another, question their own beliefs and expectations, and unwittingly fall in love.
The Jupiter Catastrophe by Brandon Q. Morris
Narrated by Rafael Colindres
Self Published
After a long journey to Saturn’s moon Enceladus, spaceship ILSE is on its way back to Earth, carrying crucial cargo. The crew is exhausted and wants nothing more than a quick return home. Suddenly, a chain of malfunctions puts the expedition in peril.
The difficulties appear to be related to planet Jupiter, whose orbit they are crossing. Is it the giant planet itself that won’t let these travelers pass? ILSE’s crew is heading toward catastrophe as an unknown power is forging plans designed to influence the future of human civilization.
Timber Falls by Gerri Hill
Narrated by Abby Craden
Audible Studios
Check out my reviews of other titles written by Gerri Hill
Check out my reviews of other titles Narrated by Abby Craden
The isolated, sleepy little village of Timber Falls—built on the bend of a swift mountain river—swells during the summer months as tourists flock to town to run the river, lured there by the Class IV and Class V rapids.
A gruesome murder of a college student—a river rat—brings the FBI to town.
Haley Martin used to be one of those river rats during her college years. Now she owns the Timber Falls Bar and Grill, drawn back to the picturesque village seven years ago after the tragic death of her wife.
Lynn Carter, a disgraced LAPD detective, was offered an out—a position on a team of unorthodox FBI agents. After a month of training, she was sent out on her own without a team or a partner. Her commander, nothing more than a mysterious voice on the phone, dished out assignments.
When he sent her to Timber Falls—a town by only the stretch of the imagination—she had no idea she would find her peace there. No idea she might find love.
But a serial killer preying on the tourists that the town relies on for survival takes precedence as clues lead her to an unlikely suspect.
The Sunken Chase by Cap Daniels
Narrated by P.J. Ochlan
Anchor Watch Publishing, L.L.C.
Check out my reviews of other titles Narrated by P.J. Ochlan
When American covert operative Chase Fulton takes a meeting with a mysterious figure, who claims to hold firsthand knowledge of never-before-revealed information that promises to change Chase’s life forever, an unsanctioned mission and a terrifying journey into the depths of his psyche are launched, leaving both Chase’s future, as well as his past, in question.
Having spent the years since his potentially catastrophic injury growing stronger physically, as well as mentally, and as Chase takes one more stride toward mirroring the achievements of his mentor, he is faced with a fight that may leave his already battle-torn body with wounds too deep to heal and covered by the blood of a man who may have never existed.
Loyalties are tested, and fortitude is tried, as three decades of history are torn apart in search of a man who could be nothing more than a lie told to destroy one of America’s greatest warriors and shred Chase’s faith like sails in a hurricane’s terrible blow.
Can Chase overcome the mysteries of the past and defeat an enemy against whom he may be powerless? From the scorching beaches of the Florida Keys, to the impoverished jungles of Guatemala, walk alongside Chase Fulton and experience the soul-shaking agony of the conflict that may ultimately be the undoing of not only his life, but also his very soul.
Dissection by Dr. Cristina LePort
Narrated by Richard Salem
Bancroft Press
DC heart surgeon Dr. Steven Leeds is suddenly besieged by a handful of immensely complicated heart attack and stroke cases, all caused by a rare arterial injury—a dissection. And all the victims have first received innocuous-looking cards announcing: “Your heart attack/stroke will arrive within one hour!”
Private detective Kirk Miner and FBI agent Jack Mulville investigate, and they immediately suspect Leeds’ former lover, Dr. Silvana Moretti, a brilliant research scientist who harbors a grudge against all the victims.
Then when prominent people in the US government begin to receive these same threatening cards and almost immediately experience these same deadly cardiac emergencies, it falls to the unlikely team of three—the headstrong FBI agent, the gifted private investigator, and the brilliant but conflicted heart surgeon—to find the actual perpetrators and to snuff out a catastrophic plot that only the medically astute can divine.
Dr. Cristina LePort’s story is vaguely reminiscent of the artfully nightmarish scenarios in Vince Flynn’s Mitch Rapp novels, combined with the fast-paced tempo of Robin Cook’s medical thrillers. Her Dissection features riveting suspense, action-packed climaxes, and thoughtful character development, set against a believable backdrop of medical science informed by her long career as a cardiologist. Her style, though accessible, is more sophisticated than superficial, and with strong protagonists on both sides of the gender divide, appeals to both male and female listeners.
Dissection is a taut thriller with complex characters that combines cutting-edge medical technology with horrific yet still believable political consequences. It may well be the best medical thriller you’ve ever listened to.
