Sponsored by Amazon Publishing.
Isabel is a successful sculptor living in Chicago. But when her estranged mother dies, she’s forced to face her brutal childhood growing up in the West Virginia hills, a past that not even her husband knows. Back on the land she has inherited, she’s flooded with memories of the forest where she roamed free, of her beloved lost brother, and of the house where she grew up. Her mother has left her another legacy, too, which reveals secrets that Isabel is only beginning to understand. From Joy Castro comes a heartbreaking and triumphant novel of old wounds and family secrets.
Hello, audiophiles! Kendra here. Down here in the South Carolina Lowcountry, we’re enjoying some cooler weather—time to break out the jackets! I love the South, but it definitely limits the length of time I can wear my fall wardrobe.
But even before I broke out the chilly weather gear, I’ve been head-over-heels in love with fall cooking. This year, I’ve been perfecting my spicy carrot soup recipe. Blended cooked carrots and almond milk with cayenne, pumpkin spice, and salt—presto! Then you have the perfect fall soup. I love listening to Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat while I cook.
Gwen is FINALLY fully vaccinated with her puppy vaccines, so we have been taking her all over creation. On our first big fall excursion, my spouse and I took Dylan and Gwen out to a nature preserve. They frapped through fall leaves as Sam and I kept an eye out for alligators and snakes in the wetlands. They snuffled every inch of the trail, joyfully dragging us to get a good whiff of every smelly, dead thing. We had a great time.
Win Me Something by Kyle Lucia Wu
On my fall walks around my neighborhood while Dylan and Gwen fight over who gets to choose where we go next, I like to listen to something on the more peaceful side of things. Perhaps subconsciously I’m trying to restore balance to the universe. One of my recent listens was Win Me Something by debut author Kyle Lucia Wu. The print edition of the novel is out now from Tin House, one of my favorite indie presses.
Wu’s debut follows WIlla, a 20-something biracial Chinese American woman trying to find a direction for her life. When she was small, her parents split, remarried, and started new families with their new partners. Since then, Willa has never felt as if she belonged anywhere.
At the start of the story, Willa finds a new job as a nanny to a white, well-off couple living in Manhattan. Their daughter, Bijou, loves to cook. But since she’s only around nine years old, she needs a lot of help. As Willa cooks with her charge, she begins to feel like she belongs.
The narrative frequently flashes back to Willa’s childhood with meals seated around one table or another. A backroom bar with her dad, a plate of sweet breakfast food with her mom, her grandmother teaching her how to make a family recipe—each of these moments represent a moment where Willa felt incredibly close to her parents, yet still never completely part of their lives.
Natalie Naudus, a new favorite audiobook narrator of mine, performs Win Me Something, perfectly capturing Willa’s insecurities and inner angst about where she belongs in the world. I will definitely be picking up more audiobooks Naudus performs, so stay tuned!
Don’t forget you can get three free audiobooks at Audiobooks.com with a free trial!
New Releases!
A Net for Small Fishes by Lucy Jago
Frances Howard meets the astute, diminished Anne Turner in the Jacobean Court. They strike up a friendship and their fates become intertwined. Political intrigue, marriage proposals, and backroom deals—this work of historical fiction has it all.
Narrated by Sarah Durham (The Lies You Told by Harriet Tyce and Whispers of Scandal by Julie Corbin)
Noor by Nnedi Okorafor
I adore Africanfuturist author Nnedi Okorafor and her fantastical stories. In Noor, we meet Anwuli Okwudili, though she prefers to be called AO. Through a series of issues with her birth and an accident shortly after her birth, AO feels artificial, like her disabled body makes her less human. To her, AO stands for artificial organism. But then, AO comes to accept all that she is: a disabled woman who uses necessary accommodations to live her life.
Narrated by Délé Ogundiran (Black Sunday by Tola Rotimi Abraham)
All the Feels by Olivia Dade
Alexander Woodroe knows his star is falling. After a bar fight, his job and his very career, is on the line. Lauren Clegg has been hired to keep him in line so he has no more drunken fights. This is a romance novel. We know where this is heading. But it’s sure to be one heck of a ride.
Narrated by Kelsey Navarro (Loud Mouth by Avery Flynn and Good Boy: My Life in Seven Dogs by Jennifer Finney Boylan)
Even Greater Mistakes: Stories by Charlie Jane Anders
Nebula award-winning author Charlie Jane Anders is back with her third book this year (my goodness!), Even Greater Mistakes. In this short story collection, we meet a range of characters, all with their own fantastical adventures to experience.
Narrated by Luis Moreno, Maria Liatis, and Jen Richards (One of Us Is Next by Karen M. McManus and Bruja Born by Zoraida Cordova)
The Teller of Secrets by Bisi Adjapon
Esi Agyekum somehow finds herself the one everyone in her family goes to with their secrets. But as she grows up from girlhood into a young woman, she begins to wonder why men and women’s secrets have different consequences.
Narrated by Anniwaa Buachie (Accra Noir edited by Nana-Ama Danquah)
Over on Book Riot
“Quiz: Design Your Perfect Concert and Get a Graphic Novel on Audio” by Laura Sackton
“More Audiobook Adventures with Animal Crossing: New Horizons” by Kendra Winchester – I share about how I LOVE to listen to audiobooks while playing Animal Crossing. This latest installment is all about the new update!
Don’t forget to check out our new podcast Adaptation Nation, all about TV and film adaptations of your favorite books!
Around the Web
“Terry Pratchett’s Discworld Novels Are Getting New, Star-Studded Audiobooks” (Gizmodo) – “Penguin Random House has announced that it has commissioned new audiobook recordings of all 40 Discworld novels, using a variety of British stars to bring them to life.”
“Sweden’s Storytel Buys Audiobooks.com” (Publisher’s Weekly)
“Spotify’s next chapter will bring audiobooks to the streaming service” (TechRadar) – Spotify keeps adding to the audio content they offer. Find out more in their press release.
That’s it for this week! Feel free to drop me a line at kendra.d.winchester@gmail.com or say hi over on Instagram @kdwinchester. For even MORE audiobook content, you can find my articles over on Book Riot.
Happy listening, bookish friends!
~ Kendra