I'm back with more audiobook recommendations for you! I’ve picked out five 5 star reads that, in case the 5 star part doesn’t speak for itself, I’ve absolutely LOVED reading in the last couple of months! They were all in audiobook format which is my preferred method of consuming books these days, so I have noted down the narrators and production length too. If you’re not already you can sign up for an Audible free trial HERE! If you want to keep up with what I'm reading then you can also follow me on Goodreads here.
Narrator: Rebekkah Ross
Length: 12hrs 34mins
Single POV, Enemies to Lovers, Parental Estrangement, Fish out of water
Ka Tucker and The Simple Wild series are one of the best gems I’ve come to discover this year! Calla and Jonah - what an absolute rollercoaster! I’ve listened to all 3 of Calla’s stories on audiobook, Wild at Heart and Forever Wild, and loved every minute of her adventures in Alaska. As someone who’s never been there, the descriptions of the settings were so incredible they made me feel like I was. Also the character development of Calla is one of my favourite arcs I’ve read recently. She starts off as a naïve, rather spoiled girl with not much direction in her life and gets thrown into the isolated, rural Alaskan wild and has to figure out how or if she could fit in there. Calla also runs a blog with her best friend which, I’ll admit, was one of the reasons it caught my eye to start with! It’s a smaller plot line but something that runs throughout all 3 of her books which I really enjoyed.
This story was heart breaking and heart warming in equal measure. I both laughed out loud and sobbed into my pillow! I’ve become addicted to this series so I highly recommend you give them a go. I’m patiently waiting for the 4th book in the series: Running Wild to come out on audiobook now! Which is set in the same world but focuses on a different main character.
Narrator: Erin Mallon
Length: 8hrs 22mins
Single POV, Childhood Friends to Lovers, Dual Timeline
Wow! THIS book. The Unhoneymooners might be Christina Lauren’s best known book but THIS is a masterpiece! I fell in love with Elliot and Macy. Childhood friends to lovers (probably my favourite trope). They meet up every summer at Macy’s summer home and read books side by side and generally geek out together. Then something happens and it is years before they see each other again and you’re left trying to figure out what on earth could’ve happened! Everything gets revealed in a dual timeline. The whole storyline was an emotional rollercoaster and there was a twist with a reveal of a secret towards the end which I probably should’ve seen coming but I didn’t and it BROKE me. Proper ugly crying happened. Having said that the epilogue was so satisfying and beautiful. I will definitely re-read it once I have recovered!
Narrators: Erin Mallon & Sebastian York
Length: 8hrs 43mins
Dual POV, Slow Burn, Friends to Lovers, Roommates, Cinnamon Roll Hero, Fake Dating
Since I first discovered the writing duo of Vi Keeland and Penelope Ward at Christmas with their festive Novellas (reviewed and raves about here!) I’ve read a whole bunch more of their stories and although I’ve really liked them and rated them all 3.5-4 stars I haven’t enjoyed them as much as the Christmas stories I fell in love with. Until I read Not Pretending Anymore! This has now become my favourite book Vi Keeland/Penelope Ward book. I loved it so much that I immediately had to listen to the whole thing again as soon as I’d finished! It had all the humour that I’ve come to expect from their stories (so many lol moments!), loveable characters, plus it really hit me in the feels. Declan, omg Declan! *Swoons* He sets the bar now for all my future romantic hero’s, what a dreammm. I love the chemistry between him and Molly, their journey from friends to lovers is perfectly done I think. Plus the epilogue for this book is possibly my most favourite epilogue ever! It’s actually iconic. Erin Mallon & Sebastian York are 2 of my favourite audiobook narrators as well, they both have really big catalogues on audible if you look them up!
Narrators: Chris Brinkley & Amanda Stribling
Length: 11hrs 44mins
Dual POV, Second Chance Romance, Cinnamon Roll Hero, Work Place Romance, Forced Proximity, Small Town
This is the second story in the King Brothers series and I absolutely love them! For me personally, this one topped the first book - My Cone & Only. The family own an Ice Cream company hence all the ice cream themed book titles. They’re really cosy and feel good with small town vibes but still have depth and emotion.
Tanner (omg I LOVE him!) was my favourite of the King brothers from the first book so I’ve been excited for his story. How could you not love a hot nerdy hero who’s into books?! The story was a lot more emotional than I was expecting (which is what elevated it even more for me) because I could relate to Lucy’s situation so much on a personal level (for different reasons than hers but the feelings are the same). I’ve really connected with Susannah Nix’s writing style so I’m planning on reading her entire back catalogue now! The audiobook narrators were great. Their southern American accents were perfect and made the whole experience of listening to the story truly immersive.
I really enjoy book series like these where you get to know the characters gradually over the course of it and see their stories develop and then you look forward to everyone getting their moment in their own book. I can’t wait for Ryan’s story in the next book which I believe is coming later this year - there was cliff-hanger ending for it in the epilogue!
Narrators: Alma Cuervo, Julia Whelan & Robin Miles
Length: 12hrs 10mins
Historical Romance, Hollywood, LGBTQ+
So I’d seen this book being hyped up everywhere for a while now and when I finally got to it on my TBR list I feared it wouldn’t live up to it but boy am I happy that I was wrong! It’s an incredible immersive story that manages to capture both the glamour and the grim realities of old Hollywood. You follow Evelyn Hugo from her early days in Hollywood right through to the present day where she’s 79 years old. Throughout most of the book I felt unsure how much I liked Evelyn, she’s ruthless with her career but when it comes to her personal life she makes pretty poor choices! However I still couldn’t help but route for her and some of the peripheral characters, in particular Harry & Celia.
Evelyn life story is absolutely fascinating and it got to a point that I actually forgot she was fictional and I wasn’t reading a biography of a star like Elizabeth Taylor, Katherine Hepburn or Marilyn Monroe. I believe the author was inspired by Elizabeth Taylor and did loosely base some of Evelyn’s story on her. The story has humour, some unexpected twists and a lot of emotion! I hard core sobbed at one point (which makes it the 3rd book in this post that I’ve cried over, clearly that’s been my 2022 mood so far!). The story has really stuck with me since I read it, I've thought about it a lot, which I think is the mark of a great book! I really took to Taylor Jenkins Reid writing style as well and have since downloaded and read more of her books. So expect to see some pop up in future review posts.
Comment below if you’ve read or listened to any of these books and we can discuss! If you want to keep up with what I'm reading then you can also follow me on Goodreads here.
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