Tag Archives: audiobooks

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Romance Review: Friends Don’t Fall in Love

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Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links, meaning I get a commission if you decide to make a purchase through my links, at no cost to you.

Thank you to SMP Romance for the review copy!

Friends Don’t Fall in Love
By Erin Hahn 
🎧 Narrated by: Kale Williams & Lisa Zimmerman
Book 41 of 2024

🎧 You absolutely need to read this one on audio, the narrators’ performances are incredible! 

This gave me all the vibes I loved from Lovelight Farms, with that “friends to lovers” (but they’ve been into each other for a long long time). 

I loved everything about FMC Lorelai Jones – she’s a little bit based on Natalie Maines and the fall from grace The Chicks had after speaking up about politics. After Lorelei Jones sings a protest song after another devastating school shooting, everyone abandons her – even her fiance. Everyone except Craig. 

Craig is so smitten with Lorelei from page one. But he’s happy to have whatever relationship she wants – friends, producer/artist, housemates…

This was just so good from beginning to end, and I couldn’t recommend it more. 

🌸 Bookmark from @readwithallison – if you want some of your own follow my 🔗 and use code JANA 10 for 10% off your order!

.    .   .   .   .   .    .  book synopsis   .   .   .   .    .   .   .   .  

Erin Hahn’s Friends Don’t Fall in Love is about long-time friends, taking chances, and finding out that, sometimes, your perfect person was right there in your corner all along.

Lorelai Jones had it all: a thriving country music career and a superstar fiancé. Then she played one teenie tiny protest song at a concert and ruined her entire future, including her impending celebrity marriage. But five years later, she refuses to be done with her dreams and calls up the one person who stuck by her, her dear friend and her former fiancé’s co-writer and bandmate, Craig.

Craig Boseman’s held a torch for Lorelai for years, but even he knows the backup bass player never gets the girl. Things are different now, though. Craig owns his own indie record label and his songwriting career is taking off. If he can confront his past and embrace his gifts, he might just be able to help Lorelai earn the comeback she deserves―and maybe win her heart in the process.

But when the two reunite to rebuild her career and finally scratch that itch that’s been building between them for years, Lorelai realizes a lot about what friends don’t do. For one, friends don’t have scratch-that-itch sex. They also don’t almost-kiss on street corners, publish secret erotic poetry about each other, have counter-top sex, write songs for each other, have no-strings motorcycle sex, or go on dates. And they sure as heck don’t fall in love… right?

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Paranormal Romance Review: Heartsong

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Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links, meaning I get a commission if you decide to make a purchase through my links, at no cost to you.

Thank you to Tor Books for the review copy!

Heartsong
By TJ Klune
🎧 Narrated by: Kirt Graves
Series: Green Creek, Book 3 
Book 35 of 2024

The thing about the Green Creek series is that by this point you just feel like you are another member of the pack. So the beginning really confused me when Robbie was off with not the pack?? I thought it was about before he came to Green Creek, but that wasn’t the case.

The way Klune crafts the community feel of his stories – ugh. I feel like I could happily read about them watching paint try because the banter would be top-tier and someone would probably forgive themselves for something and it would be all beautiful and healing. (I’m not fixing that run on sentence, it’s for the vibes.) 

My only complaint is that I like watching people fall in love with each other for the first time, and that’s not what we got in this book. It was still a beautiful and satisfying story, but because of Robbie’s situation *I* also sometimes felt like I was missing part of the story. 

Overall – LOVED – can’t wait for Brothersong!!

🎧 Kirt Graves is the voice of Green Creek for me. If someone ever tried to make a graphic audio, I couldn’t listen to it unless the narrators sounded exactly like the voices Kirt creates. I think he makes Klune’s writing really come alive for me – some of the repetition I could never have made feel as strongly as Graves made me feel in his narration. 

[book synopsis]

Heartsong is the third book in the Green Creek series, the beloved fantasy romance sensation by New York Times bestselling author TJ Klune, about love, loyalty, betrayal, and family.

“Complex and startling… Green Creek is the perfect setting.” ― Charlaine Harris

The Bennett family has a They’re not just a family, they’re a pack. Heartsong is Robbie Fontaine’s story.

All Robbie Fontaine ever wanted was a place to belong. After the death of his mother, he bounces around from pack to pack, forming temporary bonds to keep from turning feral. It’s enough―until he receives a summons from the wolf stronghold in Caswell, Maine. Life as the trusted second to Michelle Hughes―the Alpha of all―and the cherished friend of a gentle old witch teaches Robbie what it means to be pack, to have a home. But when a mission from Michelle sends Robbie into the field, he finds himself questioning where he belongs and everything he’s been told.

Whispers of traitorous wolves and wild magic abound―but who are the traitors and who the betrayed? More than anything, Robbie hungers for answers, because one of those alleged traitors is Kelly Bennett―the wolf who may be his mate.

The truth has a way of coming out. And when it does, everything will shatter.

The Green Creek Series is for adult readers.

Now available from Tor Books.

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Romance Review: The Girl with Stars in Her Eyes

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Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links, meaning I get a commission if you decide to make a purchase through my links, at no cost to you.

The Girl with Stars in Her Eyes
By Xio Axelrod
🎧 Narrated by: Alexander Cendese, Tamika Simone
Book 17 of 2024

The Girl with Stars in Her Eyes has been sitting on my shelf probably since it’s release date in 2021, and I’m so excited that I finally read it!! 

Check the content warnings…this one is a little heavier than my typical romance read. It doesn’t live in it’s darker themes though, so it was overall a very fun read. 

I would recommend this for readers who like the romance to be just one of the main elements in their reads. We get to spend a lot of time with the band, and Toni’s own growth, as well as the romantic plot. And I would definitely recommend it to music enthusiasts! 

💖 second chance romance
💖female rock band / women supporting women
💖 some found family vibes 

Going back to the content warnings, both main character Toni and her love interest Seb have difficult parents that have a range of abuse. I really admired how Axelrod didn’t shy away from the complex feelings of being an adult child of an abusive parent. 

🎧 Excellent on audio!

QotD: Do you consider yourself a music lover? Who are you currently listening to? 

I’m always in my Taylor Swift era, but with a heavy side of Noah Kahan this week!

[book synopsis]

They say the road to stardom is paved with broken dreams.

Growing up, Antonia “Toni” Bennett’s guitar was her only companion…until she met Sebastian Quick. Seb was a little older, a lot wiser, and he became Toni’s way out, promising they’d escape their small town together. Then Seb turned eighteen and split without looking back.

Now, Toni B is all grown up and making a name for herself in Philadelphia’s indie rock scene. When a friend suggests she try out for the hottest new band in the country, she decides to take a chance. She’s in for a surprise when one of the decision-makers turns out to be none other than Seb. Toni can handle it. No problem. Or it wouldn’t be if Seb didn’t still hold a piece of her heart, not to mention the key to her future.

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Embracing Audiobooks

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A couple weeks ago, I talked about my very unhelpful 2019 reading resolutions. One of them was to read less by audiobook. I thought that, since it took more time to read books via audiobook than with my eyes, if I just read more with my eyes I would obviously read more books!

What I didn’t factor into this equation was that audiobooks helped me to read when I was too busy or too tired to read with my eyes. 

And I had two big problems at the time:
1) I got all of my audiobooks through Audible
2) I didn’t speed them up

Now, this is not to say that Audible is not a great way to listen to audiobooks – my biggest complaint is that Audible Exclusives aren’t able to be purchased by libraries, which creates accessibility issues. (If you don’t want to support Amazon – Libro.fm is a great choice! LINK in bi0 with information about how to join.)

My issue was actually that I read too much too quickly and found myself burning through my audiobook credits. The solution? The Libby App! Libby connects to your local library so you can listen to audiobooks *for free.* 

Once I figured out Libby and no longer had to restrain my listening habits, I jumped from reading just under 50 books a year to just over 60 books…then 100…then 130…then 175 books last year! (Probably a bit of an anomaly because of Long Covid, but that’s not the point of the story.) 

I’ve heard from people that they “can’t do” audiobooks, so I wanted to share some tips because I think audiobooks are SUCH a game changer for reading. If you can listen to a podcast or talk on the phone, I think you can absolutely learn to love audiobooks.

1) I started by listening to old favorites at bedtime. It does help to listen to something that you’ve read before at first to train your brain.

2) Speed up the sound so it sounds more conversational and less sleepy. I started just bumping it up 0.1x at a time. (1.1x, 1.2x, etc) and am now comfortably listening between 1.75x-2x for most books.

This is especially helpful if you find yourself getting bored while listening or your mind is wandering!

3) Get a 2nd copy to read with your eyes. Some people call this immersive reading – reading with your eyes and ears at the same time. I’ve heard this is especially helpful for readers with ADHD. For me, I find that it’s helpful to read some of the early chapters with my eyes so I know what the names are – for some reason my brain struggles with processing names when I hear them. 

There are a lot of positive effects of audiobooks. I know that uneducated people like to say that it’s “not really reading” or “is cheating.” But that’s really not true. (Unless you are learning how to read with your eyes, in which case you do need to practice reading with your eyes.) 

Positive effects of listening to audiobooks:
• Make boring tasks like laundry, dishes, and commuting more fun
• Improve your listening skills – remember more details about conversations that you have
• Read more books!

A few years ago, Libro.fm came up with 8 mental and physical benefits of audiobooks – I put a link to that article in my bio if you’re curious! 

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Holiday Romance Mini Reviews

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The week of Christmas I read 5 amazing Christmas books, putting my total Christmasy reads for this year at 7, which I think is a record! Do you like to read Christmas books or other holiday reads? Will you only read them during the holiday season, or will you read them anytime? Did you have a favorite you want to recommend to me? 

If you’re like me and only read Christmas books in December, Save this post for your next holiday season!

(Two not mentioned: Kiss Her Once For Me & Wreck the Halls, which I have longer reviews of on Goodreads!)

Amor Actually
By Adriana Herrera, Alexis Daria, Diana Munoz Stewart, Mia Sosa, Priscilla Oliveras, Sabrina Sol, Zoey Castile
🎧 Narrated by: full cast
Book 166 of 2023

A reimagining of “Love Actually” with a diverse Latinx cast! I don’t know if I could pick a favorite, but I think I especially loved the stories based on plot lines that I didn’t like in Love Actually. I don’t usually gravitate towards novellas because I don’t feel like the book is going somewhere specific. These novellas are loosely tied together by a party they are all attending at the end, and since I’ve seen Love Actually a million times, it felt more tied together than other novella collections I have read. This is the spiciest of the Christmas books that I read. Highly recommend the audiobook! 

A Merry Little Meet Cute 
By Julie Murphy & Sierra Simone
🎧 Narrated by:  Joy Nash & Sebastian York 
Book  165 of 2023

Funny, sweet, spicy, and surprisingly heartfelt.  An adult film star and an ex-boyband member are cast together in a Hallmark-esque Christmas movie. Bianca is trying to keep her less wholesome identity a secret, Nolan is one of her biggest fans, and she used to have his poster on her wall. The two try to keep it professional but are absolutely smitten with each other. I devoured this book and loved the entire cast of characters. Also highly recommend on audiobook!

A Wallflower Christmas
By Lisa Kleypas 
🎧 Narrated by: Mary Jane Wells
Book 170 of 2024

I loved hanging out with the Wallflowers for a Christmas novella. The plot revolves around Rafe Bowman, brother to two of the wallflowers, whose parents are arranging a marriage to Natalie Blanford. 

Read if: you have already read The Wallflower series (which I loved except for the first book)

Skip if: you can’t handle a man kissing a woman with dubious consent. Which is reasonable and I question myself for being able to side eye it and still enjoy the book.

The Captain’s Midwinter Bride
By Liana De la Rosa 
Book 173 of 2023

All of the lovely historical romance vibes of The Wallflowers, none of the dubious consent! I loved The Captain’s Midwinter Bride so much I read it WITH MY EYES! 

The Daltons have been married for over two decades, but barely know each other. Captain Philip Dalton is now retired, and has decided to get to know the woman he married so long ago, and the mother of his children. I loved watching the two of them get to know each other. They are also preparing for the marriage of their daughter, and I loved watching Philip explore his relationship with his children as well. I’m excited to continue this series. 

Same Time Next Year
By Tessa Bailey 
🎧 Narrated by: William LeRoy and Carmen Vine 
Book 175 of 2023

Ok, this is a New Year’s romance, not a Christmas romance, but I’m including it anyway. This is a delightful green card marriage romance if you like Tessa Bailey’s writing. She’s kind of kooky, but I love how absolutely head over heels her men are for her women on like page one. And after TWO books in a week where no meant yes (ew), I love that enthusiastic consent is also part of her romantic scenes. I loved the narrators.

Did you read any of these? Have any I need to add to my next Christmas TBR?