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ID: 614647

Title: Only the Beautiful

Author: Susan Meissner

Narrator: Jorjeana Marie, Xe Sands

Format: Unabridged

Length: 12:28:02

Language: English

Release date: 04-18-23

Publisher: Penguin Audio

Genres: Fiction & Literature, Historical Fiction, Literary Fiction, Contemporary Women

Summary:

A Best Historical Fiction of Spring Pick by Amazon, PopSugar, AARP, and BookBub!

A heartrending story about a young mother’s fight to keep her daughter, and the terrible injustice that tears them apart, by the USA Today bestselling author of The Nature of Fragile Things and The Last Year of the War.

 

California, 1938—When she loses her parents in an accident, sixteen-year-old Rosanne is taken in by the owners of the vineyard where she has lived her whole life as the vinedresser’s daughter. She moves into Celine and Truman Calvert’s spacious house with a secret, however—Rosie sees colors when she hears sound. She promised her mother she’d never reveal her little-understood ability to anyone, but the weight of her isolation and grief prove too much for her. Driven by her loneliness she not only breaks the vow to her mother, but in a desperate moment lets down her guard and ends up pregnant. Banished by the Calverts, Rosanne believes she is bound for a home for unwed mothers. But she soon finds out she is not going to a home of any kind, but to a place that seeks to forcibly take her baby – and the chance for any future babies – from her.

Austria, 1947—After witnessing firsthand Adolf Hitler’s brutal pursuit of hereditary purity—especially with regard to “different children”—Helen Calvert, Truman’s sister, is ready to return to America for good. But when she arrives at her brother’s peaceful vineyard after decades working abroad, she is shocked to learn what really happened nine years earlier to the vinedresser’s daughter, a girl whom Helen had long ago befriended. In her determination to find Rosanne, Helen discovers a shocking American eugenics program—and learns that that while the war had been won in Europe, there are still terrifying battles to be fought at home.

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ID: 614353

Title: Remedies for Sorrow: An Extraordinary Child, a Secret Kept from Pregnant Women, and a Mother's Pursuit of the Truth

Author: Megan Nix

Narrator: Megan Nix

Format: Unabridged

Length: 10:33:24

Language: English

Release date: 04-18-23

Publisher: Random House (Audio)

Genres: Biography & Memoir, Health & Wellness, Disorders & Diseases, Parenting

Summary:

This 'compulsively readable memoir...brings to light an issue that has been too long ignored...An immensely important book' (Emily Oster, New York Times bestselling author of Expecting Better and Cribsheet).

A story of a mother’s fierce love for her exceptional child and her courageous journey to break the silence about a hidden risk to pregnant women: 'both a beautiful family story and an urgent call to action… [A] moving, potentially life-altering book' (Robert Kolker, author of #1 New York Times bestseller Hidden Valley Road).

After a seemingly uneventful pregnancy, Megan Nix’s second daughter, Anna, was born very small and profoundly deaf. Megan and her husband, Luke, learned that Anna could have lifelong delays due to an infection from a virus they had never heard of: cytomegalovirus, or CMV, which Megan had unwittingly contracted from her toddler during pregnancy.

Megan was electrified by this knowledge. She had been warned, while pregnant, about the risks of saunas, sushi, and unpasteurized cheese, a lack of folic acid, and an excess of kitty litter. She knew to fear a slew of genetic syndromes she could do little to prevent. But she had not been told that CMV is contagious in the saliva of one out of three toddlers, spread through a kiss, a shared cup, a bite of unfinished toast. She had not been told that the stakes were high, that congenital CMV causes more birth defects and childhood disabilities—including blindness, deafness, cerebral palsy, epilepsy, and autism—than any infectious disease. Or that some of these disabilities are evident at birth, but others appear suddenly at age two or three and are never traced back to congenital CMV.

Remedies for Sorrow unfolds across the dramatic landscape of Sitka, Alaska, where Luke makes his living as a salmon fisherman. There, Megan struggles to meet Anna’s needs and dives deeper into the mystery of why no one—not her OBGYN, not her toddler’s pediatrician—had mentioned CMV, despite the staggering cost of this silence to families and children like Anna. From this rugged and beautiful place comes a memoir about the boundless capacity of mothers, the extraordinary child that is Anna, and the lifesaving power of truth.

Contact: [email protected]

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ID: 615558

Title: Dwell: A Journal for Naming, Processing, and Embracing Your Emotions

Author: Devon Loftus

Narrator: Devon Loftus

Format: Unabridged

Length: 3:29:40

Language: English

Release date: 04-18-23

Publisher: Penguin Audio

Genres: Non-Fiction, Self Development, Health & Wellness, Psychology, Mindfulness & Meditation

Summary:

This marvelous journey through landscapes of human emotion provides readers with journaling prompts to help them embrace the full range of their feelings.

    This wise and inspiring book invites readers to welcome all of their emotions, positive or negative, to come sit and talk, as they would with a very good friend. Using personification as a tool, creative writing teacher and Positive Psychology practitioner Devon Loftus takes readers through a process of describing their emotions—joy, discomfort, anxiety, contentment—without judgment or shame. Thoughtful and comforting, this book will help readers reconnect to the place inside themselves where all their complex and beautiful emotions dwell.

    In poetic essays that serve as inspiration, Loftus personifies more than fifty emotions—such as Playfulness, a redhead with three freckles on her right cheek only her closest friends notice, or Love, who slowly brings every person she passes on the street to life—to encourage readers to sit down with their emotions in a creative and curious way. According to Loftus, when we allow ourselves to view our feelings without judgment, we are able to witness them (and therefore ourselves) more fully, with all of their quirks and humanness. Dwell is an invaluable tool for readers seeking greater self-understanding.

* This audiobook edition includes a downloadable PDF which contains the workbook pages from the book.

Contact: [email protected]

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ID: 617643

Title: Saturday Night at the Lakeside Supper Club: A Novel

Author: J. Ryan Stradal

Narrator: Aspen Vincent

Format: Unabridged

Length: 9:20:20

Language: English

Release date: 04-18-23

Publisher: Penguin Audio

Genres: Fiction & Literature, Literary Fiction, Contemporary Women, Family Life

Summary:

“Stradal serves up another saga of food and family, hurt and healing, pitched between cliff-hanger moments. . . that make the pages fly.” —People

From the New York Times bestselling author J. Ryan Stradal, a story of a couple from two very different restaurant families in rustic Minnesota, and the legacy of love and tragedy, of hardship and hope, that unites and divides them

    Mariel Prager needs a break. Her husband Ned is having an identity crisis, her spunky, beloved restaurant is bleeding money by the day, and her mother Florence is stubbornly refusing to leave the church where she’s been holed up for more than a week. The Lakeside Supper Club has been in her family for decades, and while Mariel’s grandmother embraced the business, seeing it as a saving grace, Florence never took to it. When Mariel inherited the restaurant, skipping Florence, it created a rift between mother and daughter that never quite healed.

    Ned is also an heir—to a chain of home-style diners—and while he doesn't have a head for business, he knows his family's chain could provide a better future than his wife's fading restaurant. In the aftermath of a devastating tragedy, Ned and Mariel lose almost everything they hold dear, and the hard-won victories of each family hang in the balance. With their dreams dashed, can one fractured family find a way to rebuild despite their losses, and will the Lakeside Supper Club be their salvation?

    In this colorful, vanishing world of relish trays and brandy Old Fashioneds, J. Ryan Stradal has once again given us a story full of his signature honest, lovable yet fallible Midwestern characters as they grapple with love, loss, and marriage; what we hold onto and what we leave behind; and what our legacy will be when we are gone.

Contact: [email protected]

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ID: 617679

Title: Sizzle Reel: A Novel

Author: Carlyn Greenwald

Narrator: Mia Hutchinson-Shaw

Format: Unabridged

Length: 9:54:21

Language: English

Release date: 04-18-23

Publisher: Random House (Audio)

Genres: Romance, Fiction & Literature, LGBTQ, Rom-Com, Coming of Age

Summary:

An unputdownable queer coming-of-age rom-com about life and love in Hollywood. • 'Both an irresistible love story and a riveting exploration of Hollywood dynamics.” —Rachel Lynn Solomon, New York Times bestselling author of The Ex Talk

For aspiring cinematographer Luna Roth, coming out as bisexual at twenty-four is proving more difficult than she anticipated. Sure, her best friend and fellow queer Romy is thrilled for her—but she has no interest in coming out to her backwards parents, she wouldn't know how to flirt with a girl if one fell at her feet, and she has no sexual history to build off. Not to mention she really needs to focus her energy on escaping her emotionally-abusive-but-that’s-Hollywood talent manager boss and actually get working under a real director of photography anyway.

When she meets twenty-eight-year-old A-list actress Valeria Sullivan around the office, Luna thinks she’s found her solution. She'll use Valeria's interest in her cinematography to get a PA job on the set of Valeria's directorial debut—and if Valeria is as gay as Luna suspects, and she happens to be Luna's route to losing her virginity, too . . . well, that's just an added bonus. Enlisting Romy’s help, Luna starts the juggling act of her life—impress Valeria’s DP to get another job after this one, get as close to Valeria as possible, and help Romy with her own career moves.

But when Valeria begins to reciprocate romantic interest in Luna, the act begins to crumble—straining her relationship with Romy and leaving her job prospects precarious. Now Luna has to figure out if she can she fulfill her dreams as a filmmaker, keep her best friend, and get the girl. . . or if she’s destined to end up on the cutting room floor.

Contact: [email protected]

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ID: 617638

Title: Secret Service of Tea and Treason

Author: India Holton

Narrator: Elizabeth Knowelden

Format: Unabridged

Length: 10:15:15

Language: English

Release date: 04-18-23

Publisher: Penguin Audio

Genres: Romance, Romantasy

Summary:

An International Bestseller!

One of...

Library Journal's Best Romances of the Year

Amazon's Best Romances of April

Buzzfeed's Romance Books To Look Out For In 2023

Two rival spies must brave pirates, witches, and fake matrimony to save the Queen.

Known as Agent A, Alice is the top operative within the Agency of Undercover Note Takers, a secret government intelligence group that is fortunately better at espionage than at naming itself. From managing deceptive witches to bored aristocratic ladies, nothing is beyond Alice’s capabilities. She has a steely composure and a plan always up her sleeve (alongside a dagger and an embroidered handkerchief). So when rumors of an assassination plot begin to circulate, she’s immediately assigned to the case. 

But she’s not working alone. Daniel Bixby, otherwise known as Agent B and Alice's greatest rival, is given the most challenging undercover assignment of his life— pretending to be Alice’s husband. Together they will assume the identity of a married couple, infiltrate a pirate house party, and foil their unpatriotic plans. 

Determined to remain consummate professionals, Alice and Daniel must ignore the growing attraction between them, especially since acting on it might prove more dangerous than their target.

Contact: [email protected]

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ID: 617676

Title: Symphony of Secrets

Author: Brendan Slocumb

Narrator: Brendan Slocumb, Chanté Mccormick

Format: Unabridged

Length: 13:46:14

Language: English

Release date: 04-18-23

Publisher: Random House (Audio)

Genres: Fiction & Literature, Mystery, Thriller & Horror, Historical Fiction

Summary:

A gripping page-turner from the celebrated author of book club favorite The Violin Conspiracy: Music professor Bern Hendricks discovers a shocking secret about the most famous American composer of all time—his music may have been stolen from a Black Jazz Age prodigy named Josephine Reed.

Determined to uncover the truth that a powerful organization wants to keep hidden, Bern will stop at nothing to right history's wrongs and give Josephine the recognition she deserves.

“A maestro of musical mystery...Slocumb’s writing is invigorating, and the detail in his character work makes the main characters in both time periods easy to root for.... Thrilling.” —The New York Times

'At once a celebration of music and also a cautionary tale about legacy, privilege, and creative genius.' —Nita Prose, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Maid

Bern Hendricks has just received the call of a lifetime. As one of the world’s preeminent experts on the famed twentieth-century composer Frederick Delaney, Bern knows everything there is to know about the man behind the music. When Mallory Roberts, a board member of the distinguished Delaney Foundation and direct descendant of the man himself, asks for Bern’s help authenticating a newly discovered piece, which may be his famous lost opera, RED, he jumps at the chance. With the help of his tech-savvy acquaintance Eboni, Bern soon discovers that the truth is far more complicated than history would have them believe.

In 1920s Manhattan, Josephine Reed is living on the streets and frequenting jazz clubs when she meets the struggling musician Fred Delaney. But where young Delaney struggles, Josephine soars. She’s a natural prodigy who hears beautiful music in the sounds of the world around her. With Josephine as his silent partner, Delaney’s career takes off—but who is the real genius here?

In the present day, Bern and Eboni begin to uncover more clues that indicate Delaney may have had help in composing his most successful work. Armed with more questions than answers and caught in the crosshairs of a powerful organization who will stop at nothing to keep their secret hidden, Bern and Eboni will move heaven and earth in their dogged quest to right history’s wrongs.

Contact: [email protected]

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ID: 617642

Title: Jasmine and Jake Rock the Boat

Author: Sonya Lalli

Narrator: Mayuri Bhandari

Format: Unabridged

Length: 9:26:51

Language: English

Release date: 04-18-23

Publisher: Penguin Audio

Genres: Romance, Rom-Com, Multicultural & Interracial, Contemporary

Summary:

An impulsive decision to join an Alaskan cruise getaway brings the chance for an onboard romance in this new enemies-to-lovers romance from the author of A Holly Jolly Diwali.

Jasmine Randhawa likes everyone to think she has it all—great job, perfect Seattle apartment, and a handsome boyfriend. But she’s not as confident or successful as she seems, and her relationship is at a breaking point.  

When Jasmine finds herself single and tagging along on her parents’ vacation, she’s not sure her life can get any farther off course. It's a nightmare for someone who's been so fiercely independent to find herself on a cruise full of family friends who’ve judged her since childhood. Things only get worse once the ship leaves the harbor and she realizes that this is a seniors’ cruise, and the only other person under fifty on the entire boat is her childhood acquaintance, cocky and successful Jake Dhillon.

Jasmine and Jake clash right away, with Jasmine smarting over how their South Asian community puts him on a pedestal as the perfect Indian son, whereas her reputation as a troublemaker precedes her. Except they can’t avoid each other forever during the ten-day cruise, and they soon recognize a surprising number of similarities, especially in how many secrets they’re keeping hidden from their families. Their restlessness seems to disappear whenever they’re together, but is this relationship strong enough to last on land?

Contact: [email protected]

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ID: 604336

Title: Pathogenesis: A History of the World in Eight Plagues

Author: Jonathan Kennedy

Narrator: Jonathan Kennedy

Format: Unabridged

Length: 9:23:15

Language: English

Release date: 04-18-23

Publisher: Random House (Audio)

Genres: History, Non-Fiction, World, Global Politics, Social Science

Summary:

NATIONAL BESTSELLER • A “gripping” (The Washington Post) account of how the major transformations in history—from the rise of Homo sapiens to the birth of capitalism—have been shaped not by humans but by germs

“Superbly written . . . Kennedy seamlessly weaves together scientific and historical research, and his confident authorial voice is sure to please readers of Yuval Noah Harari or Rutger Bregman.”—The Times (U.K.)

According to the accepted narrative of progress, humans have thrived thanks to their brains and brawn, collectively bending the arc of history. But in this revelatory book, Professor Jonathan Kennedy argues that the myth of human exceptionalism overstates the role that we play in social and political change. Instead, it is the humble microbe that wins wars and topples empires.

Drawing on the latest research in fields ranging from genetics and anthropology to archaeology and economics, Pathogenesis takes us through sixty thousand years of history, exploring eight major outbreaks of infectious disease that have made the modern world. Bacteria and viruses were protagonists in the demise of the Neanderthals, the growth of Islam, the transition from feudalism to capitalism, the devastation wrought by European colonialism, and the evolution of the United States from an imperial backwater to a global superpower. Even Christianity rose to prominence in the wake of a series of deadly pandemics that swept through the Roman Empire in the second and third centuries: Caring for the sick turned what was a tiny sect into one of the world’s major religions.

By placing disease at the center of his wide-ranging history of humankind, Kennedy challenges some of the most fundamental assumptions about our collective past—and urges us to view this moment as another disease-driven inflection point that will change the course of history. Provocative and brimming with insight, Pathogenesis transforms our understanding of the human story.

Contact: [email protected]

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ID: 639040

Title: Life in Five Senses: How Exploring the Senses Got Me Out of My Head and Into the World

Author: Gretchen Rubin

Narrator: Gretchen Rubin

Format: Unabridged

Length: 7:20:52

Language: English

Release date: 04-18-23

Publisher: Random House (Audio)

Genres: Biography & Memoir, Self Development, Health & Wellness, Mindfulness & Meditation

Summary:

The #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Happiness Project discovers a surprising path to a life of more energy, creativity, luck, and love: by tuning in to the five senses.

“An inspiring and practical guide to living in the moment.”—Susan Cain, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Bittersweet and Quiet

For more than a decade, Gretchen Rubin had been studying happiness and human nature. Then, one day, a visit to her eye doctor made her realize that she’d been overlooking a key element of happiness: her five senses. She’d spent so much time stuck in her head that she’d allowed the vital sensations of life to slip away, unnoticed. This epiphany lifted her from a state of foggy preoccupation into a world rediscovered by seeing, hearing, smelling, tasting, and touching.

In this journey of self-experimentation, Rubin explores the mysteries and joys of the five senses as a path to a happier, more mindful life. Drawing on cutting-edge science, philosophy, literature, and her own efforts to practice what she learns, she investigates the profound power of tuning in to the physical world.

From the simple pleasures of appreciating the magic of ketchup and adding favorite songs to a playlist, to more adventurous efforts like creating a daily ritual of visiting the Metropolitan Museum of Art and attending Flavor University, Rubin show us how to experience each day with depth, delight, and connection. In the rush of daily life, she finds, our five senses offer us an immediate, sustainable way to cheer up, calm down, and engage the world around us—as well as a way to glimpse the soul and touch the transcendent.

Life in Five Senses is an absorbing, layered story of discovery filled with profound insights and practical suggestions about how to heighten our senses and use our powers of perception to live fuller, richer lives—and, ultimately, how to move through the world with more vitality and love.

*Includes a downloadable PDF of additional resources from the book

Contact: [email protected]