Simply The Best Audiobooks in Fiction, Contemporary to Download

Please open https://hotaudiobook.com ONLY on your standard browser Safari, Chrome, Microsoft or Firefox to download full audiobooks of your choice for free.

Title: Leela's Book

Subtitle: A Novel

Author: Alice Albinia

Narrator: Leslie Bellair

Format: Unabridged

Length: 11 hrs and 55 mins

Language: English

Release date: 06-04-13

Publisher: Audible Studios

Ratings: 2 of 5 out of 1 votes

Genres: Fiction, Contemporary

Publisher's Summary:

In her fiction debut, Alice Albinia weaves a multithreaded epic tale that encompasses divine saga and familial discord and introduces an unforgettable heroine. Leela - alluring, taciturn, haunted - is moving from New York back to Delhi. Worldly and accomplished, she has been in self-imposed exile from India and her family for decades; 22 years earlier, her sister was seduced by the egotistical Vyasa, and the fallout from their relationship drove Leela away. Now an eminent Sanskrit scholar, Vyasa is preparing for his sons marriage. But when Leela arrives for the wedding, she disrupts the careful choreography of the weekend, with its myriad attendees and their conflicting desires. Gleefully presiding over the drama is Ganesh - divine, elephant-headed scribe of the Mahabharata, Indias great epic. The family may think they have arranged the wedding for their own selfish ends, but according to Ganesh it is he who is directing events - in a bid to save Leela, his beloved heroine, from Vyasa. As the weekend progresses, secret online personas, maternal identities, and poetic authorships are all revealed; boundaries both religious and continental are crossed; and families are ripped apart and brought back together in this vibrant and brilliant celebration of family, love, and storytelling.

Critic Reviews:

"Steeped in the tradition of the Indian epic, yet modern and vastly entertaining." (The Times of London)

Members Reviews:

Difficult but Interesting Read

Bought this book to learn more about the culture of India and its people... for that it delivered... but it was a dark book in the picture it painted... the poverty, sexism, the discord between family members and the people of India themselves.... Hindu and Muslim are obvious before even picking up the book but North versus Southern Hindu was a surprise... the story left everything unfinished ...took a while to get invested in the many characters and ended with everything up in the air.

I'm currently reading this and it is very difficult reading ...

I'm currently reading this and it is very difficult reading - nothing is smooth about it - I'll continue along for a few more chapters but my gut feeling is it's only OK.

good characters, plot twists

I really enjoyed this book, lots of plot twists involving how the characters relate to each other. Portrayal of life in different segments of Indian society felt very true to life. The Mahabharata story and Ganesh angle provided structure to give context to the characters.

Trouble getting interested

I just could not get into the story. Tried several times but gave up.

A Story about India

Interesting story, well told.

Please open https://hotaudiobook.com ONLY on your standard browser Safari, Chrome, Microsoft or Firefox to download full audiobooks of your choice for free.

Title: The Witches' Hammer

Author: Jane Stanton Hitchcock

Narrator: Carrington MacDuffie

Format: Unabridged

Length: 12 hrs and 13 mins

Language: English

Release date: 06-01-13

Publisher: Blackstone Audio, Inc.

Ratings: 3 of 5 out of 15 votes

Genres: Fiction, Contemporary

Publisher's Summary:

A respected surgeon and rare book collector is brutally murdered in his elegant Manhattan home, just hours after showing a book dealer the fifteenth-century manual of black magic - a grimoire - he'd received from a grateful patient. Now the healer's blood is everywhere - and only the priceless grimoire is missing.

The horrific death of her beloved father has shattered Beatrice O'Connell's quiet, sane, and orderly world. Only by tracking down the vanished malevolent tome - with its dark spell and salacious illustrations - can she hope to put things right. But the search is leading Beatrice, her ex-husband, and a mysterious occultist into an expanding labyrinth of powerful evils, a tangled web that reaches as far as the Vatican itself. What coveted secrets are hidden in the missing volume that threaten to turn Beatrice into precisely what her unseen and unrelenting enemies are determined to destroy?

Members Reviews:

Dramatically different and disturbing...

Would you listen to The Witches' Hammer again? Why?

No. It was quite lengthy with a lot of detail that could have been eliminated to make the story more compact and stronger.

How would you have changed the story to make it more enjoyable?

Cut out some of the extra sub-plots.

What about Carrington MacDuffies performance did you like?

Her narration made it easy to follow each character. She changed her voice just enough to make it easy to recognize each person.

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

I was uncomfortable with the part when Count Borzami forced Beatrice to perform a sexual act before he would give her information. This act didn't seem like a realistic one for Beatrice's character.

Any additional comments?

The story was definitely different.

Please open https://hotaudiobook.com ONLY on your standard browser Safari, Chrome, Microsoft or Firefox to download full audiobooks of your choice for free.

Title: The Haunting of Gad's Hall

Author: Norah Lofts

Narrator: Patience Tomlinson

Format: Unabridged

Length: 13 hrs and 2 mins

Language: English

Release date: 06-01-13

Publisher: Soundings

Ratings: 3.5 of 5 out of 11 votes

Genres: Fiction, Contemporary

Publisher's Summary:

No one at Gads Hall could admit what they knew about the room in the attic. The locked room that held the Thorley familys most shameful secret. The terrifying room that had once been the living tomb of a beautiful young woman possessed by the darkest evil.

Years had passed but the relentless diabolic force abided waiting until it could once again possess an innocent and inflict its horror upon the living. It was a force countless centuries old. It was simply a matter of time before it would strike again. And when the Spender family moved into Gad's Hall, that time had come

Members Reviews:

Haunting of Gad's Hall

Interestingly historical, very well narrated. Hard to put down. Great sequel to Gad's Hall. Well done.

Misleading title and description

Lets put it this way, I'm just over 6 hours into the book and there isn't so much of a waft of a ghost! This book is basically a social commentary on late 19th century Suffolk... If its a chilling ghost storey your after, try hell house or the small hand.

Please open https://hotaudiobook.com ONLY on your standard browser Safari, Chrome, Microsoft or Firefox to download full audiobooks of your choice for free.

Title: In the Face of Jinn

Author: Cheryl Howard Crew

Narrator: Bryce Dallas Howard

Format: Unabridged

Length: 12 hrs and 2 mins

Language: English

Release date: 05-10-13

Publisher: Audible Studios

Ratings: 3.5 of 5 out of 56 votes

Genres: Fiction, Contemporary

Publisher's Summary:

Two American sisters, Christine and Elizabeth Shepherd, are on a silk-buying trip in India for their business in California. After Elizabeth mysteriously disappears, Christine is compelled to challenge the ineffectual U.S. and Indian bureaucracies and venture alone, with various strangers as guides, to find her sister. Disguised in the traditional female garb of some Islamic cultures, Christine continues her search in Afghanistan and Pakistan. She navigates the mysterious tribes of the Pashtuns, has a dangerous encounter with the Taliban, and learns to fear the "Jinn", the devils that dominate the superstitions of the people she must understand in order to survive.

This audiobook is an especially personal production, based as it is on authentic research performed by Cheryl Howard Crew during visits to the region, produced with the creative consultation of the authors husband, Academy Award winner Ron Howard (A Beautiful Mind), and performed by their daughter, Golden Globe nominee Bryce Dallas Howard (As You Like It).

Members Reviews:

Do Not Bother

This might be one of the weakest books I have ever heard. Christine Shepherd, the protagonist, is portrayed as everything from a weak, sick, helpless, pathetic female to a Ninja sporting an assault rifle and fighting the Taliban as she scours a harsh landscape to find her sister--who she believes is dead? Is she a prisoner or a freedom fighter? Christine manages, single handedly to take out a much sought-after terrorist after suffering multiple rapes, illnesses, starvation and beatings. One minute she is so weak she can not walk then suddenly she is sprinting after middle eastern thugs. AND she knows everything there is to know about AK-47s and Kalashnikovs.

Other characters are thinly drawn. Christine runs into many people during her dash across three countries--we're never sure where she is or how she got there--those characters are never fleshed out and all run together as gun clad mobs of dirty, bearded men with lust in their eyes and the veiled, beaten women who service them. At one point Christine manages to grab an imprisoned, battered woman and they escape the bad guys. For some reason she decides to return (with her fellow escapee) to her captors because...

Even Christine's sister, Elizabeth, is never a real character. As for the Aussie with melanoma, I have no idea why he was even a character in this book except to remind readers to wear sunscreen. Money in large quantities changes hands, disappears and appears with little explanation. Christine remains attractive enough in her blood and urine soaked robes to attract the attention of one of the bearded guys--the one with great eyes. What? She had been raped, beaten, and practically killed but she heals enough to have a romantic liaison with a Muslim guy she's know for...how long? It's never clear how much time has passed. Was it a month or a year?

How did this book ever get published?

THE best narration ever!

Would you listen to In the Face of Jinn again? Why?

I've been listening to one or two books every month since 2002 and Bryce Howard does the most incredible narration I have ever heard. The story is also sooooo good! It's up their with The Help. Couldn't wait to listen and Did not want it to end! Highly recommend it.

Captivating

This book caught me in 10 minutes and carried all the way through.

Please open https://hotaudiobook.com ONLY on your standard browser Safari, Chrome, Microsoft or Firefox to download full audiobooks of your choice for free.

Title: Secrecy

Author: Rupert Thomson

Narrator: Mark Meadows

Format: Unabridged

Length: 9 hrs and 23 mins

Language: English

Release date: 04-19-13

Publisher: Audible Studios

Ratings: 3.5 of 5 out of 16 votes

Genres: Fiction, Contemporary

Publisher's Summary:

Florence, 1691. The Renaissance is long gone, and the city is a dark, repressive place, where everything is forbidden and anything is possible.

Knowledge is still the property of the few, and they guard it fiercely. Art, sex and power - these, as always, are the obsessions. Facing criminal charges, Gaetano Zummo is forced to flee his native Siracusa at the age of 20, first to Palermo, then Naples, but always has the feeling that he is being pursued by his past, and that he will never be free of it.

Zummo works an artist in wax. He is fascinated by the plague, and makes small wooden cabinets in which he places graphic, tortured models of the dead and dying. But Cosimo III, Tuscany's penultimate Medici ruler, gives Zummo his most challenging commission yet, and as he tackles it his path entwines with that of the apothecary's daughter Faustina, whose secret is even more explosive than his.

Members Reviews:

Give this one a miss

The plot is not well developed and is rather silly, and the characters are not much better than cliches. The author does, however, have some lovely descriptions.

Please open https://hotaudiobook.com ONLY on your standard browser Safari, Chrome, Microsoft or Firefox to download full audiobooks of your choice for free.

Title: Zombie Apocalypse Diary Entry #1

Author: Sarah Pinborough

Narrator: Sarah Pinborough

Format: Unabridged

Length: 26 mins

Language: English

Release date: 04-11-13

Publisher: Robinson

Ratings: 3.5 of 5 out of 25 votes

Genres: Fiction, Contemporary

Publisher's Summary:

OMG! As the Zombie Apocalypse takes hold of London, for 13-year-old Maddy Wood it will be a birthday that she will never forget.

As the dead rise as flesh-eating ghouls and the chaos starts to spread, so Maddy begins to record her thoughts and feelings in her personal diary, little knowing that her life is about to change forever

Members Reviews:

bkleh

Man I want my 95c cents back lol. This book was not what I thought it'll be. No zombies. Only a 13 writing in a diary. Bleh

This is gonna be a nope...

What would have made Zombie Apocalypse Diary Entry #1 better?

More story, this was just about to get interesting and it was done.

Would you ever listen to anything by Sarah Pinborough again?

Yes.

How did the narrator detract from the book?

Too dramatic, and she sounded younger than the 13 year old in the story.

If you could play editor, what scene or scenes would you have cut from Zombie Apocalypse Diary Entry #1?

There wasn't enough of the story to cut!

more to come?

too short. hope that's there is more to come. love her writing style. very teasing

Not very good

What could have made this a 4 or 5-star listening experience for you?

While Sarah's Breeding Ground wasn't bad, this was dull and not particularly special. The narrator did a good job.

What do you think your next listen will be?

Pride & Prejudice Zombies

You didnt love this book... but did it have any redeeming qualities?

It did a decent job of getting into the mind of a young girl.

Please open https://hotaudiobook.com ONLY on your standard browser Safari, Chrome, Microsoft or Firefox to download full audiobooks of your choice for free.

Title: Ghana Must Go

Author: Taiye Selasi

Narrator: Adjoa Andoh

Format: Unabridged

Length: 12 hrs and 17 mins

Language: English

Release date: 04-04-13

Publisher: Penguin Books Ltd

Ratings: 4 of 5 out of 10 votes

Genres: Fiction, Contemporary

Publisher's Summary:

The unabridged, downloadable audiobook edition of Taiye Selasis Ghana Must Go, read by the actress Adjoa Andoh. This is the story of a family - of the simple, devastating ways in which families tear themselves apart, and of the incredible lengths to which a family will go to put itself back together.

It is the story of one family, the Sais, whose good life crumbles in an evening; a Ghanaian father, Kwaku Sai, who becomes a highly respected surgeon in the US only to be disillusioned by a grotesque injustice; his Nigerian wife, Fola, the beautiful homemaker abandoned in his wake; their eldest son, Olu, determined to reconstruct the life his father should have had; their twins, seductive Taiwo and acclaimed artist Kehinde, both brilliant but scarred and flailing; their youngest, Sadie, jealously in love with her beautiful college friend. All of them sent reeling on their disparate paths into the world. Until, one day, tragedy spins the Sais in a new direction.

This is the story of a family: torn apart by lies, reunited by grief. A family absolved, ultimately, by that bitter but most tenuous bond: familial love. Ghana Must Go interweaves the stories of the Sais in a rich and moving drama of separation and reunion, spanning generations and cultures from West Africa to New England, London, New York and back again. It is a debut novel of blazing originality and startling power by a writer of extraordinary gifts.

Members Reviews:

Awesome debut

This audiobook is inspired, interesting and very gripping. Brilliantly narrated, like watching a 3D movie.

Didn't meet my expectations

When I read the synopsis of the book, I was very excited about it. That's what got me buying it in the first place (with actual money, rather than as part of my monthly credit , hence why it's even more disappointing) .

The book started really slow and tedious , going back and forth into the past and back to the present .

It's ok when being read as an actual book then you can always go back previous pages for reference , but harder when being listened to as an audio book as I did .

Perhaps it was because I had been so underwhelmed earlier, but when it did get better it didn't lift me as much as I would have liked . The synopsis made it sound so much more promising and exciting than it actually was .

The narrator had issues with accents too.

It was an OK book, I wouldn't read it again though.

Eloquent writing of an emotional story

Beautifully narrated by a very talented linguist, evoking sounds and smells therefore accurate vision of US, Ghana and Nigeria. At first I thought too descriptive, however persisting on a long car journey, paid off to reveal a very touching story

Great writing, great reading.

This was a wonderful novel, and a brilliant reading performance. Adjoa Andoh gives you a terrific sense of the heart of each character.

Sad but very good book!

Where does Ghana Must Go rank among all the audiobooks youve listened to so far?

Not listened to many so cannot really Judge. Americanna by Adichie was great though!

Who was your favorite character and why?

My favourite character was Kehinde, I thought he was quite deep and thoughgtful.

What does Adjoa Andoh bring to the story that you wouldnt experience if you had only read the book?

I could never read fiction, only read non-fiction.

Please open https://hotaudiobook.com ONLY on your standard browser Safari, Chrome, Microsoft or Firefox to download full audiobooks of your choice for free.

Title: A Woman of Choice

Subtitle: The Hansen Series, Book 1

Author: Kris Tualla

Narrator: Keith Tracton

Format: Unabridged

Length: 12 hrs and 8 mins

Language: English

Release date: 04-01-13

Publisher: Kristin B Tualla

Ratings: 4 of 5 out of 16 votes

Genres: Fiction, Contemporary

Publisher's Summary:

The Missouri Territory, 1819... A woman is viciously betrayed and abandoned by her unfaithful husband. She is rescued by a widower uninterested in love. In desperation, she becomes engaged to his best friend. One woman, three very different men. Life is about choices.

Critic Reviews:

"

A Woman of Choice is a charming love story, gracefully told, in a fresh and engaging setting!" (Diana Gabaldon - International Best-selling Author of the OUTLANDER Series)

Members Reviews:

Kris you are amazing! There were so many plot twists

Met this author in choir when I was a kid. I remember her talking about her book series and thinking "oh god another romance novel" I just finished reading book one.. OH MY FREAKING LORD!!! Kris you are amazing! There were so many plot twists.. I wanted to scream, cry and I WAS laughing at parts of it. The way it is written makes me want to jump into the next book. I love the mix of English and Norse used. There was just enough romance to off set the action and irritation. I applaude Sydney... I would have strangled Nicolas in his sleep so many times.

If you like reading futuristic authors like J.D Robb, I do... then I recommend this series to you. Kris Tualla goes the opposite way in time and NAILS it.

Historial romance at its best...

If you would like to spend enthralling time with two very attractive and complicated people, this book is for you. Tuallaâs main characters, forced to be engaged in the business of living rather than focus overmuch on themselves, circle each other with yearning and draw the reader in to their exceptional circumstances. Set in the early 1800âs in the Missouri Territory, Tualla takes us back to an America when land was for the taking, immigrants were the norm, and even landowners with extensive holdings had to work long, hard hours to ensure enough food to last through hard winters.

Story Extends Past the Happy Ever After

I love Tualla's writing style. There are so many quotable lines in this book. I put aside a lot in favor of reading.

I just got confused in parts. Like about the halfway point, it felt like the book was wrapping up. But, no, wait... there's more. And that happened about four more times until the end of the book - which ended as the beginning to a new book. But they got their happy ending (and then some). So I'm not certain what is left to tell?

But the writing trumps the confusion and I am off to research her backlist for new reading material.

Heart stopping

The author pulls you right into the drama ..upon finding an unconscious woman and her struggle to remember who she is. To the inner turmoil of Nicolas when he begins to have feelings for her. I laughed. I cried. I was as scared as Sydney when her husband was beaten and arrested. While the ending works to everyone's favor, it left me hanging because it really works into the next book which is not available for Kindle.

A Woman of Choice

Kris Tualla has easily become one of my favorite authors. She does an exceptional job of creating a story and characters that you can't get enough of. No way could I put the story down (yes, I read way into the early morning) and the minute I finished this book I downloaded the next installment of the series. The romance between Sidney and Nicolas is fresh with humor and passion, and what feels more like a steady flame than a flash.

Please open https://hotaudiobook.com ONLY on your standard browser Safari, Chrome, Microsoft or Firefox to download full audiobooks of your choice for free.

Title: The Dixon Cornbelt League

Author: W. P. Kinsella

Narrator: Kris Koscheski

Format: Unabridged

Length: 3 hrs and 42 mins

Language: English

Release date: 03-29-13

Publisher: Audible Studios

Ratings: 5 of 5 out of 1 votes

Genres: Fiction, Contemporary

Publisher's Summary:

Shortstops who run with the wolves, painted eggs that reveal deeply disturbing meanings, long-dead Hall of Famers who miraculously return to the game, an Iowa minor-league town with a secret conspiracy: these are the elements from which W.P. Kinsella weaves nine fabulous stories about the magical world of baseball.

From the dugouts, clubhouses, bedrooms, and barrooms to the interior worlds of hope and despair, these eerie stories present the absurdities of human relationships and reveal the writer's special genius for touching the heart.

Editorial Reviews:

This fantastical collection of short stories from W. P. Kinsella contains tales of wolves, conspiracy theorists, and legends raised from the dead - but most of all, stories about baseball, that greatest of all American sports.

Actor Kris Koscheskis cocky performance of The Dixon Cornbelt League perfectly captures the peculiar nostalgia of Kinsellas stories - nostalgia for a time which never actually existed, when the magic of a good old-fashioned baseball game was really, well, magical. Koscheski deftly inhabits each character we encounter, drawling and spitting, cursing and cajoling, throwing himself fully into a performance which makes this audiobook a genuine joy to hear.

Please open https://hotaudiobook.com ONLY on your standard browser Safari, Chrome, Microsoft or Firefox to download full audiobooks of your choice for free.

Title: If Wishes Were Horses

Author: W. P. Kinsella

Narrator: Corey Snow

Format: Unabridged

Length: 6 hrs and 39 mins

Language: English

Release date: 03-29-13

Publisher: Audible Studios

Ratings: 4 of 5 out of 2 votes

Genres: Fiction, Contemporary

Publisher's Summary:

In the tradition of his best-selling Shoeless Joe, W.P. Kinsella has created another literary baseball classic. A warm tale of magic, humor and the power of a second chance, its hero is Joe McCoy, an unemployed newspaper writer who by some bizarre circumstances is now a fugitive from the FBI. There's only one thing left for Joe to do - go home to Iowa and tell his story to the only two men who just might believe it - Shoeless Joe's Ray Kinsella and The Iowa Baseball Confederacy's Gideon Clarke. This pair, Joe has heard, know a thing or two about inexplicable events.

Funny, fantastical, and as wonderfully crafted as Shoeless Joe, If Wishes Were Horses is another Literary Hall of Famer.

Editorial Reviews:

W. P. Kinsella's surreal tale of man against fate revisits the famous Iowa baseball diamond from Shoeless Joe. Through an uncanny twist of fate, unemployed journalist Joe McCoy finds himself on the run from the FBI. Returning to his native Iowa, McCoy looks for help from two of Kinsella's most beloved characters: the time traveling Gideon Clarke and farmer Ray Kinsella, still hosting long-dead legends on his cornfield baseball diamond. If anyone can help McCoy undo his mistakes its these two. Performer Corey Snow effortlessly glides between McCoy's nervous quiver and Ray Kinsella's deep smoky drawl. With his uncanny ability to highlight each character's unique voice, one might well mistake Snow for multiple actors.

Members Reviews:

Kinsella brings the magic back

No one writes about the mystery of life, love and baseball the way W.P. Kinsella does. While this book does not have the majesty of The Iowa Baseball Confederacy or When Shoeless Joe Came to Iowa, it is a lovely story about finding the life we are all truly meant to live.

Excellent audiobook.

Narrator Corey Snow made this audiobook seem as if an old friend was sitting there telling you a story. Of course, W.P. Kinsella gave him a lot to work with. Although this book is not as baseball centric as his other works (Shoeless Joe, The Iowa Baseball Confederacy, and The Adventures of Slugger McBatt), it still enough baseball in it to keep fan happy. And, of course, there is the time travel storyline that is central to Kinsella books. All in all, a good story and a great narration makes this a worthwhile listen.