Simply The Best Audiobooks in Fiction, Contemporary to Listen Online

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Title: Alena

Author: Rachel Pastan

Narrator: Carla Mercer-Meyer

Format: Unabridged

Length: 11 hrs and 56 mins

Language: English

Release date: 01-23-14

Publisher: Tantor Audio

Ratings: 3 of 5 out of 30 votes

Genres: Fiction, Contemporary

Publisher's Summary:

At the Venice Biennale, an aspiring assistant curator from the Midwest meets Bernard Augustin, the wealthy, enigmatic founder of the Nauk, a cutting-edge art museum on Cape Cod. It's been two years since the tragic death of the Nauk's chief curator, Augustin's childhood friend and muse, Alena. When Augustin offers the position to our heroine (who, like du Maurier's original, remains nameless) she dives at the chance - and quickly finds herself well out of her depth.

The Nauk echoes with phantoms of the past - a past obsessively preserved by the museum's business manager and the rest of the staff. Their devotion to the memory of the charismatic Alena threatens to stifle the new curator's efforts to realize her own creative vision, and her every move mires her more deeply in artistic, erotic, and emotional entanglements.

When new evidence calls into question the circumstances of Alena's death, her loyalty, integrity, and courage are put to the test, and shattering secrets surface. Stirring and provocative, Alena is the result of a delicious visitation of one of the most popular novels of the twentieth century on a brilliant and inventive novelist of the twenty-first.

Critic Reviews:

"Riveting. . . . Flush with erotic intrigues . . . Pastan has written a smart, chilling thriller that leaves readers thoroughly spooked." (Publishers Weekly)

"Rachel Pastan's haunting story comes alive through Carla Mercer-Meyer's engaging portrayal.... She convincingly draws her listener into the poetic rhythm of the story and its details. The lyricism in her first-person voice is persuasive." (AudioFile)

"This skillfully crafted novel, which sustains the tension of a ghost story, is both an homage to Daphne du Mauriers Rebecca and an insightful meditation on our obsessive preoccupation with death - simultaneously creepy and entrancing." (John Irving)

Members Reviews:

I Wanted to Like this Book

Any additional comments?

I love museums. I wanted to love this book but the "new" curator was just too naive and such a push over. I finally had to stop listening or throw my Kindle against the wall.

So far, I'm having a problem with the narrator

What disappointed you about Alena?

I'm about 5 hours in, and in spite of my disappointment that, so far, ALENA is more of a tepid, often clumsy REBECCA retell (rather the homage I was hoping for), I plan to give Ms. Pastan the benefit of the doubt and read on. The big disappointment is in the performance by Carla Mercer-Meyer, and not just because I find her speaking voice grating and inexpressive. Like the book this one so closely shadows, much of the plot hangs on the unworldly nature of its unnamed main character (who is also its narrator), but in ALENA, that character is a young woman with a graduate degree in art history whose career goal is to be the curator of an art museum. It is very difficult for me to believe, however, that after six years of studying the European masters, a trip to Venice to kick off the main plot of the book plus a number of years between then and the now of the book in close association with a man whose background is anything but unworldly and who has spent a lifetime in cross-cultural navigation with great success, and our narrator as performed by Ms.

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Title: Walking On Glass

Author: Iain Banks

Narrator: Peter Kenny

Format: Unabridged

Length: 8 hrs and 8 mins

Language: English

Release date: 01-23-14

Publisher: Hachette Audio UK

Ratings: 4 of 5 out of 19 votes

Genres: Fiction, Contemporary

Publisher's Summary:

Her eyes were black, wide as though with some sustained surprise, the skin from their outer corners to her small ears taut. Her lips were pale, and nearly too full for her small mouth, like something bled but bruised. He had never seen anyone or anything quite so beautiful in his life. Graham Park is in love. But Sara Fitch is an enigma to him, a creature of almost perverse mystery.

Steven Grout is paranoid - and with justice. He knows that They are out to get him. They are. Quiss, insecure in his fabulous if ramshackle castle, is forced to play interminable impossible games. The solution to the oldest of all paradoxical riddles will release him. But he must find an answer before he knows the question. Park, Grout, Quiss - no trio could be further apart. But their separate courses are set for collision.

Critic Reviews:

"[A]n extraordinary feat, terrifying and baffling, going far beyond the bounds of fiction as it's usually defined." (Publishers Weekly)

"Establishes beyond doubt that Iain Banks is a novelist of remarkable talents." (Daily Telegraph)

Members Reviews:

Not his best and a little confusing

If you're an Iain Banks fan, then this is worth listening to. If you're an Iain M. Banks fan, then this is also worth a shot, as it's one of his "cross-over" books, much like "Transition".

However, unlike some of his other books, I didn't really warm to any of the main characters and a couple of them positively annoyed me.

It also takes Banks's penchant for leaving things open to interpretation and takes it to an extreme. For my tastes, it really is a little to open ended, with too many possibilities to get any real satisfaction at the books conclusion.

On the good side, it's as well written as you would expect from early Banks and read as excellently as ever by Peter Kenny.

Unsatisfactory Backs with more than a hint of M

3 different stories, or interpretations of reality?

At least 2 of them collide, but the listener is denied the satisfaction of an explanation in the end, and left to their own interpretation. Many abound in literal circles, but mine is just that it's just too much like life - an unsatisfactory ending.

Well read, though.

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Title: Sensuous Angel

Author: Heather Graham

Narrator: Tavia Gilbert

Format: Unabridged

Length: 6 hrs and 46 mins

Language: English

Release date: 11-05-13

Publisher: Audible Studios

Ratings: 4 of 5 out of 6 votes

Genres: Fiction, Contemporary

Publisher's Summary:

Her best friend in danger, a young woman's search for her will take her into the dark heart of New York's criminal underground - and into the arms of an unlikely hero

The lovely heiress to an olive oil empire, Donna Miro is gravely worried about her best friend, Lorna, who seems to be missing. Having traveled to New York to find the missing Lorna, Donna finds herself trapped in the city's seedy underbelly - until an unexpected man comes to her aid. Father Luke Trudeau, the most unusual priest she has ever met, has the mouth of a sailor and the brawn to go with it. Luke offers Donna help, and he seems to know things about the city - and the dangerous people in it - that might lead them to Lorna. But how can Donna trust this beguiling stranger when all along he has seemed to know more than he is letting on?

Members Reviews:

Impulsive Rich Girl Lands in New York Looking for Disappeared Friend Ended Up Loving a Priest who She Cannot Trust

Sensuous Angel is a hard book to explain. It mixes religion, police, friendship, and love in a tale that starts off slow as heck but once it started moving it started to make more sense, until the FMC started to have several "too stupid to live" moments and requires rescue... of the divine intervention nature.

Donna lost touch with her friend Lorna who was in New York, and Lorna's last letter was written from a hospital with only one name as crew: Andrew. Donna is rich enough that she'd just head to New York and tried to find Lorna by herself... WITHOUT backup. Police had nothing, and she walked into the wrong neighborhood and was mugged... then was saved by Father Luke, who's handsome as sin, strong, and capable of violence if need be. NOT a typical Catholic priest, for sure. (It was much later we learned he's actually Episcopalian)

Turns out Father Luke does know where Andrew may be... but he wants Donna to trust him on faith and he will try to find Andrew for a little explanation. In the meanwhile, Father Luke managed to seduce Donna... not carnally, but merely... by his presence and touch. Obviously, both have lots and lots of secrets, and why Lorna disappeared but is safe, why is Luke out so late at night at times, etc.

The problem is Donna is NOT the kind of person that trusts, even on faith, and finding out Father Luke is NOT Catholic made Donna not to trust him despite he had never lied when questioned. As not to spoil the story completely, let's just say that Luke occasionally helps the police on certain matters using his God-given talent, and Donna, not the trust type, had to see for herself by invoking the trope "follow that taxi!" to follow Luke to criminals, and got Luke injured. Upon going home, she was kidnapped by people who're after Lorna... and this is where Luke's Godgiven gift comes in.

The romance is sweet, and the mystery, which is not as much of a mystery, was peeled back layer by layer, but the need for divine intervention and the constant yacking about faith, "trust me I know what I am doing", "I can't tell you why, just trust me"... gets a bit tiresome, esp. when Donna is an impulsive gal that just cannot let things go.

An early work

This was written over 30 years ago, at the beginnings of her career. She got much better later.

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Title: Liar's Moon

Author: Heather Graham

Narrator: Claire Slemmer

Format: Unabridged

Length: 8 hrs and 50 mins

Language: English

Release date: 11-05-13

Publisher: Audible Studios

Ratings: 4.5 of 5 out of 7 votes

Genres: Fiction, Contemporary

Publisher's Summary:

Can true love prevail over seven long years apart?

Wild and youthful Tracy Kuger seduces her fathers bandmate Leif Johnston into a whirlwind affair. But when her controlling family finds out, they pull the lovers apart and whisk Tracy away to Switzerland, never to see Leif again. That is, until seven years later, when a sudden tragedy forces them back into each others lives. Is it possible for the past to stay buried?

Members Reviews:

You'll hate this hero.

I would never have forgiven Leif for what he did to Tracy. Just saying he's sorry was such a lame attempt at recovery. Then blackmailing her into marriage, he didn't deserve any forgiveness!!

Boring

This book was choppy and boring, and needs serious editing. How can a person take off his shoes, then his trousers, his socks and then his boots... And the little son's hair is blond most of the time, unless it is dark. But I suppose what made me more distressed was how aggressive and pushy the main male character Leif was. Tracy deserved better than a man who only seemed to love her while they were in bed together. Blah, waste of time and money.

but I am not one who wants to be disappointed in this type of reading material

It's true it was mostly predictable, but I am not one who wants to be disappointed in this type of reading material, I read it solely for entertainment , I don't have to "learn" anything, and I read it purely for the relaxed nature, with a few twists I enjoyed it fine.

Five Stars

Great story as usual

Five Stars

Loved the book? I would give it a 5 star.

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Title: Combustion

Author: Steve Worland

Narrator: Sean Mangan

Format: Unabridged

Length: 9 hrs and 34 mins

Language: English

Release date: 10-01-13

Publisher: Bolinda Publishing Pty Ltd

Ratings: 4.5 of 5 out of 5 votes

Genres: Fiction, Contemporary

Publisher's Summary:

Los Angeles. Traffic clogs the streets. Smog chokes the city. And Zac Bunsen is going to burn it all down. On a ruthless quest to save the planet, Bunsen releases the Swarm, an airborne nanotech virus that targets combustion engines and detonates their fuel supply. It is spectacularly, appallingly successful. Terror and chaos reign as the City of Angels explodes. Every vehicle is now a deadly bomb and every freeway a war zone littered with bodies and twisted wrecks.

NASA astronaut Judd Bell and his best mate, Aussie chopper pilot Corey Purchase, must navigate the burning city in a desperate mission to stop Bunsen before he can execute the last phase of his horrific plan and send mankind back to the Stone Age.

Critic Reviews:

"A cracker of a read. A fresh voice for fans of Mathew Reilly." (Canberra Times)

"A brilliant rollercoaster ride of a novel. I couldn't put it down." (Hugh Jackman)

Members Reviews:

aussie,aussie,aussie.

What can I say but WOW, this story is a ride and half, action packed, fun,exciting, Once you start reading this book, you can't put it down. Judd, Corey, Spike and Rhonda are back with more fun and adventures, and a little bit of romance, this is a must read for sure, go ahead and read this great story, you will not be disappointed, and I think there will be a sequel.

Awesome

Best adventure read I have had for a long time, highly recommend! Could not put it down and read it all night long!

good book! follow-up novel is five times the price ...

good book! follow-up novel is five times the price - stupid publisher pricing!

As the tag says - the best action film you will ever read!

Combustion is the perfect read for big budget, action film fans. The explosions come thick and fast, planes fall from the sky and buildings come tumbling down as a madman's twisted environmental crusade wreaks havoc across LA, and NASA astronaut Judd Bell and Australian chopper pilot Corey Purchase are reunited in an effort to save the world - again!

In the first book, Velocity, the pair were forced to work together in an effort to recover a hijacked space shuttle, and Judd's girlfriend Rhonda, from a group of mercenaries who planned to detonate a dirty nuke.

Combustion opens around nine months after those events as Judd, Corey, Rhonda and Steverson are meeting in LA for talks with the company making a movie about their heroic exploits. While Rhonda and Steverson are still enroute, Bunsen initiates the first phase of his plan to force the world to reconsider their reliance on fossil fuels - releasing a controlled amount of the airborne nanotech virus he spent 20 million dollars developing, which targets combustion engines and detonates their fuel supply. As vehicles begin to explode all over LA, a chance encounter reveals to Judd and Corey the existence of an antidote, and with emergency services crippled it is up to the pair to retrieve it and then stop Bunsen's plans for global destruction.

Combustion is all about the action that unfolds at a breakneck pace. From a foot chase of a packed school bus, to cycling stunts on the Hollywood Freeway, explosions galore and daring aerial feats as Corey attempts to outrun a surface to air missile (or two). This is cinematic action, unsurprising since Worland has a background in screen writing.

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Title: The Virgins

Subtitle: A Novel

Author: Pamela Erens

Narrator: Eric Michael Summerer

Format: Unabridged

Length: 7 hrs and 9 mins

Language: English

Release date: 08-13-13

Publisher: Audible Studios

Ratings: 3.5 of 5 out of 23 votes

Genres: Fiction, Contemporary

Publisher's Summary:

Its 1979, and Aviva Rossner and Seung Jung are notorious at Auburn Academy. Theyre an unlikely pair at an elite East Coast boarding school (shes Jewish; hes Korean American) and hardly shy when it comes to their sexuality. Aviva is a formerly bookish girl looking for liberation from an unhappy childhood; Seung is an enthusiastic dabbler in drugs and a covert rebel against his demanding immigrant parents. In the minds of their titillated classmates - particularly that of Bruce Bennett-Jones - the couple lives in a realm of pure, indulgent pleasure. But, as is often the case, their fabled relationship is more complicated than it seems: despite their lust and urgency, their virginity remains intact, and as they struggle to understand each other, the relationship spirals into disaster.

The Virgins is the story of Aviva and Seungs descent into confusion and shame, as re-imagined in richly detailed episodes by their classmate Bruce, a once-embittered voyeur turned repentant narrator. With unflinching honesty and breathtaking prose, Pamela Erens brings a fresh voice to the tradition of the great boarding school novel.

Members Reviews:

Spellbound.

"In this radical garden we could reinvent ourselves; we could seed the adults we would become. Gnaritas et Patientia read our school motto-- Knowledge and Patience-- but the knowledge we wanted was knowledge of the body: how to enlarge it through pleasure and how to make it disappear." (p. 42)

Pamela Eren's coming-of-age novel on a prep school coed campus (Phillips Exeter in New Hampshire, thinly veiled as "Auburn Academy") shimmers as a masterpiece newly hatched. The prose sparkles and brings characters and scenes to life in brilliant color. At the same time, it disturbs. And it depicts and comments on tensions in class, privilege, education, leisure, gender, sexual coming of age, and multi-cultural America.

I don't want to give away too much here. So I'll highlight with quotes, a few themes, and context. Overall, I found this novel first-rate and gripping.

A Korean high school senior boy from New Jersey, Seung, hooks up with a Jewish first-year girl, Aviva, from the Chicago suburbs. They flaunt their relationship, generating both resentment of how they seem to flout the school's rules and get away with it, and imaginative flights of jealousy in the eyes of some. The jealous include the story's narrator, Bruce Bennett-Jones, who is a peer of Seung's from the same New Jersey town - though Bruce is from the white, affluent side of the tracks.

Bruce meets Aviva before Seung does. He helps her carry her bags up to her room, arriving swiftly at this:

"She's a small girl and moving close to her I feel, for once, that I have some size. The waxy collar of her jacket prickles the hair on my forearms. Her neck is damp and slippery, and her mouth, as I kiss it, tastes like cigarettes and chocolate. I picture her smoking rapidly, furtively, in the little bathroom on the plane. Her hair smells a little rancid. The perfume she put on this morning has moldered with sweat and travel and now gives off an odor of decayed pear.

"Don't open your mouth so wide," she says.

"My feet are sweating in my sneakers. My crotch itches. My scalp itches. She drops her hand and I see that her fingernails are painted a pearly pink.

"She tilts her head against the door and laughs. Her thick curls swarm.

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Title: The Watcher in the Shadows

Author: Carlos Ruiz Zafon

Narrator: Peter Kenny

Format: Unabridged

Length: 5 hrs and 52 mins

Language: English

Release date: 05-09-13

Publisher: Orion Publishing Group

Ratings: 4 of 5 out of 4 votes

Genres: Fiction, Contemporary

Publisher's Summary:

A mysterious toymaker who lives as a recluse in an old mansion, surrounded by the magical beings he has created...

A sickly wife locked away in a hidden room...

An enigma involving strange lights that shine out from the small island on which an old, disused lighthouse stands...

A shadowy creature that hides deep in the woods...

These are the elements of a mystery that will bind 14-year-old Irene to Ismael during one magical summer spent in Blue Bay when her mother takes a job as a housekeeper for the enigmatic toymaker, Lazarus Jann.

A novel of mystery, intrigue and romance from the author of The Prince of Mist and The Shadow of the Wind.

Read by Peter Kenny. As both actor and singer, Peter Kenny has worked widely in theatre and broadcasting, appearing with, amongst others, the Royal Shakespeare Company, A&BC, Coventry Belgrade, and the BBC Radio Repertory Company. He is a prolific audiobook reader and his titles include The Wasp Factory and Look To Windward by Iain Banks, and The Prisoner of Heaven by Carlos Ruiz Zafon.

Members Reviews:

Great gothic story

A wonderfully spooky story, brilliantly narrated. This is perfect for older children and adults who like gothic style mysteries.

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Title: The Apple Orchard

Author: Susan Wiggs

Narrator: Christina Traister

Format: Abridged

Length: 5 hrs and 36 mins

Language: English

Release date: 04-30-13

Publisher: Brilliance Audio

Ratings: 4 of 5 out of 4 votes

Genres: Fiction, Contemporary

Publisher's Summary:

"Sometimes you stumble across a treasure when youre looking for something else entirely."

Number-one New York Times best-selling author Susan Wiggs brings listeners to the lush abundance of Sonoma County in a novel of sisters, friendship, and how memories are woven like a spell around us.

Tess Delaney makes a living restoring stolen treasures to their rightful owners. People like Annelise Winther, who refuses to sell her long-gone mothers beloved necklace - despite Tesss advice. To Annelise, the jewels value is in its memories.

But Tesss own history is filled with gaps: a father she never met, a mother who spent more time traveling than with her daughter. So Tess is shocked when she discovers the grandfather she never knew is in a coma. And that she has been named in his will to inherit half of Bella Vista, a 100-acre apple orchard in the magical Sonoma town called Archangel. The rest is willed to Isabel Johansen. A half-sister shes never heard of.

Against the rich landscape of Bella Vista, Tess begins to discover a world filled with the simple pleasures of food and family, of the warm earth beneath her bare feet. A world where family comes first and the roots of history run deep. A place where falling in love is not only possible, but inevitable.

And in a season filled with new experiences, Tess begins to see the truth in something Annelise once told her: If you dont believe memories are worth more than money, then perhaps youve not made the right kind of memories.

From one of Americas most beloved writers, The Apple Orchard is a story of family ties - both old and new - and of the moments that connect our hearts.

Members Reviews:

Definitely recommend

A good story especially paired with the historical excerpts.

Realistic characters in time and place.

Can't wait to know the future.

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Title: Telling the Bees

Author: Peggy Hesketh

Narrator: Norman Dietz

Format: Unabridged

Length: 9 hrs and 11 mins

Language: English

Release date: 04-29-13

Publisher: Tantor Audio

Ratings: 3.5 of 5 out of 32 votes

Genres: Fiction, Contemporary

Publisher's Summary:

Albert Honig's most constant companions have always been his bees. A never-married octogenarian, he makes a modest living as a beekeeper, as his father and his father's father did before him. Deeply acquainted with the workings of the hives, Albert is less versed in the ways of people, especially his friend Claire, whose presence and absence in his life have never been reconciled. When Claire is killed in a seemingly senseless accident during a burglary gone wrong, Albert is haunted by the loss and by the secrets and silence that hovered between them for so long. As he pieces together the memories of their shared history, he will come to learn the painful truths about Claire's life and the redemptive power of laying the past to rest.

Critic Reviews:

"Reminiscent of Marilynne Robinson's Gilead, Hesketh's debut explores family secrets and end-of-life reflections.... [Listeners] in search of a heartfelt, thought-provoking novel will find what they are looking for in this journey through the life of an unassuming apiarist who knows more about his reclusive neighbors than anyone could guess." (Library Journal)

Members Reviews:

Wonderful Story

This story was like riding down a gently flowing river on a raft. The writing and descriptions were beautiful. The character development was very thorough. I felt like I knew all of the characters, even the ones shrouded in a quiet mystery. I enjoyed the way the author told the story of the bees along with the story of the Bee Ladies. I have already begun recommending this book to others.

Great non-fiction and fiction reading wrapped up in one book!

Sometimes when I buy a fiction book I feel guilty...like I'm wasting my time when I could be reading book of non-fiction and learning from the reading. Well this book merges both fiction (the plot) and non-fiction (bee-keeping). Now when I see bees in my backyard, I show them some respect! An awesome book!

A mystery about bees which demystifies beekeeping

You will not want to put this book down until you have read it, and then you will keep it to go back and to learn more about bees and put that information into long-term memory. The author wrote the book in such a way that one gets a great admiration for beekeeping and understands the passion that some people have for keeping bees. While we are learning this, we have a mystery to solve about murders of the elderly.

We then that is a story about American society and a way of wife which is almost gone.

Beekeeping and Relationships

I loved the details on raising bees. I want to learn more. A great deal of research went into this book. A wonderful read.

Buzzing with excitement and information

I loved this book. Not only is it a wonderful story but there is a glorious amount of information about bees and beekeeping. It is most intriguing and keep me entertained. This is one book that went too fast - I wanted it to last longer. I grew very fond of the main character and got just picture him as he tenderly cared for his bees.

Please write us another book, Peggy Kesketh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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Titel: Zum Teufel mit den Millionen

Autor:: Kim Schneyder

Erzähler: Irina von Bentheim

Format: Unabridged

Spieldauer: 9 hrs and 34 mins

Sprache: Deutsch

Veröffentlichungsdatum: 04-16-13

Herausgeber: Audible Studios

Kategorien: Fiction, Contemporary

Zusammenfassung des Herausgebers:

>> Diese ungekürzte Hörbuch-Fassung wird Ihnen exklusiv von Audible präsentiert und ist ausschließlich im Download erhältlich.

Kritik Bewertungen:

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