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Title: Greenwichtown

Author: Joyce Palmer

Narrator: Robin Miles

Format: Unabridged

Length: 9 hrs and 35 mins

Language: English

Release date: 09-09-11

Publisher: Recorded Books

Ratings: 4.5 of 5 out of 3 votes

Genres: Fiction, Contemporary

Publisher's Summary:

Young Fay Myrtle lives in a shack outside a Jamaican plantation until her sister moves her to the Greenwichtown ghettos. Lonely and confused, Fay struggles every day to survive in the face of desperate poverty. Despite her squalid surroundings, she receives an education and grows into a strong woman. But when she loses the man she loves, she has no other choice than to find work off the island to support the twins she leaves behind. Greenwichtown is an emotionally stirring novel from a powerful voice in Caribbean-American fiction. Fays fate closely mirrors that of so many islanders, who must "go foreign" simply to provide for their families. Author Joyce Palmer enriches her book with vibrant descriptions and narrator Robin Miles perfectly voices the colorful dialog.

Members Reviews:

Superb narrator and gripping story

I absolutely loved this story! I was immediately pulled in by the author's authentic, child-like prose of Fay, the main character, and by the superb narration of Robin Miles. Her performance was fantastic. She brings this book to life with a convincing Jamaican dialect that I would not have been able to imitate in my own mind. For this reason, I highly recommend enjoying the audio version of this book. The story touched me so deeply, however, that I plan to purchase a hard copy as well, and re-read/re-listen to this book for years to come.

This story is full of heartache and hope, injustice and resilience. Fay escapes a life of poverty in the country as a small child, only to endure poverty and abuse in the city slums. Her perpetual state of hunger is heartbreaking enough, but after moving to the ghetto with her older sister, she must now face the underbelly of society: desperation, corruption, danger, and death. Her only solace is attending school, where she thrives in hopes of achieving the grades she needs to obtain a decent paying job and break the cycle of poverty in her family. She encounters many obstacles along the way, and some are quite hard to digest. The choices her sister makes are infuriating at times, and for most of the book I sort of despised her. They have a complicated relationship, but in the end it appears that she does love Fay and wants the best for her.

This is an eye-opening glimpse into the part of Jamaica not glamorized on tv. I loved how the author includes tough issues like women using their bodies to survive, religion mixing with mysticism, police brutality, various types of abuse, etc.

The author and narrator take us on a journey as Fay comes of age and must make some difficult life decisions for herself. These decisions set the course for her future, which is not without sorrow and loss. Towards the end of the book I felt like there were some loose ends that could have been tied together more. It felt a bit rushed, but this is a minor flaw, or perhaps it simply went against my personal preference. Regardless, this book stole my heart.

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Title: Arcadia Falls

Author: Carol Goodman

Narrator: Laurel Lefkow

Format: Unabridged

Length: 12 hrs and 24 mins

Language: English

Release date: 09-08-11

Publisher: Hachette Audio UK

Ratings: 3.5 of 5 out of 2 votes

Genres: Fiction, Contemporary

Publisher's Summary:

For 200 years, painters, poets and musicians have come to the Catskill Mountain village of Arcadia Falls to escape the pressures of modern life and pursue their artistic visions, and Arcadia College was founded with a mission to nurture young artists and writers. When Meg Rosenthal gets an offer to teach at Arcadia College, it seems a godsend - an escape from a life that's fallen apart. She hopes, too, that Arcadia Falls will be a place where she and her daughter Sally can find some peace and reconciliation. But even though Arcadia Falls proves to be even more beautiful then Meg imagined, it is hardly peaceful. Soon she begins to realize that the public story behind the school conceals deceit, betrayal, and perhaps even murder. As Meg struggles to reconcile the choices she's made in her own life, she begins to fear that by coming to Arcadia Falls she's put herself and her daughter in danger.

Members Reviews:

If this is your first Goodman novel, you will enjoy it. But very similar to others.

Goodman writes in metaphors. I love the way she puts words together. I love her way of tying a mythical story with the main c characters. Her writing style is very similar to the way to the way my mother talked (she is no longer living). So, generally, I will seek out and read a Goodman novel, because on some level it feels like being able to go back and have a conversation with my mother. That said, this is not one of Goodman's best efforts. It feels like recycled bits cobbled from other books. I would highly recommend reading "The Seduction of Water" and skipping this one. But if this is your first Goodman novel, you will enjoy it.

gothic upstate NY is still scary!

Even though Carol Goodman has been over this ground before in previous books, this is worth the read. Visiting a small private school in upstate NY, near a rushing river (here, not the Hudson, but it might as well be), in Goodman's company is like having a sleep over with your best friend, telling ghost stories. You know it will work out OK for the lead characters, but there will be some scary stuff on the way. Goodman's leads often have a lost love (widowed, as here, or divorced or split from long-time loves.) They are also always placed in a new setting, strangers in very strange lands. They are well-read, being academics, and they have a cast of young student characters around them, along with mysterious adult colleagues and various hangers-on.

In some ways I wonder if Goodman wouldn't have been even more successful if she had created a series character who could have experienced all of her books: her main characters are all quite similar. I don't mean that as a criticism. Her books' common themes and characters make them feel like a series, and that can be very comforting -- after all we all like Poirot, Holmes, Miss Marple, etc. I gave this one a 4 rather than a 5 only because the tumultuous finale is a bit over-the-top with its mixed up birth records and coincidences.

Big, Big Disappointment

I am a fan Of Ms. Goodman's but I have to say this latest book falls very short of her previous works. I am a huge gothic, romance, mystery reader from way back, starting with the great writers Victoria Holt, Phyllis Whitney, Barbara Michaels. So I have been reading gothic for years, and I have to admit, there are not too many authors in this genre who live up to my expectations. I thought Ms. Goodman would.

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Title: Destiny Kills

Author: Keri Arthur

Narrator: Cassandra Campbell

Format: Unabridged

Length: 9 hrs and 17 mins

Language: English

Release date: 09-08-11

Publisher: Hachette Audio UK

Ratings: 4 of 5 out of 2 votes

Genres: Fiction, Contemporary

Publisher's Summary:

When Destiny McCree wakes up beside a dead man on an Oregon beach, she knows only this: she has to keep moving, keep searching and keep one step ahead of the forces that have been pursuing her from the heart of Scotland to this isolated spot. Why? The death of her lover has left her alone, with little memory of her past. A glimmering serpent-shaped ring is the one clue she has - and a bargaining chip in a most dangerous game.

Enter Trae Wilson, a master thief with a sexy, knowing grin and a secret agenda of his own. Destiny and Trae both have powers far beyond human - and both are running for their lives. Together they're riding a tide of danger, magic and lust... but with killers stalking their every move, they must use any means necessary, even each other, to survive - until the shocking secret of one woman's destiny finally unravels.

Members Reviews:

Dragons.

Destiny needs help getting to her father before he dies, do a little house braking rescue her mother and a group of dragon shifters. Oh and fall in love with an air dragon.

another good book about mythical creature

what a great story. not sure where she gets all these amazing ideas from. wow

Readable but Author has done much better

Any additional comments?

This is a book I would not have bothered with if I had realised that it was about Dragons - passed the time while I was on holiday but would not have listened to it all if I had been at home. Soft warm and friendly story with very little emotional range. That said I have read a lot worse but it did help me look at this authors other books - her Riley Jenson series I can completely recommend.

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Title: The Last Gift

Author: Abdulrazak Gurnah

Narrator: Lyndam Gregory

Format: Unabridged

Length: 9 hrs and 22 mins

Language: English

Release date: 09-07-11

Publisher: Whole Story Audiobooks

Ratings: 3 of 5 out of 1 votes

Genres: Fiction, Contemporary

Publisher's Summary:

One day long ago, Abbas slipped away without saying a word and never went back. And then another day, 43 years later, he collapsed by the front door of his house in a small English town. He has never told anyone about his past, and now Abbas is incapable of speech. His illness brings home his children Jamal and Hanna; and amidst the dark silence, the truth seeps out. Moving from Africa to Britain and across the seas between, Gurnah explores how our lives are shaped by the places and secrets of our past.

Members Reviews:

In the glass come see your face

This is a novel of discovery, revelation, and guilt. I recommend it in the way that I recommend Season of Migration to the North by Tayeb Salih: the novels are profound but elusive. They reveal the pain of dislocation; in the guise of immigrant stories they demonstrate how difficult it is to explain self, to be loyal to memory, and to discern what elements of shared existence really matter. Abbas is from a small village on Zanzibar who flees an awkward situation, but we do not know that until half way into the novel. Maryam is a foundling, fostered by an Indian couple who start to treat her as a servant. They meet and start a life with daughter Hannah and son Jamal. But who are these people, and does the past really define them?

You can search previous pages to find my comments on other of Gurnahâs novels, and I am now starting to think that he writes them to explain himself, to his readers and to himself. Many TEAArs taught on the coast,. and I think that you especially will enjoy Gurnahâs novels and perhaps deliberate on some level what will be your last gift (cf, the ending to Ellisonâs Invisible Man).

"There was so much he should have said, but he had allowed the silence to set until it became immovable."

Abdulrazak Gurnah, a writer born in Zanzibar and now teaching writing in England, has often focused on the many issues of immigration - the difficulties of immigrants in adjusting to a new culture, the guilt sometimes felt about the family and culture left behind, and, ultimately, the confusion about what "home" means and the sometimes painful, almost physical, yearning for it. This novel, his most detailed and complex analysis of immigration and its personal effects yet, is a multigenerational novel which opens with Abbas, a sixty-three-year-old man whose origins are, at first, unknown. On his way home from work, one extremely cold day, he becomes so ill that this proud man "wishes for someone to pick him up and carry him home," and when he finally arrives at home, he collapses. When he is taken to the hospital, unable to speak, he is full of regrets for all that he has never told his family.

Hanna, the daughter of Abbas and his wife Maryam, works as a teacher, while their son Jamal is working on a doctorate tracing migration patterns from Africa and Asia into England. Both children have failed to put down roots, though they are British citizens.

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Title: The Tiny Wife

Author: Andrew Kaufman

Narrator: Jot Davies

Format: Unabridged

Length: 1 hr and 41 mins

Language: English

Release date: 09-01-11

Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers Limited

Genres: Fiction, Contemporary

Publisher's Summary:

A magical short novel from the author of All My Friends are Superheroes.

A robber holds up a Canadian bank but instead of stealing money he takes from each person the item of most sentimental value.

As time passes the loss of these items have a dramatic effect on the victims: one discovers God under her sofa, another is attacked by her lion tattoo when it comes to life, and the wife of our narrator starts to shrink.

It is a remarkable short novella, a modern fable that is weird, uplifting and romantic all at the same time.

Kaufmans debut novel, All My Friends are Superheroes, has become a significant word-of-mouth hit and garnered rave reviews from Marie Phillips, Toby Litt and others. It is soon to be made into a feature film.

This hardback of The Tiny Wife will be a gorgeous gift edition with illustrations.

Members Reviews:

A whimsical delight

Subtle and imaginative, this short book is a magical tale of how we are each responsible for our own pain and suffering. Thirteen bank customers get an item of sentimental value stolen by a bizarre and rather likeable thief. He sets them a deadline to recover that stolen piece of their souls ... or else they'll die.

The main character is the narrator's wife, who starts to shrink and shrink. We also find out what happens to the other 12 in the bank and, in doing so, we're gently taught that it's only when we find the courage to face our deepest fears behind the illusions of our lives that we can find happiness.

Approachable, entertaining and very funny, this is a terrific book to read.

short, touching and thought provoking

I can't recall which blogger mentioned how much they loved this book, but I did purchase it (and it wasn't easy to find) when they mentioned it. Of course this is one of those books that I bought and then it sat on my shelf a few years unread. Well all that changed on recent snow day, and I'm so happy I finally read it. It's a charming, imaginative fable-like novella, complete with illustrations.

One day a flamboyantly dressed bank robber walks into a Canadian bank. He's not looking to rob the bank or hurt the (13) victims, instead he asks each person to surrender the one item in their possession that has the greatest sentimental value for them. One person gives him a picture of their small children, another a cheap watch, one give a book, another a calculator and so on. The robber then says, "Listen, I'm in a bit of a rush, so let me conclude. When I leave here, I will be taking 51 percent of your souls with me. This will have strange and bizarre consequences in your lives. But more importantly, and I mean this quite literally, learn how to grow them back, or you will die."

Almost immediately the victims lives begin to fall apart. The woman who surrendered her calculator literally begins to shrink :the tiny wife". A man turns into a snowman, a baby begins to poop paper bills, and more.

The Tiny Wife is a short, touching and thought provoking tale that engages and entertains, and it's also a story that makes the reader think about what they consider most precious to them. Less than 100 page, it's one of those rare books that made me wish the story was longer when I turned the final page. Try this one -- I think you'll be glad you did.

4.5/5 stars

Wow.

I love this book.

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Title: Echoes of the Past

Author: Jessica Blair

Narrator: Trudy Harris

Format: Unabridged

Length: 15 hrs and 12 mins

Language: English

Release date: 08-25-11

Publisher: Hachette Audio UK

Ratings: 3 of 5 out of 3 votes

Genres: Fiction, Contemporary

Publisher's Summary:

Recently widowed, Katherine Chambers is taking her young son to visit her husband's family when disaster strikes. The ship they are sailing on runs into a severe storm off Robin Hood's Bay on the Yorkshire Coast. The Whitby lifeboat goes to their rescue but the freak weather conditions mean that not only is the ship lost but the lifeboat crew as well. However, among the bodies on the beach, a survivor is found. Identified as a Katherine from the engraving on the bracelet she wears on her wrist, she has no knowledge of who she is or where she is from. Dr Bennett, the local doctor in Robin Hood's Bay, is called in, but though he can treat Katherine's cuts and physical ailments, there is little he can do to heal the gaps in her memory.

Determined to save her from being placed in an institution, he asks his spinster sister to take care of her until her family can be traced. But jealous of her brother's interest in Katherine's care, Amelia Bennett is not always kind to her charge. She takes a cruel pleasure in Katherine's predicament, and especially her turbulent reaction whenever there is a storm. But until Katherine can remember her past, her future is far from certain.

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Title: A Kind Man

Author: Susan Hill

Narrator: Maggie Ollerenshaw

Format: Unabridged

Length: 4 hrs and 27 mins

Language: English

Release date: 08-19-11

Publisher: Audible Studios

Ratings: 3 of 5 out of 5 votes

Genres: Fiction, Contemporary

Publisher's Summary:

Tommy Carr was a kind man; Eve had been able to tell that after half an hour of knowing him. There had never been a day when he had not shown her some small kindness.

The birth of a daughter, Jeannie Eliza, crowns the young couples happiness - just as her shockingly early death casts them low. But they do not need to talk about Jeannie because she remains with them, and their love does not change.

In some ways it is no wonder that one of them falls ill, for grief takes its toll, and one Christmas even Eves sister Miriam is remarking that Tommy looks unwell. But what happens next is entirely unexpected, not least for the kind man.

Members Reviews:

a kindman

i found this book to be a gentle story that went straght heart you would have to go a long way to find a more lovly book.

Outstanding

This is a beautiful, sad and heartwarming story that the narrator tells movingly bringing out the character's calmness, emotion and motivation. I shall be going back to it again.

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Title: The Cinderella Search

Author: Judy G. Gill

Narrator: Megan Hayes

Format: Unabridged

Length: 5 hrs and 1 min

Language: English

Release date: 12-11-12

Publisher: Audible Studios

Ratings: 3.5 of 5 out of 4 votes

Genres: Fiction, Contemporary

Publisher's Summary:

In his search for the perfect woman, Steven Jackson had dated lots of candidates, but no one had quite fit the glass slipper. Then, while he was on vacation, his Cinderella came crashing through the ceiling of his hotel room, captured his heart, then disappeared, leaving behind one ugly sandal. Thus the search began. .

Members Reviews:

I bought this for my niece.

I think she liked it OK. She was doing a research paper and this book was recommended by her teacher for the research. I did not read it. But I think it is an OK book.

Charming

The Cinderella Search by Judy Griffith Gill

4 STARS

The Cinderella Search was first published as Harlequin Love and Laughter Series in 1998. It fit that. Lots of laughter and love. All type of love. Romantic,community,father,daughter.

Lissa Wilkins works at the Inn her family owned for generations and her father dreams of owning it again. The whole community has been raising money so they can offer it.

So when they find that Steven Jackson has made reservation for three weeks and his father owns a bunch of resorts, they decide to make him think the inn is haunted.

Lissa is talked into going up to the attic and placeing the tape recorder right above his bed. She hates spiders, but is talked into it. While she is hooking it up a spider gets on her and she reacts. Lissa legs crush through to the bedroom below.

Steven is surprised when part of the ceiling falls onto his bed and a women's legs dangle from above him. He tries to help her and gets kicked in the face causing him to get a bloody nose. He sees she has a tattoo on her but and very shapely legs.

Lissa is fiesty while Steven flirts with her. He ends up helping her back into the attic when she is stuck and he can't get her down. He calls the front desk to report that a girl and a trunk fell into his room.

Lissa hurries and changes back into her own clothes & shoes answers the phone. She goes up to his room and sees the mess she made. She offers him that they will move him to a different hotel. Steven just wants another room for the night.

Steven is determined to find the lady with the shapely legs and owner of the sandle he found she left behind. He is a deep sea diver and as been out to see for six months. Right now he does not have a job so he is taking 3 week vacation. He comes up with a idea to have a booth at the festival to find the women who fits the sandle right down to the wear on the soles.

Thier are some love scenes that I skipped over. I did laugh at times in the book. In fact the book was charming.

I was given this ebook to read in exchange for honest review from Netgalley.

12/18/2012 PUB Open Road 185 pages

Another Open Road Title Sure to become a Classic!

Hott Synopsis

MUST SAVE THE INN.

Yes, it really is beginning to become Lissa's mantra. The whole town may be in on the conspiracy to buy the inn but the implementation seems to keep falling on Lissa's shoulders. Currently, she's helping to convince the ferret that's come to town in hopes of purchasing the inn that it's not worth his time or money.

Goodness! Trying to convince him there isn't a ghost isn't working. Trying to run him out isn't working. Even trying to have one of the sexiest females in town seduce him isn't working. What will it take to get under his skin?

All he seems concerned with is finding the upper half to the delicious female whose bottom half fell through the ceiling over his bed.

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Title: Galloping Foxley: A Roald Dahl Short Story

Author: Roald Dahl

Narrator: Richard Griffiths

Format: Unabridged

Length: 37 mins

Language: English

Release date: 09-13-12

Publisher: Penguin Books Ltd

Genres: Fiction, Contemporary

Publisher's Summary:

The unabridged, downloadable audiobook edition of Galloping Foxley, a short, sharp story from Roald Dahl, the master of the shocking tale. Read by the actor Richard Griffiths. In Galloping Foxley, Roald Dahl, one of the worlds favourite authors, tells a sinister story about the darker side of human nature. Here, a commuter is disturbed by an encounter with a man he vividly remembers from school. . . Galloping Foxley is taken from the short story collection Someone Like You, which includes seventeen other devious and shocking stories, featuring the wife who serves a dish that baffles the police; a curious machine that reveals the horrifying truth about plants; the man waiting to be bitten by the venomous snake asleep on his stomach; and others. This story is also available as a Penguin ebook.

Roald Dahl, the brilliant and worldwide acclaimed author of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, James and the Giant Peach, Matilda, and many more classics for children, also wrote scores of short stories for adults. These delightfully disturbing tales have often been filmed and were most recently the inspiration for the West End play, Roald Dahls Twisted Tales by Jeremy Dyson. Roald Dahls stories continue to make readers shiver today. Richard Griffiths film work includes: Harry Potter, The History Boys, Hugo, Withnail and I. His television roles include Henry Crabbe in Pie in the Sky and Swelter in Gormenghast.

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Title: You

Author: Joanna Briscoe

Narrator: Joanna Mackie

Format: Unabridged

Length: 15 hrs and 47 mins

Language: English

Release date: 12-16-11

Publisher: Whole Story Audiobooks

Ratings: 4.5 of 5 out of 5 votes

Genres: Fiction, Contemporary

Publisher's Summary:

Cecilia is obsessively in love with her teacher, Mr. Dahl. Yet she never guesses that what she dreams of could actually happen. Cecilias mother Dora wants the good life. She and her husband moved to Dartmoor so their children could run wild; free to make their own mistakes. But Dora discovers that there is more to the countryside idyll, and indeed her own marriage, than she assumed.

Members Reviews:

Disappointing after excellent beginning

Beautiful prose and evocative descriptions of Dartmoor. The descriptions of family life and dark obsessive desire were very well observed initially as mother and daughter mirrored each other's adolescent infatuations with the unavailable objects of their fantasies, whilst ignoring the needs of their children and partners. The inter-generational tensions were very well portrayed. However their lifelong obsessions, lack of self awareness and endless self-centred rumination became so exasperating that I found it hard to care about any of them by the end except the poor, neglected children! Cecilia seemed as smugly spiteful and self deceiving as ever, having blamed everyone for her problem except herself. I think this writer has the ability to write much more interesting material about personal relations and growth as she matures.