Every month, AudioFile Magazine reviewers and editors select the best new audiobooks just for BookTrib’s readers. These award-winning May audiobooks are sure to keep you captivated!
Just for the Summer by Abby Jimenez
Fans of the author will welcome back familiar narrators in this stand-alone rom-com. Every woman Justin dates finds her soulmate immediately after they break up. Emma, who is similarly cursed, messages Justin after reading a Reddit thread about his love troubles. The two decide to “fake date” in the hope that their curses will cancel each other out. Zachary Webber uses a tender questioning tone; Christine Lakin’s nuanced performance is perfect.
The Stars Turned Inside Out by Nova Jacobs
Lisa Flanagan’s pleasant voice and skill with characterizations are on fine display in this intriguing new novel by Edgar Award-nominated author Nova Jacobs. Set at the Swiss physics lab CERN, the story—a mix of mystery, science fiction, and romance—starts with the suspicious death of Howard, a brilliant young physicist, in the facility’s giant underground particle collider. Flanagan’s clear performance keeps the parallel “before” and “after” plots separate, while her easy pacing makes the science and the speculative science accessible for listeners.
Within Arm's Reach by Ann Napolitano
A star-studded cast masterfully performs Napolitano’s debut novel about an Irish American family and their discontents. It’s hard to limit praise to just a few of the half-dozen sparkling narrations. But Brittany Pressley as Gracie, the lost-soul writer who works as a kind of “Dear Abby,” gives an empathetic and knowing reading; Marin Ireland captures the laconic tone of Gracie’s brilliant sister, Lila; and Cassandra Campbell admirably delivers the tightly wound personality and conflicted soul of their mother.
Canto Contigo by Jonny Garza Villa
Alejandro Antonio Ruiz embodies all of the roiling emotions in this compelling queer teen love story. Rafie learned his love of mariachi from his abuelo and is determined to bring home another first-place trophy from the Mariachi Extravaganza after his abuelo dies. But his new school already has a lead singer—Rey, the cute boy he met last year. Ruiz yells, cries, whispers, laughs, and sings. His masterful narration captures all the anger, tension, and banter as Rafie and Rey learn to perform together.
My Black Country: A Journey Through Country Music's Black Past, Present, and Future by Alice Randall
A Black songwriting pioneer and Nashville insider, Alice Randall is also a tireless researcher into how Black musicians in the 1920s and ‘30s shaped the beginnings of what we now call country music. Her engaging performance has vocal gravitas, a deep security about herself, and a potent message: Early country music and much of all popular music today is richer because of the traditions, ethos, and skills brought to this continent by African Americans.
Long Island: Eilis Lacey, Book 2 by Colm Tóibín
Jessie Buckley’s performance of these characters is so rich that listeners need not worry if they’re unfamiliar with BROOKLYN, the first novel in which they appear. Eilis Lacey, an Irish woman living on Long Island, learns her husband may have fathered a child with another woman back home and returns to Ireland and a different world. One of Buckley’s narrating gifts is her ability to project Lacey’s silences. She allows intimate conversations to unfold with quiet immediacy. The result is a performance that fits perfectly the humanity of Tóibín’s cast.
A Calamity of Souls by David Baldacci
A uniformly outstanding cast transports listeners to the world of trial attorney Jack Lee in Virginia, 1968. Narrator MacLeod Andrews uses accent, tone, and pace to masterfully portray Lee. Lee partners with attorney Desiree DuBose, skillfully voiced by Sisi Aisha Johnson. Cary Hite and Kiiri Sandy also give expert performances. In his author’s note, Baldacci shares the autobiographical elements of this story and its current relevance.
All Our Yesterdays: A Novel of Lady Macbeth by Joel H. Morris
Narrators Angus King and Ell Potter are extraordinary in this moving audiobook imagining Lady Macbeth’s early life. Ten years before the events of Shakespeare’s play, “The Lady,” at 15, is forced to marry the brutish Mormaer of Moray. They have a son, “The Boy,” who displeases his sadistic father. Macbeth kills Moray in battle, occupies his castle, then falls in love with and marries “The Lady.” King portrays “The Boy” with clarity and childlike urgency. Potter, as “The Lady,” is soft-spoken, fiercely protective of her son, and passionate about her new husband.
Fi by Alexandra Fuller
In this memoir of the unexpected death of her son, Fi, Alexandra Fuller pulls off quite a feat by simultaneously filling her voice with both life and loss. Fi died at age 21 despite having no real health problems, and grief and incomprehension are clear in every word Fuller utters. But she is acerbically funny, too. Fuller is often bursting with rage and physical pain, and her voice quickening into a near-rant with a raw edge translates both word and feeling perfectly.
Close to Death: Hawthorne and Horowitz, Book 5 by Anthony Horowitz
Rory Kinnear’s performance of the fifth Hawthorne and Horowitz mystery is “something of a masterclass,” says author Anthony Horowitz in a recorded postscript that praises Kinnear’s flair and fluency. Indeed, Kinnear’s voice—rich and resonant, with precise articulation—is one of the many pleasures in this outing of the comical, ill-matched pair as they investigate which neighbor hated Giles Kentworthy enough to kill him. Kinnear delights in vocal characterizations and British class distinctions that enliven the audio experience. Hawthorne remains mysteriously deadpan; Horowitz sometimes whines. It’s all grand.
This story appears through BookTrib’s partnership with AudioFile. Check out the AudioFile website and sign up for their newsletter.
