Category Archives: Audio

February 18, 2025 · 3:29 pm

My favourite Mistake – Marian Keyes

My Favourite Mistake – Marian Keyes

According to Amazon, I bought this novel in April 2024. It then languished in my TBR and finally I decided to listen to it (Marian Keyes is the narrator!).

Here’s the blurb …

Anna has just lost her taste for the big apple . . .

Anna has a life to envy. An apartment in New York. A well-meaning (too well-meaning?) partner. And a high-flying job in beauty PR. Who wouldn’t want all that? Anna—it turns out.

Turning a minor mid-life crisis into a major life event she packs it in, heads back to Ireland, and gets a PR job for a super-high-end coastal retreat.

Tougher than it sounds. Newsflash: the locals hate it. So much so, there have been threats—and violence.

Anna, however, worked in the beauty industry. There’s no ugliness she hasn’t seen. No wrinkle she can’t smooth over. Anna’s got this.

Until she discovers that leaving New York doesn’t mean escaping her mistakes.

Once upon a time she’d had a best friend. Once upon a time she’d loved a man. Now she has neither. And now she has to face them.

We all make mistakes.
But when do we stop making the same one over and over again?

This was great! It was witty, kind and well-written. In particular, I liked all of the references to menopause and peri-menopause, not enough is said about them as if it is some how shameful to be aging. Maumtully was delightful with a cast of quirky secondary characters. It is about being alive and fallible, but trying to do better next time. It is also about knowing things will get better.

I am going to have to add ‘feathery stroker’ to my vocabulary.

A review

Leave a Comment

Filed under 5, Audio, Digital, Fiction, Romance

Tagged as , ,

February 13, 2025 · 8:01 pm

A Fatal Grace – Louise Penny

A Fatal Grace – Louise Penny

I read the twelfth novel in this series (A Great Reckoning) and was enthralled, so I have started reading the series. I listened to Still Life on holiday (so no blog), but I have just finished listening to A Fatal Grace.

Here’s the blurb …

Welcome to winter in Three Pines, a picturesque village in Quebec, where the villagers are preparing for a traditional country Christmas, and someone is preparing for murder.

No one liked CC de Poitiers. Not her quiet husband, not her spineless lover, not her pathetic daughter—and certainly none of the residents of Three Pines. CC de Poitiers managed to alienate everyone, right up until the moment of her death.

When Chief Inspector Armand Gamache, of the Sûreté du Québec, is called to investigate, he quickly realizes he’s dealing with someone quite extraordinary. CC de Poitiers was electrocuted in the middle of a frozen lake, in front of the entire village, as she watched the annual curling tournament. And yet no one saw anything. Who could have been insane enough to try such a macabre method of murder—or brilliant enough to succeed?

With his trademark compassion and courage, Gamache digs beneath the idyllic surface of village life to find the dangerous secrets long buried there. For a Quebec winter is not only staggeringly beautiful but deadly, and the people of Three Pines know better than to reveal too much of themselves. But other dangers are becoming clear to Gamache. As a bitter wind blows into the village, something even more chilling is coming for Gamache himself.

We’re back in Three Pines with the usual locals, and a new and very complicated murder. It’s winter and I love all of the wintery references (it’s Summer and hot here). Gamache and his wife are delightful as are the residents of Three Pines (apart from Ruth). Reading these novels (despite the murders) is like having a cosy holiday.

The novel is beautifully written, and the sense of place is extraordinary. I also like being in different characters heads – Yvette Nicole is quite something.

Leave a Comment

Filed under 5, Audio, Crime, Fiction

Tagged as , ,

February 4, 2025 · 5:29 pm

A Short History of Nearly Everything – Bill Bryson

A Short History of Nearly Everything – Bill Bryson

I was looking for something to listen to in my husband’s audible library and came across this. I missed the bit about it being a rough guide to science. Which is not a problem – I have a science degree, so I still found it fascinating.

Here’s the blurb …

Bill Bryson describes himself as a reluctant traveller, but even when he stays safely at home he can’t contain his curiosity about the world around him. “A Short History of Nearly Everything” is his quest to understand everything that has happened from the Big Bang to the rise of civilisation – how we got from there, being nothing at all, to here, being us. The ultimate eye-opening journey through time and space, revealing the world in a way most of us have never seen it before.

This is very entertaining and informative – I enjoyed Bryson’s writing style. And I feel more informed on geology, chemistry, biology, anthropology, etc. Although, it seems the more we know the less we understand. I found the narrator to be annoying (and his Australian accent was terrible) not to mention the way her pronounces Himalayas.

It is probably a little bit dated after Covid and the current state of climate change.

A review.

Leave a Comment

Filed under 3, Audio, Non-Fiction, Serious

Tagged as , ,

January 15, 2025 · 2:55 pm

A Great Reckoning – Louise Penny

A Great Reckoning – Louise Penny

I came across this while searching my husband’s audible library – I haven’t read any of the previous novels (this is novel 12), so I have probably spoiled the earlier ones for myself. I liked it, I am planning on reading the first one while on a road trip.

Here’s the blurb …

When an intricate old map is found stuffed into the walls of the bistro in Three Pines, it at first seems no more than a curiosity. But the closer the villagers look, the stranger it becomes.

Given to Armand Gamache as a gift the first day of his new job, the map eventually leads him to shattering secrets. To an old friend and older adversary. It leads the former Chief of Homicide for the Sûreté du Québec to places even he is afraid to go. But must.

And there he finds four young cadets in the Sûreté academy, and a dead professor. And, with the body, a copy of the old, odd map.

Everywhere Gamache turns, he sees Amelia Choquet, one of the cadets. Tattooed and pierced. Guarded and angry. Amelia is more likely to be found on the other side of a police line-up. And yet she is in the academy. A protégée of the murdered professor.

The focus of the investigation soon turns to Gamache himself and his mysterious relationship with Amelia, and his possible involvement in the crime. The frantic search for answers takes the investigators back to Three Pines and a stained glass window with its own horrific secrets.

For both Amelia Choquet and Armand Gamache, the time has come for a great reckoning.

Number-one New York Times bestselling author Louise Penny pulls back the layers to reveal a brilliant and emotionally powerful truth in her latest spellbinding novel.

I loved the setting, the characters and the plot. I loved the map and the Three Pines community. The emphasis on kindness and empathy, and not believing everything you think. It’s about second chances and that there is always a road back.

1 Comment

Filed under 5, Audio, Crime, Fiction, Mystery, Recommended

Tagged as , ,

January 4, 2025 · 5:38 pm

Gallant V E Schwab

Gallant – V.E Schwab

I enjoyed The Invisible Life of Addie Larue, so when I saw this in our Audible library I decided to listen to it. It’s quite short – under ten hours.

Here’s the blurb …

Sixteen-year-old Olivia Prior is missing three things: a mother, a father, and a voice. Her mother vanished all at once, and her father by degrees, and her voice was a thing she never had to start with.

She grew up at Merilance School for Girls. Now, nearing the end of her time there, Olivia receives a letter from an uncle she’s never met, her father’s older brother, summoning her to his estate, a place called Gallant. But when she arrives, she discovers that the letter she received was several years old. Her uncle is dead. The estate is empty, save for the servants. Olivia is permitted to remain, but must follow two rules: don’t go out after dusk, and always stay on the right side of a wall that runs along the estate’s western edge.

Beyond it is another realm, ancient and magical, which calls to Olivia through her blood…

I enjoyed this – the author clearly has a fascination with death. One thing that bothered me about the plot, was that no one told Olivia why she shouldn’t go beyond the wall. I know it is to the keep the plot moving forward, but I dislike it as a plot device.

The writing is very good, and the premise is creative and interesting. The characters are fabulous – I particularly like Edgar.

A review.

Leave a Comment

Filed under 4, Audio, Fantasy

Tagged as , ,

January 2, 2025 · 3:00 pm

Just for the Summer – Abby Jiminez

Just for the Summer – Abby Jimenez

I have a paper copy and an audible version of this novel – in the end I listened to it.

I have to say I think the cover is misleading – there wasn’t frolicking in the water.

Here’s the blurb …

Justin has a curse, and thanks to a Reddit thread, it’s now all over the internet. Every woman he dates goes on to find their soul mate the second they break up. When a woman slides into his DMs with the same problem, they come up with a plan: They’ll date each other and break up. Their curses will cancel each other’s out, and they’ll both go on to find the love of their lives. It’s a bonkers idea… and it just might work.

Emma hadn’t planned that her next assignment as a traveling nurse would be in Minnesota, but she and her best friend agree that dating Justin is too good of an opportunity to pass up, especially when they get to rent an adorable cottage on a private island on Lake Minnetonka.

It’s supposed to be a quick fling, just for the summer. But when Emma’s toxic mother shows up and Justin has to assume guardianship of his three siblings, they’re suddenly navigating a lot more than they expected–including catching real feelings for each other. What if this time Fate has actually brought the perfect pair together?

I enjoyed this novel, it has more heft than you would expect from the cover. It’s witty, well-written, and moving. It touches on some serious issues – abandonment and mental illness, but does so in a respectful thoughtful manner. And Justin is a fabulous hero.

A review.

Leave a Comment

Filed under 5, Audio, Fiction, Paper, Recommended, Romance

Tagged as , ,

December 27, 2024 · 4:38 pm

The Secret Hours – Mick Herron

The Secret Hours – Mick Herron

I needed something else to listen to and I have read the Slow Horses novels, so I thought I would give this one a go.

Here’s the blurb …

Two years ago, a hostile Prime Minister launched the Monochrome inquiry, investigating “historical over-reaching” by the British Secret Service. Monochrome’s mission was to ferret out any hint of misconduct by any MI5 officer—and allowed Griselda Fleet and Malcolm Kyle, the two civil servants seconded to the project, unfettered access to any and all confidential information in the Service archives in order to do so.  

But MI5’s formidable First Desk did not become Britain’s top spy by accident, and she has successfully thwarted the inquiry at every turn. Now the administration that created Monochrome has been ousted, the investigation is a total bust—and Griselda and Malcolm are stuck watching as their career prospects are washed away by the pounding London rain.

Until the eve of Monochrome’s shuttering, when an MI5 case file appears without explanation. It is the buried history of a classified operation in 1994 Berlin—an operation that ended in tragedy and scandal, whose cover-up has rewritten thirty years of Service history.

The Secret Hours is a dazzling entry point into Mick Herron’s body of work, a standalone spy thriller that is at once unnerving, poignant, and laugh-out-loud funny. It is also the breathtaking secret history that Slough House fans have been waiting for.

This is very much part of the Slow Horses world. Brinsley Miles and Alison North are characters (with different names) that we see in the Slow Horses novels. This is proper spy stuff, with fake identities, traps within traps, traitors, murders, and explosions. But what I like most is the wit – the dialogue and the descriptions are fabulously witty. Almost everyone has their own agenda and most of them are ruthless.

A review

Leave a Comment

Filed under 4, Audio, Fiction, Spy

Tagged as , ,

December 22, 2024 · 5:46 pm

Treasure and Dirt – Chris Hammer

Treasure and Dirt – Chris Hammer

I came across this on the Audible account and decided to give it a go. I have already read Scrublands, which I enjoyed (and I liked the adaptation), and I am a bit of a fan of Australian noir.

Here’s the blurb …

In the desolate outback town of Finnigans Gap, police struggle to maintain law and order. Thieves pillage opal mines, religious fanatics recruit vulnerable young people and billionaires do as they please.

Then an opal miner is found crucified and left to rot down his mine. Nothing about the miner’s death is straightforward, not even who found the body. Sydney homicide detective Ivan Lucic is sent to investigate, assisted by inexperienced young investigator Nell Buchanan.

But Finnigans Gap has already ended one police career and damaged others, and soon both officers face damning allegations and internal investigations. Have Ivan and Nell been set up and, if so, by whom?

As time runs out, their only chance at redemption is to find the killer. But the more secrets they uncover, the more harrowing the mystery becomes, as events from years ago take on a startling new significance.

For in Finnigans Gap, opals, bodies and secrets don’t stay buried for ever.

The descriptions of the heat, dust and flies were visceral. The two main characters (Ivan and Nell) are flawed, but good people, and we meet a cast of quirky out-back characters. For example, ‘the mayor’ with his tutu and armoured people carrier, ‘bullshit’ Bob, the Seer, and Trevor Topsoil (the names are very Dickensian). There’s twists and turns, conspiracies, and murder. A very satisfying read.

Leave a Comment

Filed under 4, Audio, Crime, Fiction

Tagged as , ,

December 17, 2024 · 3:58 pm

Newt’s Emerald – Garth Nix

Newt’s Emerald – Garth Nix

I was browsing Borrowbox looking for a new audio book and this popped up. It was described as a fantasy version of Jane Austen and Georgette Heyer – how could I resist?

Here’s the blurb …

On her eighteenth birthday, Lady Truthful, nicknamed “Newt,” will inherit her family’s treasure: the Newington Emerald. A dazzling heart-shaped gem, the Emerald also bestows its wearer with magical powers.

When the Emerald disappears one stormy night, Newt sets off to recover it. Her plan entails dressing up as a man, mustache included, as no well-bred young lady should be seen out and about on her own. While in disguise, Newt encounters the handsome but shrewd Major Harnett, who volunteers to help find the missing Emerald under the assumption that she is a man. Once she and her unsuspecting ally are caught up in a dangerous adventure that includes an evil sorceress, Newt realizes that something else is afoot: the beating of her heart.

In Newt’s Emerald, the bestselling author of Sabriel, Garth Nix, takes a waggish approach to the forever popular Regency romance and presents a charmed world where everyone has something to hide.

The description was true! Probably more Georgette Heyer than Jane Austen with all the cant terms (tiger, foxed, slowtop, etc.). I really enjoy it – so much fun. The description of the clothes was fabulous, and the balls, and the behaviour of the ton were exactly what you hope for in a regency romance. The magic added a bit of extra spice to the story.

It’s quite short – more of a novella – and easy to read. There is adventure, magic, a beautiful heroine, and a handsome (titled and wealthy) hero, why wouldn’t anyone want to read it?

Leave a Comment

Filed under 5, Audio, Fantasy, Fiction, Historical Fiction, Mystery, Romance

Tagged as , ,

December 14, 2024 · 5:06 pm

The Wisdom of Crowds – Joe Abercrombie

The Wisdom of Crowds – Joe Abercrombie

I finished the trilogy – although I think there might be plans for it to continue.

Here’s the blurb …

Chaos. Fury. Destruction.

The Great Change is upon us…

Some say that to change the world you must first burn it down. Now that belief will be tested in the crucible of revolution: the Breakers and Burners have seized the levers of power, the smoke of riots has replaced the smog of industry, and all must submit to the wisdom of crowds.

With nothing left to lose, Citizen Brock is determined to become a new hero for the new age, while Citizeness Savine must turn her talents from profit to survival before she can claw her way to redemption. Orso will find that when the world is turned upside down, no one is lower than a monarch. And in the bloody North, Rikke and her fragile Protectorate are running out of allies… while Black Calder gathers his forces and plots his vengeance.

The banks have fallen, the sun of the Union has been torn down, and in the darkness behind the scenes, the threads of the Weaver’s ruthless plan are slowly being drawn together…

I listened to this and I must say again how great the narrator is (Steven Pacey). Each novel was longer than the last, and, for me, this one dragged a bit. Possibly because I binged all three.

What I like about these novels is the complexity of the characters. The narrative point of view changes from character to character and you can understand and sympathise with their motivations and consequent behaviour. You can also understand how experiences and circumstances affect someone’s choices. There were some surprises in this one – one being the identity of the Weaver. Also, crowds aren’t that wise.

I am pretty sure we haven’t seen the last of these characters.

Leave a Comment

Filed under 4, Audio, Fantasy, Format, Historical Fiction

Tagged as , , ,