Voices on the Road Blog Tour & Giveaway

November 30, 2017November 29, 2017 ~ Erika K ~ 1 Comment

Blog_LoveAudiobooks

I love audiobooks! I have an hour long commute to and from work, and they keep me sane during the long drive and the time stuck in traffic. I also love listening on long drives to visit my family out of state. Whether you are a long time audiobook fan, or just trying to decide if they might be for you, here are a few of my favorites for you to check out. Then be sure to enter for a chance to win some new audiobooks to add to (or start) your collection.

1. The Entire Harry Potter series by J.K.Rowling, read by Jim Dale

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Even if you have tried audiobooks and decided that they are not for you, please give this series a try. Jim Dale is my favorite audiobook narrator, and his work on the Harry Potter books is outstanding. How one person can do so many voices and keep them all straight is beyond me, but it is a pleasure to listen to. I may have said this in an earlier post at some point, but I would gladly listen to Jim reading the phone book. He’s just that good.

http://www.jim-dale.com/

Twitter : @JimnJules

2. Poirot’s Early Cases by Agatha Christie, read by Hugh Fraser and David Suchet

16330 If you happen to be a fan of the BBC Poirot series, then you are in for a treat. This book contains 18 stories, and they are alternately read by Hugh Fraser, who plays Captain Hastings, and David Suchet, who plays Poirot. Both do an excellent job, and the familiar voices make this a perfect listen for any Agatha Christie fan.

Twitter – Hugh Fraser: @realhughfraser

Twitter – David Suchet: @David_Suchet

3. Dark Matter by Blake Crouch, read by Jon Linstrom

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Dark Matter is a sci-fi thriller full of unexpected twists and turns, terribly believable science, and a surprising amount of real emotion thrown in to keep you off your guard. Jon Linstrom did a great job of keeping the story flowing, the suspense high, and letting you feel what the protagonist, Jason, was feeling. I expected to like this book, but I ended up loving it.

A selection of audiobooks narrated by Jon Linstrom on Audible.com

4. The Seventh Plague by James Rollins, read by Christian Baskous

The Seventh Plague cover art

Is action adventure your thing? Christian Baskous narrates several of James Rollins’ Sigma Force novels, and I really enjoy his style. His smooth voice always fits perfectly with the action-packed story-lines.

http://chrisbaskous.com/

Twitter: @BaskousChris

5. Storm Front by Jim Butcher, read by James Marsters

Storm Front cover art

A perfect start to a great urban fantasy series – Storm Front is still one of my favorite Harry Dresden novels. James Marsters is perfect as the voice of Harry, with just the right amount of sarcasm where appropriate. I thoroughly enjoy his narration of this series.

James Marsters Official Website

Want a chance to win a fantastic selection of 10 audiobooks? Enter here – US and Canada only.

Audiobooks for contest have been generously donated by various publishers, and will be a surprise!

Want to check out the other audiobook posts on the tour? Here’s the list of participants, and be sure to visit the Audio Publishers Association website.

The Geeky Blogger’s Book Blog – Wednesday, Nov 1

Beth Fish Reads – Thursday, Nov 2

Reading Books Like a Boss – Friday, Nov 3

Collector of Book Boyfriends – Monday, Nov 6

Caffeinated Book Reviewer – Tuesday, Nov 7

Audio Gals – Wednesday, Nov 8

Under My Apple Tree – Thursday, Nov 9

Shelf Addiction – Friday, Nov 10

To Read or Not To Read – Monday, Nov 13

Adolescent Audio Adventures – Tuesday, Nov 14

I Am, Indeed – Wednesday, Nov 15

Enchantress of Books – Thursday, Nov 16.

The Maiden’s Court – Friday, Nov 17

A Bookworm’s World – Monday, Nov 20

Books, Movies Reviews Oh My – Tuesday, Nov 21

Joyfully Jay – Wednesday, Nov 22

Carol Baldwin Blog – Monday, Nov 27

Backwards Compatible Podcast Tuesday, Nov 28

Audio Gals – Wednesday, Nov 29

The Book’s the Thing – Thursday, Nov 30

June is Audiobook Month – Listening Suggestions and a Giveaway (ENDED)!

June 18, 2017June 26, 2017 ~ Erika K ~ 10 Comments

You may have heard by now that June is Audiobook month. I personally love audiobooks – I have an hour commute to and from work each day, and that gives me lots of time to listen in the car. I also love bringing along a kids’ or YA audiobook on road trips with my two daughters to help pass the time. If you’ve been thinking about trying an audiobook but haven’t yet given them a chance, read on to see how you can enter to win 3 audiobook downloads. And in case you need some suggestions to get you started, here are a few of my favorites that I think almost anyone would enjoy.

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Audiobook Review – Julia Vanishes by Catherine Egan

July 5, 2016 ~ Erika K ~ 1 Comment

Julia Vanishes by Catherine Egan – Witch’s Child #1
Read by Erin Spencer and Will Damron

Julia Vanishes Julia has the unusual ability to be . . . unseen. Not invisible, exactly. Just beyond most people’s senses.

It’s a dangerous trait in a city that has banned all forms of magic and drowns witches in public Cleansings. But it’s a useful trait for a thief and a spy. And Julia has learned–crime pays.

She’s being paid very well indeed to infiltrate the grand house of Mrs. Och and report back on the odd characters who live there and the suspicous dealings that take place behind locked doors.

But what Julia discovers shakes her to the core. She certainly never imagined that the traitor in the house would turn out to be . . . her.

Genre: YA / Urban Fantasy / Steampunk-ish
Story Rating: **** (4 stars)
Narration Rating: *** (3 stars)

Continue reading →

Audiobook Review – Beyond the Ice Limit by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child

June 20, 2016June 16, 2016 ~ Erika K ~ 2 Comments

Beyond the Ice Limit by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child
Gideon Crew #4

That thing is growing again. We must destroy it. The time to act is now…
With these words begins Gideon Crew’s latest, most dangerous, most high-stakes assignment yet. Failure will mean nothing short of the end of humankind on earth.
Five years ago, the mysterious and inscrutable head of Effective Engineering Solutions, Eli Glinn, led a mission to recover a gigantic meteorite–the largest ever discovered–from a remote island off the coast of South America. The mission ended in disaster when their ship, the Rolvaag, foundered in a vicious storm in the Antarctic waters and broke apart, sinking-along with its unique cargo-to the ocean floor. One hundred and eight crew members perished, and Eli Glinn was left paralyzed.

But this was not all. The tragedy revealed something truly terrifying: the meteorite they tried to retrieve was not, in fact, simply a rock. Instead, it was a complex organism from the deep reaches of space.

Now, that organism has implanted itself in the sea bed two miles below the surface-and it is growing. If it is not destroyed, the planet will be doomed. There is only one hope: for Glinn and his team to annihilate it, a task which requires Gideon’s expertise with nuclear weapons. But as Gideon and his colleagues soon discover, the “meteorite” has a mind of its own-and it has no intention of going quietly…

Narration – *** (3 stars)
Story – **** (4 stars)

Continue reading →

Audiobook Review – Eligible by Curtis Sittenfeld

May 20, 2016 ~ Erika K ~ 1 Comment

Eligible by Curtis Sittenfeld, narrated by Cassandra Campbell
The Austen Project #4
A Modern Retelling of Pride and Prejudice

This version of the Bennet family—and Mr. Darcy—is one that you have and haven’t met before: Liz is a magazine writer in her late thirties who, like her yoga instructor older sister, Jane, lives in New York City. When their father has a health scare, they return to their childhood home in Cincinnati to help—and discover that the sprawling Tudor they grew up in is crumbling and the family is in disarray.

Youngest sisters Kitty and Lydia are too busy with their CrossFit workouts and Paleo diets to get jobs. Mary, the middle sister, is earning her third online master’s degree and barely leaves her room, except for those mysterious Tuesday-night outings she won’t discuss. And Mrs. Bennet has one thing on her mind: how to marry off her daughters, especially as Jane’s fortieth birthday fast approaches.

Enter Chip Bingley, a handsome new-in-town doctor who recently appeared on the juggernaut reality TV dating show Eligible. At a Fourth of July barbecue, Chip takes an immediate interest in Jane, but Chip’s friend neurosurgeon Fitzwilliam Darcy reveals himself to Liz to be much less charming. . . .

And yet, first impressions can be deceiving.

Genre: Romance, Fiction
My Rating: **** (4 stars)

First of all, I have to say that I love Pride and Prejudice. It’s my favorite Jane Austen novel, and Liz Bennet my favorite Austen heroine. I was a little nervous that a modern retelling of the story, complete with modern language, would be a disappointment. The author has done a wonderful job, though, of keeping the dialog as modern as possible while giving the narration a more classic feel. The story itself provides the same type of contrast, as it is easy at times to forget that this is a modern take on Pride and Prejudice, yet at other times it feels so familiar that you know just what will come next.

Cassandra Campbell as narrator does a good job of differentiating the Bennet girls’ voices, and is pleasant to listen to. Pleasant that is except when she’s doing Mrs. Bennet’s voice, but I think that is to be expected. 🙂

While some of the situations that the girls find themselves in do seem over-the-top, I enjoyed the story, and Ms. Campbell’s performance of it.

NOTE: I received a free copy in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Audiobook Review – Station Eleven

December 4, 2015February 2, 2018 ~ Erika K ~ 5 Comments

Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel
Read by Kirsten Potter

Condensed Goodreads description:

An audacious, darkly glittering novel set in the eerie days of civilization’s collapse, Station Eleven tells the spellbinding story of a Hollywood star (Arthur), his would-be savior (Jeevan), and a nomadic group of actors (including Kirsten) roaming the scattered outposts of the Great Lakes region, risking everything for art and humanity.

Spanning decades, moving back and forth in time, and vividly depicting life before and after the pandemic, this suspenseful, elegiac novel is rife with beauty. As Arthur falls in and out of love, as Jeevan watches the newscasters say their final good-byes, and as Kirsten finds herself caught in the crosshairs of the prophet, we see the strange twists of fate that connect them all. A novel of art, memory, and ambition, Station Eleventells a story about the relationships that sustain us, the ephemeral nature of fame, and the beauty of the world as we know it.

Genre: Fiction / SciFi / Dystopian
My Rating: **** (4 of 5 stars)

This is an instance of a book cover catching my attention, and refusing to let it go. I started seeing this one first in magazines, and then bookstores and websites all over the place until I decided I had to read it. I had the impression that it took place in a post-pandemic world, but that was about it. I’m glad I didn’t read the book blurb more carefully because I don’t think that I would have been interested in the story of a Hollywood star and a band of traveling actors. I would probably not have picked it up, and I would have missed something beautiful.

This book is, at its heart, a story of survival and resilience. It starts at a point in time just as the flu pandemic is beginning. We meet a variety of individuals at a performance of King Lear, and then follow several of them both forward and backward in time, learning about their past, and watching as their futures unfold in the new world. The author’s main focus is on the characters, what drives them, what mattered to them before the collapse of civilization and afterward, and their personal relationships more than the disaster itself.

Kirsten Potter does an excellent job with the narration – her voice and timing were a pleasure to listen to.

I thoroughly enjoyed this audiobook and would recommend it to fans of almost any type of fiction or word lovers in general. It was so full of memorable quotes, that I caught myself jotting them down to read later, and that isn’t something I normally do. Since I have them though, I’d like to leave you with a few of my favorites…

“Hell is the absence of the people you long for.”

“It was gorgeous and claustrophobic. I loved it and I always wanted to escape.”

“What I mean to say is, the more you remember, the more you’ve lost.”

“First we only want to be seen, but once we’re seen, that’s not enough anymore. After that, we want to be remembered.”

“She had never entirely let go of the notion that if she reached far enough with her thoughts she might find someone waiting, that if two people were to cast their thoughts outward at the same moment they might somehow meet in the middle.”

“There are certain qualities of light that blur the years.”

What Are You Reading Wednesday – Station Eleven

November 11, 2015 ~ Erika K ~ 22 Comments

What are you reading Wednesday – 11/11/15

What Are You Reading Wednesdays is a weekly meme hosted by It’s A Reading Thing. To participate, open the book you are currently reading to page 34 (or 34% in your ebook) and answer these three questions.

The Questions are:
1. What’s the name of your current read?

2. Go to page 34 in your book or 34% in your eBook and share a complete sentence. (or two!)

3. Would you like to live in the world that exists within your book? Why or why not?

Now for my answers this week…I’ve been trying to write more than I’ve been reading this month, but I’m still listening to audio books during my commute. I’ve just finished Queen of the Tearling (and hope to get a review written soon), and now I’m listening to Station Eleven.

1. Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel (narrated by Kirsten Potter)

2. Since I can’t find page 34 🙂 , I’m just going to give you a few quotes from the book…

“Hell is the absence of the people you long for.”
“Survival is insufficient.” (yes, it is originally from Star Trek!)
“What I mean to say is, the more you remember, the more you’ve lost.”
“It was gorgeous and claustrophobic. I loved it and I always wanted to escape.”

3. No, no, and a thousand times no!!! A devastating flu pandemic has wiped out more than 90% of the Earth’s population. Even if I survived, I’d rather just stay here…

Now tell me, what are you reading (or listening to) this week?