Great audiobooks we couldn’t stop listening to: romantasy, novels, mysteries, and more
If your New Year’s resolutions include listening to more audiobooks—or trying them for the first time—there’s a lot to choose from. Both Kami and I are big audiobook listeners and often message each other about ones we love, so we thought we’d share some of our favorites across a range of categories. Happy listening!
Johann Hari has an exceptional talent for imparting incredibly useful information in an easygoing, accessible style. Not only does Hari talk to experts about the reasons behind our collective loss of focus, he shares his own stories of trying to rein in his phone and internet use, and offers concrete examples of what we can do as individuals and as a society to take our attention back from the corporations who profit heavily from our distraction. Hari reads the audiobook and it’s like listening to a friend telling a story, since he’s putting the science into the context of everyday experiences from his life. —Seira Wilson, Amazon Editor
>Stolen Focus audiobook
>Stolen Focus audiobook
Both Kami and I listened to this audiobook and loved it (it’s also one of our Editors’ Picks for the Best Books of 2023). An epic of world-building and story, this tale of a kingdom under duress, a deadly competition to become one of the elite dragon riders, and the young woman who bucks the odds to become powerful in her own right, is thrilling and impossible to put down or stop listening to. Once you’ve finished this one, you can jump right back in with book two in the series, Iron Flame. —Seira Wilson, Amazon Editor
>Fourth Wing audiobook
>Fourth Wing audiobook
When I asked Kami for some of her favorite listens, this is the first one she named. Alternating chapters tell the story of Yasmen and Josiah, once madly in love, now divorced parents and co-owners of a popular Atlanta restaurant, trying to move on with their lives. But something keeps drawing them back to one another… As Kami wrote, “Each character deals with their feelings in their own way, providing a unique view to the relationship. It is real. It is sexy. It is a book I literally can’t stop recommending to others.” You also won’t want to miss Kennedy’s This Could Be Us, releasing on March 5.
>Before I Let Go audiobook
>Before I Let Go audiobook
I love a good mystery on audio—it’s one of the top categories I listen to over the course of a year—and this one really kept my headphones glued to my ears! Our Editors’ Pick for the Best Mystery & Thriller of 2023, here’s what Vannessa had to say about it, “Unflinching, unsparing, unsentimental, Dennis Lehane's incendiary story is a freeway pileup of racism, mob rule, and a desperate mother pushed beyond her last limit. This moving and darkly hilarious vengeance novel was the mystery we kept returning to this year.” The audiobook narrator does an exceptional job with accents and tone—if you have a house or yard project you’re kind of dreading, put on this audio and the chore will fly by…. —Seira Wilson, Amazon Editor
>Small Mercies audiobook
>Small Mercies audiobook
This is another one that Kami and I both put on our list of favorite audios in 2023—the narrator is Meryl Streep (!), and listening to her read is pure magic. Al loved this book too; here’s what she wrote about it when we chose it as a Best Book of the Month, “Ann Patchett has once again crafted a novel that beats with the pulse of family and the tug of nostalgia. Over the course of a pandemic summer’s cherry harvest, a mother recounts to her grown girls what happened one summer when she became a little bit famous and fell in love with an actor that became very famous…. It’s all too easy and enjoyable to fall into the rhythm of the story—to be reminded of what it’s like to be a child, awash in the mythic glow that your parents had lives before you that were exciting, impactful, and maybe just a little bit racy.” —Seira Wilson, Amazon Editor
>Tom Lake audiobook
>Tom Lake audiobook
I literally just recommended this audiobook again today, even though I haven’t listened to it in over a year. It’s just so fascinating—I loved listening to Talley (who sadly passed away in 2022) tell his story in his own words and voice. The Chiffon Trenches is a delicious insider’s look at the fashion industry, the heyday of the Studio 54 years and beyond, and at Talley’s very personal and unique experience as a young Black man from the South who became a style icon…. And Talley doesn’t hold back—he tells you who said what, who did what, and to whom. —Seira Wilson, Amazon Editor
>The Chiffon Trenches audiobook
>The Chiffon Trenches audiobook
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