This time last year you could not have caught me with an audiobook but fast forward to now and I've read 25 books in audio format now and it's become one of my favourite ways to consume literature. I usually listen to all of my audiobooks on Libby through my local library but I've also recently taken out an audible subscription so I'm always on the lookout for new things to spend my credits on. While I'm a big fan of audiobooks I really find that sometimes the narration can make or break the book for me so here are just a few suggestions of some of the books that I've found really really great in audio format.
It's 1926 and after a situation in her hometown seventeen-year-old Evie O'Neill is sent to live with her eccentric uncle Will in New York. Will is an expert in all things occult and even runs a museum dedicated to it so whenever murders start to happen around the city and they appear to have an occult link Will is called to help the police investigate Evie and her friends are then thrown into a whole different adventure than the one with speakeasies and follies that she'd originally intended. Evie also happens to be a diviner - someone with special powers and New York is not the safest place to be a diviner.
It wouldn't be right of me to kick off this list with anything other than The Diviners series by Libba Bray. January La Voy does such a marvellous job with narrating this series that it hardly even feels like only one person is doing the narration at times. She actually sings the bits that were meant to be sung which is so rare in audiobooks and the spooky bits are even spookier when they're being whispered in your ear. Trust me when I say you will fall in love with these characters and this story it truly is my fave ever and it's so enhanced by how wonderful the audiobooks are!
Daisy Jones and the Six were the biggest band of the seventies, they were selling out arenas, performing on television and their songs were played on every radio station. Until one fateful night in 1979 they split up right in the middle of their biggest tour to date and until now, nobody has ever known why. In this tell-all interview, we hear all about Daisy Jones and The Six's rise and fall from fame.
This book is a true masterpiece in audio format. It has a full cast recording so it feels like you're listening to a podcast rather than a book. There are quotes from this book that live rent-free in my head and it's been almost a year now since I read it. The characters feel so real that you will truly leave this book thinking that Daisy Jones and The Six are a real band! Originally I didn't think that this sounded like the dort of thing I'd be into but this truly blew me away and definitely formed the foundation for my love of audiobooks.
Linus Baker is a care worker at the Department in Charge of Magical Youth and has been set a secret mission to check out the mysterious Marsyas Island orphanage and its equally mysterious master, Arthur Parnassus. To his surprise, he finds that the six children at this orphanage are unlike any that he has encountered before. There's a gnome, a sprite, a wyvern, a were-pomeranian, an unidentifiable blob and the antichrist.
This book is just complete and utter JOY from start to finish. These characters are such a joy and you will truly feel transported to The House in The Cerulean Sea and you won't want to leave. I truly could not recommend this book more and as I listened to the audiobook when I read it I definitely recommend listening to it!
Simon Spier is just your regular seventeen-year-old teenager. He's got great friends, a great family but he has one huge secret. Nobody knows that he's gay. Simon starts up an anonymous online relationship with fellow closeted student 'Blue' but when his messages fall into the hands of the wrong person Simon, finds himself being blackmailed to avoid his secret from coming out and especially to protect Blue.
This is one of my favourite books of all time and if you've not had a chance to read it yet I highly suggest you do. It truly is just the softest read ever and after I first read this back in 2018, I immediately listened to the audiobook afterwards because I needed to live in this world a little longer and therefore I can totally recommend it! Even if you think you're too old for YA contemporaries you should still totally read this because it will just give you such a serotonin boost I promise!
After a disastrous pitch, an overworked Leena Cotton is forced to take two months off from work which leads to her moving into her grandmother's house in a little Yorkshire hamlet while her newly single grandmother Eileen moves into Leena's flat in London and tackles the online London dating scene.
While I read a physical copy of Beth O'Leary's debut novel, The Flatshare, I opted for the audiobook for The Switch. It's narrated by the iconic Alison Steadman and Normal People's Daisy Edgar Jones. I love audiobooks that have different perspectives narrated by different actors because I just feel like it adds so much to the story and you can really get the voice of the characters. I've heard great things about The Flatshare audiobook too so if you haven't gotten around to picking it up yet either I definitely recommend checking it out!
This was actually the first audiobook I read at the height of my Queer Eye obsession but really this is just synonymous with memoirs and autobiographies. I truly believe the best way to hear someone's story is from them and the audiobook generally just sounds like a long interview and so if you're a fan of the person it's just a delight to listen to. So I definitely recommend checking if one of your favourite celebrities has a self-narrated memoir or autobiography that you could check out! Also, they also come with bonus content that you don't get in the physical book. This one has a bonus section with Antoni Porowski (also from Queer Eye) just popping in to say hi!
So those are just a few of my audiobook recommendations - are you a regular audiobook listener? If so, make sure to tell me some of your recommendations in the comment section too! Like I said, I'm always on the lookout for new ways to spend my audible credits!
The Diviners
Libba Bray
It's 1926 and after a situation in her hometown seventeen-year-old Evie O'Neill is sent to live with her eccentric uncle Will in New York. Will is an expert in all things occult and even runs a museum dedicated to it so whenever murders start to happen around the city and they appear to have an occult link Will is called to help the police investigate Evie and her friends are then thrown into a whole different adventure than the one with speakeasies and follies that she'd originally intended. Evie also happens to be a diviner - someone with special powers and New York is not the safest place to be a diviner.
It wouldn't be right of me to kick off this list with anything other than The Diviners series by Libba Bray. January La Voy does such a marvellous job with narrating this series that it hardly even feels like only one person is doing the narration at times. She actually sings the bits that were meant to be sung which is so rare in audiobooks and the spooky bits are even spookier when they're being whispered in your ear. Trust me when I say you will fall in love with these characters and this story it truly is my fave ever and it's so enhanced by how wonderful the audiobooks are!
Daisy Jones and The Six
Taylor Jenkins Reid
Daisy Jones and the Six were the biggest band of the seventies, they were selling out arenas, performing on television and their songs were played on every radio station. Until one fateful night in 1979 they split up right in the middle of their biggest tour to date and until now, nobody has ever known why. In this tell-all interview, we hear all about Daisy Jones and The Six's rise and fall from fame.
This book is a true masterpiece in audio format. It has a full cast recording so it feels like you're listening to a podcast rather than a book. There are quotes from this book that live rent-free in my head and it's been almost a year now since I read it. The characters feel so real that you will truly leave this book thinking that Daisy Jones and The Six are a real band! Originally I didn't think that this sounded like the dort of thing I'd be into but this truly blew me away and definitely formed the foundation for my love of audiobooks.
The House In The Cerulean Sea
TJ Klune
Linus Baker is a care worker at the Department in Charge of Magical Youth and has been set a secret mission to check out the mysterious Marsyas Island orphanage and its equally mysterious master, Arthur Parnassus. To his surprise, he finds that the six children at this orphanage are unlike any that he has encountered before. There's a gnome, a sprite, a wyvern, a were-pomeranian, an unidentifiable blob and the antichrist.
This book is just complete and utter JOY from start to finish. These characters are such a joy and you will truly feel transported to The House in The Cerulean Sea and you won't want to leave. I truly could not recommend this book more and as I listened to the audiobook when I read it I definitely recommend listening to it!
Simon Vs The Homosapiens Agenda
Becky Albertalli
Simon Spier is just your regular seventeen-year-old teenager. He's got great friends, a great family but he has one huge secret. Nobody knows that he's gay. Simon starts up an anonymous online relationship with fellow closeted student 'Blue' but when his messages fall into the hands of the wrong person Simon, finds himself being blackmailed to avoid his secret from coming out and especially to protect Blue.
This is one of my favourite books of all time and if you've not had a chance to read it yet I highly suggest you do. It truly is just the softest read ever and after I first read this back in 2018, I immediately listened to the audiobook afterwards because I needed to live in this world a little longer and therefore I can totally recommend it! Even if you think you're too old for YA contemporaries you should still totally read this because it will just give you such a serotonin boost I promise!
The Switch
Beth O'Leary
After a disastrous pitch, an overworked Leena Cotton is forced to take two months off from work which leads to her moving into her grandmother's house in a little Yorkshire hamlet while her newly single grandmother Eileen moves into Leena's flat in London and tackles the online London dating scene.
While I read a physical copy of Beth O'Leary's debut novel, The Flatshare, I opted for the audiobook for The Switch. It's narrated by the iconic Alison Steadman and Normal People's Daisy Edgar Jones. I love audiobooks that have different perspectives narrated by different actors because I just feel like it adds so much to the story and you can really get the voice of the characters. I've heard great things about The Flatshare audiobook too so if you haven't gotten around to picking it up yet either I definitely recommend checking it out!
Naturally Tan
Tan France
This was actually the first audiobook I read at the height of my Queer Eye obsession but really this is just synonymous with memoirs and autobiographies. I truly believe the best way to hear someone's story is from them and the audiobook generally just sounds like a long interview and so if you're a fan of the person it's just a delight to listen to. So I definitely recommend checking if one of your favourite celebrities has a self-narrated memoir or autobiography that you could check out! Also, they also come with bonus content that you don't get in the physical book. This one has a bonus section with Antoni Porowski (also from Queer Eye) just popping in to say hi!
So those are just a few of my audiobook recommendations - are you a regular audiobook listener? If so, make sure to tell me some of your recommendations in the comment section too! Like I said, I'm always on the lookout for new ways to spend my audible credits!
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