What a gripping listen! The first book in the #CyrusHavenSeries certainly makes for a thrilling start with enough to start the character development & series plot balanced with a secondary surprisingly satisfying mystery to solve! Psychologist Cyrus is drawn to Evie, a teenager with a horrifically mysterious past & an uncanny ability to detect a lie. They both wind up drawn together in solving the mystery of a teenage figure skater‘s murder.

I enjoyed my #BOTM pick for this month! Fast-paced & entertaining, I read this in practically one sitting! Stava nicely mounts the tension in her debut where Sloane‘s lies add to the unsettling feeling as she inserts herself in the lives of Violet, Jay & Harper. The pace really picks up in the latter half with some real, satisfying surprises (though perhaps not perfectly plausible in the long run). It hooked me & I‘m excited for more from Stava!

Finally Jessica narrates one (though because of the division into Unicorns and Angels, Elizabeth‘s also a narrator here!), which has the two groups still fighting in the aftermath of the election. But it‘s clear that they still miss one another… all the more so when thanks to the daycare, both groups come down with the German measles. Separately quarantined, they try to prank each other & also try not to let on how much they miss each other!

What fun!! Like all time travel books, it‘s best not to get too bogged down in the details (& luckily the quick pace set by the author helps just that). Rabbit Ward has been a time traveling archaeologist for decades, but the last year has been rough as it‘s obvious someone is horning in on his work. An adventure in the 6th century Constantinople provides him with the opportunity to right his first professional misstep & learn about his opponent!

I wasn‘t really sure what to expect from this memoir/travelogue! My first experience with the author, this came out over two decades ago & it would be interesting to see if life on Karabati, a remote equatorial island has changed much. Troost balances coming in with paradise-like expectations & coming to see the somewhat literally sh*tty reality of island life. Watch out for the island dog chapter, but otherwise a truly fascinating listen!

Mary Wallace narrates this sole #UnicornClubSpecialEdition as Kimberly Haver moves back to Sweet Valley & divides the club! Mary‘s planning on running for student body president with all of the club supporting her… until Kimberly runs against her with Lila, Ellen & Jessica backing her, versus Liz, Evie & Maria behind Mary. Teased as a goody-two-shoes, Mary works on a less rebellious plan to reinstate off-campus lunch while Kimberly stirs trouble!

I really loved this blend of rom com & mystery! It had me literally laughing out loud— plus I read it in practically one sitting! The titular character, Pom, is a wealthy heiress in a hotelier family— until her not-so-beloved grandmother winds up murdered, enacting a clause in her will that leaves all assets frozen & Pomona to find a new place to live. She winds up with her old nanny‘s son & together they work to solve the case! Just plain fun!

Historical fiction steeped in magical realism unfolds here in a pre-technicolor Oz of Uz, NE. Beautifully written with multiple perspectives, the story comes from the titular Antidote, a Prairie Witch practiced in banking memories away from their experiencer, Asphodel, a fearless orphan obsessed with basketball & new love , her uncle, a farmer who finds sudden fortune after Black Sunday, Cleo, a New Deal photographer, a scarecrow & a cat!

New Unicorn Club member & its sole 6th grader, Evie Kim, narrates this one where the club once again faces its end— from within! Half of the members start dating new boys while the drama club puts on an original fall play. Evie, the twins & Maria are the singles, blown off for new love (along with the day care kids). When Evie & Liz overhear Rick Hunter‘s sleazy plan to break Mary Wallace‘s heart, it brings the club back together for revenge!

Happy Publication Day! Staples‘ second novel is actually something of a sequel to THIS TOWN SLEEPS— which I wish I had known before diving into this one! I also wish that I had a physical copy instead… the audio performance is great, but with multiple narrators, dates to keep straight & some abrupt, fever dream feeling transitions, I would‘ve preferred being able to more easily flip pages back as needed for reference in this casino based Inferno.

I enjoyed Wurth‘s WHITE HORSE, & the premise of this audiobook hooked me in from the start as Olivia‘s job as a paranormal investigator starts taking in more and more haunted/cursed items tying to not only the past, but to Olivia‘s own sister who passed almost five years earlier. Though there are sudden transitions & some thematic points really redundantly hammered in, this kept my attention, but as with most spooky stories, it leaves questions.

I‘ve always had a soft spot for Lila Fowler & she shows her own soft side here where she narrates about the events leading up to the Seventh Heaven weekend. Growing up mostly without her mother, Lila borrows Ellie‘s mom to shadow for a day for daughters to join their moms at work (& Fowler Enterprises employs almost everyone!). When Mrs. McMillan reunites with an old flame, Lila‘s happy to babysit & try to be consistent while Ellie feels ignored.

Luckily, this 3rd book wastes no time picking up right where the second left off! The audio performance is solid, though I think the humor comes off better physically reading it. Still, this action-packed listen certainly hooks you in with extremely tense stakes that had me listening to this one at every chance! The plot took unexpected twists & I appreciated seeing questions raised in RED QUEEN answered here—I hope this isn‘t the last of Antonia!

This sequel to RED QUEEN opens up 7 months later with Antonia again refusing new cases, hoping for more leads while becoming more dependent on her red pills. But they are drawn into the search for a pregnant diabetic woman in the south of the country who survived an assassination attempt that her mobster husband wasn‘t able to evade. An exciting sequel with quite the cliffhanger of an ending that makes me glad I can start the third immediately!

I wasn‘t originally planning on re-reading this first installment of the Antonia Scott trilogy, but I‘m glad! It‘s been two years almost exactly since I read this the first time & while I remembered most of the larger plot points, I appreciated refreshing myself with the characters, details & what seems like a set up for the second book! Exciting, fast-paced & well-balanced, this book translated from Spanish makes for a great read (and re-read!)!

Finally a Wakefield narrator! New Unicorn member Liz narrates the story of the club getting a chance to compete on the local channel‘s game show Best Friends. They also still need to raise $300 for a new toupee for the principal! Liz organizes their letter to participate & flyers to take on odd jobs. The rivalry gets intense when the new 8th grade club, Eight Times Eight is announced as their opponents. Jessica raises the stakes to win with a bet!

MY BIG FAT FAKE MARRIAGE is a spin-off of this, also very inspired by TED LASSO, romantic comedy. Instead of Ted inspiring the romantic lead, the character of Roy Kent gets a new name (but not really a new anything else) here. Again, if you like the show, the characters and dialogue really (gruffly) scream out loud. It‘s more plausible than its newly released spin off, but the character development again feels like watching a superfan play.

I didn‘t know that this rom-com would be like watching someone who just binged TED LASSO play with Barbies… I mean, if you know the show, the male lead very vividly leaps off the page. But it feels more like fan fiction than anything else… plus I have to admit that the spice level went from erotic pocket digging to actually kinda gross graphic in no time! I literally said, “Eewwww!” But maybe I prefer closed door though fake dating is a fun trope.

New Unicorn Club member Maria Slater narrates this second installment as the club needs to raise money not only for the consequences of the dare war that nearly got the club banished, but also for their newly beloved day care center‘s new roof. Indie filmmaker Tom Sanders arrives to make a thrifty teen movie, Secondhand Rose & Maria negotiates for a steep salary to solve their problems. An old friend from Hollywood helps her crisis of confidence!

With multiple performers, this twisty tale drew me right in! Hank lives a picturesque life as a mail carrier in Bethlam, NV— a town with a darker past of testing nuclear power. When he accidentally opens mysteriously blank mail, Hank begins to poke at the edges of his reality & his own memories. Unsettling & engaging, this would make for a great discussion starter of a book! It‘s my first experience with the author, but I‘m curious for more!

Oh, this just might be my favorite of hers yet! I really enjoyed this fake dating romantic comedy! I laughed, I cried a little & couldn‘t tear my eyes off the pages— a total #OneSittingRead for me! The Michigan summer backdrop added to the fun & I just loved the premise of Daphne fake-dating her ex-fiancé‘s fiancée‘s ex-boyfriend! It does make for a funny story, indeed! It was my first purchase to celebrate last year‘s Indie Bookstore Day, too!

The Wakefield twins & friends are officially 7th graders! Mandy Miller narrates the start of this new series with the club‘s numbers decimated from graduations, moves & transfers. To decide on Janet‘s successor, they start a dare war! When the club goes too far, they‘re sentenced to volunteering at a daycare. They learn lessons & develop relationships with the kids. When the club is banished, non-members save it! I love the softer side of Lila!

Though not marked as a sequel, there are overlapping characters here from Grecian‘s RED RABBIT, so maybe I would have enjoyed listening to this more had I started there. While I liked the narrator‘s performance, some of the transitions might have felt smoother in a physical format… grieving Moses kills Death before attempting his own death, but it is soon clear that no one is moving on now… with some gore & humor, the large cast size blurs a bit.

Ichaso‘s latest #YAThriller surrounds the abandoned— & considered cursed— property along the beachside cliff tied to four deaths before a new body count starts rising after the senior class hosts a party on the grounds. Eden‘s outcast by most peers in the wake of her father‘s embezzlement & disappearance, but when she helps a film class acquaintance with his documentary on the curse, she‘s drawn into investigating & getting close to old friends.

This second #TeamSweetValley book actually takes place mostly before the first one & focuses on Elizabeth‘s volleyball team qualifying for the biennial CA Games. Liz, Maria, Cammi, Mandy, Ellen & Kimberly make up the team & are all eager to impress their coach, Sandra, who is 7 months pregnant, an ex-Olympian & still says her team‘s victory at the Games was the most special to her! But can a team of half Unicorns stop fighting & work together?

Scrivenor‘s second novel may be even better than her first!! I couldn‘t stop listening to this one set both before & after a fatal climbing incident. Finn‘s met the love of her life in Magdu but wishes that her childhood best friend, Daphne, would make more of an effort to make friends with her. What‘s supposed to be a bonding day adventure in the NSW mountains changes their lives forever. Well-performed & genuinely riveting— can‘t wait for more!

What an emotional roller coaster of a US debut! I absolutely loved this heart wrenching drama set mostly in the 1960s in a small English village. A love triangle with fatal consequences told in a dual timeline quickly becomes impossible to put down! Beth‘s literary dreams turn into a fulfilling life on a farm until her first love returns home & all of their lives change forever. Some surprises are easy to see but some jaw-dropping ones remain!

I‘m not sure how this #TeamSweetValleySeries was originally advertised because there wasn‘t even a blurb about it within the #SweetValleyTwins books published around it in 1996, but it‘s set during 6th grade biennial California Games. Jessica leads the girl‘s gymnastics team but makes an enemy of Dawn Maven, a girl from a less wealthy town who has made gymnastics her whole life. The rivalry gets out of hand & forges an unexpected friendship!

Set in a small town in the Arkansas Ozarks, Dovie doesn‘t believe in magic, despite her own talent for feeling buried bones sing to her. In three years, Dovie has helped the sheriff locate 24 bodies of missing hikers. With no real leads, it falls to Dovie & her best friend to find the culprit, alongside mountain myths, magic & supernatural & natural dangers. It‘s a quick & fun YA thriller! It follows some familiar paths but with surprises too!

I love this fun series! Picking up with the 4th book‘s cliffhanger, they‘ve returned from their Atlantic City adventure to a corpse uncovered in the one-woman neighborhood watch‘s yard. And when Finlay‘s ex falls under suspicion, it‘s in everyone‘s best interests if Finlay & Vero can quickly prove his innocence before the cops dig any deeper! Fun & with nosy Mrs. Haggerty stealing scenes, this is another quick read leaving me anxious for the 6th!

Well, my British collection steered me a bit wrong with ending with this 12th #SweetValleyTwinsSuperEdition— it skips over all of their 7th grade & opens up with them worrying over who will be staying at SVMS and who will go to the new Sweet Valley Junior High. The twins fight because Liz wants to be a part of the accelerated program while Jess wants to be with as many Unicorns as possible. They throw a summer party & get supernatural guidance!

I loved ONCE THERE WERE WOLVES, so I was thrilled to dive into the audio of McConaghy‘s latest and one of this month‘s #BOTM selections. It‘s a riveting premise— a woman washes up on Shearwater Island near Antarctica where the seed bank there and island is crumbling into the rising seas. A father & his three children remain— along with their secrets, as it all comes to light in the wake of their new arrival. Heartbreaking yet beautifully written!

Such a fun romantic comedy!! Ali returns to Baltimore, instigating her third career change in a decade. With her reputation in her family as the fun but flighty sister, she‘s determined to succeed in her new event planning career without any distractions. But when someone walks back into her life that she hasn‘t seen since her semester abroad, everything changes! Sweet & with fun supporting characters, this second chance romance had me laughing!

It‘s the last field trip for the 6th grade—& the last numbered book in the #SVT series!! Before spelunking in the Cruz Caverns 3 hours away, students must attend a safety lecture & take a quiz to determine where they‘ll be placed. But a new store with glow-in-the-dark cosmetics opens the same day, so Jessica & Lila get two of the 7th grade Unicorns to take their quiz so they can shop—but disaster strikes leaving them with only fashion to help!

This SLEEPLESS IN SEATTLE-inspired rom-com makes for a cute (though there a few steamy scenes!) listen. Single mother Lucie is shocked when her pre-teen daughter calls a local radio station‘s love-line with host Aiden Valentine for dates on her mother‘s behalf. Soon Lucie‘s on the air with her new co-host but there are more sparks between them than the callers! Their hurdles to romance fall a bit flat, but they make an easy-to-root-for pair!

What a gripping #BOTM for this month! Though not my favorite of McAllister‘s, this still makes for a fun read! I may have guessed the main twist early on, but there are still some surprises! The book opens with introverted, book loving Cam and her first day back to work as a literary agent when she‘s called away by the police. Hostage negotiator Niall provides the other perspective here with the storyline spanning years with secrets & betrayals!

It‘s nearly the end of the school year & Janet Howell‘s making everyone miserable as she prepares for a year-end speech & a fabulous party. She‘s not sparing a single expense… but also not a single feeling! After blowing up at Lois Waller (Lois once again spills her spaghetti in the lunchroom), Elizabeth encourages her to throw a rival party the same night as Janet‘s! With more reminders of books in the past, this one is almost bittersweet!

I absolutely loved this!! My book club read THE SNOW CHILD ages ago, but I didn‘t expect to stay up so late to finish this in practically one sitting! I‘m so glad this was a #BOTM pick for the month! I found this emotional, tragic fairytale set mostly in Alaska to be a completely riveting read! I loved the characters, the setting & the aura of magic surrounding it all! Some may find this to be Beauty & The Beast-ish, but it‘s selkie-ish to me!

Set in a small village in 1989, this spooky novel spans a UK heatwave with strange happenings centering around a young girl. Newly graduated, Mina needs experience using her adolescent psychology degree & in a grief support group, journalist Sam finds an opportunity for both of them both professionally but also in the hope of contacting their lost loved ones. Eerie, with some predictable turns along with chilling scenes, I couldn‘t put it down!

In Project Outreach, SVMS requires students to spend a week volunteering through the mayor. Assigned randomly, both Lila & Jessica want the ease of filing in the mayor‘s office while Liz wants something more hands-on. Not even twin loyalty stops her from accepting Lila‘s offer of switching for the soup kitchen plus $200 to donate! But when the cash goes missing, Jessica may have been too quick to point out the culprit! Liz‘s saintliness runs high!

I loved EVVIE DRAKE STARTS OVER, so I had some high hopes diving into this one! And while I certainly found myself listening at every chance, I just didn‘t find it to be quite as enjoyable as I‘d hoped… Laurie, in the wake of breaking off her engagement, takes time off to return to her ME hometown to sort through her beloved great-aunt‘s belongings. The quest for the story surrounding a wood duck decoy provides the highlight of the book for sure!

This third installment in the #HavensRockSeries includes some of the most dramatic scenes not only of the series, but all books! Nearing her due date, Casey‘s at first thankful for the distraction of an attempted crime until leaving their remote Yukon town for the birth. But weather intervenes… also providing cover for an even more horrific crime! Thrilling & hard to put down, I‘m looking forward to more in the series!

It‘s the 2nd #SweetValleyMothersDay with a mother/daughter fashion show fundraiser for the local women‘s shelter as the highlight. Bored in Mr. Bowman‘s class, Lila skims the Sixers article about it & signs up without realizing she needs her mom… Jessica‘s furious to miss the signup & suspicious about Mrs. Fowler‘s convenient return. Lila hires a woman at the shelter but Jess spends the smoked oyster money for her own mother to uncover her secret!

Though published five years later, this sequel to #TheRoyalWe starts a mere few weeks after the conclusion of the first book. Hiding out in #Wigtown, Bex & Nick try to put the scandal that broke on their royal wedding behind them— but they can‘t stay away forever… Returning to the spotlight, they both work on repairing relationships & their future. Queen Eleanor really steals the show here & I loved her scenes the most! Such a fun duology!

Hard to believe this one came out ten years ago! Since its release in 2015, with the sequel out 5 years later, I decided to re-read this one to fully enjoy the whole duology! And I‘m so glad— while I clearly remembered the central, larger than life romance of an Iowan foreign exchange student meeting and falling in love with a prince, I had forgotten the side dramas between the friends & her twin that added so much more to this romance! So fun!

The end of school picnic‘s approaches & everyone‘s pairing off— except Janet‘s furious with Denny for lying & taking it out on the rest of the Unicorns. Jessica‘s own loose relationship with the truth comes into focus as she tries to come out on top & wishes for Elizabeth to learn a lesson through all-truths & then all-lies! It‘s silly & fun as Jessica gets wound deeper into trouble but a heroic dog-rescue straightens everything out in the end!

Set in #SouthAfrica, this bodyguard thriller starts off a series with plenty of action. Lemmer‘s client recognized her brother on a TV but he‘s been presumed dead for 20 years. And soon it seems someone is after Emma as they start uncovering hidden truths. Abrupt transitions make the audio feel a little convoluted at times, & some of the relationship details feel rough… I couldn‘t connect with the characters enough to want to continue the series!

This month‘s book club pick wasn‘t a favorite for anyone, unfortunately! The enticing blurb had us all expecting much more of a rom com, & while moments of cubicle drudgery were familiar, there was a bit too much vitriol overall. I liked the twist on a fake engagement & appreciated Jolene‘s overall character arc, but there have been more successful versions of a depressed, alcoholic & anxious MC come out of arrested development than this one!

Picking up right from where THE BOYFRIEND GAME left off, it‘s the 5th #SweetValleyValentinesDay and the winning couples are headed to Dizzy Planet while the rest of the school prepares for the dance that night. Still twin-switched, Liz overhears a Young Love employee mention cheating, so she sneaks into the park (Sophia Rizzo separately does the same!) to warn that their schemes may have been uncovered & will ruin the dance! More fights & fun!

I‘ve been a fan of Kingsolver‘s writing for a long time, so I have been looking forward to reading (well in this case, listening) to this Appalachian David Copperfield since I first heard about it! Heartbreaking, but powerfully written, I couldn‘t stop listening to this one. I loved the performance & thought each character really came to life. Definitely the kind of book that will stick with me—& one of the few to live up to the hype from friends!