Jessica’s Guide to Dating on the Dark Side
Author: Beth Fantaskey
Readers: Katherine Kellgren & Jeff Woodman
Short Review: Fairly standard ‘boy meets girl, boy turns out to be vampire’ romance – but with a few twists you likely won’t expect. A pair of excellent readers, endearing characters and a fresh take on Romanian vampires make this a very enjoyable story.
Author: Charlaine Harris
Reader: Johanna Parker
Short Review: Well read first installment of the Southern Vampire Mysteries series (better known now as the books that inspired HBO’s TrueBlood series). Sookie Stackhouse is a telepathic waitress in a world in which vampires have “come out of the coffin”, and her world is getting more dangerous with each passing the day.
Breaking Dawn (The Twilight Saga, Book 4) Author: Stephenie Meyer Reader: Ilyana Kadushin and Matt Walters Short Review: Your patience is rewarded and the camera pulls back to show you the full picture of where we have been headed across the landscape of these 4 extravagant novels. For me this was a very satisfying conclusion [...]
The Graveyard Book Author: Neil Gaiman Reader: Neil Gaiman Short Review: Neil Gaiman reads his Newbery Medal winning book beautifully. His nod to Kipling’s The Jungle Book is just scary enough, intriguing, inventive, well-written, enchanting . . . it’s downright wonderful. I loved Bod, Silas, Scarlett, Liza, Miss Lupescu, and the rest of the graveyard’s [...]
Storm Front Audiobook by Jim ButcherBook 1
Author: Jim Butcher
Reader: James Marsters
Short Review: Down on his luck detective Harry Dresden also happens to be a real, live wizard. This introduction to Harry’s world includes magic, potions, a talking skull named Bob, werewolves – and of course a murder mystery. James Marsters is brilliant.
Eclipse (Twilight Saga, Book 3)
Author: Stephenie Meyer
Reader: Ilyana Kadushin and Matt Walters
Short Review: Meyer gets better with each book. With this book, she has found a good rhythm. The quieter bits of this story have a stronger voice than those in the first 2 books of the saga. Book 3 digs deeply into Bella’s relationships and finally starts to ask the question of “Why?”. We still get good action scenes (because there is always action in a world that has vampires and werewolves) – but we also see Bella make conscious choices with an eye to the consequences in her future.
New Moon (Twilight Saga, Book 2)
Author: Stephenie Meyer
Reader: Ilyana Kadushin
Short Review: The good: a fresh and creative version of vampire and werewolf legends with characters you care about and great action scenes. The less good: lots and lots of Bella’s internal angst-ridden dialogue (not that there is anything wrong with that, if you have a taste for that sort of thing).
Twilight (The Twilight Saga, Book 1)
Author: Stephenie Meyer
Reader: Ilyana Kadushin
Short Review: One 17 year old girl who always felt different (and is a klutz to the extreme) crosses paths with a family of exquisite vampires. Romance and intrigue ensues. It grew on me, but it took a while.
You Suck: A Love Story
Author: Christopher Moore
Read By: Susan Bennett
Audio Bonuses: Interview with Christopher Moore
Short Review: Super fun and irreverent vampire romp through San Francisco, stellar reader to whom I could listen all day long.
Thud! by Terry Pratchett
Thud! (A Discworld Novel) Author: Terry Pratchett Reader: Stephen Briggs Short Review: This fun, funny, and often thoughtful story follows Sam Vimes as he investigates the murder of dwarven leader Grag Hamcrusher. Vimes is a father and husband, an unwilling member of the nobility, Commander of the watch, and a good old copper. He is [...]