Weruche Opia’s self-confident narration sings with a heady mix of feminine power and vulnerability. Nigerian-British college sophomore Kiki Banjo hopes her radio show, “Brown Sugar,” will secure her a prestigious internship. Opia builds an elegant, charismatic persona for Kiki, who doles out feminist relationship advice to her fellow Afro-Caribbean students in a snappy, unapologetic style. Needing more listeners, Kiki starts a fake relationship with college filmmaker Malakai Korede, who has a deeper pitch and a softly swaying intonation. Opia weaves their interactions into an organic, magical connection that will leave listeners spellbound. Kiki’s friend Aminah and other students have distinct voices and personalities. Issues of racism, gender expectations, and social hierarchies emerge through expertly delivered dialogue. British slang and Yoruba phrases round out this stellar performance.
Pub Date: July 5, 2022
Duration: 12 hrs
DD ISBN: 9780063141520
Publisher: Harper Audio
Review Posted Online: Jan. 22, 2026
After her divorce, Roberta Jewett, with her three daughters, returns to Camden, Maine, to start a new life. Such an independent move in 1916 brings difficulties with her mother, her in-laws and the townspeople. Dukes's performance, while skillful, sometimes suffer in scenes of emotional content. His pace slows, and his reading acquires the peculiar emphasis of someone trying to get instructions across to a non-English-speaking person. The effect is disturbingly laughable. When he resumes his normal pace, the story revives and personalities emerge again, but the awkwardness remains as an odd interruption to Spencer's drama of pain and love, dispelling Dukes's carefully constructed characterizations.
Pub Date: N/A
Duration: 3 hrs
Publisher: Dove
Review Posted Online: Jan. 22, 2026
A young Southern woman marries into an aristocratic Boston family and spends her summers at a vacation community on the Maine coast. Heavy-handed abridgment reduces this novel to an outline which denies the listener any character development. Judith Ivey offers stereotypical dialects which are discordant to a New Englander's ear. In her interpretation the Down East Mainers speak like thugs in raspy voices. Her presentation of a Boston accent is phonetically erratic and also spoken in gruff tones. The color and flavor of Maine are missing from this tasteless rendition.
Pub Date: N/A
Duration: 3 hrs
Publisher: Harper Audio
Review Posted Online: Jan. 22, 2026
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