Narrator Alexandra Allwine maximizes the tension in this YA page-turner. Sydney Reilly is planning to spend her sixteenth summer in a mansion in San Francisco with Lila Shore, her movie-star mother. But her heavenly summer soon turns to hell, and Allwine's depiction makes that clear as Lila's tones range from helplessness to fury, with notes of egotism beneath both. Allwine presents Syd's boyfriend, Jake, with disturbing tones of coarseness and bullying. Allwine emphasizes Syd's strong internal voice, her powers of wonder, her intellect, her struggles with sexual awakening, and her determination to become "full in the world, and in my body and in my own self." Each chapter begins with a courtroom exhibit that adds to the driving plot.
(Fiction. 14-18)Pub Date: June 23, 2020
Duration: 8 hrs, 30 mins
DD ISBN: 9781797108780
Publisher: Simon & Schuster Audio
Review Posted Online: Jan. 22, 2026
After hearing Carpenter’s expert performance, listeners will want in on the next con.
A teenage con artist. An undead crow. The lord of the afterlife. Narrator Joanna Carpenter brings all these characters—and many more—to life in this YA heist fantasy. Left reeling after her brother’s death, Elle Fields is determined to bring him back to life, but she’ll need to reassemble her old crew in order to do it. Elle cons a rich stranger to fund the job, pulls her ragtag team together, and enters the afterlife to steal a resurrection spell. Bringing back the dead proves to be the easiest part, as betrayals abound and old wounds come back to bite Elle. Carpenter’s wit and charm is on full display. She nails the various accents Elle uses, and she brings out the story’s humor and heart.
After hearing Carpenter’s expert performance, listeners will want in on the next con. (Fantasy. 13-18)Pub Date: July 28, 2026
Duration: 8 hrs, 49 mins
DD ISBN: 9798217342068
Publisher: Listening Library
Review Posted Online: Sept. 22, 2026
This thriller’s tension never lets up thanks to Amoss’ attentive performance.
Listeners unearth a small town’s sordid past. After spending 10 years trying to escape the shadow of her father, infamous serial killer Gabriel Thorn, 17-year-old Ryan Shipley is forced back to Starling, Tennessee. Narrator Sophie Amoss captures Ryan’s guarded, cynical point of view with an uneasy detachment, while also populating Starling with a full range of Southern small-town folk and true-crime obsessives, all of whom are harboring secrets of their own. Amoss shifts convincingly among them and delivers a tense performance that keeps listeners on edge throughout.
This thriller’s tension never lets up thanks to Amoss’ attentive performance. (Thriller. 14-18)Pub Date: June 30, 2026
Duration: 12 hrs, 24 mins
DD ISBN: 9798217295289
Publisher: Listening Library
Review Posted Online: Aug. 4, 2026
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