In her travel memoir, Jen Ruiz captures the essence of her transformative journey with a blend of vibrant storytelling and insightful narration. Feeling a compelling urge for change as she neared her thirtieth birthday, Ruiz embarked on a year-long adventure that marked a pivotal shift from her legal career to her passions: writing, travel, and blogging. Motivated to align her professional life with her interests, she set a lofty goal of taking 12 trips in 12 months. Leveraging her expertise and personal network in travel, she strategically balanced a side job to finance her aspirations. Throughout her narrative, Ruiz's enthusiasm and determination shine, infusing each chapter with the infectious joy of someone who is turning dreams into reality. Even amid challenges, her passion resonates.
Pub Date: June 4, 2024
Duration: 6 hrs
DD ISBN: 9798200962150
Publisher: Blackstone Audio
Review Posted Online: Jan. 22, 2026
As an audiobook author, historian Matthew Restall is spirited, witty, highly informed, and full of insights and revelations. As a narrator, he's more subdued, even a bit flat. But no matter. Restall's steady, evenhanded narration reenforces the balance and objectivity of his history of the "nine lives of Christopher Columbus." Over five centuries, Columbus has been hailed and reviled, a discoverer and a destroyer, one century symbolized as Columbia and paired with Washington on statuary, the next denounced for perpetuating the Spanish devastation of the New World. Restall's restraint keeps the focus on the historical processes at work, and on his richly layered portrait of Columbus. History is fluid, it seems, and malleable--something this well-researched, well-told history demonstrates.
Pub Date: Oct. 7, 2025
Duration: 11 hrs, 45 mins
DD ISBN: 9798318519789
Publisher: Tantor Media
Review Posted Online: Jan. 22, 2026
Mark Bramhall gives an excellent performance of this WWII story. Nina Willner weaves the lives of her father, Eddie Willner, and his Jewish family in Germany with the lives of several American GIs who saved his life at the end of the war. Her father and another companion were found by members of the 32nd Armored Regiment just before V-E Day. The two Germans assisted the GIs in the final weeks of the war. Willner describes the parallel tracks of all their lives and how Providence brought them all together. Bramhall provides a steady delivery and effective accents for the characters. Willner, who has a winsome voice, narrates like a pro as she splendidly recounts how she tracked down the GIs who rescued her father.
Pub Date: July 22, 2025
Duration: 9 hrs, 30 mins
DD ISBN: 9798217076901
Publisher: Penguin Audio
Review Posted Online: Jan. 22, 2026
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