During his junior year of boarding school, Alex is involved in a swimming accident that results in a close friend’s death. There’s more to the story than Alex and golden boy Glen reveal. Through the narration of Steven Boyer, listeners are in Alex’s head as he deals with the guilt, grief, and fear of covering up the truth. Boyer creates tension in the transitions from Alex to his poetry and journal to Glen’s voice, though at times they can be hard to follow. Boyer’s quietly intense vocals highlight Alex’s penchant for poetry while balancing the need to tell his story, including his obsession with his English teacher, Miss Dovecott. Listeners become intimately linked with Alex as he finds his own voice.
Young AdultPub Date: 2012
Duration: 4 hrs
DD ISBN: 9781464036231
Publisher: Recorded Books Inc.
Review Posted Online: Jan. 22, 2026
Watson’s conversational style will delight listeners of all ages.
Marli Watson narrates this first installment of a YA mystery series. Ellen is a prep-school scholarship student who knows how to follow the rules. But her life takes a turn when she moves into her aunt’s Edgar Allan Poe-themed B&B and starts having nightmares about a family who died—including Gus, a new student at school. When Ellen finds a journal that she believes was written by Poe, she meets the ghost of her long-dead relative, who calls himself Eddie. Watson makes the characters believable from the start. She portrays Ellen as feisty, and Gus as a vulnerable charmer. Aunt Marie is sweet, but not too sweet.
Watson’s conversational style will delight listeners of all ages. (Paranormal mystery. 12-18)Pub Date: April 7, 2026
Duration: 7 hrs, 19 mins
DD ISBN: 9781668654774
Publisher: Hachette Audio
Review Posted Online: June 23, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2026
Three narrators find the essential humanity of a group of antiheroes in an action-packed dark academia stunner.
Dylan Reilly Fitzpatrick, E.A. Castillo, and Nicky Endres voice characters who change identities in this body-switching fantasy/sci-fi mashup. When Annabelle Gage uses her illusion magic to steal the wrong object, she’s forced to be the top student’s personal assistant at the infamous Paragon Academy. There, she’s recruited to join a vengeful student, Wes, in capturing the Black Wraith, leader of a violent rebel group. Ana finds both family and secrets, learning quickly that those she once admired might be on the wrong side of history. Castillo captures the nuance of an emotive Ana, who’s trapped in a rotting male body, bringing complexity to her personality and identity. Fitzpatrick nails the seething anger of Wes, while Endres offers a genderfluid perspective on various side characters.
Three narrators find the essential humanity of a group of antiheroes in an action-packed dark academia stunner. (Fantasy. 14-18)Pub Date: Feb. 3, 2026
Duration: 16 hrs, 30 mins
DD ISBN: 9781250432407
Publisher: Macmillan Audio
Review Posted Online: Feb. 17, 2026
© Copyright 2026 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
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