Come and listen to this

I couldn’t imagine a better way to ring in the new year than with a new listen from Kiley Reid, who burst onto the publishing scene in 2019 with her buzzy debut, Such a Fun Age. In Come and Get It, Reid turns her brilliant knack for witty dialogue and sardonic social observation to the campus of the University of Arkansas. There, a Black resident assistant forms a complicated relationship with a white professor, and a troubled transfer student along with her mean-girl roommates are caught in the crossfire. Featuring multiple POVs, this audiobook could have easily had a full cast, but narrator Nicole Lewis (who also performed Such a Fun Age) rises to the challenge. Lewis so intimately nails each woman’s unique speech style, accent, and cadence, it was easy to forget it’s just one person giving them their voices. —Margaret H.

A gratitude-inspiring listen

In recent years, no release has made me appreciate my ability to continue falling in love with the act of listening itself more than Matt Hay’s memoir. Soundtrack of Silence brilliantly illuminates the many foreign and, at times, incomprehensible aspects of undergoing deafness by using metaphors that I found to be exceptionally revelatory as someone who does not have an auditory disability, all while appealing to the universal love language of music. Listeners are encouraged to cozy up with the music that has most influenced their own lives as they follow along on Hay’s emotional journey, offering a sentimental exercise that is perfect for approaching the new year with gratitude. —Haley H.

All aboard!

I wanted to go on an outrageous, thrilling, yet fun ride with my first listen of 2024, and Everyone on This Train Is a Suspect delivered! As soon as I read the premise I thought, yes, put me on a train with a group of mystery writers, agents, publishers, editors, and fans as we journey from Darwin to Adelaide to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Australian Mystery Writers’ Society. Of course, someone onboard ends up dead. Which expert sleuth will figure it out first? Whodunit? This is where the fun is. A telltale sign of a good story: As soon as I finished, I immediately downloaded Everyone in My Family Has Killed Someone—where author Benjamin Stevenson first introduces his main character, Ernest Cunningham. I hear there might be a movie or TV show coming (rights have been secured), and I sure hope a third novel is in the works. —Tricia F.

Came for the title, stayed for the story

As a devout Swiftie, I must admit that I was first drawn to Emma R. Alban’s debut novel because of its title. But then I learned that the queer Victorian romance is being touted as a cross between Bridgerton and The Parent Trap. A millennial’s dream, TBH. Veteran historical romance narrators Mary Jane Wells and Morag Sims give voice to debutantes Gwen and Beth, who hatch a plot to set up their widowed parents as they avoid being matched with husbands of their own. It was witty and swoony (and the start of a series!), and I had a marvelous time listening. —Katie O.

A WWII-era art heist story full of wit and wisdom

Derek B. Miller tends to write crime novels, but to think of them as such would be like thinking of John le Carré as simply a spy novelist. Miller’s stories are not contained by a genre, though they are as enjoyable and entertaining as any good mystery, while also being philosophical and funny and often including historical elements, thus hitting a sweet spot for me. So I’m kicking off my listening year with his latest, The Curse of Pietro Houdini, an art-heist caper of sorts set in Italy during World War II. The underlying subtle wit to Miller’s writing always leaves me with an inner smile for reasons I can’t quite explain, but it probably has to do with his indelible characters and how they manage to eke out the light in the dark times they wrestle with. I’ll follow that story into any genre. —Phoebe N.

Take a break from the noise

Bestselling author of Quiet and Bittersweet Susan Cain—a.k.a. the person who ironically cast introverts into the spotlight—has a new listen, and I can’t wait to hear it. In a little over four-and-a-half hours, Cain will guide us through helpful steps, exercises, and meditations. This is the perfect listen for wallflowers who want to make the most out of their lives and enjoy peace. Plus, check out dozens of listens to help you on your journey when you visit the well-being hub. —Rachael X.

The race card is not a game

Whenever I’ve been accused of playing the race card, I see an intense, angry red. As Michele Norris points out in Our Hidden Conversations: What Americans Really Think About Race and Identity, her incredible work created from The Race Card Project, “It’s usually a proxy for, ‘You’re making me uncomfortable, so please stop talking. A shorthand for ’just shut up.’” That’s okay, because thanks to Norris we now know for a fact that more than 500,000 people wanted to talk about race. The conversation began with 200 randomly placed small black cards. On the front: “Race. Your thoughts. 6 words. Please send.” The responses were riveting. They will have you shaking your head. Or you will nod and say to yourself, “That happened to me, I know what they mean.” No doubt you will have many of your own conversations and thoughts about what you would have said. I’m proud to be a part of this seminal project. My six words? “It’s okay to see my color.” I mean it. —Yvonne D.

A compulsive memoir elevated by performance

I listen to memoirs for one of two reasons: to hear stories similar to my own, and to hear about lives so different from my own. I’m not sure what exactly made me pick up Crystal Hefner’s memoir—I’d never been particularly interested in the mystique of Playboy and its patriarch, the late Hugh Hefner—but I’m sure this time it was the latter. Before the narrative even ventured into any of the shocking, salacious details of her time at the infamous Playboy Mansion, I was impressed by Crystal’s performance. There’s a real warmth and vulnerability to her voice, amplified in those moments she breaks into a self-deprecating chuckle as she recounts her misguided exploits or audibly chokes up recounting the heartache she experienced. Before I knew it, I had listened to the whole thing, and it had turned out to be not only a fascinating (often horrifying) glimpse into a life few could imagine—I certainly never had!—but an earnest personal reckoning. Only Say Good Things is a great example of a memoir that’s meant to be heard. —Sam D.

Hooked by the romance, returned for the fantasy

As a mostly romance listener, I am always drawn to a romantic plot. When I heard that in the midst of the action, magic, and fantasy in the Crescent City series there was a romance story, that was all it took for me to give it a listen. Two years after listening, gasping, and then re-listening to the end of House of Sky and Breath, I find myself anticipating House of Flame and Shadow, and not at all for the romance, but for Maas’s amazing world-building. I have been completely captivated by the world of faes and archangels, and their good and bad deeds. I'm especially curious to see which of my favorite characters from the Maasverse will make an appearance and assist Bryce Quinlan as she’s lost and trying to find her way back to Midgard. Elizabeth Evans, who has excellently narrated both the Crescent City and Throne of Glass series, is returning to narrate, which is the icing on the arrival of this much-anticipated cake. —Patty R.

A galvanizing chronicle of antiracist work

I look forward to anything from Ijeoma Oluo because she says what we need to hear, when we need to hear it. Her previous bestsellers, 2018’s So You Want to Talk About Race and 2020’s Mediocre: The Dangerous Legacy of White Male America, crystallized the nation’s deep-rooted issues of racism and injustice into powerful, understandable concepts that captured the zeitgeist. Her new audiobook, which arrives as many of us are feeling frustrated by the lack of change since the racial reckonings of 2020, explores the meaningful progress that is being made by principled activists. And though their stories often have an undercurrent of burnout and frustration, the most vivid theme running through them is love. Profiling changemakers in policing, prisons, education, health, housing, and more, Oluo contagiously conveys their spirited resistance while locating their work in history, providing community models and inspiration for anyone looking to take their concern, anger, and pain to a place of loving action. —Kat J.

Nothing improbable about the smiles this delivers

This darling collection of romantic shorts from some of my very favorite writers (Christina Lauren! Jasmine Guillory! 😍) was exactly the bundle of cozy joy I needed to brighten up this dreary month. Part of the Amazon Original Stories series, this collection is timed for Valentine's Day—in that all of the stories here take place on the socially sanctioned day devoted to love—but honestly, don't wait until then to listen. Rich with some of my favorite tropes (epistolary, insta-love, enemies-to-lovers), each of the six delightful rom-com shorts tees up an unlikely pair with immediate chemistry, but it's the amazingly cast performers that really turn each story into the uniquely delicious bite-sized morsels you'll want to revisit again and again. —Emily C.