Battle Of The Audiobooks

Now, I didn’t want to do back-to-back bookish content, but nothing non-bookish sounded interesting to me to write about outside the holiday movie I just watched. Still, I know some would look at me weirdly, and I get it, but in case you want to watch it before it is removed from Netflix on the 31^st. It is called “Haul Out the Holly” and  Haul Out the Holly: Light Up”. Anyway, a few months ago, I did the battle of the audiobooks, so I picked up five audiobooks at random or by the cover because that’s all I could see. Listen to the first chapter of each and see which one speaks to my ears the most. I have three thrillers, a nonfiction/memoir about bears, and a work of literary fiction.

I have a feeling we will jump between the years here, but the first chapter left me wanting to know more

Goodreads Blurb:

Hiding her own dark past in plain sight, a TV reporter is determined to uncover the truth behind a gruesome murder decades after the investigation was abandoned. But TWENTY YEARS LATER, to understand the present, you need to listen to the past…

Avery Mason, host of American Events, knows the subjects that grab a TV audience’s attention. Her latest story—a murder mystery laced with kinky sex, tragedy, and betrayal—is guaranteed to be ratings gold. New DNA technology has allowed the New York medical examiner’s office to make its first successful identification of a 9/11 victim in years. The twist: the victim, Victoria Ford, had been accused of the gruesome murder of her married lover. In a chilling last phone call to her sister, Victoria begged her to prove her innocence.

Emma Kind has waited twenty years to put her sister to rest, but closure won’t be complete until she can clear Victoria’s name. Alone she’s had no luck, but she’s convinced that Avery’s connections and fame will help. Avery, hoping to negotiate a more lucrative network contract, goes into investigative overdrive. Victoria had been having an affair with a successful novelist, found hanging from the balcony of his Catskills mansion. The rope, the bedroom, and the entire crime scene was covered in Victoria’s DNA.

But the twisted puzzle of Victoria’s private life is just the beginning. And what Avery doesn’t realize is that there are other players in the game who are interested in Avery’s own secret past—one she has kept hidden from both the network executives and her television audience. A secret she thought was dead and buried . . .

Accused of a brutal murder, Victoria Ford made a final chilling call from the North Tower on the morning of 9/11. Twenty years ago, no one listened. Today, you will.

If I knew this was so short, I wouldn’t have got it in audio, but the plot sounds interesting enough.

Goodreads Blurb:

Olympic silver medalist Kalista Brooks has built a successful life in California, complete with a thriving sports technology company and a handsome fiancé. But when her father’s heart condition takes a critical turn, she rushes home to Atlanta. There, her father makes a surprising to relive favorite memories from all four seasons in just one month at their old farmhouse in the Blue Ridge Mountains.

With help from the community and her long-lost sidekick Calvin Calhoon, Kalista creates a tapestry of cherished moments—dogwoods in bloom, homemade blackberry jam, autumn bonfires, and a magical winter evening that will live forever in her heart. But as father and daughter share these precious weeks together, Kalista discovers that time has a way of revealing what matters most. In the shadow of the Blue Ridge Mountains where she grew up, she learns that sometimes the sweetest seasons of life come when we least expect them.

Something isn’t what it seems, but it’s too early for me to tell what it is.

Goodreads Blurb:

You let her in. Was that your first mistake?

Stranded in Paris during an air traffic crisis, Laura offers to share her hotel room with a young woman who seems lost and alone. It’s a split-second act of kindness—one any good mother would make. But as the girl slips away at dawn, Laura feels a whisper of unease.

Weeks later, as her precious family is targeted one by one, Laura’s ordinary life completely unravels and she can’t shake the feeling that everything leads back to that night.

Suddenly she’s in a police cell, the main suspect in a serious crime. But what has she done to deserve this? Laura must battle to unlock the secret behind this darkest of nightmares, while trying to save her family.

If she fails, will it all be her fault?

I’m loving the sense of adventurous humour here.

Goodreads Blurb:

The incredible story of how one man went from a hired hunter to becoming one of America’s top champions for this iconic animal.

In this wondrous and eye-opening exploration, Steve Searles, the renowned and respected “Bear Whisperer” of Mammoth Lakes, takes the reader on a journey into the lives of these remarkable creatures and the world we share.

In the late 1990s, the town of Mammoth Lakes, California hired Steve Searles as a hunter to cull half its troublesome bear population. But as he began to prepare for the grim task, the bears soon won him over, and Searles realized there had to be a better way. He soon developed non-lethal tactics to control their behavior and overpopulation that heralded a landmark moment in the care and handling of the American black bear.

But change was not without its challenges. To some, his success was dismissed due to his lack of formal academic training. Yet Searles never wavered in his commitment, and eventually became not just local folk hero but a nationally recognized expert. This high school dropout saved not just the bears, but, in many ways, his community.

In a tradition that runs from John Muir to Bear Grylls, Searles finds a fellowship with nature and a deeper meaning in the world of bears. Do bears understand things we don’t? Are they dialed in to some greater natural force?

Unlike us, bears waste little time on unreasonable fears. Bears are fully in the moment. They have an inner peace that seems to offset their power and strength. That may explain why no other animal on the planet is as revered as the bear.

As Searles shares his remarkable knowledge and we become immersed in the ursine world, you’ll never look at bears or nature the same way again. Warm and poignant, and perfect for anyone who has been fascinated by the natural world, What the Bears Know shows that wisdom and fulfillment can come from unexpected places.

It started weirdly, and it didn’t pull in like the others did, but I will listen a bit more before I give up on it.

Goodreads Blurb:

this time about a woman whose notorious father died when she was a child, but whose legacy comes back to haunt her.Blanche Potter never expected to face her past again—but she can’t escape it. Blanche, an up-and-coming filmmaker, has distanced herself in every way she can from her father, the notorious killer and cult leader, Chuck Varner. In 1996, when she was a small child, he went on a shooting spree before turning the gun on himself. Now, Blanche learns that her mother has been murdered. She returns to her childhood home, where she soon discovers there’s more to the death than police are willing to reveal. The officer who’s handling the case is holding information back, and a journalist who’s nosing around the investigation is taking an unusual interest in Blanche’s family. Blanche begins to suspect that Chuck Varner’s cult has found a new life, and that her mother’s murder was just the beginning of the cult’s next chapter. Then another killing occurs.

In all honesty, even if I shared the blurbs with you, I didn’t read them because I don’t want to be spoiled at all.

And the winner is…

And you, which one would you pick to read first?