Contemporary – The Audiobook Review

The Sound of Violet

13 May 2026

A gentle romance with a slightly different angle than usual. Shawn is not exactly having a great time with dating. First dates tend to fall apart quickly, largely because he struggles to read people and takes things very literally. He […]

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Nearly Departed

10 February 2026

Some stories announce their premise loudly; Nearly Departed does the opposite. It opens with death, yes, but what follows is a quiet, melancholy exploration of what it means to keep living once the worst has already happened. This isn’t a

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Review Contemporary

Gillian’s Island

2 January 2026

I went into Gillian’s Island expecting a light tropical escape, something easy on the brain with a bit of flirtation and a bit of adventure. A sapphic cruise heading for the Galapagos sounded perfect, especially with a title that winks

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Review Contemporary

Gods Behaving Badly

30 December 2025

I picked up Gods Behaving Badly partly because I remembered reading it ages ago, either on my Kindle or in a paperback that probably ended up in a charity shop. The memory was foggy enough that most of the plot

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Review Contemporary

Life Hacks for a Little Alien

24 June 2025

Life Hacks for a Little Alien by Alice Franklin is a thoughtful and quietly devastating story about a neurodivergent girl trying to make sense of a world that rarely makes sense back. It’s written in second person, technically, but not

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Review Contemporary

The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches

16 May 2025

I love a fun book title, so when I saw “The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches” by Sangu Mandanna, one quick skim of the blurb later and I knew I wanted to give it a try! It was a

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Review Contemporary

I Hope This Finds You Well

7 May 2025

Jolene Smith, a 33-year-old administrative assistant at Supershops Incorporated, has mastered the art of workplace invisibility. She has pretty much faded into the office wallpaper. Her days are a blend of passive-aggressive email threads, awkward break room encounters, and complete

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Review Contemporary

I See You’ve Called in Dead

20 April 2025

I See You’ve Called in Dead is a dryly funny, oddly uplifting slice-of-life tale that hits somewhere between existential crisis and offbeat workplace comedy. It follows Bud Stanley, an obituary writer who is barely scraping by emotionally when he accidentally

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Review Contemporary

The Evil Inclination

26 January 2025

I am not a religious person by any stretch of the imagination, so it’s always interesting to me when I listen to a story where the central characters are. In The Evil Inclination, Daniel Victor explores the meshing of two

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Review Contemporary

The States

1 October 2024

Tildy Sullivan is an emotionally broken young woman, and doormat to her more vocal and overbearing family in this interesting look into the psyche and soul of an heiress with regrets. Part romance mixed with soft science fiction and a

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Review Contemporary

Hannah – The Soldier Diaries

25 July 2024

I love a well-written short story. Crisp and to the point, and this one hit the mark. Unsurprising as I have since found out it’s based on a stage musical, so when you only have a limited amount of time

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Review Contemporary

The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue

12 September 2022

The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue, written by V. E. Schwab, is another of those books I’ve seen for ages but never got around to grabbing. So, while at a bit of a loose end on what I wanted to

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