2026 Audiobooks – Rosepoint Publishing

Trust No One: A Thriller by James Rollins #AudiobookReview #InternationalMystery&Crime

Book Blurb:

Knowledge can be magic—until it falls into the wrong hands.

The ritualistic murder of a British professor at the University of Exeter points to a startling cast of suspects: his own students. All are enrolled in a postgraduate program covering the history of witchcraft, folklore, and spiritualism.

All evidence points to Sharyn Karr—an American student. Prior to the professor’s death, he had thrust a centuries-old book upon her. It appears to be the handwritten and encrypted diary of an eighteenth-century mystic and occultist, the Comte de Saint-Germain. The professor begged her to keep the text safe, ending with a warning: Trust no one.

Such a responsibility forces her into cooperation with Duncan Maxwell, a fellow postgrad and the sixteenth in line to the British Crown. Already, Duncan has proven himself a savant with encryptions. Unfortunately, the pair clash at every level, but they both need one another. Especially when they discover the book’s opening words: Herein lies the secret to my immortality. Come find me, if you dare.

As dark forces close upon the pair, she and her friends are forced to flee, pursued by law enforcement and hunted by a powerful cabal. In an explosive chase across Europe—from the Tower of London to Parisian chateaus to a fortress in the Italian Alps—Sharyn must learn the true secret hidden in Saint-Germain’s text. It will send her and the others across history and deep into the heart of one of the world’s greatest mysteries, a secret buried at the roots of Western Civilization, a discovery that could topple empires and change humanity forever.

For what lies at the end of Saint-Germain’s diary is as shocking as its opening words.

My Review:

Definitely not what I expected. I read the author’s name and downloaded. Then I read the blurb. So, my month continues.

This one reminded me of the wild movie series Indiana Jones or the Da Vinci Code but in this particular novel there is that history of witchcraft and folklore, which usually draws me in. I found this novel to start in a rather slow to set-the-scene kind of way.

But it never hooks like Indiana Jones or achieves the pace. The plot is interesting and poses several questions. (Treasure?) The main character is a young woman carefully chosen to protect a book too valuable to leave with the professor who knows his ownership may warrant violence.

Realizing she may be in over her head, Sharyn Karr (American) enlists the aid of Duncan Maxwell (British). Predictably, they mix like oil and water, but with their heads together, they do present an indomitable force. The problem is, I didn’t really get invested in either. I’m not sure they were developed sufficiently for that—the focus is on the search for the secret in the book.

It doesn’t take long before the professor has turned up dead and the two postgrads realize they are in a world of hurt. They’ll flee with the book as they also try to decrypt it and determine that it is far more important than either initially thought. Are they looking for treasure, or is the treasure more a biological secret? Both?

I did enjoy the narrator who did a fine job with the French language. It was a fun little European jaunt sampling Paris and the Italian Alps until the two find themselves trying to survive against both factions (the black-hearted Brotherhood and the Guardians) deep in the limestone caverns of the Alps escaping through subterranean chambers of ice caves.

And I can tell you from experience that ice caves are no fun.

Perhaps lacking the visual thrill of the Indiana Jones flick, it didn’t always keep my rapt attention, although I give credit to the narrator for inflicting as much ferocity as he could.

Are they able to discover the secrets hidden in the book? Wait. What happened to it? While some found it fast-paced and fascinating, I listened with half an ear sometimes. If you are a solid fan of the author, go for it.

Many thanks to my local library for providing me with the opportunity to listen to and review this audiobook. The thoughts expressed here are my own.

Rosepoint Publishing: Three point Five Stars

Book Details:

Genre: International Mystery & Crime, Action Thriller & Suspense Fiction, War & Military Fiction
Publisher: William Morrow
Narrator: Simon Vance
Release Date: February 24, 2026

Title Links:

Amazon-US | Amazon-UK | Barnes & Noble | Kobo

The Author: James Rollins is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of international thrillers. His writing has been translated into more than forty languages and has sold more than 20 million books. The New York Times says, “Rollins is what you might wind up with if you tossed Michael Crichton and Dan Brown into a particle accelerator together.” NPR calls his work, “Adventurous and enormously engrossing.” Rollins unveils unseen worlds, scientific breakthroughs, and historical secrets matched with stunning suspense. As a veterinarian, he had a practice in Sacramento for over a decade and still volunteers at local shelters. Nowadays, Rollins shares his home up in the Sierra Nevada Mountains with two furry companions, Echo and Charlie. He also enjoys scuba diving, spelunking, kayaking, and hiking. Of course, he loves to travel and experience new places around the world, which often inspire his next globe-trotting adventure.

Audiobooks

This Story Might Save Your Life by Tiffany Crum #AudiobookReview #DomesticThriller

Best Mystery, Thriller & Suspense

Book Blurb:

Benny Abbott and Joy Moore host one of the most beloved podcasts in the world. Each week, they delight listeners with a different “against all odds” survival story, gleefully finding the weird, life-affirming humor in near-death experiences. Since their first episode on Joy’s experience with severe narcolepsy, they’ve been the best friends everyone wants to befriend—and thanks to the meticulous management of Joy’s husband, Xander, they’ve built a lucrative empire.

The problem is, their next survival story may be their own. When Benny arrives at Joy and Xander’s one morning to record, he finds shattered glass and an empty house. The one clue shedding light on the couple’s disappearance is the incomplete, previously unseen first draft of Joy’s memoir. Benny will stop at nothing to find them, even as the police zero in on him as their prime suspect.

Millions of devoted listeners think they know the “real” Benny and Joy. But as the hours tick by, and the odds seem increasingly stacked against Joy and Xander being found alive, not even the most devoted fans could guess the terrible secrets their favorite famous BFFs have hidden from the world—and from each other.

My Review:

Maybe this just isn’t my month for five-star reads. I’m thinking perhaps I had too high expectations for this one. The title is intriguing; I like mysteries, and thought this is supposed to be one. I seem to be getting romance novels under the guise of mystery and by now you all know I’m not a fan of romance.

Joy and Benny host a podcast exploiting survival stories, the first of which was her own stemming from Joy’s experience with narcolepsy—an interesting little side device in the plot. Joy met and married Xander, who ends up managing the podcast and their direction.

Benny is not a childhood friend of Joy’s as they met later and formed a very close relationship. It was discovered early that they sparked off each other to the delight of everyone around them and found a way to utilize that gift.

This Story Might Save Your Life by Tiffany Crum — This Story Might Save Your Life – UK cover

The “mystery” starts when Benny arrives one morning at Joy’s home to find what appears to have been a break-in and both Joy and Xander missing. He finds a memoir Joy has left behind as a way to leave him clues and hides it before the police can discover it. This is where the storyline splits with Benny periodically reading another portion of the memoir and the ability to peer into Joy’s life with Xander—not the dream boat she’d imagined. (Enter domestic abuse theme.)

Eventually, Xander is found deceased and suddenly the police are looking at Benny. (Enter reader rolling her eyes.)

Okay. For the record, I was unable to invest in any of the characters, though Joy was well developed, found her relationship with Benny a bit much, the romance becoming a bore. The dialogue was rather immature, the pacing already slow being interrupted with the investigation to return to the romance. (Inner groan)

While some of it not already divulged in denouement, it wasn’t a surprise. All of a sudden everything was fine again. End.

It annoyed me throughout that both characters refused to acknowledge their friendship had gone deeper. Why weren’t they just honest with each other?

I’m aware that because I’m such a romance snoot and in the minority the majority of the time, I have to acknowledge that with so many enjoying the book, perhaps there again just not a book I should have attempted. If you enjoy romance, then maybe you’ll enjoy a predictable romance with an ending you already guessed.

Many thanks to my local library for providing me with the opportunity to listen to and review this audiobook. The thoughts expressed here are my own.

Rosepoint Publishing: Three Stars

Book Details:

Genre: Domestic Thrillers, Romantic Suspense
Publisher: Macmillan Audio
Narrator: Julia Whelan, Sean Patrick Hopkins
Release Date: March 10, 2026

Title Links:

Amazon-US | Amazon-UK | Barnes & Noble | Kobo

The Author: Tiffany Crum grew up on a dairy farm just down the road from a maximum-security prison. A longtime Californian, she worked a variety of jobs in the film industry before earning her MFA in creative writing. She now lives in Atlanta with her husband, sons, and dogs, and spends her free time trying to keep her vegetable garden alive. This Story Might Save Your Life is her debut novel.

Audiobooks with headphones — Graphic books and coffee courtesy Freepik.com

Where the Wildflowers Grow by Terah Shelton Harris #AudiobookReview #SouthernUnitedStatesLiterature

Book Blurb:

NAMED A MOST ANTICIPATED BOOK OF THE YEAR BY Goodreads, Essence, Sunset Magazine, SheReads, BookBub, and more!

From acclaimed author Terah Shelton Harris comes a poignant story of survival and redemption that questions what it means to stop existing and start living.

Leigh is the last of the Wildes. She knows this because she watched them all die.

Grief never truly fades and even as the tragedy haunts her, Leigh carries on, because survival is in her blood. So, when the transport bus taking her to prison careens off the road, killing everyone onboard except her, she does what’s in her nature. She survives.

While searching for a place to hide, Leigh stumbles upon an unexpected sanctuary: a flower farm in rural Alabama tucked away from the world. What Leigh doesn’t expect is the found family there who have built something from the wreckage of their own lives. Especially Jackson, the farm’s owner, who sees through Leigh’s defenses, offers her small moments of tenderness, encourages her to face her own tragedies. Slowly, Leigh finds peace with the hard pace and soft nature of the farm, taking comfort in the life blooming around her. Maybe she’s not beyond redemption, not too broken for something good. And maybe, just maybe, Leigh starts to heal.

But the past isn’t so easily buried.

No matter how far she runs, the truth of who she is and the ghosts of the Wildes follow. And when those secrets catch up to her, threatening everything she’s come to love, Leigh will have to truly face what she can survive.

My Review:

My first book with this author had me hanging breathless on every word when Leandra struggles to evacuate the prison bus that crashes into water. Not the first time she has witnessed death, not the first time she is unable to save the one person on the bus that she tried to repay the compassion shown her. She knows the crushing feeling of survivor’s guilt.

But that’s the point, isn’t it? She is now, has always been, the survivor.

So I was pretty well hooked by the time Leandra found the wildflower farm and became Leigh. For some time, she is skiddish as a wild horse and almost as onery. But the men, from a wild divergence of life experience and ages, take her in and show her nothing but kindness and patience.

There are some lengthy flashbacks to Leigh’s life, her family, her father, and the sister she was unable to save, but the full story of how she ends up in prison is dribbled out in tantalizing tidbit by tidbit.

When the book goes from suspense, thriller, literature, to romance, the reader is already hooked and hungry for how this will all play out. As a reader, it’s difficult to walk in those shoes unless your experience mirrors the main character. The mental and emotional toll on the MC is almost unfathomable and the writing is sensitive enough to convey the weight of it. It weighs on the reader as well.

It’s assumed that even as you are pretty sure you know where this is going, you might still be surprised. Would she stay long enough to get the money to move on? Or risk staying and eventually be found.

Jackson on audiobook remains steadfastly quietly spoken, philosophical, and patient throughout. His audiobook voice is lovely, soothing. Would it quell the savage beast that Leigh assumed she must be to survive, or is the land, the men, the work and philosophy enough to turn that person around? And it espouses lots of philosophy, beautifully written prose, and Jackson, smart as he is, can’t always know what’s in her heart. She has secrets.

Themes of abuse (mental and physical), poverty, family drama and dark relationships, racial prejudice.

I wasn’t a fan of the book flipping between the story I thought we started and the romance that ends it. Not a fan of romance in general, so I was disappointed when it seemed to resort to a default genre. Leigh amazes me with her decision at the end of the book, and it was a testament to how much she’d grown, the only real answer. Happy doesn’t always come ever after and this time not for a long time.

Many thanks to my local library for providing me with the opportunity to listen to and review this audiobook. The thoughts expressed here are my own.

Rosepoint Publishing: Four Stars

Book Details:

Genre: Southern United States Literature, Southern Fiction, Black & African American Women’s Fiction
Publisher: Sourcebooks
Narrator: Tracie Thoms, Diontae Black, Terah Shelton Harris
Release Date: February 17, 2026

Title Links:

Amazon-US | Amazon-UK | Barnes & Noble | Kobo

The Author: TERAH SHELTON HARRIS is an author and former librarian, who now writes upmarket fiction with bittersweet endings. She is the author of One Summer in Savannah and Long After We Are Gone. Her books have been chosen as a Target Book Club pick, LibraryReads pick, Kobo Best Book, Together We Read pick, Publisher’s Marketplace Buzz Book, and a Goodreads Choice Awards nominee for Best Debut. Terah was also named Target’s first Author of the Year. Her third book, Where the Wildflowers Grow, will be published in October 2025.

Enjoy Your Sunday

Hidden Pictures: A Novel by Jason Rekulak #AudiobookReview #ThrowbackThursday #ParanormalSuspense

Best Mystery, Thriller & Suspense

Winner for Readers’ Favorite Horror (2022)

Book Blurb:

2022 Goodreads Choice Awards, Winner
2022 Amazon.com Best Books of the Year, Long-listed
2022 Barnes and Noble Best New Books of the Year, Long-listed
2022 Chapters Indigo Best of the Year, Long-listed

Fresh out of rehab, Mallory Quinn takes a job as a babysitter for Ted and Caroline Maxwell. She is to look after their five-year-old son, Teddy.

Mallory immediately loves it. She has her own living space, goes out for nightly runs, and has the stability she craves. And she sincerely bonds with Teddy, a sweet, shy boy who is never without his sketchbook and pencil. His drawings are the usual fare: trees, rabbits, balloons. But one day, he draws something different: a man in a forest, dragging a woman’s lifeless body.

Then, Teddy’s artwork becomes increasingly sinister, and his stick figures quickly evolve into lifelike sketches well beyond the ability of any five-year-old. Mallory begins to wonder if these are glimpses of a long-unsolved murder, perhaps relayed by a supernatural force.

Knowing just how crazy it all sounds, Mallory nevertheless sets out to decipher the images and save Teddy before it’s too late.

A Macmillan Audio production from Flatiron Books.

My Review:

Ah, gee, this is one of those books that start out whiz-bang and then halfway to two-thirds in goes off the rail.

Mallory isn’t long out of rehab when she lands a nanny job for a five-year-old. For her a dream job; her own little space, freedom, and she bonds with the boy, Teddy, no prob.

The parents were extremely specific on rules, and they had rules for everything, but it worked until Teddy started drawing details of a murder well beyond the ability of his years.

Gleaning the house history from new friends in the area, she begins to put together a lot of pieces that spell a story that’s hard to believe. When she broaches the subject to the parents, they dispute everything, deny everything, and intentionally misdirect her.

Hidden Pictures by Jason Rekulak — Hidden Pictures – UK cover

Mallory isn’t stupid (or maybe she is?), but there are so many problems with the idea that a nanny wouldn’t know the child better than she did to be surprised by the big twist. And the parents are further out than I thought—though something was off from the beginning—but Mallory was luxuriating in her circumstances and didn’t really think about the big picture for a while.

It just starts getting nutsy after that. Twists. Twists that add confusion. Twists that are just added to add twists(?).

It’s a fast-paced narrative, but after a while with one outrageous scene heaped on the last, it just gets too far over the top; only so much suspending of disbelief. Also, not a fan of a long-winded denouement.

This one starts out as a mild thriller then dissolves into a wild babblethon. If you enjoy reading this author and a suspense that goes awry, you may find this one compelling. I just couldn’t get past a few of the suppositions.

Many thanks to my local library for providing me with the opportunity to listen to and review this audiobook. The thoughts expressed here are my own.

Rosepoint Publishing: Three Stars

Book Details:

Genre: Paranormal Suspense, Murder Thrillers, Horror Literature & Fiction
Publisher:
Macmillan Audio
Narrator: Suzy Jackson
Release Date: May 10, 2022

Title Links:

Amazon-US | Amazon-UK | Barnes & Noble | Kobo

The Author: Jason Rekulak is the author of HIDDEN PICTURES (winner of a Goodreads Choice Award), THE IMPOSSIBLE FORTRESS (an Edgar Award finalist) and THE LAST ONE AT THE WEDDING (winner of the ITW Award for Best Thriller). His new suspense novel LOOK WHAT THE CAT DRAGGED IN pounces into bookstores on October 13, 2026. His novels have been translated into 40+ languages. He lives with his family in Philadelphia.

#ThrowbackThursday

Ask Again, Yes: A Novel by Mary Beth Keane #AudiobookReview #ThrowbackThursday #ComingofAgeFiction

Editors’ pick Best Books of the Year 2019

Book Blurb:

How much can a family forgive?

Francis Gleeson and Brian Stanhope, rookie NYPD cops, are neighbors in the suburbs. What happens behind closed doors in both houses—the loneliness of Francis’s wife, Lena, and the instability of Brian’s wife, Anne, sets the stage for the explosive events to come.

In Mary Beth Keane’s extraordinary novel, a lifelong friendship and love blossoms between Kate Gleeson and Peter Stanhope, born six months apart. One shocking night their loyalties are divided, and their bond will be tested again and again over the next thirty years. Heartbreaking and redemptive, Ask Again, Yes is a gorgeous and generous portrait of the daily intimacies of marriage and the power of forgiveness.

My Review:

Oh, look! It’s me swimming upstream again!

This is an intergenerational story that is told from multiple POVs. It starts out well with a hook regarding the two children that will grow into adulthood and through their children as well in a span of thirty years.

Peter and Kate are drawn to each other for some unfathomable reason after Peter moves nearby with his family. While Kate’s mother is happy and excited to welcome Peter’s mother to the neighborhood, Peter’s mother wants none of it and refuses attempts at being friendly neighbors. Both fathers are officers in the local police department.

Peter’s mother has taken a strong disliking toward Kate when the kids become teenagers and what starts as a small altercation escalates into a horrific tragedy for both families.

It’s a tragedy that will mark all members of both families the rest of their lives. After that whole scene is over, the rest of the story mumbles on until the reader is hoping for something…anything…just not more tragedy. But that’s what you get.

This reminded me of the years, generations ago, when the two in a totally miserable marriage but stayed together “for the children.”

That only served to make the children as miserable as the adults and colored the children’s relationships for the rest of their lives. And so it does here. The two cops were both Irish, initially bonded over that background, and along with that culture the alcohol associations.

I thought the pace to be agonizingly slow and felt most sorry for Kate. I couldn’t invest in either of the fathers, Peter’s mother was just dreadful, and I felt would never again be ready to be unleashed on society. Peter was so damaged, I just didn’t want to hear it. Somewhere in the middle, the plot broad jumped the timeline, which distracted the storyline forcing the reader to play catch up.

Sorry, but I just found it depressing and kept thinking about the kids—digesting this dysfunction until you can believe that if that’s what they learned, they’ll pass it on to the next generation. UGH.

It’s dark, full of flawed characters that even the ending only seemed to make worse. There were questions unanswered and nothing resolved. I breathed a sigh of relief when the end was declared.

This book was rather controversial with readers on both sides but Amazon awarded an Editors’ pick for Best Books of 2019. So you can decide whether this family life fiction is for you or not. I can’t recommend.

Many thanks to my local library for providing me with the opportunity to listen to and review this audiobook. The thoughts expressed here are my own.

Rosepoint Publishing: Two point Three Stars

Book Details:

Genre: Coming of Age Fiction, Family Life Fiction
Publisher: Simon & Schuster Audio
Narrator: Molly Pope
Release Date: May 28, 2019

Title Links:

Amazon-US | Amazon-UK | Barnes & Noble | Kobo

The Author: Mary Beth Keane is the author of five novels, including Ask Again, Yes, which was a New York Times Best Seller, The Tonight Show Summer Reads pick, and has been translated into twenty-two languages. Keane was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship in the Creative Arts, and has received citations from the National Book Foundation, PEN, and the Hemingway Society. Her new novel, Whale Harbor, is forthcoming from Scribner Books on September 29, 2026.

#TuesdayBookBlog

By Any Other Name: A Novel by Jodi Picoult #AudiobookReview #FictionSagas #TuesdayBookBlog

Editors’ pick Best Books of the Year 2024

Book Blurb:

Young playwright Melina Green has just written a new work inspired by the life of her Elizabethan ancestor Emilia Bassano. But seeing it performed is unlikely, in a theater world where the playing field isn’t level for women. As Melina wonders if she dares risk failure again, her best friend takes the decision out of her hands and submits the play to a festival under a male pseudonym.

In 1581, young Emilia Bassano is a ward of English aristocrats. Her lessons on languages, history, and writing have endowed her with a sharp wit and a gift for storytelling, but like most women of her day, she is allowed no voice of her own. Forced to become a mistress to the Lord Chamberlain, who oversees all theatre productions in England, Emilia sees firsthand how the words of playwrights can move an audience. She begins to form a plan to secretly bring a play of her own to the stage—by paying an actor named William Shakespeare to front her work.

Told in intertwining timelines, By Any Other Name, a sweeping tale of ambition, courage, and desire centers two women who are determined to create something beautiful despite the prejudices they face. Should a writer do whatever it takes to see her story live on . . . no matter the cost? This remarkable novel, rooted in primary historical sources, ensures the name Emilia Bassano will no longer be forgotten.

My Review:

Oh, the whispers! Did Shakespeare really write his volume of works? A controversy long ballied back and forth. Forced to read Shakespeare in high school, of course, the introduction to the master and most definitely the reason I failed to seek out further works.

In this overly long narrative (much like Shakespeare’s works), there is a split timeline, a device I usually enjoy. Emilia Bassano is a talented writer in the sixteenth century, although in a severely female-restricted era struggles to get her works noticed. Actually, I thought it unusual a woman back then was taught to read or write, but failing to find any success, compels Shakespeare to publish her works under his name.

The author has obviously researched the subject well and sets forth some very compelling arguments, positing Shakespeare as a publisher of various authors while using his name and position. The writers of the pieces, usually so thrilled to see their works in the public are happy to pay Shakespeare just to have it published.

Gees! She had me convinced her theories made a lot of sense!

Come Melina Green, a playwright who has just written a piece regarding her Elizabethan ancestor, Emilia, and we are thrust into contemporary times and still very much a male-dominated industry not wholly unlike that of Emilia’s.

By Any Other Name by Jodi Picoult — By Any Other Name – UK cover

Not sure why, but I seem to find the story of the ancestor more persuasive than the descendant. Shakespeare is very well developed as a character. He oozes a superior male attitude, demonstrates the good old boy posture with his male buddies, and knows how to make money. You get to know Shakespeare and turns out he is a man like many others except he was credited with writing upwards of forty plays.

For me, the Melina chapters tended to slow the pace and let’s face it, this is a very long book. I felt Emilia was fleshed more fully, a real woman back then with a mind of her own and backbone to push her agenda. It was fun that Melina’s roommate, Andre, submitted her work, and he also proved an interesting, well-developed character.

Certainly enough food for thought, grist for the mill and all that. I enjoyed the concept and thought in a debate, the author could well hold her own. Readers who enjoy split timelines and well-researched literary fiction would find this an engaging read—or listen. Just look at the list of narrators! They definitely help to keep your attention. Now, if it just wasn’t quite so long.

Many thanks to my local library for providing me with the opportunity to listen to and review this audiobook. The thoughts expressed here are my own.

Rosepoint Publishing: Four Stars

Book Details:

Genre: Fiction Sagas, Family Saga Fiction, Literary Fiction
Publisher: Random House Audio
Narrators: Billie Fulford-Brown, Laura Benanti, Jodi Picoult, Jayne Entwistle, Andrew Fallaize, Joe Jameson, John Lee, Nicholas Guy Smith, Simon Vance, Steve West
Release Date: August 20, 2024

Title Links:

Amazon-US | Amazon-UK | Barnes & Noble | Kobo

The Author: Jodi Picoult is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of twenty-nine novels, including Mad Honey, Wish You Were Here, The Book of Two Ways, A Spark of Light, Small Great Things, Leaving Time, and My Sister’s Keeper, and, with daughter Samantha van Leer, two young adult novels, Between the Lines and Off the Page. Picoult lives in New Hampshire.

Follow Jodi Picoult on Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, and Twitter: @jodipicoult

#TuesdayBookBlog

Free Ride by Noraly Schoemaker–Heartbreak, Courage, and the 20,000 Mile Motorcycle Journey That Changed My Life #AudiobookReview #ThrowbackThursday

Book Blurb:

INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER

By the YouTube sensation with three million followers, the inspiring account of a young woman who, in a moment of personal crisis, embarked on an epic, transcontinental motorcycle ride—and along the way found a new sense of purpose.

Noraly Schoenmaker was a thirtysomething geologist living in the Netherlands when she learned that her live-in partner had been having an affair. In desperate need of a new beginning, she decided to quit her job and jet off to India. But her plans were dashed when she fell quickly and helplessly in love: with a motorcycle. Behind the handlebars of a Royal Enfield, a short tour of the Himalayas quickly morphed into an epic 20,000-mile journey. She would cover remote and utterly unfamiliar territory, break down on impossibly steep mountains, and push too many miles down empty roads. But through her travels, she discovered the true beauty and simplicity of the world’s open spaces, the kindness of its people, and a newfound, unshakable belief in her capabilities.

Free Ride is a “no-frill, from-the-heart” (BBC) story of self-discovery and renewal that is filled with unforgettable figures and hilarious disasters, showing what happens when you open your heart and let the world in.

Free Ride banner posted on Amazon — Free Ride banner courtesy Amazon book page.

My Review:

One of my bookblogger buddies recommended this book to me and so glad she did. Not like I didn’t have riding buddies in my women’s riding groups that pulled some amazing miles, but granted, though many of them enjoyed off-road bikes, I wasn’t one of them. I was definitely more the cruiser type, not the Road King level cruiser, but my BMW caught many an eye.

Having gotten separated from my riding buddy as we were approaching Death Valley (she stopped for breakfast and I thought we were going straight through), I seldom rode alone. When I stopped at Furnace Creek to ask about her, was asked if I was riding alone, and if I had plenty of water. I told him, yes, for the bike. I didn’t plan to stop.

This woman rider was riding an off-road bike—400 lbs fully loaded…and single cylinder (Royal Enfield. I forget which model and I’ve also forgotten whether it was air/oil cooled rather than liquid cooled—might have been important considering where she was riding).

Not like she hadn’t ridden before, just that she wasn’t used to riding off paved roads.

Discovering her partner had been cheating on her for some time, she decided the best way to get over it was to get a bike and ride. Not the first time that’s happened, just a little extreme in this case.

Based out of the Netherlands, she had designs on riding to India. But that ride quickly gave her the taste for more…the Himalayas and frigid temps, wide open spaces and deserts, roads barely more than goat paths.

Taking off with as little prep or knowledge as she had, she did give some thought to getting some lessons on the way, which helped as there was almost no obstacle she didn’t encounter, including engine problems, flat tires, quest for gas, food, and shelter. For the most part, she found only men willing to help (not menace), and appeared to navigate customs, language, and clothing fairly well.

I enjoyed the tidbits of history, their food, culture, and language as well as her personal history, but the latter of which temporarily interrupted the pace of her narrative. She usually held a positive outlook, and when confronted with situations that appeared hopeless with the equipment or a remote location, kept her wits about her, puzzling out solutions.

Having worked as a geologist in remote areas, she was not unfamiliar with periods of total isolation. Her experiences with extreme weather and the people she met along the way served to forge a new reality in her and she came to revel in her strengths and the ability to overcome critical conditions and decision-making.

“Only motorcyclists can truly understand the appeal of a ridiculously loud exhaust.”

I would think anyone who has ever ridden would enjoy her book and marvel at the accomplishments made by a solo female rider in unfamiliar territory. It’s a fascinating chronicle and confirms what we always said, “It’s not the destination—it’s the ride!”

Many thanks to my local library for providing me with the opportunity to listen to and review this audiobook. The thoughts expressed here are my own.

Rosepoint Publishing: Four point Five Stars

Book Details:

Genre: Transportation Engineering, Travelogues & Travel Essays, Travel Writing & Commentary
Publisher: Simon & Schuster Audio
Narrator: Imani Jade Powers
Release Date: June 3, 2025

Title Links:

Amazon-US | Amazon-UK | Barnes & Noble | Kobo

The Author: Noraly Schoenmaker is the creator of Itchy Boots, a YouTube channel with three million loyal subscribers. A motorcycling obsessive, her journeys have taken her the length of the American continent, from Argentina to Alaska; from the northernmost point of Europe to the southernmost point of Africa; and to some of the least traveled regions of the globe. Trained as a biologist and geologist, she is based in the Netherlands. [Amazon]

Noraly Schoenmaker, known as Itchy Boots, is a Dutch adventurer and popular content creator on YouTube, renowned for her thrilling motorcycle journeys around the world. She initially worked as a geologist in gold exploration but later decided to leave her job to follow her passion for travel and adventure.

She launched her YouTube channel in 2018, documenting her adventures across various continents, including Asia, Africa, and South America, in a simple and engaging style. Noraly shares her daily experiences on the road, including the challenges she faces on rough terrains and in harsh weather conditions, making her content both realistic and inspiring.

Noraly has gained widespread fame for her courage and love of exploring the world, inspiring her followers to pursue their dreams and embrace new experiences. The Itchy Boots channel has become a favorite destination for adventure and travel enthusiasts, showcasing how passion can transform lives. [Goodreads]

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https://www.itchyboots.com/

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The Astral Library: A Novel by Kate Quinn #AudiobookReview #MagicalRealismFiction

in Magical Realism Fiction

Book Blurb:

From New York Times bestselling author Kate Quinn comes a gorgeously written fantastical adventure which poses the question: Have you ever wished you could live inside a book? Welcome to the Astral Library, where books are not just objects, but doors to new worlds, new lives, and new futures. Beautifully performed by award winning narrator, Saskia Maarleveld.

Alexandria “Alix” Watson has learned one lesson from her barren childhood in the foster-care system: unlike people, books will never let you down. Working three dead-end jobs to make ends meet and knowing college is a pipe dream, Alix takes nightly refuge in the high-vaulted reading room at the Boston Public Library, escaping into her favorite fantasy novels and dreaming of far-off lands. Until the day she stumbles through a hidden door and meets the Librarian: the ageless, acerbic guardian of a hidden library where the desperate and the lost escape to new lives…inside their favorite books.

The Librarian takes a dazzled Alix under her wing, but before she can escape into the pages of her new life, a shadowy enemy emerges to threaten everyone the Astral Library has ever helped protect. Aided by a dashing costume-shop owner, Alix and the Librarian flee through the Regency drawing rooms of Jane Austen to the back alleys of Sherlock Holmes and the champagne-soaked parties of The Great Gatsby as danger draws inexorably closer. But who does their enemy really wish to destroy—Alix, the Librarian, or the Library itself? Includes a bonus conversation with Kate Quinn, Saskia Maarleveld, and Tessa Woodward (editor of The Astral Library).

My Review:

From the creative mind and the commanding master of her craft comes the author from a whole new direction no one saw coming. I devoured her 20^th Century books and looked for more—jumped on this one and noted Saskia Maarleveld as narrator. An absolute powerhouse of audiobooks. And a departure from anything I expected. Note to Self: Must read the book blurb in addition to author and narrator.

Stretching my chops as a reader into fantasy, a genre heaven knows I don’t often do.

But, hey, we’re talking Kate Quinn and I must admit it is an uncommon and unique experience. Written well, haven’t you put yourself in a book? FMC Alexandria “Alix” Watson has learned to do that. Within the Boston Public Library, she often escaped her fierce struggle for survival as a foster care kid. But this time, she also happens upon a hidden door that opens to another library, a librarian, and books. These books are different.

Alix is a great character, full of the feisty intelligence we are used to in a female protagonist from a Quinn novel. There are some strong support characters as well. Appreciated the fashion descriptions of the different periods; the sights and sounds all come alive under Quinn’s pen.

I loved escaping to Boston. Drank in the historic atmosphere, the buildings, the people, food and drink, then to be whisked away to London or…? Alix is not the only one who has found a refuge from tedious lives, however. Having made a choice to escape into the book of their choice, some may not have turned out to be the glorious and safe haven they expected.

The antagonist appears to be the library board, which is ready to change the rules, and it’s a fight Alix eagerly tackles. The storytelling blurred just a bit for me there. There is a modicum of romance and the character of the Astral librarian is a hoot. I loved the shout-out to the various authors of the classic novels. It’s a prose-filled exploration of simultaneous alternate lives.

Heavy into fantasy, metaphysical, and Quinn books, you’ll enjoy the departure of her famously popular historical fiction novels. I enjoyed it, but must admit it won’t be my favorite Quinn book.

Many thanks to my local library for providing me with the opportunity to listen to and review this audiobook. The thoughts expressed here are my own.

Rosepoint Publishing: Four Stars

Book Details:

Genre: Magical Realism Fiction, Fantasy Action & Adventure, #Literary Fiction
Publisher: William Morrow
Narrator: Kate Quinn, Saskia Maarleveld
Release Date: February 17, 2026

Title Links:

Amazon-US | Amazon-UK | Barnes & Noble | Kobo

The Author: Kate Quinn is the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of historical fiction. A native of southern California, she attended Boston University where she earned a Bachelor’s and Master’s degree in Classical Voice. She has written four novels in the Empress of Rome Saga, and two books in the Italian Renaissance, before turning to the 20th century with “The Alice Network”, “The Huntress,” “The Rose Code,” “The Diamond Eye,” and “The Briar Club.” She is also a co-author in several collaborative novels including “The Phoenix Crown” with Janie Chang and “Ribbons of Scarlet” with Stephanie Dray, Laura Kamoie, Eliza Knight, Sophie Perinot, and Heather Webb. “The Astral Library,” releasing in 2026, is her first foray into magical realism. Kate and her husband now live in Maryland with their two rescue dogs.