We’re finishing up our Best of 2020 series with Caz’s favorites.
Audiobooks aren’t always published at the same time as their print equivalents, so some of the titles on this list were available in print prior to 2020. In fact, only FOUR of my choices here appeared in both print AND audio in 2020. All my favourites got at least ONE A grade and nothing lower than a B+. Here, in no particular order, are my favourite listens of 2020.
This story of two men who are stranded on a remote island kept me enthralled from start to finish. The author does a fantastic job of developing a relationship between two strangers who have to rely on each other for survival, and then of showing them gradually falling for the person who comes to mean more than anyone. This is one of several audiobooks on my Best of 2020 list narrated by Greg Boudreaux who, no matter how many times I listen to him, never fails to impress with his ability to get into the heads of the characters he portrays and to hit all the emotional beats in a story.
Buy Beyond the Sea by Keira Andrews on Amazon
This one squeezed in right at the end of the year (released on 17th December) but there was no way it wasn’t going to make this list. This is the first book in a new series set a few years before the Hazard and Somerset books, and it features a gripping mystery, one of the author’s typically odd-but-perfect-for-each-other pairings, and the beginnings of a gorgeous, frustrating but totally compelling slow-burn. JF Harding’s portrayal of the two leads and the depth of their emotional connection is perfect, and his entire performance is truly outstanding.
Buy They Told Me I Was Everything by Gregory Ashe on Amazon
This is one of the most unique and affecting romances I’ve ever listened to, a gorgeous, slow-burn, second chance romance with a difference. It’s impossible to encapsulate the story in just a few lines – it’s sexy and angsty and compelling and I loved it. John Solo delivers one of his best performances to date, conveying the myriad of emotions present in the story and bringing the characters and the story to rich, vibrant life.
Buy Any Given Lifetime by Leta Blake on Amazon
Boyfriend Material is hands down my favourite contemporary romance of 2020, and is, IMO, the best-rom com ever. It’s a fun, silly, sexy, trope-y fake-relationship story that is frequently hilarious but has a more serious side, too, a story about acceptance and the need to be true to oneself. Joe Jameson is a new-to-me narrator and I admit I wasn’t sure about him when I listened to the sample, but I took a chance and I’m glad I did, because his performance completely won me over.
Buy Boyfriend Material by Alexis Hall on Amazon
I admit I wasn’t quite sure Cornell Collins was the right narrator for this one to start with, but he proved me wrong and delivered an excellent performance that really captured the essence of the two leads. Pansies is a funny, awkward, sexy, poignant and gorgeously romantic story featuring two wounded, lovely and lonely people, and it had me smiling one minute and tearing up the next – and sometimes both at once.
Buy Pansies by Alexis Hall on Amazon
Dal Maclean’s Bitter Legacy series of procedural/mystery romances is simply brilliant; three complex and gripping stories featuring compelling but flawed characters you (mostly) can’t help but like and root for. These two books form a sort of duology, with each told from the PoV of one of the lead characters, the plot is a cleverly woven web of lies, betrayal and misdirection and the romance is filled with sexy, angsty goodness! Gary Furlong delivers three absolutely outstanding performances that I think are his best work to date.
Buy Object of Desire by Dal Maclean on Amazon Buy Blue on Blue by Dal Maclean on Amazon
I loved this May/December romance between a silver-fox Goalie facing retirement and a man sixteen years his junior. Bartender Kyle has a habit of falling for the wrong men; recently divorced Eric is ready to explore his bisexuality… It’s a sweet, funny, warm and hella sexy slow-burn romance, and Cooper North does a terrific job with the characterisations of the leads and with the narration as a whole.
Buy Common Goal by Rachel Reid on Amazon
I could have chosen any one of Joel Leslie’s A-Grade performances from this year to put on this list, but I loved this book, a cosy mystery set in a sleepy English village after WW2 in which a doctor with PTSD teams up with an enigmatic stranger and possible secret agent in order to solve a murder. Mr. Leslie is wonderfully talented at creating and sustaining a variety of different character voices, and his performance here takes the story to another level.
Buy Hither, Page by Cat Sebastian on Amazon
I generally enjoy this author’s work and with two such amazing narrators involved, there was no way I was NOT picking this one up! It’s a moving and passionate friends-to-lovers romance that tackles some difficult themes in a sensitive way, a story about true love and second chances – and I loved it from start to finish. Greg Boudreaux and Michael Ferraiuolo are legends in the world of m/m romance and their perfectly judged performances in this audiobook shows exactly why that reputation is so well deserved.
Buy The Road Home by L.A. Witt on Amazon
All the books in the Twisted Wishes series are excellent, but this, the middle one, is my favourite. Rock-god guitarist Domino Grinder is, behind the attitude, the leather and the tats, a quiet, nerdy-professor type who fiercely guards his privacy. Falling in love isn’t on his agenda – until he meets computer programmer Adrian Doran, and is forced to choose between keeping his two ‘lives’ separate and letting Adrian in. It’s a sexy, emotionally satisfying story, and as always, Greg Boudreaux delivers a wonderfully nuanced performance.
Buy Counterpoint by Anna Zabo on Amazon
I am so I tune with your favourites! Great list.
Hah, I can’t say I’m surprised ;)
I thought ‘They Told Me I Was Everything’, ‘Boyfriend Material’, ‘Pansies’ and the Bitter Legacy books were brilliant matchings with their chosen narrators – all wonderful books enhanced by great narrations.
Your list made me realise that ‘Hither, Page’, a book that I enjoyed reading, was still lurking on my Audible Wish List, so I’ve just sorted that out!
Agreed – there are times you listen to a book and it’s immediately clear the narrator just ‘gets’ it; the author’s writing, the characters, whatever – Kate Reading and Loretta Chase, Joel Leslie and Lily Morton for example – and it just takes the listen to another level. I said to Greg on Twitter that I thought he’d found HIS narrator with JFH (sigh – he’d have been SO GOOD in the H&S books) and I’m really looking forward to hearing more from them; I gather The Same Breath is in the Audible Queue of Doom, but hopefully it’ll see the light of day soon. I think ALL my choices here had A grade narrations – I’m a narrator-led listener, so that’s always the most important thing for me.
So that means that ‘The Same Breath’ is recorded then, and queuing to be released? That’s better than waiting to be recorded, I suppose. I’m really looking forward to that one and ‘Yet A Stranger’.
I agree about narrators ‘getting’ authors – I can still remember the thrill of listening to ‘Lord of Scoundrels’ for the first time!
Other than the books I mentioned earlier, I’ve only listened to the audio of one other on your list and it didn’t do it for me. You know which one that is, so I won’t repeat myself!
I might give the Keira Andrews a try as I’ve read and enjoyed a few of hers. ‘Kidnapped by a Pirate’ was fun – written as a m/m take on the 70s bodice ripper tropes – I’d forgotten how many of those took place on boats!
Yes, I think the recording of TSB is finished and now it’s a case of waiting for it to actually be released. And with 3-4 books in each series we’ve got lots more great listens to come. (Listening to Yet a Stranger is probably going to kill me!)
I’ve enjoyed several of Keira Andrews’ books; they’ve tended to be her more recent work, as the couple of earlier ones I’ve read or listened to haven’t worked so well. Semper Fi and The Christmas Deal are pretty good; I haven’t got around to writing a review for Beyond the Sea (I review Greg B so often it’s hard to find things to say that I haven’t said already!) but I really liked it; it got mixed receptions when the book came out (it’s a double GFY story (well, Bi rather than gay) and some reviews were really harsh. But I thought the relationship was really well handled and that the point really was that these guys fall for who they are as people and gender really isn’t important for them.
Of the books on your list I’ve only listened to Boyfriend Material.I did just finish Glitterland by Alexis Hall and was beautifully exhausted by the time I finished it. What a powerful little book. And Boulton as narrator? Flawless. I’ll give Pansies a chance. I liked Cornell Collins’ narration of The Charm of Magpies books.
I have the Rachel Reid series on my TBR list, and I’ll look into the other books you’ve mentioned here. I enjoy romantic suspense, but do you think I’d like the Dal Maclean books? I mean, are they closer to Gregory Ashe or Rachel Zanetti as far as angst level? :-)
The Maclean books are definitely angsty – closer to Ashe than Zanetti (bear in mind I’ve only listened to this current Zanetti series, so I can’t compare to her other work), I’d say. But they’re probably less violent than Ashe, although there are some nasty crimes committed. They’re wonderful though – the storytelling and charactersiation are superb and the narration is outstanding. There is a lot of relationship angst in them though – have a look at my reviews and feel free to email me if you’d like any more details.
Glitterland is such a great book and Nick Boulton is awesome in it. Pansies is lovely and I’m sure you’ll enjoy it. The Keira Andrews is pretty low-angst as well (if you can deal with the plane crash near the start)- most of it is set on a desert island.
Oh, I love Glitterland. The audio is so good but, unfortunately, it doesn’t include an extra bit called ‘Aftermath’. It was originally separate but is now included as part of the ebook.
Hoo boy, I’m late to the party. But I just wanted to say something about the cover for the audiobook “Pansies.” Am I the only one who thinks the blond guy on the left resembles a young version of the sadly late Paul Koslo? I saw the 1970s Charles Bronson film “The Stone Killer” the other day, and Koslo played a villain named “Alfred,” coincidentally. I swear his hair looked just like that plus the facial structure.
I… honestly haven’t looked that closely (and if I had I’d still be none the wiser becasue I don’t know who he was!)
A lot of people don’t know who he was on account of him being a B-list character actor. The only reason I knew about him was because I was on a 1970s film bender and he kept popping up in minor roles. Apparently, he was in over 100 American films and TV shows- usually as an over the top villain. Also, he was a favorite actor of Quentin Tarantino, who gave him a cameo appearance in “Pulp Fiction” (he’s the guy on the motorcycle on the TV screen Bruce Willis and his character’s girlfriend are watching). Just a fun fact of the day.
Usually, I have no idea who celebrities are when people say, “Oh, the hero looks like so-and-so.” But for some reason, I have an uncanny ability to sniff out obscure films, movies, actors, etc. and make bizarre connections between completely unrelated material. Anyway, I just wanted to bring it up. I like the cover anyway, celebrity resemblance or not. Then again, I’m a bit of a sucker for heroes with longish hair…