It didn’t seem all that long ago that I was typing “Our January 2021 Picks” – and now were we are in December. It’s been another… odd year, to say the least, but I hope that you, dear reader, have found plenty of good and great audiobooks to keep you company through all its ups and downs, and we hope that we’ve introduced you to some new authors and narrators to enjoy.
Here, then, is our final Picks for 2021, a selection of the new and upcoming audiobooks to look out for. We’d love to hear from you if you’ve listened – or are planning to listen – to any of our choices, and about anything you think we might have missed!
The Geek Who Saved Christmas by Annabeth Albert
Narrated by Tim Paige
I read this one a few weeks ago and really enjoyed it; it’s a charming, sweet and steamy grumpy/sunshine romance with lots of warm and fuzzy Christmas feels. Tim Paige is a reliably good narrator, so I’m looking forward to experiencing the story again in audio – Caz
I have my eye on this one as well, for much the same reasons as Caz – Kaetrin
The Best Man Problem by Mariah Ankenman
Narrated by Charlotte North
I’ll be honest. I mainly chose this one because of the narrator. But the blurb sounds fun and I have high hopes! If nothing else I know Ill enjoy the narration. – Kaetrin
Dream Keeper by Kristen Ashley
Narrated by Susannah Jones
I hadn’t heard about this release until recently and it is a spin-off of the classic Kristen Ashley Dream Man and Rock Chick series! – BJ
Subtle Blood
by KJ Charles
Narrated by Cornell Collins
The final book in KJ Charles’ Will Darling Adventures is another spiffing, rip-roaring adventure that brings the trilogy to a magnificent close. I read it when it was published earlier this year and it delivered everything I wanted (and then some) including a very well-earned HEA for Will and Kim. – Caz
I have yet to start this trilogy but I know it will be wonderful. – Kaetrin
Life Lessons by Kaje Harper
Narrated by J.F. Harding
A high-school teacher becomes the target of a murderer, and falls for the closeted detective who will go all-out to protect him. Sounds right up my alley! Add the fabulous J.F. Harding into the mix and I’m really looking forward to this one! – Caz
A Kiss for a Kiss by Helena Hunting
Narrated by Stella Bloom and Jacob Morgan
For sports romance lovers, the fourth book in the All In Series comes out this December, and I’m looking forward to listening to it! – BJ
Well Played by Vi Keeland and Penelope Ward
Narrated by Sebastian York and Andi Arndt
With the fabulous narrator duo of Sebastian York and Andi Arndt as well as author duo of Vi Keeland and Penelope Ward, I’m really looking forward to listening to this contemporary romance soon! As an added bonus, this audiobook is free on Audible Plus! – BJ
Only When It’s Us by Chloe Liese
Narrated by CJ Bloom & Nelson Hobbs
I had the pleasure of reading an early copy of a later book in the Bergman Brothers series (With You Forever) and with that I discovered a new-to-me author. I have been meaning to back track and start the series from the beginning and what better than to do so on audio? – Kaetrin
A Marvellous Light by Freya Marske
Narrated by David Thorpe
This excellent début novel is an inventive and magical fantasy set in England in 1908. Newly appointed to a civil service post, Sir Robert (Robin) Blyth suddenly finds himself embroiled in the hitherto completely unknown world of spells and magicians when he is cursed by someone who believes he knows the location of a powerful artefact. David Thorpe is an extremely experienced narrator (with over 500 titles to his credit at Audible) so I’m expecting good things of this one! – Caz
Madison Square Murders by C.S. Poe
Narrated by Kale Williams
I loved this one when I read it earlier this year – it’s a terrific, cold case mystery featuring one of the most unusual protagonists I’ve ever come across, and the burgeoning romantic relationship between him and the colleague who joins him in the investigation is incredibly well written. When I heard Kale Williams would be narrating the audio I was even more eager to experience the story again! – Caz
Proper Scoundrels by Allie Therin
Narrated by Joel Froomkin
This spin-off from Allie Therin’s Magic in Manhattan series sees Lord Fine and Sebastian de Leon – both secondary characters in the series – teaming up to unravel a mystery steeped in legend and folklore at some considerable danger to themselves. I enjoyed the Magic and Manhattan series in print, but unfortunately, the narrator chosen for the audio versions wasn’t great – so you can imagine my relief when I discovered that this one is being narrated by Joel Leslie! – Caz
Other New and Upcoming Releases:
Madison Square Murders and Subtle Blood are both on my Best of 2021 list. I reread Madison Square Murders last month and looked for an audiobook, so am pleased to see it now – the audio sample sounds great. I’ll give the audio of Subtle Blood a miss though, as I don’t care for the narration of this series at all.
I’ve been circling the ebook of The Geek Who Saved Christmas so am not sure now whether to go for the audio instead!
Life Lessons sounds interesting – J.F. Harding is one of my favourite narrators.
I have a review copy of Subtle Blood – although I agree that the narration hasn’t been as good as CC/MLD is capable of, which I think is mostly down to the fact that I’m not a fan of the way he voices Kim.
C.S. Poe told me a while back that Kale would be narrating MSM – and I thought “his voice is absoutely perfect for Doyle”, whose voice is described a few times in the book. It came out at Audible today.
As for Life Lessons – I just saw “narrated by JF Harding” and that was enough! I’m reviewing that, too, so watch this space.
I just this morning checked out The Geek Who Saved Christmas on Hoopla! Yay for whoever it is in my library system that’s an mm romance fan! I owe them so much.
I’m interested in Life Lessons from the description. Sounds good.
Kindle adverts have been pushing Proper Scoundrels at me for the past few days, and I’m interested in this one. I haven’t finished the trilogy yet because I’m a little tired of Rory. (He acts very young, to me.) I wonder if I can skip to this one? I’m hoping my library will get it since they have the Magic in Manhattan series on audio. I listened to a sample of the narrator for those and really didn’t care for him, so I was excited when I looked up Proper Scoundrels on Audible and saw who the narrator was! I heart Joel!
Definitely going to do Madison Square Murders on audio asap. I loved that story. Definitely very high on my best of 2021 list. And A Marvelous LIght is on my TBR list, so why not on audio?
Now that the Will Darling trilogy is complete I want to go back and try them again.I enjoyed the first book, but got stalled in the second by Kim’s behavior. I love Cornell Collins, but I also know that I sometimes do better with “stressful” books in print. I’ll need to think on it.
Proper Scoundrels is a spin off featuring different main characters (who have appeared as secondary characters in the other Magic and Manhattan books), so I doubt Rory will be a big part of this one. I’ve reviewed Erik Bloomquist (narrator of the MiM series) here twice and he didn’t work for me either time. As I said in my commentary, I breathed a huge sigh of relief when Joel told me he would be narrating this!
I can’t wait to get stuck into Madison Square Murders although dammit, I have several books ahead of it in my TBL.