Audiobook Review: Everybody Is a Liar by Liv Constantine

 

Everybody Is a Liar by Liv Constantine

Publication Date: November 12th 2024 by Penguin Random House Audio

Audio Book Length: 3hrs 23min

Narrator: Saskia Maarleveld, Barrie Krenik, Shayr Guthrie, Jennifer Jill Araya, 

Dallas Seeker, Danny Campbell

Source: Publisher

Rating: ★★★★

Links: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Kobo | Libro.fm | Audible | Goodreads

My Thoughts:

A mystery writer, Julia, with a cheating spouse and a therapist, Liza, tasked to help the troubled couple repair their marriage. Told from Julia and Liza’s perspective, I was riveted from start to finish! 

I had my suspicions about what was going on, but kept hoping for one thing and it didn't happen. While I liked the way justice was served, I was hoping for a different outcome.

Barrie Kreinik and Saskia Maarleveld are narrators I've enjoyed in the past, but the others are new-to-me and all were wonderful. The full cast of characters definitely enhanced the story.

4 Stars

Book Description:

The New York Times bestselling author of The Next Mrs. Parrish delivers another spellbinding story of betrayal and deceit in this audiobook original, Everybody Is a Liar.

When Julie Buckley, a successful mystery writer, suspects her husband of cheating, she turns to her best friend, Darby, for advice. When Darby suggests couples therapy, Julie and Oliver find themselves discussing Oliver’s betrayal with their new therapist, Liza. Liza is competent and reassuring, and her advice and Oliver’s openness to change seem to be helping the couple rebuild their relationship.

But when murder strikes in this small Connecticut town, Liza begins to worry there is a connection between Oliver and another one of her patients and the confidences they have shared with her become the key to solving the murder. As Liza digs deeper, she comes to believe that everybody is a liar.

Audiobook Review: The Soulmate by Sally Hepworth

 

The Soulmate by Sally Hepworth

Publication Date: April 4th 2023 by Macmillan Audio

Pages: 336

Audio Book Length: 7hrs 44min

Narrators: Barrie Kreinik & Jessica Douglas-Henry

Source: Publisher

Rating: ★★★★

Links: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Kobo | Audible | Goodreads

My Thoughts:

Gabe and Pippa Gerard bought the seaside house overlooking the ocean without realizing that it was a popular spot for suicide jumpers. Gabe has since talked several out of jumping. He’s good looking, and charismatic, so it wasn’t surprising he’d be good at changing their mind. However, now a woman succeeds despite Gabe’s efforts, and this opens a whole can of worms, because Gabe knew the woman.

The story is told through Pippa Gerard, Gabe’s wife, and Amanda the dead woman, both in before and after chapters. I liked both women, which was nice because lately thrillers seem to be filled with unlikeable characters making it hard for me to completely enjoy. While neither were perfect, I felt for them and could understand their motivations, even when I didn’t always agree with their actions. I think Pippa’s story touched me just a little more.

The Soulmate was riveting from the first page! I listened to the entire book in one day, not able to stop because I had to know how it all turned out! There are several twists, and most I didn’t guess correctly, but had me thinking back on scenes and thinking “ah, that’s why…” I’m still thinking about the story making think I need to look up more by Sally Hepworth!

I listened to the audio version narrated by Barrie Kreinik and Jessica Douglas-Henry. I’ve enjoyed Barrie Kreinik’s narration in the past and loved her performance of Pippa’s POV! Her Australian accent is lovely to listen to. Jessica Douglas-Henry’s performance of Amanda was also well done. I highly recommend the audio version! I listened at my usual 1.5x normal speed.

4 Stars

Book Description:

Get ready for a thrilling, addictive novel about marriage, betrayal, and the secrets that push us to the edge in Sally Hepworth's The Soulmate.

There’s a cottage on a cliff. Gabe and Pippa’s dream home in a sleepy coastal town. But their perfect house hides something sinister. The tall cliffs have become a popular spot for people to end their lives. Night after night Gabe comes to their rescue, literally talking them off the ledge. Until he doesn’t.

When Pippa discovers Gabe knew the victim, the questions spiral...Did the victim jump? Was she pushed?

And would Gabe, the love of Pippa’s life, her soulmate...lie? As the perfect facade of their marriage begins to crack, the deepest and darkest secrets begin to unravel.

Audio Review: Reckless Girls by Rachel Hawkins

 

Reckless Girls by Rachel Hawkins

Publication Date: January 4th 2022 by St.Martin's Press & Macmillan Audio

Pages: 320

Audio Book Length: 7 hrs 43 min

Narrator: Barrie Kreinik

Source: Publisher

Rating: ★★★★

Links: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Kobo | Libro.fm | Audible | Goodreads 

My Thoughts:

Lux McAllister followed her boyfriend, Nico, to Maui in what she thought would be an adventure of a lifetime, sailing around all the little islands of the South Pacific. Only to find out when she gets there Nico’s boat has been damaged and they need to make money to save and repair it. Instead of living carefree sailing from island to island, Lux is now scrubbing hotel toilets while Nico works fixing boats and taking out charters. That’s until Nico is asked to sail two college girls, Amma and Brittany, to the island of Meroe, giving them enough money to repair their boat and begin their journey.

The island of Meroe has a disturbing past, a shipwreck that led to starvation and rumors of cannibalism, but now is supposed to be an uninhabited paradise, secluded and beautiful. However, they find they’re not the only travelers when they pull up to the island and soon their group of four turns into six, with Jake and Eliza, an attractive couple with a beautiful boat. They spend lazy days on the beach and dinners together and it all seems to be working out until another boat shows up.

While a lot of the characters were unlikeable, I was rooting for the main heroine/narrator, Lux. She wasn’t perfect either, but there was something relatable and compelling about her. She grabbed onto an escape, depressed after caring for her sick mother and then finally losing her. Unfortunately, Lux ended up led around by a self-absorbed man-boy. While at first, they were happy and in love, putting a relationship to the test in a stressful situation, like the one they were in, reveals whether it can go the distance or not. It wasn’t hard to see the writing on the wall with Nico, or with the entire “perfect paradise” situation.

There were flashes back to the past, giving glimpses into each of the character’s history, and it was soon apparent things were not as they seemed. 

Reckless Girls turned out to be an addictive read, one I didn’t want to put down! It reminded me of a couple of my favorite movies: Dead Calm and A Perfect Getaway. I got a similar sinister vibe while reading/listening and I was on the edge of my seat wondering how everything would play out. I’ve read several of Rachel Hawkins YA books in the past, and then her foray into Adult Thrillers with The Wife Upstairs last year, which was entertaining but had a disappointing ending, IMO. I liked Reckless Girls quite a bit more.

I alternately read and listened to the story, and I’m happy I had the audio version, as well. Barrie Kreinik’s performance brought the characters to life in a way that wouldn’t have happened with just traditional reading alone. Her accents were spot on!

4 Stars

Book Description:

From the New York Times bestselling author of The Wife Upstairs comes a deliciously wicked gothic suspense, set on an isolated Pacific island with a dark history, for fans of Lucy Foley and Ruth Ware.

When Lux McAllister and her boyfriend, Nico, are hired to sail two women to a remote island in the South Pacific, it seems like the opportunity of a lifetime. Stuck in a dead-end job in Hawaii, and longing to travel the world after a family tragedy, Lux is eager to climb on board The Susannah and set out on an adventure. She’s also quick to bond with their passengers, college best friends Brittany and Amma. The two women say they want to travel off the beaten path. But like Lux, they may have other reasons to be seeking an escape.

Shimmering on the horizon after days at sea, Meroe Island is every bit the paradise the foursome expects, despite a mysterious history of shipwrecks, cannibalism, and even rumors of murder. But what they don’t expect is to discover another boat already anchored off Meroe’s sandy beaches. The owners of the Azure Sky, Jake and Eliza, are a true golden couple: gorgeous, laidback, and if their sleek catamaran and well-stocked bar are any indication, rich. Now a party of six, the new friends settle in to experience life on an exotic island, and the serenity of being completely off the grid. Lux hasn’t felt like she truly belonged anywhere in years, yet here on Meroe, with these fellow free spirits, she finally has a sense of peace.

But with the arrival of a skeevy stranger sailing alone in pursuit of a darker kind of good time, the balance of the group is disrupted. Soon, cracks begin to emerge: it seems that Brittany and Amma haven’t been completely honest with Lux about their pasts––and perhaps not even with each other. And though Jake and Eliza seem like the perfect pair, the rocky history of their relationship begins to resurface, and their reasons for sailing to Meroe might not be as innocent as they first appeared.

When it becomes clear that the group is even more cut off from civilization than they initially thought, it starts to feel like the island itself is closing in on them. And when one person goes missing, and another turns up dead, Lux begins to wonder if any of them are going to make it off the island alive.

Audio Review: The Good Sister by Sally Hepworth

 

The Good Sister by Sally Hepworth

Publication Date: April 13th 2021 by St.Martin's Press & Macmillan Audio

Pages: 320

Audio Book Length: 8 hrs 19 min

Narrators: Barrie Kreinik

Source: Publisher & Libro.fm

Rating: ★★★★½

Links: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Kobo | Audible | Libro.fm | Goodreads

My Thoughts:

The Good Sister introduces us to Fern and Rose, twin sisters who could not be more different. Each had a POV, with Rose’s including the present and a sad recounting of her take on the past growing up with a single mother. Fern’s was very different. It became obvious early on she is on the spectrum in some way, and her quirky outlook was refreshing and endearing! She had me laughing out loud so many times! I loved her from the very start. However, Rose’s diary chapters were very different, serious, and it soon became apparent something wasn’t quite right with the entire situation.

 Rose longs for a baby and apparently can’t have one so when Fern finds this out, she determines to help her sister out by having one for her. She’s presented with a candidate for her endeavor almost immediately when she meets “Wally”. However, her plans for her sister get forgotten as she experiences life with Wally and starts to fall for him. Seeing Fern and Wally fall for each other was a treat and sometimes quite hilarious!

Rose and Fern are close with Rose constantly looking out for Fern and Fern relying on Rose for guidance, but as I said as the story progresses a sinister edge starts to emerge, and the tension slowly builds into a nail-biting crescendo!

I could not put this story down and ended up reading/listening to it in one day, because I had to know what was going to happen and I needed answers!  The story was riveting, and I was on the edge of my seat! The Good Sister had a little bit of everything I love: romance, humor, mystery and danger. I will definitely be looking for more by Salley Hepworth!

The narration was fantastic! Barrie Kreinik had such a lovely accent, and I especially loved her performance of Fern. So matter of fact, which was exactly Fern’s personality, but her performance of Rose and the male voices were wonderful, too.

 4.5 Stars

About the book:

There's only been one time that Rose couldn't stop me from doing the wrong thing and that was a mistake that will haunt me for the rest of my life.

Fern Castle works in her local library. She has dinner with her twin sister Rose three nights a week. And she avoids crowds, bright lights and loud noises as much as possible. Fern has a carefully structured life and disrupting her routine can be ... dangerous.

When Rose discovers that she cannot fall pregnant, Fern sees her chance to pay her sister back for everything Rose has done for her. Fern can have a baby for Rose. She just needs to find a father. Simple.

Fern's mission will shake the foundations of the life she has carefully built for herself and stir up dark secrets from the past, in this quirky, rich and shocking story of unexpected love.