You can’t deny the gravitational pull

Taylor Jenkins Reid’s talent is awe-inducing: both her ability to tell deeply human stories, and the research and detail that she pours into them. In Atmosphere, we are in Houston in the 1980s, embarking on NASA’s space exploration program with its first wave of women scientists and pilots. Joan, an astronomer, is eager to become one of the first women in space, but she’s also enjoying the ride of discovering her own capabilities and growing her relationships with her fellow candidates. We jump between Joan’s early time in the program and 29 December 1984, when she is on the ground in Houston serving as capcom on a space mission, and something goes horribly wrong. The alternating timelines drive the suspense, as does the blossoming relationship between Joan and fellow candidate Vanessa, who is on the shuttle in 1984. Performed by Julia Whelan and Kristen DiMercurio, this book won’t let you go once you’ve entered its orbit.

History, but better

As a lifelong Maggie Stiefvater fan, I instantly jumped on her first adult fiction, The Listeners. It’s a WWII story, but not in the way you might expect. Based on real events, the story takes us to West Virginia, where Axis diplomats are being held at a luxury hotel after the attack on Pearl Harbour. Though it’s grounded in history and hyperreal, in a way, the storytelling is classic Stiefvater: ethereal, with turns of phrase that leave you breathless at their cleverness. There’s a magic system here, too, presented practically but left mysterious. With a cast of characters that represents the clash of classes within a high-end hotel, narrator Erin Bennett does a splendid job voicing the array of dialects that would appear in such a setting. Prepare to be dazzled by this magical, historical work of art.

What grows when you bury the bones

Some listens just leave you quiet, with nothing but the sound of your heartbeat filling the space. Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil did exactly that. It’s beautiful and painful and so full of longing: for freedom, for love, for a life that feels like your own. Told across three timelines, the story is layered and intimate, with characters whose lives twist around each other in ways that are heartbreaking, brilliant and just a little toxic (okay, okay, a lot toxic). Self-care looked like not hitting pause—because when I did, I couldn’t stop thinking about it. Julia Whelan, Katie Leung and Marisa Calin bring it all to life with performances that flow together as seamlessly as the stories of María, Charlotte and Alice. I finished it and just kept thinking: WOW, this is truly something special.

Do dreams really come true?

Imagine having the life you’ve always wanted—until a series of unsettling dreams begins to come true, unravelling your perfect life one terrifying piece at a time. That’s the chilling premise of Liv Constantine’s Don’t Open Your Eyes. The story taps into our deepest fears about trust, control and the fragility of the lives we’ve built for ourselves. It’s a setup that instantly reminds me of the film Final Destination (which I am looking forward to seeing in theatres), where the terrifying knowledge of what's coming becomes its own kind of curse. If you crave domestic suspense like I do, Don’t Open Your Eyes is one you’ll lose sleep over—in the best way.

Is lead the ultimate serial killer?

Caroline Fraser’s new book is quite a topic swerve from her Pulitzer Prize-winning Prairie Fires. This one is for the true crime heads, the rabbit-holers familiar with the strange 20th-century spike in serial killers from the Pacific Northwest. Such obsessives, myself included, might know about the lead-crime hypothesis, which links exposure from leaded gasoline and pollution to fluctuations in violent crime. But we’ve never heard it quite like this, in Fraser’s heady blend of reporting, lyricism and memoir—she grew up on Seattle’s Mercer Island, where a perilous bridge and her volatile father competed with the local maniacs to wreak terror in her young life. Murderland, which Fraser likens to a detective’s “crazy wall,” combines the chilling exploits of Ted Bundy, Jerry Brudos, Richard Ramirez (who grew up in the plume of an El Paso smelter), Dennis Rader (same, but in Kansas’s “lead belt”), and others with the rage-inducing environmental and human destruction of the smelting industry. While it’s just one piece of a complex puzzle, Murderland left me fascinated, saddened and hungry for more information.

More to love

As a midsize woman, it’s always a special treat to listen to a romance featuring a full-figured female lead. In the second instalment of Danielle Allen's body-positive romance series, curvy and confident Nina Ford is juggling work, hobbies and a roster of men that keep her every need met. That is, until one of them wants to move from booty call to boyfriend, and suddenly playing the field isn't so simple for Nina anymore. Wesleigh Siobhan delivers another show-stopping performance, infusing Allen’s laugh-out-loud banter and seriously sexy spice with her signature sultry tones. Overlapping with the same timeline as last year’s Curvy Girl Summer, it was fun to get Nina’s POV on her friendship with Aaliyah, and I can’t wait to hear their friend Jazmyn’s story in the already announced Book 3!

Uncontrollable tears and laughter at the same time

Sometimes the bonds we make when we’re young stay with us for a lifetime. In My Friends, Fredrik Backman weaves a dual-timeline narrative centred on a group of four teenagers: Joar, Ted, Ali and a boy simply known as “the artist.” Twenty-five years ago, they found escape and comfort in one another during long days on a forgotten pier in a quiet seaside town. In pure Backman form, the messy parts of being human are front and centre—simultaneously ugly and beautiful and so true to life. He explores the meaning and impact of art, how it can connect us as well as change us. Those days on the pier are captured in a painting—one that would go on to become a masterpiece and, unexpectedly, change the life of a girl named Louisa decades later. I could listen to narrator Marin Ireland’s retelling of the old stories and Louisa’s new adventures on an endless loop. As always, Backman has left me wrecked and rebuilt in the course of one novel.

Run in the shoes of an EMT

Joanna Sokol documents the heart-pounding, gut-wrenching, sweat-inducing moments facing paramedics in the field through a series of memories that will test your nervous system and leave you wondering—how did she do it? How do any health care workers do it? Beginning each day before the sun rises and scarfing down cold food (if they’re lucky) in between filing paperwork and saving lives, EMT worker are a cut above the rest. Sokol’s raw retelling of action-packed emergencies is a testament to the sacrifices first responders and health care workers make each day, and the profound change they can make in others’ lives in just a moment. With multiple narrators taking us along in the back of each ambulance ride, the performances in this anthology are truly as memorable as the stories they tell.

The girls in tight dresses are back!

If you were a fan of the Showtime 2004 hit show The L Word or the 2019 reboot The L Word: Generation Q, you don’t want to miss the behind-the-scenes anecdotes dished in Kate Moennig’s (Shane) and Leisha Hailey’s (Alice) new listen, So Gay for You. I couldn’t help but become giddy at the personal stories revealed by the two actresses who played my favourite characters. Showcasing Kate and Leisha’s longstanding friendship and memorable moments on set, So Gay for You is a trip down an unforgettable lane of their lives that has bonded them for a lifetime. Narrated by Kate and Leisha themselves, it’s hard not to enjoy the energy between them. This listen was enjoyable from start to finish. —N.R.

He’s a mobster. She’s his obsession

I didn’t think I’d fall this hard for Nic and Lo, but Caught Up pulled me in fast and didn’t let go. The story follows Lauren, a cam girl who’s built her life on her own terms, and Nico, the mobster who never really let her go even after betraying her years ago. What starts as an unwelcome reunion slowly unravels into something darker, deeper and unexpectedly tender. The performances by Kasi Hollowell and Teddy Hamilton were SO steamy, making it impossible to stop listening. I wasn’t ready for how much I’d care about these characters.

A reckoning. A prayer. A howl.

As I write this review I am still awestruck. This is undoubtedly one of the best books I’ve listened to so far this year. Rickey Fayne’s haunting debut grips you from the beginning with its Southern Gothic atmosphere and taut emotional core. Fayne explores the idea that sometimes the devil we face is not a single event or person but the echo of mistakes made—and remade—across generations. What makes this novel exceptional is its intimacy, both poetic and raw. His characters are heartbreakingly real, and their search for meaning feels urgent and true. The Devil Three Times isn’t just a novel, it’s a reckoning. A prayer. A howl. And it will stay with you long after you finish it.

A courageous account of living normally in a sea of uncertainty

Until a stumble on an icy New York City sidewalk, things were clicking along for 38-year-old Jonathan Gluck. He was deeply in love. He held a dream job as a top magazine editor. And he had just welcomed a beautiful baby girl. But that fall led to a year of nagging pain, followed by a devastating diagnosis that began when a doctor told him, “There’s a lesion on your hip.” Narrating his unflinching memoir himself, Gluck’s voice trembles ever so slightly as he recounts learning he had multiple myeloma. But the next part is not how he got better. In fact, he didn’t. Gluck is one of the millions with an incurable illness—a cancer that is managed but never cured. Twenty years after the diagnosis, the ramifications on family, friends, finances, career and his psyche are enormous. Gluck finds ballast in fly fishing, but the true sport is how he angles his life forward. He’s an inspiration for all of us, no matter our circumstances.