23 Incredible Audiobooks From Past Year You’ll Want on Repeat

Looking for the best narrated audiobooks to listen to in 2026? Here’s a list of 23 best audiobooks suggestion for 2024 and from 2025. These list includes some of the best narrated books along with best audiobooks I listened to In 2024 . You will love these audiobook recommendations from gripping historical fiction to swoon-worthy romances , and even bestselling audiobooks. I am also excited about engaging thriller audiobooks.

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Best Audiobooks of 2025

The Perfect Divorce by Jeneva Rose

Listening Length: 9 hours and 27 minutes

Narrators : Mozhan Navabi, Andrew Eiden, Adam Lazarre-White, J. S. Arquin, Brittany Pressley, Andi Arndt

The Perfect Divorce brings back Sarah Morgan years after defending her husband for murder. When new evidence resurfaces and her second marriage begins to crumble, old secrets and fresh dangers collide. As her divorce turns ugly and another woman goes missing, the story builds toward a tense question: will this end in freedom or in another crime?

The shocking sequel to Jeneva Rose’s multimillion-copy bestselling thriller, The Perfect Marriage.

Till death do us part. Yours. Not Mine.

It’s been eleven years since high-powered attorney Sarah Morgan defended her husband, Adam, against the charge of murdering his mistress. Sarah has long since moved on, starting a family with her new husband, Bob Miller, and changing careers. Her life is back to being exactly how she always wanted … or is it?

After discovering Bob engaged in a one-night stand, Sarah wastes no time filing for divorce. However, amid their ugly separation, new DNA evidence is uncovered in the case against Adam, forcing the police to reopen the investigation and putting Sarah right back in the spotlight. Everyone wants to know what really happened, most of all former Deputy Hudson, who is hell-bent on finding the truth.

But when the woman Bob slept with is reported missing, he and Sarah start to fight dirty, and a high-stakes game of cat and mouse ensues. Filled with page-turning suspense and Jeneva Rose’s signature twists and turns, this sequel will have readers wondering, Can Bob and Sarah achieve the perfect divorce? Or will it be “’til death do us part”?

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Such Quiet Girls by Noelle W. Ihli

Listening Length: 9 hours and 31 minutes

Narrators : Jennifer Jill Araya, Shaun Taylor-Corbett, Caitlin Kelly, Helen Laser

Such Quiet Girls is a terrifying thriller about ten children who are kidnapped in broad daylight and buried alive in a shipping container. A new bus driver, Jessa, is trapped with them underground, struggling with guilt from her past and determined not to fail these kids. With very little air and time running out, fear and panic grow as they wait for a ransom that may never come. The story follows their fight to stay calm, think clearly, and outsmart the people who put them there. Dark, intense, and inspired by real events, this book keeps you on edge from the first page to the last.

Ten children, abducted in broad daylight—and buried alive.

Sage and her sister won’t make it home from school today. Neither will the other children on Bus 315. But that’s only the beginning of the nightmare.

New bus driver Jessa blames herself for what happened. She couldn’t protect the kids she was supposed to deliver to daycare, just like she couldn’t protect her own daughter three years ago. But this time, everything will be different. It has to be.

Trapped in a shipping container buried twenty feet underground, Jessa and the children do their best to stay calm. The kidnappers insist that if everyone behaves, they’ll be freed when the ransom is paid. But Sage isn’t sure they’ll last that long. Neither is Jessa. It’s dark and cramped, and with every passing minute it’s getting harder to breathe.

With time—and air—running thin, Jessa and the children must find a way to outsmart their captors, or face an unthinkable fate.

Such Quiet Girls was inspired by actual events.

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The Irish Goodbye by Heather Aimee O’Neill

Listening Length: 8 hours and 35 minutes

Narrators : Kristen Sieh

The Irish Goodbye works especially well in audio because it’s so focused on character and emotion. Each sister feels distinct, and the narrator beautifully captures their shared grief and emotional distance. The Thanksgiving setting adds quiet tension, and the unspoken moments feel even heavier when you listen. It’s a reflective, intimate family drama that explores loss, forgiveness.

In this debut, for fans of J. Courtney Sullivan and Mary Beth Keane, three adult sisters grapple with a shared tragedy over a Thanksgiving weekend spent in their childhood home, navigating complex relationships and old tensions.

It’s been years since the three Ryan sisters were all home together at their family’s beloved house on the eastern shore of Long Island. Two decades ago, their lives were upended by an accident on their brother Topher’s boat, a friend’s brother was killed, the lawsuit nearly bankrupted their parents, and Topher spiraled into a depression, eventually taking his life. Now the Ryan women are back for Thanksgiving, eager to reconnect, but each carrying a heavy secret. The eldest, Cait, still holding guilt for the role no one knows she played in the boat accident, rekindles a flame with her high school crush, Topher’s best friend and the brother of the boy who died. Middle sister Alice’s been thrown a curveball threatening the career she’s restarting and faces a difficult decision that may doom her marriage. And the youngest, Maggie, is finally taking the risk to bring the woman she loves home to her devoutly Catholic mother. Infusing everything is the grief for Topher that none of the Ryans have figured out how to carry together.

When Cait invites a guest to Thanksgiving dinner, old tensions boil over and new truths surface, nearly overpowering the flickering light of their family bond. Far more than a family holiday will be ruined unless the sisters can find a way to forgive themselves—and one another.

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Isola by Allegra Goodman

Listening Length: 12 hours and 54 minutes

Narrators : Fiona Hardingham, Allegra Goodman

Isola is a historical survival story inspired by real events. Marguerite begins life in comfort and privilege, only to be forced into an expedition that leads to betrayal and isolation on a frozen island. As she faces hunger, harsh weather, and abandonment, she discovers strength and faith she never needed before. It’s a moving story about endurance, love, and a woman’s refusal to give up, even when the world turns against her.

A young woman and her lover are marooned on an island in this epic saga of love, faith, and defiance from the bestselling author of Sam.

Heir to a fortune, Marguerite is destined for a life of prosperity and gentility. Then she is orphaned, and her guardian—an enigmatic and volatile man—spends her inheritance and insists she accompany him on an expedition to New France. Isolated and afraid, Marguerite befriends her guardian’s servant and the two develop an intense attraction. But when their relationship is discovered, they are brutally punished and abandoned on a small island with no hope for rescue.

Once a child of privilege who dressed in gowns and laced pearls in her hair, Marguerite finds herself at the mercy of nature. As the weather turns, blanketing the island in ice, she discovers a faith she’d never before needed.

Inspired by the real life of a sixteenth-century heroine, Isola is the timeless story of a woman fighting for survival.

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Broken Country by Clare Leslie Hall

Listening Length: 9 hours and 11 minutes

Narrators : Hattie Morahan

Broken Country is an emotional novel about first love, regret, and the danger of buried memories. When Gabriel, the man Beth loved as a teenager, returns to her quiet village, the past resurfaces and long-hidden secrets begin to unravel. Moving between past and present, the story shows how one choice can echo across years. With the pacing of a thriller and the heart of a love story, it explores the painful line between who we were and who we become.

Beth and her gentle, kind husband Frank are happily married, but their relationship relies on the past staying buried. But when Beth’s brother-in-law shoots a dog going after their sheep, Beth doesn’t realize that the gunshot will alter the course of their lives. For the dog belonged to none other than Gabriel Wolfe, the man Beth loved as a teenager—the man who broke her heart years ago. Gabriel has returned to the village with his young son Leo, a boy who reminds Beth very much of her own son, who died in a tragic accident.

As Beth is pulled back into Gabriel’s life, tensions around the village rise and dangerous secrets and jealousies from the past resurface, this time with deadly consequences. Beth is forced to make a choice between the woman she once was, and the woman she has become.

A sweeping love story with the pace and twists of a thriller, Broken Country is a novel of simmering passion, impossible choices, and explosive consequences that toggles between the past and present to explore the far-reaching legacy of first love.

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Wild Dark Shore by Charlotte McConaghy

Listening Length: 9 hours and 58 minutes

Narrators : Cooper Mortlock, Katherine Littrell, Saskia Maarleveld, Steve West

Wild Dark Shore is a tense, atmospheric novel set on a remote island near Antarctica. Dominic and his children protect a vital seed bank when a mysterious woman, Rowan, washes ashore during a storm. As secrets surface and danger grows, trust is tested and impossible choices must be made. It’s a powerful story of survival, love, and the lengths people will go to protect the future.

A family on a remote island. A mysterious woman washed ashore. A rising storm on the horizon.

Dominic Salt and his three children are caretakers of Shearwater, a tiny island not far from Antarctica. Home to the world’s largest seed bank, Shearwater was once full of researchers, but with sea levels rising, the Salts are now its final inhabitants. Until, during the worst storm the island has ever seen, a woman mysteriously washes ashore.

Isolation has taken its toll on the Salts, but as they nurse the woman, Rowan, back to strength, it begins to feel like she might just be what they need. Rowan, long accustomed to protecting herself, starts imagining a future where she could belong to someone again.

But Rowan isn’t telling the whole truth about why she set out for Shearwater. And when she discovers sabotaged radios and a freshly dug grave, she realizes Dominic is keeping his own secrets. As the storms on Shearwater gather force, they all must decide if they can trust each other enough to protect the precious seeds in their care before it’s too late―and if they can finally put the tragedies of the past behind them to create something new, together.

A novel of breathtaking twists, dizzying beauty, and ferocious love, Wild Dark Shore is about the impossible choices we make to protect the people we love, even as the world around us disappears.

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Garden of Her Heart by Zoë Richards

Listening Length: 9 hours and 31 minutes

Narrators : Julie Maisey

Garden of Her Heart feels warm and comforting in audio. The journal-style narration makes it feel like someone is sharing their healing journey with you. The gentle tone suits the themes of recovery, friendship, and self-discovery, making it an uplifting and calming listen.

An uplifting story of healing and recovery that will warm your soul…and get you into the garden. Eleanor Oliphant meets The Authenticity Project on a well-being retreat in this story of one loner, two secrets and three weeks at Pinewoods Retreat.

When Holly Bush (yes, she still hasn’t forgiven her mother for that combination) is made redundant with gardening leave, after a brutal attack, she decides to visit a retreat not far from home. There she finds friendship and a garden in need of love, she ends up doing literal gardening leave, bringing the community of guests together. Journaling her way through her holiday, Holly works on both her mental and physical scars and discovers an inner strength as her secrets are revealed.

Perfect for readers who enjoy an uplifting story of self-love, friendship and community, with a hint of romance.

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Finding Grace by Loretta Rothschild

Listening Length: 11 hours and 24 minutes

Narrators : Fiona Button

Finding Grace is an emotional, relationship-driven audiobook where one decision changes multiple lives. The narration clearly guides you through different timelines and perspectives, letting Honor’s longing, grief, and confusion come through. It’s a quiet but absorbing story that works well when you want something thoughtful and reflective.

Honor seems to have everything. She adores her daughter Chloe and her husband Tom (even if he does work one hundred hours a week). But her longing for another baby threatens to eclipse all of it―until a shocking event changes their lives forever.

Years later Tom makes a decision that ripples through their families’ lives in ways he could not have foreseen. As the consequences of that fateful choice unfold, two women’s paths become irrevocably intertwined. But when old love clashes with new, who will be left standing? And what happens when your secrets come back to haunt you?

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Atmosphere by Taylor Jenkins Reid

Listening Length: 9 hours and 52 minutes

Narrators : Kristen DiMercurio, Julia Whelan, Taylor Jenkins Reid

Atmosphere is an immersive audiobook that pulls you into the world of NASA and space exploration. Through Joan’s eyes, you experience ambition, friendship, love, and heartbreak. The narration makes the training scenes and emotional shifts feel cinematic and personal, creating a listening experience that is both intimate and epic.

Joan Goodwin has been obsessed with the stars for as long as she can remember. Thoughtful and reserved, Joan is content with her life as a professor of physics and astronomy at Rice University and as aunt to her precocious niece, Frances. That is, until she comes across an advertisement seeking the first women scientists to join NASA’s space shuttle program. Suddenly, Joan burns to be one of the few people to go to space.

Selected from a pool of thousands of applicants in the summer of 1980, Joan begins training at Houston’s Johnson Space Center, alongside an exceptional group of fellow candidates: Top Gun pilot Hank Redmond and scientist John Griffin, who are kind and easygoing even when the stakes are highest; mission specialist Lydia Danes, who has worked too hard to play nice; warmhearted Donna Fitzgerald, who is navigating her own secrets; and Vanessa Ford, the magnetic and mysterious aeronautical engineer, who can fix any engine and fly any plane.

As the new astronauts become unlikely friends and prepare for their first flights, Joan finds a passion and a love she never imagined. In this new light, Joan begins to question everything she thinks she knows about her place in the observable universe.

Then, in December of 1984, on mission STS-LR9, it all changes in an instant.

Fast-paced, thrilling, and emotional, Atmosphere is Taylor Jenkins Reid at her best: transporting readers to iconic times and places, creating complex protagonists, and telling a passionate and soaring story about the transformative power of love—this time among the stars.

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Too Old for This by Samantha Downing

Listening Length: 10 hours and 50 minutes

Narrators : Elizabeth Wiley

Too Old for This is a darkly funny thriller about Lottie, a retired serial killer who just wants peace until a journalist starts digging into her past. The fast pace and sharp humor make it a fun, twisted audiobooks for 2026.

A retired serial killer’s quiet life is upended by an unexpected visitor. To protect her secret, there’s only one option left—what’s another murder? From bestselling author Samantha Downing.

Lottie Jones thought her crimes were behind her.

Decades earlier, she changed her identity and tucked herself away in a small town. Her most exciting nights are the weekly bingo games at the local church and gossiping with her friends.

When investigative journalist Plum Dixon shows up on her doorstep asking questions about Lottie’s past and specifically her involvement with numerous unsolved cases, well, Lottie just can’t have that.

But getting away with murder is hard enough when you’re young. And when Lottie receives another annoying knock on the door, she realizes this crime might just be the death of her.

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Best Audiobooks of 2024

The Family Experiment by John Marrs

Listening Length: 10 hours and 59 minutes

Narrators : Clare Corbett, Clifford Samuel, Eilidh Beaton, Joshua Riley, Justin Avoth, Thomas Judd, Nneka Okoye

I really loved listening to The Family Experiment . This dark, thought-provoking sci-fi thriller truly comes alive in audio thanks to its excellent full-cast performance. The layered plot and clearly distinct voices make the story easy to follow and incredibly immersive. John Marrs is one of my favorite thriller authors, and whenever I’m in areading slump and need a gripping audiobook, he’s always my go-to. If you enjoy full-cast productions, be sure to check out 25 Awesome Full Cast Audiobooks To Listen To In 2025

From the acclaimed author of The One and The Marriage Act, The Family Experiment is a dark and brilliant speculative thriller about families: real and virtual.

Some families are virtually perfect…

The world’s population is soaring, creating overcrowded cities and an economic crisis. And in the UK, the breaking point has arrived. A growing number of people can no longer afford to start families, let alone raise them.

But for those desperate to experience parenthood, there is an alternative. For a monthly subscription fee, clients can create a virtual child from scratch who they can access via the metaverse and a VR headset. To launch this new initiative, the company behind Virtual Children has created a reality TV show called The Substitute. It will follow ten couples as they raise a Virtual Child from birth to the age of eighteen but in a condensed nine-month time period. The prize: the right to keep their virtual child, or risk it all for the chance of a real baby…

Set in the same universe as John Marrs’s bestselling novel The One and The Marriage Act, The Family Experiment is a dark and twisted thriller about the ultimate Tamagotchi—a virtual baby.

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The Women by Kristin Hannah

Listening Length: 14 hours and 57 minutes

Narrator: Julia Whelan

The Women follows Frankie McGrath’s journey from a young woman to a nurse during the Vietnam War, and it was such an emotional,immersive novel . I was especially excited because it’s narrated by Julia Whelan, whose voice I absolutely love. Her performance is unforgettable, and she moves seamlessly between intense war scenes and quiet, tender moments. It’s no surprise she’s one of the most popular audiobook narrators today, also check out Highly Popular Audiobooks Narrated by Julia Whelan

From the celebrated author of The Nightingale and The Four Winds comes Kristin Hannah’s The Women—at once an intimate portrait of coming of age in a dangerous time and an epic tale of a nation divided.

Women can be heroes. When twenty-year-old nursing student Frances “Frankie” McGrath hears these words, it is a revelation. Raised in the sun-drenched, idyllic world of Southern California and sheltered by her conservative parents, she has always prided herself on doing the right thing. But in 1965, the world is changing, and she suddenly dares to imagine a different future for herself. When her brother ships out to serve in Vietnam, she joins the Army Nurse Corps and follows his path.

As green and inexperienced as the men sent to Vietnam to fight, Frankie is over-whelmed by the chaos and destruction of war. Each day is a gamble of life and death, hope and betrayal; friendships run deep and can be shattered in an instant. In war, she meets—and becomes one of—the lucky, the brave, the broken, and the lost.

But war is just the beginning for Frankie and her veteran friends. The real battle lies in coming home to a changed and divided America, to angry protesters, and to a country that wants to forget Vietnam.

The Women is the story of one woman gone to war, but it shines a light on all women who put themselves in harm’s way and whose sacrifice and commitment to their country has too often been forgotten. A novel about deep friendships and bold patriotism, The Women is a richly drawn story with a memorable heroine whose idealism and courage under fire will come to define an era.

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Funny Story by Emily Henry

Listening Length: 11 hours and 23 minutes

Narrator: Julia Whelan 

Julia Whelan delivers yet another beautiful performance in Funny Story. Her smooth, expressive narration brings Daphne and Miles to life and perfectly captures their vulnerability and emotional growth. I loved how she conveyed the characters’ strength and softness, making this one of those swoon-worthy romance audiobooks. that truly stays with you.

A shimmering, joyful new novel about a pair of opposites with the wrong thing in common, from #1 New York Times bestselling author Emily Henry.

Daphne always loved the way her fiancé, Peter, told their story. How they met (on a blustery day), fell in love (over an errant hat), and moved back to his lakeside hometown to begin their life together. He really was good at telling it… right up until the moment he realized he was actually in love with his childhood best friend Petra.

Which is how Daphne begins her new story: stranded in beautiful Waning Bay, Michigan, without friends or family but with a dream job as a children’s librarian (that barely pays the bills), and proposing to be roommates with the only person who could possibly understand her predicament: Petra’s ex, Miles Nowak.

Scruffy and chaotic—with a penchant for taking solace in the sounds of heart break love ballads—Miles is exactly the opposite of practical, buttoned-up Daphne, whose coworkers know so little about her they have a running bet that she’s either FBI or in witness protection. The roommates mainly avoid one another, until one day, while drowning their sorrows, they form a tenuous friendship and a plan. If said plan also involves posting deliberately misleading photos of their summer adventures together, well, who could blame them?

But it’s all just for show, of course, because there’s no way Daphne would actually start her new chapter by falling in love with her ex-fiancé’s new fiancée’s ex… right?

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Just for the Summer by Abby Jimenez

Listening Length: 11 hours and 43 minutes

Narrator: Christine Lakin, Zachary Webber

Just for the Summer was one of my favorite uplifting romance books set in summer. Emma and Justin’s idea of a “curse-breaking” relationship makes for such a fun and heartfelt story. Both narrators were great, but Webber’s pacing really highlighted the emotional moments. Overall, it’s a beautifully told audiobook that lingers long after you finish.

Justin has a curse, and thanks to a Reddit thread, it’s now all over the internet. Every woman he dates goes on to find their soul mate the second they break up. When a woman slides into his DMs with the same problem, they come up with a plan: They’ll date each other and break up. Their curses will cancel each other’s out, and they’ll both go on to find the love of their lives. It’s a bonkers idea… and it just might work.

Emma hadn’t planned that her next assignment as a traveling nurse would be in Minnesota, but she and her best friend agree that dating Justin is too good of an opportunity to pass up, especially when they get to rent an adorable cottage on a private island on Lake Minnetonka.

It’s supposed to be a quick fling, just for the summer. But when Emma’s toxic mother shows up and Justin has to assume guardianship of his three siblings, they’re suddenly navigating a lot more than they expected–including catching real feelings for each other. What if this time Fate has actually brought the perfect pair together?

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First Lie Wins by Ashley Elston

Listening Length: 9 hours and 16 minutes

Narrator: Saskia Maarleveld

First Lie Wins follows Evie Porter on a dangerous new mission where her identity is on the line. This fast-paced thriller is full of twists that kept me completely hooked. Saskia Maarleveld’s narration is outstanding—she’s quickly become one of my favorite audiobook narrators , and I always look forward to her performances, especially for book club listens.

Evie Porter has everything a nice, Southern girl could want: a perfect, doting boyfriend, a house with a white picket fence and a garden, a fancy group of friends. The only catch: Evie Porter doesn’t exist.

The identity comes first: Evie Porter. Once she’s given a name and location by her mysterious boss Mr. Smith, she learns everything there is to know about the town and the people in it. Then the mark: Ryan Sumner. The last piece of the puzzle is the job.

Evie isn’t privy to Mr. Smith’s real identity, but she knows this job will be different. Ryan has gotten under her skin, and she’s starting to envision a different sort of life for herself. But Evie can’t make any mistakes—especially after what happened last time.

Because the one thing she’s worked her entire life to keep clean, the one identity she could always go back to—her real identity—just walked right into this town. Evie Porter must stay one step ahead of her past while making sure there’s still a future in front of her. The stakes couldn’t be higher—but then, Evie has always liked a challenge.

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James by Percival Everett

Listening Length: 7 hours and 49 minutes

Narrator: Dominic Hoffman

This powerful historical retelling of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is both heartbreaking and inspiring. The themes of freedom and human dignity are deeply moving, and Dominic Hoffman’s narration adds so much emotional depth. His voice captures both the pain and the hope in the story, making James a must-listen for anyone who loves rich, character-driven audiobooks.

A brilliant, action-packed reimagining of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn , both harrowing and ferociously funny, told from the enslaved Jim’s point of view.

When the enslaved Jim overhears that he is about to be sold to a man in New Orleans, separated from his wife and daughter forever, he decides to hide on nearby Jackson Island until he can formulate a plan. Meanwhile, Huck Finn has faked his own death to escape his violent father, recently returned to town. As all readers of American literature know, thus begins the dangerous and transcendent journey by raft down the Mississippi River toward the elusive and too-often-unreliable promise of the Free States and beyond.

While many narrative set pieces of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn remain in place (floods and storms, stumbling across both unexpected death and unexpected treasure in the myriad stopping points along the river’s banks, encountering the scam artists posing as the Duke and Dauphin…), Jim’s agency, intelligence and compassion are shown in a radically new light.

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Listen for the Lie by Amy Tintera

Listening Length: 9 hours and 18 minutes

Narrator: January LaVoy, Will Damron

Listen for the Lie centers on Lucy returning to her small hometown to uncover the truth behind her best friend’s death. January LaVoy and Will Damron absolutely shine in this audiobook. The podcast-style format feels fresh, and the sound effects add to the tension and fun. It’s one of the most addictive thriller audiobooks I listened to in 2024, and the combination of gripping plot and stellar narration makes it unforgettable.

What if you thought you murdered your best friend? And if everyone else thought so too? And what if the truth doesn’t matter?

Lucy and Savvy were the golden girls of their small Texas town: pretty, smart, and enviable. Lucy married a dream guy with a big ring and an even bigger new home. Savvy was the social butterfly loved by all and, if you believe the rumors, especially popular with the men in town. But after Lucy is found wandering the streets, covered in her best friend Savvy’s blood, everyone thinks she is a murderer.

It’s been years since that horrible night, a night Lucy can’t remember anything about, and she has since moved to LA and started a new life. But now the phenomenally huge hit true crime podcast Listen for the Lie and its too-good looking host, Ben Owens, have decided to investigate Savvy’s murder for the show’s second season. Lucy is forced to return to the place she vowed never to set foot in again to solve her friend’s murder, even if she is the one who did it.

The truth is out there, if we just listen.

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The God of the Woods by Liz Moore

Listening Length: 14 hours and 35 minutes

Narrator: Saskia Maarleveld

The God of the Woods draws you into the mystery of a young girl’s disappearance at a summer camp, and the decades of secrets surrounding it. It’s a truly absorbing thriller, and Saskia Maarleveld’s voice pulls you through every twist and turn. This is easily one of those audiobooks that’s worth adding to your 2025 listening list.

When a teenager vanishes from her Adirondack summer camp, two worlds collide.

Early morning, August 1975: a camp counselor discovers an empty bunk. Its occupant, Barbara Van Laar, has gone missing. Barbara isn’t just any thirteen-year-old: she’s the daughter of the family that owns the summer camp and employs most of the region’s residents. And this isn’t the first time a Van Laar child has disappeared. Barbara’s older brother similarly vanished fourteen years ago, never to be found.

As a panicked search begins, a thrilling drama unfolds. Chasing down the layered secrets of the Van Laar family and the blue-collar community working in its shadow, Moore’s multi-threaded story invites readers into a rich and gripping dynasty of secrets and second chances. It is Liz Moore’s most ambitious and wide-reaching novel yet.

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The Wedding People by Alison Espach

Listening Length: 11 hours and 37 minutes

Narrator: Helen Laser

The Wedding People is a beautifully narrated audiobook that balances humor and heartbreak. Helen Laser is the perfect voice for this story, capturing the light moments, the sadness, and the emotional weight with ease. Her performance makes the characters feel real and relatable, and I was surprised by how much I ended up loving this book. The mix of a strong story, heartfelt emotions, and Laser’s excellent narration makes it audiobook to listen to on a road trip.

A propulsive and uncommonly wise novel about one unexpected wedding guest and the surprising people who help her start anew.

It’s a beautiful day in Newport, Rhode Island, when Phoebe Stone arrives at the grand Cornwall Inn wearing a green dress and gold heels, not a bag in sight, alone. She’s immediately mistaken by everyone in the lobby for one of the wedding people, but she’s actually the only guest at the Cornwall who isn’t here for the big event. Phoebe is here because she’s dreamed of coming for years—she hoped to shuck oysters and take sunset sails with her husband, only now she’s here without him, at rock bottom, and determined to have one last decadent splurge on herself. Meanwhile, the bride has accounted for every detail and every possible disaster the weekend might yield except for, well, Phoebe and Phoebe’s plan—which makes it that much more surprising when the two women can’t stop confiding in each other.

In turns absurdly funny and devastatingly tender, Alison Espach’s The Wedding People is ultimately an incredibly nuanced and resonant look at the winding paths we can take to places we never imagined—and the chance encounters it sometimes takes to reroute us.

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All the Colors of the Dark by Chris Whitaker

Listening Length: 14 hours and 37 minutes

Narrator: Edoardo Ballerini

Looking for a gripping thriller for your 2025 reading list? All the Colors of the Dark is a romantic suspense audiobook that pulls you in from the start. Edoardo Ballerini’s narration adds a moody, atmospheric feel that deepens the tension and highlights the darker tone of the story. It’s a great pick if you enjoy thrillers with emotional depth and a narrator who truly sets the mood. I especially love listening to audiobooks like this while I’m out running.

From the New York Times bestselling author of We Begin at the End comes a soaring thriller and an epic love story that spans decades.

1975 is a time of change in America. The Vietnam War is ending. Mohammed Ali is fighting Joe Frazier. And in the small town of Monta Clare, Missouri, girls are disappearing.

When the daughter of a wealthy family is targeted, the most unlikely hero emerges—Patch, a local boy with one eye, who saves the girl, and, in doing so, leaves heartache in his wake.

Patch and those who love him soon discover that the line between triumph and tragedy has never been finer. And that their search for answers will lead them to truths that could mean losing one another.

A missing person mystery, a serial killer thriller, a love story, a unique twist on each, Chris Whitaker has written a novel about what lurks in the shadows of obsession, and the blinding light of hope.

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Intermezzo by Sally Rooney

Listening Length: 16 hours and 29 minutes

Narrator: Éanna Hardwicke

If you’ve listen to audiobook by Sally Rooney, you know her stories are raw and deeply personal. Intermezzo is no different, following two brothers as they deal with loss and complicated relationships. Narrator Éanna Hardwicke brings the story to life with his nuanced voice acting. His tone feels authentic. It captures every emotion perfectly. It’s the kind of narration that pulls you and I am loved hat. Otherwise, it might have felt a bit slow and less engaging. It was also one of the best audiobooks I listened to in 2024.

An exquisitely moving story about grief, love, and family—but especially love—from the global phenomenon Sally Rooney.

Aside from the fact that they are brothers, Peter and Ivan Koubek seem to have little in common.

Peter is a Dublin lawyer in his thirties—successful, competent, and apparently unassailable. But in the wake of their father’s death, he’s medicating himself to sleep and struggling to manage his relationships with two very different women—his enduring first love, Sylvia, and Naomi, a college student for whom life is one long joke.

Ivan is a twenty-two-year-old competitive chess player. He has always seen himself as socially awkward, a loner, the antithesis of his glib elder brother. Now, in the early weeks of his bereavement, Ivan meets Margaret, an older woman emerging from her own turbulent past, and their lives become rapidly and intensely intertwined.

For two grieving brothers and the people they love, this is a new interlude—a period of desire, despair, and possibility; a chance to find out how much one life might hold inside itself without breaking.

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Martyr! by Kaveh Akbar

Listening Length: 10 hours and 39 minutes

Narrator: Arian Moayed

If you’re in the mood for strong debut novels of 2024, Martyr is a powerful choice. Martyr explores grief and addiction, and Arian Moayed delivers a striking performance that adds depth and intensity to every scene. It’s also an excellent pick for a book club discussion because of its heavy themes and emotional impact.

Kaveh Akbar’s Martyr! is a paean to how we spend our lives seeking meaning—in faith, art, ourselves, others—in which a newly sober, orphaned son of Iranian immigrants, guided by the voices of artists, poets, and kings, embarks on a search that leads him to a terminally ill painter living out her final days in the Brooklyn Museum.

Cyrus Shams is a young man grappling with an inheritance of violence and loss: his mother’s plane was shot down over the skies of Tehran in a senseless accident; and his father’s life in America was circumscribed by his work killing chickens at a factory farm in the Midwest. Cyrus is a drunk, an addict, and a poet, whose obsession with martyrs leads him to examine the mysteries of his past—toward an uncle who rode through Iranian battlefields dressed as the Angel of death to inspire and comfort the dying, and toward his mother, through a painting discovered in a Brooklyn art gallery that suggests she may not have been who or what she seemed.

Electrifying, funny, wholly original, and profound, Martyr! heralds the arrival of a blazing and essential new voice in contemporary fiction.

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Margo’s Got Money Troubles by Rufi Thorpe

Listening Length: 10 hours and 21 minutes

Narrator: Elle Fanning

For something lighter, Margo’s Got Money Troubles is a funny and heartfelt audiobook about a young mother finding her way. It’s a bold and empowering story, and Elle Fanning’s energetic narration brings warmth and personality to the characters. I loved the pacing and tone of her voice, which made the listening experience even more enjoyable.

A bold, laugh-out-loud funny, and heartwarming story about one young woman’s attempt to navigate adulthood, new motherhood, and her meager bank account in our increasingly online world—from the PEN/Faulkner finalist and critically acclaimed author of The Knockout Queen.

As the child of a Hooters waitress and an ex-pro wrestler, Margo Millet’s always known she’d have to make it on her own. So she enrolls at her local junior college, even though she can’t imagine how she’ll ever make a living. She’s still figuring things out and never planned to have an affair with her English professor—and while the affair is brief, it isn’t brief enough to keep her from getting pregnant. Despite everyone’s advice, she decides to keep the baby, mostly out of naiveté and a yearning for something bigger.

Now, at twenty, Margo is alone with an infant, unemployed, and on the verge of eviction. She needs a cash infusion—fast. When her estranged father, Jinx, shows up on her doorstep and asks to move in with her, she agrees in exchange for help with childcare. Then Margo begins to form a plan: she’ll start an OnlyFans as an experiment, and soon finds herself adapting some of Jinx’s advice from the world of wrestling. Like how to craft a compelling character and make your audience fall in love with you. Before she knows it, she’s turned it into a runaway success. Could this be the answer to all of Margo’s problems, or does internet fame come with too high a price?

Blisteringly funny and filled with sharp insight, Margo’s Got Money Troubles is a tender tale starring an endearing young heroine who’s struggling to wrest money and power from a world that has little interest in giving it to her. It’s a playful and honest examination of the art of storytelling and controlling your own narrative, and an empowering portrait of coming into your own, both online and off.

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