Welcome to the September 2018 Audio Book of the Month Poll!
Here are all our Audio Reviews rated 4.5 & 5 hearts and up from the previous month, in no particular order. Please vote for your favorites. As with all of our Polls, you can vote for as many as you want, but you only get one visit, so make it count!
The top two will go through to the Audio of the Year Poll!
POLL SCHEDULE:
This poll will remain open until at least 6PM, Amsterdam time next week. The actual closing time will vary depending on blog staff schedules..
Dirty Laundry (Cole McGinnis #3) by Rhys Ford & Greg Tremblay (Narrator)
Reviewed by Annika
TITLE: Dirty Laundry 
SERIES: Cole McGinnis #3
AUTHOR: Rhys Ford
NARRATOR: Greg Tremblay
PUBLISHER: Dreamspinner Press
RELEASE DATE: June 19, 2014
LENGTH: 8 hours, 56 minutes
BLURB:
For ex-cop turned private investigator Cole McGinnis, each day brings a new challenge. Too bad most of them involve pain and death. Claudia, his office manager and surrogate mother, is still recovering from a gunshot, and Cole’s closeted boyfriend, Kim Jae-Min, suddenly finds his teenaged sister dumped in his lap. Meanwhile, Cole has his own sibling problems-most notably, a mysterious half brother from Japan whom his older brother, Mike, is determined they welcome with open arms.
As if his own personal dramas weren’t enough, Cole is approached by Madame Sun, a fortune-teller whose clients have been dying at an alarming rate. Convinced someone is after her customers, she wants the matter investigated, but the police think she’s imagining things. Hoping to put Sun’s mind at ease, Cole takes the case and finds himself plunged into a Gordian knot of lies and betrayal where no one is who they are supposed to be and Death seems to be the only card in Madame Sun’s deck.
Kill Game (Seven of Spades #1) by Cordelia Kingsbridge (Author) & Wyatt Baker (Narrator)
Reviewed by Annika
TITLE: Kill Game 
SERIES: Seven of Spades #1
AUTHOR: Cordelia Kingsbridge
NARRATOR: Wyatt Baker
PUBLISHER: Riptide
RELEASE DATE: April 20, 2018
LENGTH: 7 hours, 56 minutes
BLURB:
Homicide detective Levi Abrams is barely holding his life together. He’s reeling from the fallout of a fatal shooting, and his relationship with his boyfriend is crumbling. The last thing he’s prepared for is a serial killer stalking the streets of Las Vegas. Or how he keeps getting thrown into the path of annoyingly charming bounty hunter Dominic Russo.
Dominic likes his life free of complications. That means no tangling with cops—especially prickly, uptight detectives. But when he stumbles across one of the Seven of Spades’s horrifying crime scenes, he can’t let go, despite Levi’s warnings to stay away.
The Seven of Spades is ruthless and always two moves ahead. Worst of all, they’ve taken a dangerously personal interest in Levi and Dominic. Forced to trust each other, the two men race to discover the killer’s identity, revealing hidden truths along the way and sparking a bond neither man expected. But that may not be enough to protect them.
This killer likes to play games, and the deck is not stacked in Levi and Dominic’s favo
Dirty Secret (Cole McGinnis #2) by Rhys Ford (Author) & Greg Tremblay (Narrator)
Reviewed by Annika
TITLE: Dirty Secret 
SERIES: Cole McGinnis #2
AUTHOR: Rhys Ford
NARRATOR: Greg Tremblay
PUBLISHER: Dreamspinner Press
RELEASE DATE: May 8, 2014
LENGTH: 8 hours, 4 minutes
BLURB:
Loving Kim Jae-Min isn’t always easy: Jae is gun-shy about being openly homosexual. Ex-cop turned private investigator Cole McGinnis doesn’t know any other way to be. Still, he understands where Jae is coming from. Traditional Korean men aren’t gay-at least not usually where people can see them.
But Cole can’t spend too much time unraveling his boyfriend’s issues. He has a job to do. When a singer named Scarlet asks him to help find Park Dae-Hoon, a gay Korean man who disappeared nearly two decades ago, Cole finds himself submerged in the tangled world of rich Korean families, where obligation and politics mean sacrificing happiness to preserve corporate empires. Soon the bodies start piling up without rhyme or reason. With every step Cole takes toward locating Park Dae-Hoon, another person meets their demise-and someone Cole loves could be next on the murderer’s list.
Dirty Kiss (Cole McGinnis #1) by Rhys Ford (Author) & Greg Tremblay (Narrator)
Reviewed by Annika
TITLE: Dirty Kiss 
SERIES: Cole McGinnis #1
AUTHOR: Rhys Ford
NARRATOR: Greg Tremblay
PUBLISHER: Dreamspinner Press
RELEASE DATE: March 10, 2014
LENGTH: 8 hours, 21 minutes
BLURB:
Cole Kenjiro McGinnis, ex-cop and PI, is trying to get over the shooting death of his lover when a supposedly routine investigation lands in his lap. Investigating the apparent suicide of a prominent Korean businessman’s son proves to be anything but ordinary, especially when it introduces Cole to the dead man’s handsome cousin, Kim Jae-Min.
Jae-Min’s cousin had a dirty little secret, the kind that Cole has been familiar with all his life and that Jae-Min is still hiding from his family. The investigation leads Cole from tasteful mansions to seedy lover s trysts to Dirty Kiss, the place where the rich and discreet go to indulge in desires their traditional-minded families would rather know nothing about.
It also leads Cole McGinnis into Jae-Min’s arms, and that could be a problem. The death of Jae-Min’s cousin is looking less and less like a suicide, and Jae-Min is looking more and more like a target. Cole has already lost one lover to violence he’s not about to lose Jae-Min too.
Read More »
Duet by Eden Winters (Author) & Michael Ferraiuolo (Narrator)
Reviewed by Annika
TITLE: Duet 
AUTHOR: Eden Winters
NARRATOR: Michael Ferraiuolo
PUBLISHER: Dreamspinner Press
RELEASE DATE: November 9, 2015
LENGTH: 7 hours, 13 minutes
BLURB:
A conqueror’s decree can’t separate Aillil Callaghan from his Scottish heritage. He wears his clan’s forbidden plaid with pride, awaiting the day he becomes Laird, restores his family’s name, and fights to free Scotland from English tyranny. An Englishman in his home? Abomination! Yet the tutor his father engaged for Aillil’s younger brothers may have something to teach the Callaghan heir as well.
Violinist and scholar Malcolm Byerly fled Kent in fear, seeking nothing more than a quiet post, eager minds to teach, and for no one to learn his secrets. He didn’t count on his charges’ English-hating barbarian of an older brother, or on red-and-green tartan concealing a kindred soul. A shared love of music breaks down the barriers between two worlds.
Aillil’s father threatens their love, but a far more dangerous enemy tears them apart. They vanish into legend.
Two centuries later, concert violinist Billy Byerly arrives at Castle Callaghan—and feels strangely at home. Legends speak of a Lost Laird who haunts the fortress in wait of his lover’s return. Billy doesn’t believe in legends, ghosts, or love that outlasts life.
But the Lost Laird knows his own.
Thin Blue (Thin Blue Line #1) by Patricia Logan (Author) & Michael Pauley (Narrator)
Reviewed by Annika
TITLE: Thin Blue 
SERIES: Thin Blue Line #1
AUTHOR: Patricia Logan
NARRATOR: Michael Pauley
PUBLISHER: Self-Published
RELEASE DATE: August 16, 2018
LENGTH: 10 hours, 55 minutes
BLURB:
Detective Pope Dades is a veteran police officer working in the Hollywood division, one of the busiest police precincts in the country. Dealing with drug dealers, hookers, and mentally ill suspects on a daily basis is his stock and trade. He once loved his job with the LAPD but three years ago, he put his trust in the wrong man and he’s been paying the price ever since. Refusing to work with a partner after the first one nearly killed him, Pope is jaded, still hurting, and hanging onto the career he once adored by a thread.
Homeland Security Investigator Felix Jbarra is a fresh-faced young agent with a bright future in the DHS ahead of him. Deeply closeted, Felix hides his sexual orientation from his huge Catholic family which brings him terrible guilt and grief. One night in a back-room nightclub encounter, he connects with a man who inexplicably makes him want to confess everything. Assigned to help shut down an elusive child sex trafficking ring, Felix instinctively knows he’ll need turn to the more experienced detective for help if he and his partner want to crack this case.
In the first book of the brand new Thin Blue Line series, join Felix and Pope in this exciting adventure as their worlds collide on the mean streets and in between the sheets…
When Everything is Blue by Laura Lascarso (Author) & Michael Mola (Narrator)
Reviewed by Annika
TITLE: When Everything is Blue 
AUTHOR: Laura Lascarso
NARRATOR: Michael Mola
PUBLISHER: Dreamspinner Press
RELEASE DATE: August 13, 2018
LENGTH: 7 hours, 1 minute
BLURB:
When they were kids, Chris Mitcham rescued Theo from the neighborhood bullies and taught him how to “be cool.” Now, years later, Theo’s developed feelings for his best friend that arise at the most inopportune times. Theo hates lying to Chris, but in coming out, he might lose the one person who understands him best, a risk he’s not willing to take.
When a relationship with another young man goes south, Theo is forced to confront his own sexuality along with his growing attraction to Chris and his stunted, tenuous relationship with his father. Will Chris abandon Theo when he learns the truth, or will he stand by him in this tumultuous season of self-discovery?
In this quirky coming-of-age romance, Theo’s path to manhood is fraught with awkward firsts and a few haters, but also the unexpected comfort of a friend turned lover.
The Master Will Appear by L.A. Witt (Author) & Michael Ferraiuolo (Narrator)
Reviewed by Christian
TITLE: The Master Will Appear 
AUTHOR: L. A. Witt
NARRATOR: Michael Ferraiuolo
PUBLISHER: L. A. Witt
LENGTH: 12 hours, 59 minutes
RELEASE DATE: January 2, 2018
BLURB:
Dr. Mikhail “Misha” Budnikov takes one look at fellow fencer Ryan O’Connor and instantly knows his type. The undisciplined hothead is all ego with no finesse and even less control. In short, Misha’s pet peeves personified. To put the arrogant kid in check, Misha challenges him to a sparring match, which he predictably wins.
Not so predictably, Ryan asks him to be a mentor and show him how to fence. Startled by the moment of humility, Misha agrees.
What begins as fencing lessons becomes something much hotter, and before they know it, Misha is giving Ryan an entirely different kind of education. Dominance, submission, pain, pleasure–at the hands of an older, experienced man, a whole new world is opening up for Ryan.
As the trust deepens and their bond strengthens, though, Ryan retreats because that sham called love left him jaded long ago. Cynical beyond his years, he’s not letting his guard down, least of all for a thrice-divorced man twice his age.
Now Misha has to find a way to crack through those defenses…or accept defeat and walk away from the submissive who might just be the love of
his life.
Heads-up, some of the books are not currently in the poll choices! I have emailed to ask to get this fixed. I love all the books, but The Master Will Appear was one of the best BDSM I’ve ever listened to.
I dont know what happened out appologies~!