I got married last week!!! Okay, ‘what does that have to do with audiobooks?’ I hear you ask. Well, with wedding prep taking up so much time, audiobooks have been my saving grace. Whether I’m driving to drop off vases to the florist, or creating menu cards on Canva, being able to stick an audiobook on has kept me sane. I’ve been reaching for audiobooks that are easy to listen to and keep me entertained and these ones haven’t disappointed. So, if you’re heading into a busy summer and you want a book with a strong plot to keep you company, I highly recommend all of the books listed below. We’re now in full house-move-mode so reach out on IG and TikTok (@aminasbookshelf) if you have any recommendations for audiobooks to take with me!
The Plot: ‘Fundamentally’ is a contemporary satirical novel about a woman who works for the UN on a new project to deradicalize ISIS brides. When academic Nadia Amin publishes an article on deradicalization, the UN offers to put her theory into practice. She goes to Iraq to lead a new rehabilitation programme but quickly learns the UN is a mess. From mildly corrupt colleagues to jaded teenage service-users, Nadia’s saviour fantasies crumble around her.
Rating: I loved this book and I won’t hear a bad word about it. As someone who has dipped my toes into international development, this novel spoke to my professional experience and my personal interest. After seeing how the UN and similar agencies work in Afghanistan, Nigeria and Tunisia, I felt like this book understood me and my frustrations with a system designed to make middle-class ‘activists’ feel better and not actually address any of the underlying problems. But let’s go beyond the themes and message. This book is funny. This book is entertaining. This book has complex, interesting characters. I’ve seen some negative reviews of this novel and I really have to conclude those readers simply didn’t understand the sarcastic, irreverent tone. But for the right reader, this novel is gold.
The Plot: ‘The Shadow Cabinet’ is the second novel in a fantasy trilogy about witches in our contemporary world. HMRC – a covert government department – is on the brink of collapse. The High Priestess has been convicted of attempted murder and a renegade warlock has escaped from prison. A group of powerful witches is trying to prevent another civil war. But they must demonstrate that HMRC is still strong to the murky Shadow Cabinet, a secret group of mundane civil servants who are already suspicious of witches. There seems to be a larger plan at work but if the witches can’t figure it out, and fast, all of witchkind will be in grave danger – along with the fate of all (wo)mankind.
Rating: Let’s be realistic. You’re not going to read this book unless you’ve read the first one in the trilogy. And, if you’ve read the first one, I don’t see how you haven’t rushed to read this already. However, I have tried to keep the plot description neutral and avoid spoilers (just in case). All I’ll say is that Juno Dawson continues to deliver an exciting plot, loveable characters and intelligent line-writing. The main storyline was so clever, I loved the romance sub-plot between teenagers Milo and Theo, and the twist about the real identity of the adult love-interest Luke. My only criticism is that I feel conflicted about the ending. With the first novel, the shock ending made total sense and it came full-circle back to the beginning of the book. However, the shock ending of this novel felt like a bit of a cheap trick. I’ll reserve my judgement until I read the final instalment in the trilogy, but I don’t think it was fully baked into the plot, and it’s not consistent with what we know of the characters and world so far. I can’t wait for the final novel to be released this summer as I’m intrigued to see how it’ll be resolved in a satisfying way.
The Plot: ‘The Butcher’ is a mystery-thriller about a serial killer in Seattle. In 1985 policeman Edward Shank hunted down and shot a murderer known as The Butcher. Thirty years later he’s moving to a retirement home and gives his large house to his grandson, Matt, who he helped raise. While doing renovations, Matt stumbles upon a locked crate that reveals a deep family secret about his grandfather’s famous capture. Meanwhile Matt’s girlfriend has always suspected her mother was murdered by The Butcher but was never in the official victim list. As she pursues the truth about her mother’s death, she heads right into the path of Matt’s terrible secret.
Rating: This book comes with a trigger warning for everything. It’s dark, it’s disturbing and it’s not for the faint hearted. No wonder I loved it! It feels like an elevated crime novel. On the surface, you’re tracking down the identity of The Butcher, but there are so many layers and so many twists, it’ll keep you guessing right until the end. I’d highly recommend it (if you can stomach the sickness).
The Plot: Written as interview transcripts, ‘Daisy Jones & The Six’ is a pseudo-documentary of a fictional band. In the late 1970’s, Daisy Jones is coming of age in L.A. among sex, drugs and rock n roll. Exceptionally beautiful, she’s signed to a record label because of her unique voice but she yearns to write her own songs. Meanwhile a band called The Six is climbing up the charts due to their captivating lead singer, Billy Dunne. When Daisy and Billy cross paths a producer decides to put them together on a track. What happens next becomes the stuff of legends.
Rating: If you haven’t heard of this book, you must’ve been living under a rock. This story is sex, drugs and rock and roll. While reading you’d be forgiven if you start to believe it’s a true story. In true TJR style, I was invested in this novel and it hit the right spot of commercial women’s fiction. However, I struggled a bit with the quick POV changes and number of voices on the audiobook. Often each character introduced themselves and only said a sentence before moving onto someone else. This constant repetition of names felt jarring and I almost wanted to skip over them. I feel you wouldn’t have this problem with the physical book because you’re eye would subconsciously take in the narrator of each sentence as if you were reading a script. Therefore, I’d recommend the novel overall but maybe not the audiobook.
The Plot: ‘Slags’ is a contemporary coming-of-age novel about two sisters. Sarah and Juliette are going on a whisky-fuelled campervan road-trip across Scotland to celebrate Juliette’s 40th birthday. With flashbacks to their teenage selves, they explore sex, consent and obsession as they dig up some demons from the past.
Rating: I read this a while ago and left it too long to review, so this isn’t my best. Perhaps that’s indicative of the quality of the book? It’s fun and easy to listen to, but not that memorable. The depiction of 90s teenage girlhood is full of nostalgia and there are tons of laugh out loud jokes. I enjoyed how flawed the sisters were and their dynamic. However, I wish it lived up to the title and explored the idea of being labelled a slag and societal expectations put on teenage girls.
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