Book of Life: Marlena
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Narrated by:
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John R Manson
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By:
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Heather O'Brien
About this listen
When a mysterious book arrives on his doorstep a year after his mother’s death, Aaron finds himself drawn into a past he thought he’d left behind. Within its pages, his mother’s hidden memories surface—revealing long-buried secrets and painful truths about his family. As he delves deeper, Aaron uncovers shocking details about his estranged father’s past, including a crime his mother witnessed when he was just a child.
Driven by a need for answers, Aaron embarks on a journey to confront the man he once called his dad. But what begins as a search for understanding forces him to confront dark connections that threaten to unravel everything he thought he knew. With each revelation, Aaron edges closer to the truth—but it may come at a cost he never anticipated.
This book carries several content warnings: childhood abuse, drug and alcohol use, profanity, murder, kidnapping, trauma, mental illness, domestic violence, grief and death.
©2024 Heather O'Brien (P)2025 Heather O'BrienRelated to this topic
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intriguing but skip if triggered by child abuse
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Kidnappers grabbed Jenna in broad daylight, right in front of her children and their horrified classmates. Her family was issued an insane ransom demand: $25 million in cash and jewels, payable by the end of the school day, otherwise they’ll never see her again. As Jenna’s mother scrambles to gather the money, detectives Mo Butler and George Ortega follow the trail of the kidnappers, which will lead them through a sordid landscape of jealous lovers, broken dreamers, and twisted schemers. But every second counts, and there’s one thing Jenna Wade doesn’t have: very much time.
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Overall
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Story
Two little girls stand with their heads bowed in my living room. I’m told they’re my granddaughters. Daisy is nine, and Alice seven. Daisy is the spitting image of her mother. This is the first time I’ve met them since my daughter and I fell out after she married that waste of space, Vince. They’ve come to live with me because their mother — my daughter — was murdered. In her own home while they slept close by. I think Vince killed her. But the police can’t prove it. I’ve always known he was no good. He treated my daughter like dirt. I said he’d cheat on her — but she wouldn’t listen.
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Not too outlandish
- By Jackie H on 12-14-24
By: Jane E. James
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intriguing but skip if triggered by child abuse
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
After the killing of a prominent mob lawyer, NYPD homicide detectives Jacob Jackson and Caitlin Grimes start receive chilling, written “rules” for how to commit the perfect murder. "Rule number one for the perfect murder: Evidence is your enemy. Leave none behind." Jackson (Reid Scott) and Grimes (Cobie Smulders) race to find the killer, setting them on a collision course with the city’s crime underbelly, and a perpetrator who seems happy to toy with them. “Rule number two. No crimes of passion. The perfect murder is always business, never pleasure.”
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This was such a fun Quick listen
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By: James Patterson, and others
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- An Audible Original adaptation
- By: George Orwell, Joe White - adaptation
- Narrated by: Andrew Garfield, Cynthia Erivo, Andrew Scott, and others
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- Original Recording
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
It’s 1984, and life has changed beyond recognition. Airstrip One, formerly known as Great Britain, is a place where Big Brother is always watching, and nobody can hide. Except, perhaps, for Winston Smith. Whilst working at the Ministry of Truth, rewriting history, he secretly dreams of freedom. And in a world where love and sex are forbidden, where it’s hard to distinguish between friend and foe, he meets Julia and O’Brien and vows to rebel.
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