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My Absolute Darling
- A Novel
- Narrated by: Alex McKenna
- Length: 15 hrs and 47 mins
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Publisher's summary
A brilliant and immersive, all-consuming audiobook about one 14-year-old girl's heart-stopping fight for her own soul.
Turtle Alveston is a survivor. At 14, she roams the woods along the Northern California coast. The creeks, tide pools, and rocky islands are her haunts and her hiding grounds, and she is known to wander for miles. But while her physical world is expansive, her personal one is small and treacherous. Turtle has grown up isolated since the death of her mother, in the thrall of her tortured and charismatic father, Martin. Her social existence is confined to the middle school (where she fends off the interest of anyone, student or teacher, who might penetrate her shell) and to her life with her father.
Then Turtle meets Jacob, a high-school boy who tells jokes, lives in a big clean house, and looks at Turtle as if she is the sunrise. And for the first time, the larger world begins to come into focus: Her life with Martin is neither safe nor sustainable. Motivated by her first experience with real friendship and a teenage crush, Turtle starts to imagine escape, using the very survival skills her father devoted himself to teaching her. The listener tracks Turtle's escalating acts of physical and emotional courage and watches, heart in throat, as she struggles to become her own hero - and, in the process, becomes ours as well.
Shot through with striking language in a fierce natural setting, My Absolute Darling is an urgently told, profoundly moving book that marks the debut of an extraordinary new writer.
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Evie and her uncle Jim have just moved to an isolated cabin in a remote beach town - a far cry from their hometown of Melbourne. But Evie isn't her real name. And Jim isn't really her uncle. Jim tells Evie she did something terrible back home, that he's hiding her to protect her. But Evie can't remember anything about that night - for all she knows, he's lying. As fragments of her memory return, she starts to wonder if Jim is really her savior...or her captor.
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Wow
- By lolo610 on 03-30-19
By: J. P. Pomare
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The Necromancer's House
- By: Christopher Buehlman
- Narrated by: Todd Haberkorn
- Length: 11 hrs and 4 mins
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Andrew Ranulf Blankenship is a handsome, stylish nonconformist with wry wit, a classic Mustang, and a massive library. He is also a recovering alcoholic and a practicing warlock, able to speak with the dead through film. His house is a maze of sorcerous booby traps and escape tunnels, as yours might be if you were sitting on a treasury of Russian magic stolen from the Soviet Union thirty years ago.
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Finally - Magic / Fantasy Novel for adults.
- By David on 04-23-14
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Southern Gods
- By: John Hornor Jacobs
- Narrated by: Eric G Dove
- Length: 9 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
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Recent World War II veteran Bull Ingram is working as muscle when a Memphis DJ hires him to find Ramblin' John Hastur. The mysterious blues man's dark, driving music - broadcast at ever-shifting frequencies by a phantom radio statio - is said to make living men insane and dead men rise. Disturbed and enraged by the bootleg recording the DJ plays for him, Ingram follows Hastur's trail into the strange, uncivilized backwoods of Arkansas, where he hears rumors the musician has sold his soul to the Devil.
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Big, Bold and Bright
- By John on 08-23-11
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Cruel World
- A Novel
- By: Joe Hart
- Narrated by: Fajer Al-Kaisi
- Length: 13 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
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Hidden away from the world by his famous father, Quinn Kelly strives to find meaning in his life while struggling with a deformity that has kept him from leaving the only home he has ever known. On the eve of his departure a sudden and deadly virus sweeps across the nation, killing nearly all it touches. Within days Quinn is left to fend for himself in an empty world. But there is something still very much alive beyond the walls of his sanctuary.
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BEST post apocalyptic story
- By melinda a rister on 10-02-21
By: Joe Hart
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Mannheim Rex
- By: Robert Pobi
- Narrated by: Peter Berkrot
- Length: 14 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
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Recently widowered and grieving, Gavin flees New York City for the quiet of the country. His new home on Lake Caldasac has surprisingly few visitors, and the author soon learns why: a suspiciously high number of people have gone missing in the small town. The deaths have all been ruled accidents, but Finn Horn, a handicapped boy obsessed with fishing, knows the truth. There’s a monster in the lake. And it wants to feed.
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Interesting and fun
- By Bob on 01-14-13
By: Robert Pobi
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The Reapers Are the Angels
- By: Alden Bell
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For 25 years, civilization has survived in meager enclaves, guarded against a plague of the dead. Temple wanders this blighted landscape, keeping to herself and keeping her demons inside her heart. She can’t remember a time before the zombies, but she does remember an old man who took her in and the younger brother she cared for until the tragedy that set her off on her personal journey toward redemption.
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Literary Limbo-ing
- By Mel on 04-25-13
By: Alden Bell
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Bloodman
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In this psychological thriller, Jake Cole returns to his childhood home after his elderly father nearly kills himself by setting himself on fire and plowing through a plate-glass window. Jake’s father - a great American painter - is a man whose shadow Jake has tried to outrun since he was a boy. Now a contractor for the FBI who possesses a unique gift for recreating crime scenes, Jake is pulled into a hauntingly familiar double homicide investigation. He recognizes the artistic signature in the slayings from his childhood.
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Cop Out
- By Alan on 05-28-12
By: Robert Pobi
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Blackbirds
- Miriam Black, Book 1
- By: Chuck Wendig
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Miriam Black knows when you will die. Still in her early twenties, she’s foreseen hundreds of car crashes, heart attacks, strokes, suicides, and slow deaths by cancer. But when Miriam hitches a ride with truck driver Louis Darling and shakes his hand, she sees that in thirty days he will be gruesomely murdered while he calls her name. Miriam has given up trying to save people; that only makes their deaths happen. No matter what she does, she can’t save Louis. But if she wants to stay alive, she’ll have to try.
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Not for the faint of heart or kids but exciting
- By Steph on 04-07-14
By: Chuck Wendig
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The Marbury Lens
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- Length: 10 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
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Sixteen-year-old Jack gets drunk and finds himself in the wrong place at the wrong time: he is kidnapped, but escapes, narrowly. The only person he tells is his best friend, Conner. When they arrive in London as planned for their summer break, a stranger hands Jack a pair of glasses. Through the lenses, he sees another world called Marbury. There is war in Marbury, which is a desolate and murderous place where Jack is responsible for the survival of two younger boys.
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Like an addiction, I just couldn't stop listening.
- By Gini McKellar on 11-24-10
By: Andrew Smith
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Bleeding Violet
- By: Dia Reeves
- Narrated by: Suzy Jackson
- Length: 9 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
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With a head plagued by hallucinations, a medicine cabinet full of pills, and a closet stuffed with frilly, violet dresses, Hanna's tired of being the outcast, the weird girl, the freak. So she runs away to Portero, Texas, in search of a new home. But Portero is a stranger town than Hanna expects. She discovers secrets that would terrify any normal soul. Good thing for Hanna, she's far from normal. As this crazy girl meets an even crazier town, only two things are certain: Anything can happen, and no one is safe.
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Didn't like it. Sorry, not sorry
- By Cii'Em on 02-15-16
By: Dia Reeves
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The Best Horror of the Year, Volume 4
- By: Ellen Datlow - author/editor, Stephen King, Peter Straub
- Narrated by: Meredith Mitchell, Rebecca Mitchell, Michael Healy, and others
- Length: 16 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
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With tales from Laird Barron, Stephen King, John Langan, Peter Straub, and many others, and featuring Datlow’s comprehensive overview of the year in horror, now, more than ever, The Best Horror of the Year provides the petrifying horror fiction readers have come to expect - and enjoy.
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Only a few decent stories in this bunch.
- By Jerry on 12-06-14
By: Ellen Datlow - author/editor, and others
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Fourth of July Creek
- A Novel
- By: Smith Henderson
- Narrated by: MacLeod Andrews, Jenna Lamia
- Length: 15 hrs and 41 mins
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After trying to help Benjamin Pearl, an undernourished, nearly feral 11-year-old boy living in the Montana wilderness, social worker Pete Snow comes face-to-face with the boy's profoundly disturbed father, Jeremiah. With courage and caution, Pete slowly earns a measure of trust from this paranoid survivalist itching for a final conflict that will signal the coming End Times. But as Pete's own family spins out of control, Pearl's activities spark the full-blown interest of the FBI, putting Pete at the center of a massive manhunt from which no one will emerge unscathed.
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The Ghost of Tom Joad & the Wrath of Grapes
- By Mel on 06-30-14
By: Smith Henderson
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What listeners say about My Absolute Darling
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Katherine S.
- 01-13-18
Precious meets Misery meets Die Hard
I bought this book on Stephen King’s much touted endorsement: “a masterpiece,” he called it. Overall an enjoyable but dark read which loses its way in the last quarter of the book when it moves from a tight psychological thriller to basically Die Hard 3 in an instant. I think the author was aiming to secure a film option — over-the-top machine-gun violence at a prom on a beach. Really?
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17 people found this helpful
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- Cherilyn Parsons
- 10-09-17
Wow... And excellent audio
This book was difficult to listen to at times because the story was so intense and dark, but it was so worthwhile. I could hardly stop listening. The writing is superb. I’ve read about the controversy around this male author writing a story from the perspective of an abused girl, but I found the novel to be sophisticated, insightful, and deeply compassionate — all that a novel should be around a topic that should be explored in fiction much more than it is. (Besides, writers should be able to explore any topic and point of view that appeals to their imagination, especially when done with such care as was the case here.) I applaud the writer for taking on such an important topic and doing it so well. Full, rich, highly nuanced worlds were created in this novel, both psychological and physical worlds.
I also must comment on the narrator for the audiobook. I could hardly imagine a more perfect voice, and the delivery was flawless. I highly recommend this book in the audio version, and I think I may also buy the hardcover version to have a copy of this fine novel for my library and to enjoy the language at a slower pace than by listening.
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4 people found this helpful
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- Gail
- 09-07-17
Compelling
Beautifully written and narrated. Kept me reading. I think this book could have been stronger without all the in depth gun descriptions that were likely lost and over the top for the average reader. Also, there was a bit too much circular and repetitive dialog between the characters. which got annoying. Perhaps a tad more editing would have made this an epic tale. All in all this book got to me .I found myself wanting to throttle Julia into action. I look forward to more from this author.
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2 people found this helpful
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- KLH
- 09-23-17
A Book of Firsts
First 1st. I've never hated a character as much as I hated one of the main characters. Second 1st. I've never shouted at the characters in an audible book. Third 1st. I've never had such mixed feelings about a book.
This book is gritty, brutal, beautifully written, and at times heartbreaking. The characters are not like any people you know in your life. Maybe because of that you can remove yourself from the violence of the narrative.
If violence and enough swearing to make your ears bleed make you queasy, then pass on this one. If you want to listen to a book unlike anything you've read/listened to before, then dive in.
Alex McKenna has a raspy voice befitting the story. Listen to a sample to decide if her voice annoys you. I happen to love her voice but many of the reviewers do not. She narrated "Sweetbitter" so I was familiar with her voice.
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1 person found this helpful
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- Amanda Turner
- 11-10-18
interesting read
If you can look past some of the more gruesome details in this book, the story is a great tale of survival at all costs. I enjoyed it.
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- J. Martin
- 09-13-19
Not agreeing with the negative reviews!
This is a brutally harsh story. Not for the faint of heart. If you are not looking for a touchy feel good book, and for a story with a serious troubling edge, this is a great book. Hopeful, shocking and traumatic all the way through. I had to go back and re listen to earlier chapters at the end. Narrator is excellent. If you dont think so in the beginning you will very quickly.
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- Amazon Customer
- 10-29-17
Amazing story beautifully written and told
Story is gripping and spell binding from the first. Characters come to life. Narration is wonderful. Highly recommend this.
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- Cynthia laduca
- 11-04-18
Horrific
As awful a story it was and I wanted to stop reading it I had to keep listening to see just how sad and horrific this story was. It will stay with me for a long time
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- KentuckyWoman
- 07-02-22
Troubling
I couldn't stop listening. it was horrible and heart wrenching and I couldn't stop listening. I am a social worker. I did child abuse investigations then worked with children in foster care for 35 years. It's a tough field. I found this story to be spot on with feelings, emotions, skewed thinking and a profound love for a parent even through horrific fear and abuse. The ending was not what I wanted, but it was so appropriate because the road to healing is a continuous journey.
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- Anonymous User
- 09-26-22
Masterful
This book is a must-read, but only if you can stomach it. Brilliant and visceral.
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