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Small Joys
- A Novel
- Narrated by: Paul Mendez
- Length: 9 hrs and 9 mins
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Publisher's summary
“This funny and bighearted debut is an ode to queer friendship and chosen family. . . . A tender and generous novel about finding your people, getting vulnerable, and celebrating every joy—big or small.”—BuzzFeed
Could I one day inspire happiness in others, the same way he seemed to do in me?
Harley is a young queer black man struggling to find his way in nineties Britain. Returning home, having just dropped out of college, he is racked by feelings of failure and inadequacy. Standing in the woods one day, on the verge of doing something drastic and irreversible, Harley is held back by a stranger: a tall, husky guy who emerges from the bushes holding a pair of binoculars.
Muddy is an ebullient bird-watcher whose lust for his own life makes others feel better by association. A rugby fanatic and Oasis obsessive, he quickly becomes a devoted and loyal friend to Harley, who finds his enthusiasm infectious and his dimples irresistible. In no time, they become inseparable. Harley starts to think that life may be worth living after all, while Muddy discovers things about himself that the lads down at the rugby club would struggle to understand.
But when figures from the past threaten to plunge Harley back into the depths of depression, his only hope of survival is through Muddy and the small joys that they create together. Moving, funny, and tender, Small Joys is an epic novel about ordinary lives that introduces the world to an unforgettable cast of characters and a major new literary talent.
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Critic reviews
“Kind, careful, beautiful, and profound . . . Elvin James Mensah has an uncanny ability to give voice to the most delicate nuances of the human experience. His characters will stay in your heart forever.”—Allison Larkin, author of The People We Keep
“A largehearted look at the importance of found family, Mensah’s first novel focuses on the lifesaving friendship between a cast-off son . . . and the easygoing new roommate whose affection becomes a balm. Small Joys dwells in the sometimes-fleeting moments of pleasure and happiness that stave off the iniquities of the world.”—Electric Literature
“Breathtaking and heartrending, by turns hilarious and devastating and surprising and wild . . . Elvin James Mensah’s prose makes the intangible deft and tremendous—from the balm of friendship to the beauty of queerness to the all-encompassing elixir of community. Tender, thrilling, and honest, Small Joys is a beam of light.”—Bryan Washington, author of Memorial
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Julia hasn't had sex in three years. Her roommate has a boyfriend - and their sex noises are audible through the walls, maybe even throughout the neighborhood. Not to mention, she's treading water in a dead-end job, her know-it-all therapist gives her advice she doesn't ask for, and the men she is surrounded by are, to be polite, subpar.
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it was ok
- By Carla on 10-16-24
By: Kate Davies
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Riven
- By: Roan Parrish
- Narrated by: Chris Chambers, Iggy Toma
- Length: 8 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Theo Decker might be the lead singer of Riven, but he hates being a rock star. The paparazzi, the endless tours, being recognized everywhere he goes - it all makes him squirm. The only thing he doesn't hate is the music. Feeling an audience's energy as they lose themselves in Riven's music is a rush unlike anything else...until he meets Caleb Blake Whitman. Caleb is rough and damaged, yet his fingers on his guitar are pure poetry. And his hands on Theo? They're all he can think about. But Caleb's no groupie - and one night with him won't be enough.
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Emotional; Raw
- By whatcha.listening.to on 12-03-18
By: Roan Parrish
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Lost for Words
- By: Andrea Bramhall
- Narrated by: Rachael Beresford
- Length: 11 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Sasha Adams has it all. Fulfilling career, loving family, great friends, and . . . Who's she kidding? She lives at home with her aging mother, Fleur. She works as a massage therapist, and spends all her time with her best friend, Bobbi. But damn it, she's happy. Well, okay, maybe not happy, but she's content. It's enough. Until the well-meaning but meddlesome women in her life, Fleur and Bobbi, team up and enter Sasha into a writing competition with the potential to change her life.
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She trusts her readers
- By Anonymous User on 01-02-23
By: Andrea Bramhall
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The Other Son
- By: Nick Alexander
- Narrated by: Imogen Church
- Length: 12 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Alice has been lying to herself for years, holding fast to the belief that the needs of her family far outweigh her own. But her outwardly successful marriage hides dark secrets, and for much of her life the children were the only reason she stuck around. These days, though her successful banker son lives nearby, his young wife seems to do everything she can to keep Alice at bay. As for Alice's other son, he has always been something of a stranger and has been traveling for so long that Alice isn't even sure what continent he is on anymore.
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Wonderfully Done!
- By Ann on 11-06-16
By: Nick Alexander
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Times like These
- A Rock Star Romance
- By: Julia Wolf
- Narrated by: Connor Crais, Jennifer Blom
- Length: 8 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Nick Fletcher has the voice of a god and a tongue as sharp as a knife. His words can cut, and this time, his quick temper has earned him an intruder in his life and on his tour. Dalia Brenner looks like a grown-up Annie gone bad, but he wants nothing to do with her pin-up-worthy curves and smart mouth. His method of dealing is to keep his head down, get through the tour, and then he'll never have to see her again.
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5 Star story!
- By Chris Cox on 10-25-20
By: Julia Wolf
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Tell Me Everything
- A Novel
- By: Cambria Brockman
- Narrated by: Ariadne Meyers
- Length: 12 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
In her first weeks at Hawthorne College, Malin is swept up into a tight-knit circle that will stick together through all four years. There’s Gemma, an insecure theater major from London; John, a tall, handsome, wealthy New Englander; Max, John’s cousin, a shy pre-med major; Khaled, a wisecracking prince from Abu Dhabi; and Ruby, a beautiful art history major. But Malin isn’t like the rest of her friends. She’s an expert at hiding her troubled past - all while using her extraordinary insight to detect their deepest vulnerabilities and weaknesses.
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beware
- By keith y. on 10-03-19
By: Cambria Brockman
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Face It
- By: Georgette Kaplan
- Narrated by: Anastasia Watley
- Length: 8 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
In college, Elizabeth Smile shared a magical tryst with her roommate, Michelle Harlow. She had no idea the night would leave Elizabeth pining after her for the next ten years. Now Michelle is back with a strange offer: Will she pretend to be Michelle's lesbian lover to beat Michelle's cheating husband?
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Give it a chance—brilliant!
- By Meredith on 01-22-23
By: Georgette Kaplan
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Swear on This Life
- A Novel
- By: Renée Carlino
- Narrated by: Traci Odom
- Length: 7 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
A struggling writer must come to terms with her past, present, and future after she discovers that she's the inspiration for a pseudonymously published best-selling novel.
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Outstanding Story!
- By Jen Seagraves on 07-28-20
By: Renée Carlino
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Connection between humans and earth.
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In 1930s Japanese-occupied Korea, Lee Woo-cheol was a running prodigy and a contender for the upcoming Tokyo Olympics. But he would have had to run under the Japanese flag. Nearly a century later, his granddaughter is living in Japan and training to run a marathon herself. She summons Korean shamans to hold an intense, transcendent ritual to connect with Lee Woo-cheol.
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Great storyline
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What listeners say about Small Joys
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
- Shaghayegh M.
- 11-08-23
Beautiful story with an amazing narrator.
It was dark at times, sweet and thoughtful throughout, and wonderfully joyous and lovely in the end. I greatly enjoyed the narrators voice and his quick change in tone and accent for each character was impressive.
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Overall
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- Armando
- 07-21-24
A tale of a found family
A British man suffering from a lifetime of parental neglect finds love & acceptance in his found family of friends. I loved the characters but especially fond of Muddy. Everyone should have a Muddy in their life.
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