The Rise and Fall of Ava Arcana
A Novel
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Narrated by:
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Jess Nahikian
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Samara Naeymi
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By:
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Jennifer Banash
About this listen
An electrifying novel about a woman in thrall to the exhilarating rhythms of Manhattan, lost in the dizzying promise of youth, and fatally naive to the dark pressures of fame.
When Rolling Stone journalist Kayla McCray is assigned a cover story on pop icon Lexi Mayhem, Kayla stumbles across a startling new angle to the exposé. Years ago, another rising star from Lexi’s past mysteriously leaped to her death. Some things are better off forgotten, Lexi says. Kayla disagrees.
It’s 2005 and Ava Petrova moves to New York with a notebook full of songs and a dream. Then she meets Lexi, an up-and-coming singer who brands Ava with an enigmatic new stage name and introduces her to an intoxicating city alive with possibilities. From fast friends and kindred spirits to creative muses and inseparable soul mates, Ava and Lexi embark on a parallel journey to stardom, but there is room for only one at the top.
As past and present converge, Kayla chases the ghost of a young woman doomed by betrayal and erased by a secret, and unravels the truth that it takes more than ambition to become a star.
©2023 Jennifer Banash (P)2022 Brilliance Publishing, Inc., all rights reserved.Listeners also enjoyed...
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Critic reviews
“Read-in-one-sitting…Banash masterfully interweaves guilt, love, remorse, and yearning with a bit of playfulness, creating a tale that is multifaceted in its content and spirit.”—Booklist
“Banash’s sublime new stunner immerses us in an intoxicating female friendship between two young singers, each striving for pop stardom, until one of them suspiciously dies, later leading a Rolling Stone journalist to dig out the truth no one seems to want uncovered. A psychological why-done-it about the glittering allure and tragic cost of fame, and the heady bliss of bonding, all set against an unforgettable soundtrack of love and deception.”—Caroline Leavitt, New York Times bestselling author of With or Without You and Pictures of You
“Gritty, propulsive, and complex, Banash paints a vivid picture of two young women navigating their way through the dark side of the music industry and the journalist who uncovers their shocking truth years later. I found myself completely transported into Banash’s world of glittering stages, bright city lights, and deeply nuanced, compelling characters. The Rise and Fall of Ava Arcana is an addictive read that will leave you wanting more.”—Julia Spiro, author of Full and Someone Else’s Secret
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- Unabridged
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Assistant District Attorney Elizabeth Holt has spent over a decade fighting for justice, but when DNA evidence cracks a cold case will justice finally be served? Someone is watching. Just months from her college graduation, Elizabeth Holt is in love and her future is brighter than the sun. But all that changes when, after a romantic birthday with her fiancée, Elizabeth returns home, unaware a secret watcher has unimaginably horrible plans for her.
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A harrowing story of a woman overcoming trauma
- By Diana in SC @AudiobookObsession on 07-15-24
By: Chris Patchell
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Once More with Feeling
- A Selection from Play It Again
- By: Nora Roberts
- Narrated by: Amy McFadden
- Length: 6 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
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Musician Raven Williams was devastated when Brandon Carstairs broke her heart five years ago. Now he's back, asking for her help co-writing the score for a major film - an opportunity she can't refuse. Despite the undeniable heat between them, Raven vows to keeps things strictly professional. Once burned, twice shy. But when the sparks start flying, it's hard not to melt…
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Glorifying Unhealthy Relationships
- By Beth Allen on 06-30-24
By: Nora Roberts
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Chosen Ones
- By: Veronica Roth
- Narrated by: Dakota Fanning
- Length: 15 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
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Fifteen years ago, five ordinary teenagers were singled out by a prophecy to take down an impossibly powerful entity wreaking havoc across North America. He was known as the Dark One, and his weapon of choice - catastrophic events known as Drains - leveled cities and claimed thousands of lives. Chosen Ones, as the teens were known, gave everything they had to defeat him. After the Dark One fell, the world went back to normal...for everyone but them. Of the five, Sloane has had the hardest time adjusting.
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Same dull and depressed tone throughout
- By Thien-Nga Vo on 04-09-20
By: Veronica Roth
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Before You Knew My Name
- A Novel
- By: Jacqueline Bublitz
- Narrated by: Penelope Rawlins
- Length: 10 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
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When she arrived in New York on her eighteenth birthday carrying nothing but $600 cash and a stolen camera, Alice Lee was looking for a fresh start. Now, just one month later, she is the city’s latest Jane Doe. She may be dead but that doesn’t mean her story is over. Meanwhile, Ruby Jones is also trying to reinvent herself. After travelling halfway around the world, she’s lonelier than ever in the Big Apple. Until she stumbles upon a woman’s body by the Hudson River, and suddenly finds herself unbreakably tied to the unknown dead woman.
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Excellent
- By cristina on 11-11-22
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Superhero Syndrome
- Solstice Survivors, Book 1
- By: Caryn Larrinaga
- Narrated by: Ruby Hankey
- Length: 7 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
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Tess McBray was dying. The solstice syndrome had no cure, and she resigned herself to an early grave. But just when she gave up on survival, all her symptoms mysteriously disappeared. All but one symptom, anyway. Something is wrong with Tess’ hands. They absorb any material they touch, and her skin turns to wood, steel, or concrete. It doesn’t take this comic book obsessed 21-year-old long to figure out what’s going on: somehow, she’s developed super powers. And she’s not the only one; across the country, people are coming forward and sharing their gifts with the world.
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"Origin" story with great characters and narration
- By Kara on 08-17-19
By: Caryn Larrinaga
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Gate of Darkness, Circle of Light
- By: Tanya Huff
- Narrated by: Dina Pearlman
- Length: 9 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
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First published in 1989 and taking place in downtown Toronto, one of the earliest of the modern urban fantasies, Gate of Darkness, Circle of Light is the story of a fight against encroaching darkness by a developmentally handicapped young woman, a street musician with no idea of his potential, a bag-lady who's tired of picking up the pieces, and an adept of the light. Mixing actual Toronto ghost-stories with traditional Faire, a police procedural, and a cat, Gate of Darkness, Circle of Light opened a gate at street level to the urban fantasy that followed.
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Old favorite novel, awful narrator...
- By S. Douma on 08-15-14
By: Tanya Huff
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F*ck Marriage
- By: Tarryn Fisher
- Narrated by: Meg Sylvan, Connor Crais
- Length: 9 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
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Two years ago, Billie Tarrow's husband left her for another woman. Shamed and divorced, Billie retreated to her family home in Port Townsend, far from her old life in New York. After a near-death encounter, Billie decides to return to the city that took everything from her. But sometimes in the midst of heartache, hope suffocates the pain. Satcher Gable has carried a torch for Billie for 10 years. When she suddenly returns to New York a single woman, he can't believe his good fortune. But convincing Billie to walk away from her heartache is proving more difficult than he anticipated.
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So many emotions
- By KK on 06-16-20
By: Tarryn Fisher
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The Roads Left Behind Us
- By: Kat Jackson
- Narrated by: Lila Winters
- Length: 9 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
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Even if Callie were to entertain the idea of dating, she's certain it would be with someone vibrant, open, and close to her own age. Definitely not someone like Dr. Kate Jory, a new member of Pennbrook College's English department. Kate is both intimidating and a closed book. And the age difference between them is not small. But Kate is also brilliant and fascinating, and Callie is drawn to her in ways she'd never imagined possible.
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Very Cute Romance
- By Janice H on 11-02-24
By: Kat Jackson
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Staying Dead
- A Retrievers Novel
- By: Laura Anne Gilman
- Narrated by: Emma Woodbine
- Length: 10 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
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As a Retriever, Wren Valere specializes in finding things gone missing - and then bringing them back, no questions asked. Normally her job is stimulating, challenging and only a little bit dangerous. But every once in a while....
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Great Urban Fantasy!
- By Anne on 03-11-09
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Stray
- Shifters, Book 1
- By: Rachel Vincent
- Narrated by: Jennifer Van Dyck
- Length: 13 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
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"I look like an all-American grad student. But I am a werecat, a shape-shifter, and I live in two worlds. Despite reservations from my family and my Pride, I escaped the pressure to continue my species and carved out a normal life for myself. Until the night a Stray attacked."
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Loved it!
- By Alexis on 08-09-07
By: Rachel Vincent
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Chase Me
- Broke and Beautiful Series, Book 1
- By: Tessa Bailey
- Narrated by: Rachel Dulude
- Length: 7 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
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College drop-out Roxy Cumberland moved to New York with dreams of becoming an actress, but her dwindling bank account is quickly putting the kibosh on that fantasy. To make some quick cash, she signs up to perform singing telegrams. Her first customer is a gorgeous, cocky Manhattan trust-funder if she ever laid eyes on one. And what could be more humiliating than singing an ode to his junk, courtesy of his last one-night stand? Maybe the fact that she's dressed in a giant pink bunny costume....
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Loved it
- By Kathleen D. on 12-26-20
By: Tessa Bailey
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Finger Prints
- A Novel
- By: Barbara Delinsky
- Narrated by: Traci Odom
- Length: 14 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
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Once upon a time, she was Robyn Hart, a dogged journalist covering an arson case who saw too much and wasn't afraid to expose it. But that courage nearly cost Robyn her life. Now under the safety of the Witness Protection program, she has a new identity - Carly Quinn - with a new job in a new city. As she struggles to make the best of her new life in Boston, the terror of the past still lingers, and Carly lives in fear that her enemies will find her.
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Keeps you in suspense!!
- By Tammy Isbell on 01-29-20
By: Barbara Delinsky
What listeners say about The Rise and Fall of Ava Arcana
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Grace M.
- 08-21-23
Really fun summer listen
I haven't written a review in a while. i bought this book as the special of the day and really enjoyed it. The story was good. i like the narration a lot and it was just a fun listen.
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- NONE YA BUSINESS
- 11-21-23
This is the real story of Lady Gaga
It is about Lina Morgana, who committed suicide in October 2008, throwing herself from the roof of a hotel on State Island in New York. The mother of the young promise of just 19 years old blamed the death of her daughter to Lady Gaga and claimed that Gaga had plagiarized her style while Morgana’s look stood out for its extravagance and eccentricity.
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- JustS
- 04-08-23
An Okay Mystery
The story was a bit predictable, but the narration was good. I recommend getting this on sale rather than for a credit though.
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8 people found this helpful
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- JulieH
- 10-18-23
Excellent story and Narration was spot on!
I really enjoyed this book! I can't say for sure what I liked so much about it; the two stories running simultaneously, one from the past and one current; the characters; the mysterious twists; the tiny bit of romance.... they all made it what it is! It was a little bit predictable, but I did not predict the final ending.
I listened at an increased speed, but that is common for me.
One thing is for sure, the narration was excellent, it made the story come alive! Bravo! My only complaint is that one of the narrators voice was much quieter than the others voice, so I had to keep changing the volume. Not a huge deal though.
Some reviews comment on it being a young adult book. I thought that was fine, but I can see where they are coming from, and since I have never experienced the intense friendship that is apparent between the characters, so some of it was a little cheesy to me, but it was all part of the story and I didn't mind it.
I am bummed that Jennifer doesn't have very many novels, and no other audio books. Hopefully she comes out with more soon!
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- Amazon Customer
- 05-13-23
Hidden gem
An interesting, insightful story. Great narration. Full of detail and mystery. I enjoyed this book!
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1 person found this helpful
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- Kristin
- 08-31-23
If you could hear ballet…
Banish uses words so descriptively and so gently it feels like you’re watching ballet.
Manny novelists, repeat over and over a character’s perspective/thoughts. It’s redundant and bothersome.
Banish does not do this. Her writing is some of the best I’ve ever heard, like a renowned poet crossed with a renowned author.
The story is gentle and happy for the first half . As the second half starts, you can feel the tension rising, still with her amazing prose.
You could say the first half is a “novel” and the second half is a “murder mystery”.
The narrators do a superb job in telling Banish’s story.
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- Dubi
- 08-01-23
Gaga For Ava
Ava Arcana is a reluctant singer-songwriter in the mid-2000s who falls into the orbit of Lexi Mayhem, another wannabe pop star who resembles Lady Gaga and will do anything to make her dreams of stardom come true. Kayla McKray is a present-day writer for Rolling Stone assigned to write a puff piece about now-megastar Mayhem, but instead discovers the previously untold story of Ava, whose aspirations ended way back when in an apparent suicide.
Told through the first person voices of Ava and Kayla in their respective time periods, this is ostensibly a mystery about how and why Ava died, and maybe who done it to her (quite possibly herself). But many of the reveals are telegraphed early on, so they're not really much of a mystery. The only real surprise is the final reveal (no spoilers), but that is marred by a talking villain (though author Jennifer Banash tries hard to make it seem natural).
Yet that doesn't matter. This is a case where the mystery is a device for telling a story of the music industry, the desire for stardom, artistic integrity, and the sleazy underbelly of all that. Usually the milieu drives the mystery -- here the mystery is scaffolding for exploring the milieu. I like that. Especially being a musician myself. Yet I still have to deduct a star for the lack of surprise in both plot and character. The narration is good, but there is a volume difference between the two narrators that is mildly problematic.
Overall, a solid 4-star beach read (listen).
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18 people found this helpful
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- Adam S.
- 08-24-23
Very well written
This book had it all…memorable characters, great suspense, and a parallel plot/timeline that was woven together seamlessly. I really enjoyed the listen.
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- Bassketgrrl
- 11-21-23
Who did it?!?
Lots of tips unfolding in past/present made for a good story with lots of suspense and surprises
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- Pink Amy
- 04-06-23
Average
THE RISE AND FALL OF AVA ARCANA was one of Amazon’s better Prime First Read choices, though with the bar so low that made for an average read.
I liked the premise of Rolling Stone journalist Kayla researching a current star, Lexie Mayhem in 2019 stumbling across the apparent suicide of Ava Arcana in 2005, Lexie’s friend and another up and coming singer.
Every aspect of THE RISE AND FALL OF AVA ARCANA was fine, nothing terrible, nothing stellar, nothing memorable. Audible narration was the best aspect of the story.
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10 people found this helpful