These Unlucky Stars by Gillian McDunn

Publisher’s Summary

Bloomsbury presents These Unlucky Stars by Gillian McDunn, read by Stina Nielsen.

From the highly acclaimed author of Caterpillar Summer comes a sweet and heartfelt story of a girl’s unexpected friendship that changes her forever, perfect for fans of Lynda Mullaly Hunt.

Ever since her mother left a few years ago, Annie has felt like the odd one out in her family. Her dad and brother are practical and organized – they just don’t understand the way she thinks, in lines and color. Everywhere she turns, she feels like an outsider, even at school, so she’s been reluctant to get close to anyone.

When a “Ding-Dong-Ditch” attempt goes wrong, Annie finds herself stuck making amends with Gloria, the eccentric elderly lady she disturbed. As she begins to connect with Gloria and her weird little dog, it becomes clear that Gloria won’t be able to live on her own for much longer. But it’s this brief and important friendship that gives Annie the confidence to let people in, and see how rich life can be when you decide to make your own luck and chart your own path to happiness.

In this heartwarming novel, acclaimed author Gillian McDunn shows us that even the most unexpected friendship has the power to change us forever.

©2021 Gillian McDunn (P)2021 Bloomsbury Publishing Plc
Read More

Everything Is Mine by Ruth Lillegraven. Diane Oatley, Translation

A Co-Narration with James Patrick Cronin, Soneela Nankani, Eric G. Dove, and Stephen Graybill

Publisher’s Summary

Family secrets, revenge, and righteous fury collide in an international bestselling novel of psychological suspense and intrigue.

Clara and Henrik are married and living in a beautiful inherited villa in Oslo. She is a single-mindedly ambitious child-rights activist at the Ministry of Justice. Having grown up in rural Western Norway, she is also an Oslo outsider. Henrik is a doctor from a well-to-do Oslo family. Though their marriage is under serious strain, they share a devotion to their twin sons and their work. Outwardly, they’re a successful couple both dedicated to saving lives.

Then a Pakistani Norwegian child is admitted to Henrik’s hospital and dies in his care. The boy had clearly been the victim of child abuse. Soon after, a related murder rocks the city. It won’t be the last. The events unearth years of trauma, secrets, and buried resentments at the heart of Clara and Henrik’s fragile marriage.

Little by little, in the wake of these shattering crimes, the veneer of normalcy begins to fall away. But even then, nothing is as it appears.

©2018 by Ruth Lillegraven. (P)2021 Brilliance Publishing, Inc., all rights reserved. Translation © 2021 by Diane Oatley
A Co-Narration with James Patrick Cronin, Soneela Nankani, Eric G. Dove, and Stephen Graybill
Read More

Review of Snow Drift by Helene Tursten (Embla Nystrom book #3)

http://www.audiofilemagazine.com/reviews/read/192643/snowdrift-by-helene-tursten-marlaine-delargy-trans-read-by-stina-nielsen/

SNOWDRIFTDetective Inspector Embla Nystrom, Book 3

by Helene Tursten, Marlaine Delargy [Trans.] | Read by Stina Nielsen

Mystery & Suspense • 10.5 hrs. • Unabridged • © 2020

Narrator Stina Nielsen introduces Detective Inspector Embla Nystrom, who is also a sharpshooter and boxer. Listeners join Nystrom and 9-year-old Elliot, the son of her ex, as they plan a hunting trip. Nystrom is called away when a body is found in a remote guesthouse. She is shocked to find that the dead man is gangster Milo Stavic, who kidnapped her best friend when they were 14 years old. Nystrom is assisted in her investigation by the charming Olle Tillman. The brutal weather, luscious food, and stunning scenery of Sweden add atmosphere. Nielsen impressively shifts between a promising romance, horrifying danger, and lightning-fast action. A treat is the surprise appearance of Detective Inspector Irene Huss and others from Tursten’s earlier series. S.G.B. © AudioFile 2021, Portland, Maine [Published: FEBRUARY 2021]

Read More

The Shepherd’s Wife

Co-narrated with Rachel Botchan..

 

Can she discover the purpose of the life she’s been given?

Yeshua of Nazareth has two sisters: Damaris, married to a wealthy merchant’s son, and Pheodora, wed to a simple shepherd from Bethlehem. Damaris can’t understand why her younger sister settled for such a poor existence, but she does what she can to share her abundance. When her husband is invited to join the Pharisees, she is excited by the opportunity to elevate the family’s status, even though some aspects of the lifestyle seem contrary to what she has always been taught.

Pheodora has long felt inadequate compared to her beautiful sister but has no regrets about the life she chose. When Pheodora’s husband is unexpectedly thrown into debtors’ prison, she is shocked to learn that a loan from her generous sister would jeopardize her brother-in-law’s religious aspirations. Forced to pin her hopes on two she-goats whose spotless white offspring could be sold for an upcoming Yom Kippur sacrifice, Pheodora must struggle to keep the animals – and her family – alive.

When horrific reports about Yeshua reach the sisters in Nazareth, Pheodora and Damaris each grapple with their relationships to God, their radical brother, and their own questioning hearts.

©2020 Angela Hunt (P)2020 Recorded Books

Read More

New Review:

STEALING HOMESweet Magnolias, Book 1

by Sherryl Woods | Read by Stina Nielsen

Fiction • 11.5 hrs, • Unabridged • © 2020

Small-town goings-on in Serenity, South Carolina, take on new life with narrator Stina Nielsen. She introduces listeners to Maddie Townsend, whose husband, Bill, has left her for his 24-year-old pregnant girlfriend. Nielsen gives Maddie a wistful, sincere voice that will elicit approval of her determination to start fresh. As Maddie starts a business with her two best friends, the “Sweet Magnolias,” she deals with her son’s baseball tribulations and her attraction to his coach. Nielsen uses a Southern twang for some of the secondary characters and creates age-appropriate voices for Maddie’s three kids. Overall, her narration captures the joys and constraints of small-town life. Woods’s story of regret and growth unfolds in splendid measure, courtesy of Nielsen’s warmhearted reading. C.A. © AudioFile 2020, Portland, Maine [Published: OCTOBER 2020]

Trade Ed. • Dreamscape • 2020

DD ISBN 9781662009648 $34.99

 

Library Ed. • Dreamscape • 2020

 

https://www.audiofilemagazine.com/reviews/read/187476/stealing-home-by-sherryl-woods-read-by-stina-nielsen/

Read More

From the author of the Michael L. Printz Honor Book The Kingdom of Little Wounds comes a gorgeously told tale of belonging, sacrifice, fear, hope, and mortality.

An award-winning author tells of a mermaid who leaves the sea in search of her landish mother in a captivating tale spun with beautiful prose, lush descriptions, empathy, and keen wit.

Blood calls to blood; charm calls to charm.
It is the way of the world.
Come close and tell us your dreams.

Sanna is a mermaid – but she is only half seavish. The night of her birth, a sea-witch cast a spell that made Sanna’s people, including her landish mother, forget how and where she was born. Now Sanna is sixteen and an outsider in the seavish matriarchy, and she is determined to find her mother and learn who she is. She apprentices herself to the witch to learn the magic of making and unmaking, and with a new pair of legs and a quest to complete for her teacher, she follows a clue that leads her ashore on the Thirty-Seven Dark Islands. There, as her fellow mermaids wait in the sea, Sanna stumbles into a wall of white roses thirsty for blood, a hardscrabble people hungry for miracles, and a baroness who will do anything to live forever.

©2020 Susann Cokal, original book published by Candlewick Press (P)2019 Brilliance Publishing, Inc., all rights reserved.

https://www.audible.com/pd/Mermaid-Moon-Audiobook/1799748472?qid=1583350785&sr=1-1&ref=a_search_c3_lProduct_1_1&pf_rd_p=e81b7c27-6880-467a-b5a7-13cef5d729fe&pf_rd_r=R80DRPTZ2V0E5X55YKS7

Read More