April 2024 brings with it truly lovely new audiobooks, including several that took my breath away and will make it onto the list of my favorites of the year!
Check out my audiobook recommendations below to find new releases that I’m sure are really worth your Audible credit or Hoopla borrow 😉
This month, I have a nice mix for you of Contemporary Romance, Erotic Romance, and Fantasy!
**The marked links and book covers on this page are affiliate links. If you use them to purchase something, I earn a fee at no additional cost for you. Disclosure**
The Partner Plot
By: Kristina Forest
Narrated by: Aure Nash, Benjamin Charles
Length: 10 hrs and 19 mins
I adored The Neighbor Favor last year and was really looking forward to The Partner Plot. This is actually the first book we’re discussing in the Romance Audiobook Binge Fable book club (it’s free and you are very welcome to join us there)!
This is described as a second chance marriage of convenience Romance, but honestly, I think it’s more a fake relationship than a marriage of convenience. But you have to listen to it to find out why 😉
I, for one, had an absolutely amazing time with this book. Aure Nash and Benjamin Charles did such an excellent narration of this beautiful story!
One thing I found particularly noteworthy and also discussed in our book club was that I liked seeing a very successful heroine who is driven and not ashamed of it. The hero is fully supportive of this. But he himself had ambitions too and he has to come to terms with his life having turned out differently than he had imagined when the two were dating during high school.
I liked both of these views on life and how this book shows that there is nothing wrong with either. You can be ambitious and make all your career goals come true and that’s amazing! But for some people, things don’t work out and there is nothing wrong with creating new goals for yourself and with being satisfied with what you have built for yourself.
You can join the Fable book club now and discuss this book with us until the 14th of April. Then we will start a new audiobook!
The Emperor and the Endless Palace
By: Justinian Huang
Narrated by: Dylan J. Locke, Will Dao, Telly Leung
Length: 9 hrs and 52 mins
I have so many feelings about The Emperor and the Endless Palace! I loved this book, but you also need to know that I HATED that this is a relatively short novel and was not promoted as first in a series. So, it looks like the ending of this book is simply the ending we have to live with.
The book is also promoted as a Romantasy and I can see how that applies. It definitely has a Romance-ish taste to it.
Still, I loved this book. It is a wild and beautiful ride. It’s intensely sexy and full of longing. This is a book to be savored!
The three narrators Dylan J. Locke, Will Dao, and Telly Leung turned Justinian Huang’s story into an outstanding audiobook that might well be one of my favorites of 2024.
Yes, I can criticize the ending of this book and that there isn’t MORE of it, and it’s still one of my favorites now because it is just so special!
Supplicant
By: Sierra Simone
Narrated by: Shane East, Vanessa Edwin
Length: 3 hrs and 40 mins
At the end of each month, I ask on my Facebook page what everyone’s favorite audiobook of the month was. And after more than one mention of Supplicant, I spent one of my remaining Hoopla borrows to give this novella a try.
And I cannot put in quite appropriate words how I devoured this audiobook!
To be honest, I did not think a less than 4-hour-long book with a hero who left the heroine at the altar could work for me. But this is an absolute grovel fest!
The fairly short runtime is perfectly used for extremely hot scenes of the hero worshipping and groveling before the heroine (which I found particularly fun because he is usually the dominant one).
And Shane East and Vanessa Edwin did a breathtakingly emotional narration that really brought out the angst, the heartbreak, the longing, and, of course, the sexiness of this book.
So yeah, I’m not surprised so many people named this as one of their favorite new audiobooks of the month. It is not to be missed for anyone who loves steamy listens!
The Last Bloodcarver
By: Vanessa Le
Narrated by: VyVy Nguyen
Length: 10 hrs and 34 mins
The Last Bloodcarver is one of those books I picked up because I fell in love with the cover the first time I saw it.
And the actual story instantly drew me in. All Nhika wants is to be a healer, to use her rare and feared magical talent to cure people. But everyone only sees her as a killer.
She gets pulled into a conspiracy that forces her to develop and use her gift in ways she never wanted.
VyVy Nguyen did a heartwrenching narration and filled Nhika with so much life!
Really Cute People
By: Markus Harwood-Jones
Narrated by: Blair Baker
Length: 9 hrs and 14 mins
Markus Harwood-Jones did an excellent job at writing a Romance with three people. Really Cute People sees Charlie stranded during a snowstorm in a house with a married couple, Hayden and Buffy. The wife, Buffy, has been Charlie’s hero for a long time. But they also quickly find themself attracted to Hayden.
This book felt so cozy and delightful. I could appreciate how it explored both how found family can fall apart and not be what you expected or hoped for. And how you can find family again and build something special!
One of the best new audiobooks about queer love!
If you are a regular Lovely Audiobooks reader, you might notice that I did not include buy links for each individual book anymore. While I believe they are convenient, they have some drawbacks for the blog.
Instead, I would like to point you to Audiobooks.com** as a recent poll has shown only very few of you use it. So, why not get that free trial there to grab one of these wonderful new audiobooks?
Eline Blackman (pronouns: she/they) fell in love with books as a child – with being read to and reading herself. 10 years ago, she bought her first Audible book. It was love at first listen! An average of 250 audiobooks per year has become the new normal and you will rarely see Eline without a wireless earbud. Romance and Fantasy are the go-to genres for this audiobook fan.