At the first of the summer, Sync again offered pairs of audiobooks to download each week. This is the first year I`ve made the effort and signed up to get the emails each week for a reminder. Awesome! I certainly didn`t get through all the books but I still have them on my iPhone, as they are free, and don`t expire. Thanks Sync! The link to the Sync site has an archive of all the books that have been offered, although you can only ever get a book the week it is offered.
Each week, a modern newer release is paired with a classic book. So, you might get Code Name Verity with The Hiding Place. The Case of the Cryptic Crinoline with The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes. Murder at the Vicarage with Confessions of a Murder Suspect. Not every book is available in every country - Canada missed out on a couple; sadly one was Murder at the Vicarage, which I would have loved.
Patterson has a real industry of writers now, and is venturing into suspenseful, thrilling young adult books. This is a stand-alone, but is part of a series called Confessions Series. This was a wild ride, with a crazy family, and twists and turns that make you rewind and say, What?!? The parents are killed and the four kids are suspects. The daughter narrates and it is very dramatic. I can`t even begin to tell the secrets that come out, but I did listen through pretty quickly. (I`m not interested in another by him, but it was still engaging in its unbelievability)
The first of 6 books in the Gallagher Girls series. Very young adult series, and I would have really enjoyed it if I was 14 years old. Told in first person, the narrator is a student at a espionage school for girls. They are quite historic and renown, and it is very exaggerated in what the girls can do and learn. And still, the focus of their lives is boys. But the town boys don`t like the Gallagher Girls! It`s Romeo and Juliet and kissing. Cute enough, but I`ll survive if I don`t read any more.
This was paired with Anne of Green Gables - spunky girls!
All Our Yesterdays - Cristin Terrill Time travel books are always hard on my head, and this one was no exception. I just find it hard to keep track of who is where, and what each person knows, and how did this now affect the past/future? It took a while to get into the story, and figure out what was going on and who the present and past people were, but then it was good with lots of twists and turns. Must save the world!
This was paired with Julius Caesar, performed by Richard Dreyfuss, JoBeth Williams, Stacy Keach, Kelsey Grammer, and a full cast. I tried to listen, but I didn`t have the attention or, quite frankly, the interest.
Can`t go wrong listening to a few classic Sherlock Holmes. A little dramatic in the presentation with some music but still, it`s Sherlock, which makes me want to watch Benedict Cumberbatch, or Robert Downey Jr. There are two adaptations of Holmes that I think are almost better than the books.
Actually book 5 in the Enola Holmes series, but easy enough to pop into the series. Enola is the younger sister of Sherlock and Mycroft and is herself an accomplished detective. Nothing too fancy here, but it was cute and fun and I`d possibly listen to another. It`s definitely for young adults/children as clues were repeated and emphasized, but that just made me feel smart. I did love the Florence Nightengale aspect of this one.
I didn`t realize for quite a while into this book that is was non-fiction. It is also identified as a Christian book, but if I hadn`t read that, I wouldn`t have thought it. It is a wonderful book, set in occupied Holland during WW2. Corrie ten Boom wrote this in the 1970s, remembering her and her families effort in the Underground Resistance. Gives a little hope of the goodness of people amidst the Holocaust. This should be paired with The Diary of Anne Frank in schools - is there anything more compelling than real life? Definitely my favorite of all the books I`ve listened to from Sync this summer.
