Jean is a library shut-in patron; she turns 92 today. Happy Birthday, Jean!
Category Archives: Audiobooks
Too Good to be True (audiobook) – reviewed by Denise
Carey takes the plane from Ireland to New York City to go on a shopping trip and becomes friends with Ben, the male passenger sitting next to her.
When they get to New York, they discover that their hotels are close by; inevitably, they fall in love. Then, they decide to go to Las Vegas to get married. When they get home, everyone’s reaction is shock: the couple had married so soon. And it gets more complicated; in New York, the newlyweds had not revealed that they each had had a partner back in Ireland.
Back in Ireland, the trouble begins. The couple have their wedding reception, Ben having invited his ex-girlfriend. The newly married couple fight and, soon after, separate. Carey even goes as far as to get in touch with her ex-boyfriend. On the verge of divorce, however, they get back together again. Love, sentiment, games adults play — I like all these twists and turns in romance novels. It hurts a reader like me when love affairs go awry with the characters, especially when you know that they really feel for each other. I also like the characters in this story: middle-aged, well-educated, decent people. I love a story with a happy ending.
Denise is 86 years old and listens to audiobooks as she is visually impaired and receives home-bound services from the library.
[This post was transcribed by Teresa, Community Services Librarian]
Your comments on this audiobook title, and similar ones, are welcome!
Secret Daughter (audiobook) – reviewed by Denise (patron)
This story, by Shilpa Somaya Gowda, is about a couple who live in San Francisco: the husband from India and the wife from the United States. Both are doctors trying to start a family. After a series of miscarriages, they decide to travel to India to adopt a child. The husband is from a large family, but he is the only one living in America. They eventually adopt an orphan girl named Asha.
Years later, Asha goes against her parents’ wishes (they want hre to become a doctor as well) by deciding to become a journalist. In fact, she wins a scholarship allowing her to travel to India to write a feature about the poor.
Asha spends a year in India using it as an opportunity to look for her biological parents whom she finds within walking distance of the orphanage that she was adopted from. But, when Asha realizes that she was given up for adoption because she was a girl, she ends her search prematurely.
I found the story very interesting as it gave me many insights about life in India; I was able to learn a little about another culture. The wedding that Asha attends in India reminded me about the stories that my boss (who was from Kenya) used to tell about the weddings in his home country: the huge number of guests, the food, and how the bride and the women wore lots of beautiful gold jewelery.
Denise listens to audiobooks as she is visually impaired and receives home-bound services from the library.
[This post was transcribed by Teresa, Community Services Librarian]
Your comments on this audiobook title, and similar ones, are welcome!
The Last Innocent Man (audiobook) – reviewed by Jean (patron)
How Will I Know (audiobook) – reviewed by Denise (patron)
Written by Sheila O’Flanagan, this is an Irish story (it is such a good family story!) about a couple, Claire and Bill Hudson, who travel to Fiji for a holiday. While on holiday, the husband dies in a boating accident. The story picks up again, back in Ireland, three years later. Claire’s friends and family members are pushing her to move on, but she has difficulty dating other men. Meanwhile, she tends her late husband’s garden.
One day, while walking her dog, it runs across the street and traps a gentleman coming out of the florist shop with a bouquet of flowers. The floral arrangement is destroyed. Claire offers to pay for the damaged flowers.
Not long afterwards, the strange gentleman visits Claire with some flowers to apologize about the incident. He also tells her that he can help her with the garden. After another mishap with the dog, Claire falls in love with her visitor.
How Will I Know is neither mushy nor explicit. I enjoyed the story and hope others will, too.
Denise listens to audiobooks as she is visually impaired and receives home-bound services from the library.
[This post was transcribed by Teresa, Community Services Librarian]
Your comments on this audiobook title, and similar ones, are welcome!
