I can’t believe we’re almost at the end of January. I'm writing from my home in sunny Kent and it's beginning to look like lockdown will be with us until at least mid-February, if not Easter. One of the things that is keeping me sane at the moment is long walks in the marshes near my house with just me, the creek and an audiobook for company. So without further ado, here are the 5 YA audiobooks I’m most looking forward to in February 2021.
The Library of the DEad by T. L. Huchu
Series: Edinburgh Nights, Book 1
Length: 9 hrs
Release date: 02-02-21
Publisher: Tor
Summary
When ghosts talk, she will listen....Ropa dropped out of school to become a ghost talker - and she now speaks to Edinburgh’s dead, carrying messages to the living. A girl’s gotta earn a living, and it seems harmless enough. Until, that is, the dead whisper that someone’s bewitching children - leaving them husks, empty of joy and life. It’s on Ropa’s patch, so she feels honour-bound to investigate. But what she learns will change her world.
They had me at the word ‘ghost’. This sounds very much like Victoria Schwab’s City of Ghosts (it’s even set in Edinburgh) and this is a definite listen for me. The author also just happens to have my favourite Zimbabwean name: Tendai.
Pre-order The Library of the Dead
The Project by Courtney Summers
Length: 9 hrs and 52 mins
Release date: 02-02-21
Publisher: Macmillan Audio
Summary
From Courtney Summers, the New York Times best-selling author of the 2019 Edgar Award Winner and breakout hit, Sadie, comes a sensational follow-up - another pulls-no-punches thriller about an aspiring young journalist determined to save her sister from a cult.
I love Courtney Summers and her previous book Sadie was my Book of the Year in 2019. To say I’m excited for this one is an understatement.
Game Changer by Neal Shusterman
Length: 10 hrs and 3 mins
Release date: 09-02-21
Publisher: HarperAudio
Summary
An explosive new novel by the author of the National Book Award-winning Challenger Deep and the New York Times best-selling Arc of a Scythe series, about the limited ways we see our world - and how a jolt out of the ordinary can upend the universe.
I have an embarrassing and heart-breaking confession to make: I haven’t yet read any of Neal Shusterman’s books, despite knowing that I really should. I tried to read Dry in March 2020 but those familiar with the story might understand why that wasn’t the best timing. Hopefully his latest release will be a game changer for me (sorry, not sorry).
We Are the Ashes, We Are the Fire by Joy McCullough
Length: 7 hrs
Release date: 09-02-21
Publisher: Listening Library
Summary
From the author of the acclaimed Blood Water Paint, a new contemporary YA novel in prose and verse about a girl struggling with guilt and a desire for revenge after her sister's rapist escapes with no prison time.
This one looks really powerful and I'll make an early prediction that this could be up for Printz Award consideration.
Pre-order We Are the Ashes, We Are the Fire
The Iron Raven by Julie Kagawa
Length: 16 hrs
Release date: 09-02-21
Publisher: HQ Young Adult
Summary
‘You may have heard of me….'
Robin Goodfellow. Puck. Prankster, joker, raven, fool...King Oberon’s right-hand jester from A Midsummer Night’s Dream. The legends are many, but the truth will now be known as never before, as Puck finally tells his own story and faces a threat unlike any before. A threat that brings him face-to-face with a new enemy...himself.
I love Julie Kagawa and have read all seven previous Iron Fey books plus accompanying novellas. I was also missing the Iron Fey series so much that I had begun consuming them again on audiobook last year. I can’t begin to express how excited I was to note that a brand new book is out in the Iron Fey universe, part of a planned trilogy based on Puck’s adventures.
Click on any of the audiobook covers or links above to go straight to Amazon to pre-order. These are affiliate links and I will earn a small commission from your purchase at no extra cost to you.
