Contemporary Women Audiobooks | Fiction

The Hot Flash Club Chills Out: A Novel Audiobook

"Since opening up their day spa, The Haven, the wonderful women of the Hot Flash Club have been busy indulging the beleaguered, nerve-frazzled throngs. Now, in Nancy Thayer’s hilarious new Hot Flash novel, it’s the friends’ turn to grab some soothing, and much-deserved R&R. When a long-time Haven client asks the gals to housesit her Nantucket hideaway for the summer, they’re beyond thrilled; the cozy island enclave is the perfect place to shop, swim, chill, and plan Marilyn’s upcoming wedding to Ian, her Scottish fiancé. And Marilyn desperately needs the break, since Ian’s grown son has crashed at the couple’s place with no departure date in sight. Soon after they arrive, the other hot flashers surrender to their own summer flings: Shirley entertains a steamy dalliance with a scruffy, sexy local fisherman that could lead to something deeper; Faye finds her dream house, but restoring it could be a costly nightmare; craft-maven Polly is enthralled by the island’s bounty, from shell art to lightship baskets; and even hardboiled Alice swoons with romantic adventure–or is it seasickness? But this lovefest among the sand and ocean breezes is not without its consequences. Each woman must determine for herself what she is willing to give up in order to hold onto what she has found–and all of them fear that Shirley is on the brink of making a huge mistake, one that threatens their harmony and their business. But these concerns may be eclipsed by the mystery surrounding the disappearance of family heirlooms at the house where they are staying, and rumors that the place harbors spirits other than Grey Goose and Tanqueray. Nancy Thayer continues her hugely successful Hot Flash series with this wickedly funny, delightfully bawdy tale. These irresistible women spring to life–along with their passions, their sorrows, their joys, and, most importantly, their friendship. So pack your bags and join these fabulous five for a season of fun, sun, love, sex, and estrogen therapy."

Nancy Thayer (Author), Carrington MacDuffie (Narrator)

Audiobook

Coming Out

"Olympia Crawford Rubinstein has a busy legal career, a solid marriage, and a way of managing her thriving family with grace, humor, and boundless energy. With twin daughters finishing high school, a son at Dartmouth, and a kindergartner from her second marriage, there seems to be no challenge to which Olympia cannot rise. Until one sunny day in May, when she opens an invitation for her daughters to attend the most exclusive coming-out ball in New York-and chaos erupts all around her. One twin's excitement is balanced by the other's outrage; her previous husband's profound snobbism is in sharp contrast to her current husband's flat refusal to attend. For Olympia's husband, Harry, whose parents survived the Holocaust, the idea of a blue-blood debutante ball is abhorrent. Her daughter Veronica, a natural-born rebel, agrees- while Veronica's identical twin, Virginia, is already shopping for the perfect dress. Then there's Olympia's ex, an insufferable snob, who sees the ball as the perfect opportunity for a family feud. And amid all the hubbub, Olympia's college-age son, Charlie, is facing a turning point in his life-and may need his mother more than ever. But despite it all, Olympia is determined to steer her family through the event until, just days before the cotillion, things begin to unravel with alarming speed. From a son's crisis to a daughter's heartbreak, from a case of the chicken pox to a political debate raging in her household, Olympia is on the verge of surrender. And that is when, in a series of startling choices and changes of heart, family, friends, and even a blue-haired teenager all find a way to turn a night of calamity into an evening of magic. As old wounds are healed, barriers are shattered and new traditions are born, and a debutante ball becomes a catalyst for change, revelation, acceptance, and love. In a novel that is by turns profound, poignant, moving, and warmly funny, Danielle Steel tells the story of an extraordinary family-finding new ways of letting go, stepping up, and coming out...in the ways that matter most."

Danielle Steel (Author), David Garrison (Narrator)

Audiobook

Lost And Found: A Novel

"What do a suburban mom, her troubled daughter, divorced brothers, former child stars, born-again Christians, and young millionaires have in common? They have all been selected to compete on Lost and Found, the daring new reality show. In teams of two, they will race across the globe -- from Egypt to England, from Japan to Sweden -- to battle for a million-dollar prize. They must decipher encrypted clues, recover mysterious artifacts, and outwit their opponents to stay in play. Yet what started as a lark turns deadly serious as the number of players is whittled down, temptations beckon, and the bonds between partners strain and unravel. The question now is not only who will capture the final prize, but at what cost."

Carolyn Parkhurst (Author), Blair Brown (Narrator)

Audiobook

Queen of Babble

"What's an American girl with a big mouth, but an equally big heart, to do? Lizzie Nichols has a problem, and it isn't that she doesn't have the slightest idea what she's going to do with her life, or that she's blowing what should be her down payment on a cute little Manhattan apartment on a trip to London to visit her long-distance boyfriend, Andrew. What's the point of planning for the future when she's done it again? See, Lizzie can't keep her mouth shut. And it's not just that she can't keep her own secrets, she can't keep anything to herself. This time when she opens her big mouth, her good intentions get Andrew in major hot water. Now Lizzie's stuck in London with no boyfriend and no place to stay until the departure date written on her non-changeable airline ticket. Fortunately, Lizzie's best friend and college roommate is spending her summer in the south of France, catering weddings in a chateau. One call and Lizzie's on a train to Paris. Who cares if she speaks only rudimentary French? One glimpse of gorgeous Chateau Mirac -- not to mention gorgeous Luke, Chateau Mirac's owner -- and she's smitten. But while most caterers can be trusted to keep a secret, Lizzie's the exception. And no sooner has the first cork been popped than Luke hates her, the bride is in tears, and it looks like Chateau Mirac is in danger of becoming a lipo-recovery spa. As if things aren't bad enough, ex-boyfriend Andy shows up looking for ''closure'' (or at least a loan), threatening to ruin everything, especially Lizzie's chance at ever finding real love -- unless she can figure out a way to use that big mouth of hers to save the day."

Meg Cabot (Author), Kadushin Ilyana (Narrator)

Audiobook

Essential Welty: Powerhouse and Petrified Man

"In 1956, Caedmon had the great fortune to record Eudora Welty reading some of her finest stories. In her sweetly vibrant Mississippi drawl, Ms. Welty deftly draws the listener in to the uproariously multilayered ''Why I Live at the P.O.,'' the spontaneous ''Powerhouse'' and the insightful voice of women's truths in ''Petrified Man.'' Ms. Welty's reading brings immediacy and resonance to these wonderful tales."

Eudora Welty (Author), Eudora Welty (Narrator)

Audiobook

The Undomestic Goddess

"Brought to you by Penguin. The hilarious romantic comedy from NUMBER ONE BESTSELLING AUTHOR Sophie Kinsella My name is Samantha. I am twenty-nine years old. I have never baked a loaf of bread in my life. I don't know how to unfold an ironing board. What I do know is how to construct a contract exploiting European corporate tax harmonisation and save my client £3 million. Samantha is a high-powered lawyer in London who thrives under pressure. She works all hours, has no home life, and only cares about becoming the youngest partner ever at her law firm. Eating, sleeping, seeing friends – even taking a breath – will have to wait. Until one day ... she makes a mistake. A fifty-million-pound, career-destroying mistake. Having a meltdown, Samantha walks right out of her office and gets on the first train she sees, and finds herself in the countryside, outside a beautiful grand house. Mistaken for another woman, she finds herself becoming the family’s new housekeeper. They have no idea they've hired a Cambridge educated lawyer with an IQ of 158 who doesn’t know how to work a washing machine, let alone an oven. Gradually Samantha starts to learn. She learns how to bake bread, she learns how to slow down, falling in love with her new reality in a wholly unexpected way. Then her old life threatens to catch up with her, but will she want it back? 'Funny, fast and farcical. I loved it' JOJO MOYES 'I couldn’t put it down.' LOUISE PENTLAND (SprinkleofGlitter) 'I almost cried with laughter' DAILY MAIL 'Life doesn't get much better than a new Sophie Kinsella novel' RED 'Hilarious . . . you'll laugh and gasp on every page' JENNY COLGAN © Sophie Kinsella 2005 (P) Penguin Audio 2006"

Sophie Kinsella (Author), Morwenna Banks (Narrator)

Audiobook

The Whole World Over

"From the author of the beloved novel Three Junes comes a rich and commanding story about the accidents, both grand and small, that determine our choices in love and marriage. Greenie Duquette, openhearted yet stubborn, devotes most of her passionate attention to her Greenwich Village bakery and her four–year–old son, George. Her husband, Alan, seems to have fallen into a midlife depression, while Walter, a traditional gay man who has become her closest professional ally, is nursing a broken heart. It is at Walter’s restaurant that the visiting governor of New Mexico tastes Greenie’s coconut cake and decides to woo her away from the city to be his chef. For reasons both ambitious and desperate, she accepts—and finds herself heading west without her husband. This impulsive decision will change the course of several lives within and beyond Greenie’s orbit. Alan, alone in New York, must face down his demons; Walter, eager for platonic distraction, takes in his teenage nephew. Yet Walter cannot steer clear of love trouble, and despite his enforced solitude, Alan is still surrounded by women: his powerful sister, an old flame, and an animal lover named Saga, who grapples with demons all her own. As for Greenie, living in the shadow of a charismatic politician leads to a series of unforeseen consequences that separate her from her only child. We watch as folly, chance, and determination pull all these lives together and apart over a year that culminates in the fall of the twin towers at the World Trade Center, an event that will affirm or confound the choices each character has made—or has refused to face. Julia Glass is at her best here, weaving a glorious tapestry of lives and lifetimes, of places and people, revealing the subtle mechanisms behind our most important, and often most fragile, connections to others. In The Whole World Over she has given us another tale that pays tribute to the extraordinary complexities of love."

Julia Glass (Author), Ann Marie Lee (Narrator)

Audiobook

Fear of Flying

"Originally published in 1973, the groundbreaking, uninhibited story of Isadora Wing and her desire to fly free caused a national sensation. In The New York Times, Henry Miller compared it to his own classic, Tropic of Cancer and predicted that ''this book will make literary history...'' It has sold more than twelve million copies. Now, after thirty years, the revolutionary novel known as Fear of Flying still stands as a timeless tale of self-discovery, liberation, and womanhood."

Erica Jong (Author), Hope Davis (Narrator)

Audiobook

Savannah Breeze

"''A sheer delight and will have readers laughing out loud by the second page.'' —Daytona Beach News-Journal Southern manners, mint julips, cold-blooded larceny, and sweet revenge collide in this rollicking tale from the delightfully charming New York Times bestselling author of Hissy Fit and Savannah Blues The Breeze Inn is a place where very classy Southern belle Bebe Loudermilk normally wouldn’t be caught dead. But a brief, disastrous relationship with gorgeous “investment counselor” con man Reddy has cost her nearly all her worldly possessions. All that’s left is the ramshackle 1950s motel on Tybee Island, a “drinking village with a fishing problem.” Moving into the manager’s unit, BeBe vows to make magic out of mud, and with the help of the inn’s cantankerous caretaker, Harry, and her junking friend, Weezie, she soon has the motel spiffed up and attracting paying guests. But all it takes is one Reddy sighting in Fort Lauderdale for BeBe to drop everything and haul her hastily assembled posse south to participate in a somewhat outside-the-law sting. With a little luck, BeBe might get her fortune back, Harry (who’s looking hunkier every day) might get his boat back, and Reddy might get the prison stripes he so richly deserves."

Mary Kay Andrews (Author), Isabel Keating (Narrator)

Audiobook

The House

"The restoration of a majestic old home provides the exhilarating backdrop for Danielle Steel's 66th bestselling novel, the story of a young woman's dream, an old man's gift, and the surprises that await us behind every closed door…. Perched on a hill overlooking San Francisco, the house was magnificent, built in 1923 by a wealthy man for the woman he adored. For her and for this house, he would spare no expense and overlook no detail, from the endless marble floors to the glittering chandeliers. Almost a century later, with the once-grand house now in disrepair, a young woman walks through its empty rooms. Sarah Anderson, a perfectly sensible estate lawyer, is about to do something utterly out of character. An elderly client has died and left her two gifts. One is a generous inheritance. The other, a priceless message: to use his money for something wonderful, something daring. And in this old house, surrounded by crumbling grandeur, Sarah knows just what it is. A respected attorney and self-described workaholic, Sarah had always lived life by the book. With a steady, if sputtering, relationship and a tiny apartment that has suited her just fine, Sarah cannot explain the force that draws her to the mansion and its history-to the story of a woman who once lived in the house, then mysteriously left it, to a child who grew up there, and a drama that unfolded in war-torn France…and to a history she never knew she had. Taking the biggest risk of her life, Sarah enlists the help of architect Jeff Parker, who shares Sarah's passion for bringing the exquisite old house back to life. As she and Jeff work to restore the home's every detail, as one relationship shatters and another begins, Sarah makes a series of powerful discoveries: about the true meaning of a dying man's last gift…about the extraordinary legacies that are passed from generation to generation…and about a future she's only just beginning to imagine. In a novel of daring and hope, of embracing life and taking chances, Danielle Steel brilliantly captures one woman's courageous choice to pour herself into a dream-and receive its gifts in return."

Danielle Steel (Author), Erik Singer (Narrator)

Audiobook

Changing Faces

"“Juicy saga of sister-friendship with all its twists and turns”—Essence Meet Whitney, Taylor, and Charisse—best friends who have been there for each other for years, through thick and thin. But these girlfriends are about to discover that sometimes exhaling isn’t enough. . . Whitney is a plus-sized woman who just can’t find a man who’ll stick around. Taylor is in a long-term relationship with a boyfriend who is allergic to commitment. Charisse is married with two adorable children, but somehow doesn’t have what she really wants—or needs. The trio has always been balanced, until Charisse suddenly spins out of control. Desperate, she decides that only a very risky scheme will save her. But this time, how far can friendship go?"

Kimberla Lawson Roby (Author), Audra Alise Polk, Delores King Williams, Lynn Chavis (Narrator)

Audiobook

Crazy Ladies

"A lively multigenerational tale of six charming, unforgettable Southern women--a story of love and laughter, pain and redemption. Though she was born in Tennessee, Miss Gussie is no country fool. A woman who can handle any situation, she has her hands full with her two headstrong daughters who happen to be complete opposites -- dour Dorothy and sweet Clancy Jane. Hoping money will heal childhood wounds, Dorothy marries the owner of a five-and-dime, while Clancy Jane gets into a mess of trouble, running off with a randy tomcat who pumps gas at the Esso stand. And then there are Gussie's granddaughters, the smart but plain Violet and fancy-talking Bitsy -- a new generation whose lives will reflect a nation's tumultuous times. From Tennessee to New Orleans, from psychedelic San Francisco to a remote Southwestern desert ranch, this funny, poignant novel spans more than four decades as it vividly recounts the universal loves, sorrows, and joys of women's lives."

Michael Lee West (Author), Michael Lee West (Narrator)

Audiobook

Contemporary Women Audiobooks in Fiction