Best of Fall 2020

Harlequin Audio

2021 Audie Award Finalists

2021 AUDIE FINALIST - FAITH-BASED FICTION OR NON-FICTION

Read by Joseph "Rev Run" Simmons, and Justine Simmons

This is a book about love.
The kind of love that will keep you warm at night—that will keep you feeling safe and sound.
The kind of love that will get you through some dark times; get you through some hard and yes, some tough times.
The kind of love that will make you laugh, that will make you smile, that will make you nod knowingly.
The kind of love that is nurtured and watered and grows—from a seedling to a flower. The kind of love that is desperately needed in the world right now, shared and sprinkled everywhere.

Old School Love is a book to help you find the kind of soul-filling love you desire, written by a couple who has built a strong and joyful relationship amid the pressures, pitfalls, and temptations of the entertainment industry. Rev Run and his wife, Justine, have been blessed with a devoted partnership that has inspired other famous long-term marriages, including Beyoncé and Jay-Z, and Jada Pinkett-Smith and Will Smith. In this homage to classic courtship, Rev and Justine reveal the secrets to their marriage’s longevity and happiness.

Each chapter of Old School Love offers stories, anecdotes, and memories of the Rev and Justine’s marriage, their family, their experiences, their passion, and their deep faith and belief in God. Some will make you laugh, some will make you think, and some will make you cry. Yet all will make you wiser—more beautiful for the wear—and encourage you to be a kinder, more generous, and better human. Their reflections are bookended by a verse or line from scripture, a saying, or a favorite quote and a sampling of personal wisdom they call "Justine’s Recipe" and "Rev’s Rules."

Over two decades strong, Rev and Justine’s partnership is an inspiration. With Old School Love they are spreading their message of positivity, and creating a legacy for all of us to embrace and share. Powerful and life-changing, this little gem of a book is about magic, and miracles and, yes, the irrefutable power of love.

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OLD SCHOOL LOVE by Joseph "Rev Run" and Justine Simmons

2021 AUDIE FINALIST - BUSINESS/PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT

Read by Curtis "50 Cent" Jackson

In his early twenties Curtis Jackson, known as 50 Cent rose to the heights of fame and power in the cutthroat music business. A decade ago the multi-platinum selling rap artist decided to pivot. His ability to adapt to change was demonstrated when he became the executive producer and star of Power, a high-octane, gripping crime drama centered around a drug kingpin's family. The series quickly became "appointment" television, leading to Jackson inking a four-year, $150 million contract with the Starz network—the most lucrative deal in premium cable history.

Now, in his most personal book, Jackson shakes up the self-help category with his unique, cutting-edge lessons and hard-earned advice on embracing change. Where The 50th Law tells readers "fear nothing and you shall succeed," Hustle Harder, Hustle Smarter builds on this message, combining it with Jackson's street smarts and hard-learned corporate savvy to help readers successfully achieve their own comeback—and to learn to flow with the changes that disrupt their own lives.

HUSTLE HARDER, HUSTLE SMARTER by Curtis Jackson

2021 AUDIE FINALIST - SPANISH LANGUAGE

Performed by Ximena Restrepo

En medio de la creciente ola de acusaciones de agresión sexual contra hombres poderosos en 2017, Vanessa Wye, de treinta y dos años, se entera de una que la involucra íntimamente: su profesor de inglés de secundaria Jacob Strane ha sido acusado de abuso sexual por otra exalumna.

El escándalo le trae recuerdos de su pasado y del campus idílico del exclusivo internado al que asistió en Maine. Fue estudiante becada, seria, solitaria y que anhelaba madurar antes de su tiempo. Vanessa se sintió desconcertada de sus compañeros y cautivada cuando el profesor Strane comenzó a distinguirla. Aquí había un hombre que tenía tres veces su edad, que la reconocía y elogiaba su intelecto, su talento para escribir y su belleza, y, a los quince años, cayó en una relación ardiente con él que le cambió la vida. 

Ahora, casi dos décadas más tarde, otra mujer ha centrado su atención en Strane, y de repente, Vanessa se enfrenta a una elección imposible: permanecer en silencio, creyendo firmemente su “yo” adolescente se involucró voluntariamente en la relación con Strane o que por lo contrario fue su víctima. Pero ¿cómo puede Vanessa rechazar su primer amor, el hombre que la transformó fundamentalmente y ha sido una presencia persistente en su vida? ¿Cómo puede aceptar que el hombre que amaba cuando era adolescente, y que profesaba adorarla había seducido y abusado a otras chicas?

Alternando entre el presente de Vanessa y el momento de la aventura y sus consecuencias, Mi sombría Vanessa yuxtapone la memoria y el trauma con la emoción sin aliento de una adolescente que descubre el poder que su propio cuerpo puede ejercer. Una representación magistral de los problemas de la adolescencia y los efectos de largo alcance del abuso sexual.

MI SOMBRIA VANESSA by Kate Elizabeth Russell

Performed by Val Toomey, George Newbern, Marin Ireland andJoel Froomkin

Newlyweds Sam Statler and Annie Potter are head over heels, and excited to say good-bye to New York City and start a life together in Sam's sleepy hometown upstate. Or, it turns out, a life where Annie spends most of her time alone while Sam, her therapist husband, works long hours in his downstairs office, tending to the egos of his (mostly female) clientele. Little does Sam know that through a vent in his ceiling, every word of his sessions can be heard from the room upstairs. The pharmacist's wife, contemplating a divorce. The well-known painter whose boyfriend doesn’t satisfy her in bed. Who could resist listening? Everything is fine until the French girl in the green mini Cooper shows up, and Sam decides to go to work and not come home, throwing a wrench into Sam and Annie's happily ever after. 

Showcasing Molloy’s deft ability to subvert norms and culminating in the kind of stunning twist that is becoming her trademark, Goodnight Beautiful is a thrilling tale of domestic suspense that not only questions assumptions but defies expectations.

GOODNIGHT BEAUTIFUL by Aimee Molloy

2021 AUDIE FINALIST - FICTION

Performed by Greta Jung

"Suspenseful and deeply felt." (Chloe Benjamin, New York Times best-selling author of The Immortalists)

"Fans of Amy Tan and Kristin Hannah will love Kim's brilliant debut." (Booklist, starred review)

"Nancy Jooyoun Kim is a knockout." (Kristen Arnett, New York Times best-selling author of Mostly Dead Things)

A poignant mother-daughter story and surprising mystery, The Last Story of Mina Lee is an electrifying debut novel that illustrates the devastating realities of being an immigrant in America. 

Margot Lee's mother, Mina, isn't returning her calls. It's a mystery to 26-year-old Margot, until she visits her childhood apartment in Koreatown, LA, and finds that her mother has suspiciously died. The discovery sends Margot digging through the past, unraveling the tenuous strings that held together her single mother's life as a Korean War orphan and an undocumented immigrant, only to realize how little she truly knew about her mother.

Interwoven with Margot's present-day search is Mina's story of her first year in Los Angeles as she navigates the promises and perils of the American myth of reinvention. While she's barely earning a living by stocking shelves at a Korean grocery store, the last thing Mina ever expects is to fall in love. But that love story sets in motion a string of events that have consequences for years to come, leading up to the truth of what happened the night of her death.

Told through the intimate lens of a mother and daughter who have struggled all their lives to understand each other, The Last Story of Mina Lee is both a gripping page-turner and a profound family saga that explores identity, secrets and what it truly means to belong.

THE LAST STORY OF MINA LEE by Nancy Jooyoun Kim

Performed by Al Sharpton and Leon Nixon

A rousing call to action for today’s turbulent political moment, drawing on lessons learned from Reverend Sharpton’s unique experience as a politician, television and radio host, and civil rights leader.

When the young Alfred Charles Sharpton told his mother he wanted to be a preacher, little did he know that his journey would also lead him to prominence as a politician, founder of the National Action Network, civil rights activist, and television and radio talk show host. His enduring ability and willingness to take on the political power structure makes him the preeminent voice for the modern era, a time unprecedented in its challenges.

In Rise Up, Reverend Sharpton revisits the highlights of the Obama administration, the 2016 election and Trump’s subsequent hold on the GOP, and draws on his decades-long experience with other key players in politics and activism, including Shirley Chisholm, Hillary Clinton, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and more.

With a foreword by Michael Eric Dyson, Rise Up offers timeless lessons for anyone who’s stood at the crossroads of their personal or political life, weighing their choices of how to proceed.

RISE UP by Al Sharpton

Read by Rachel Hollis

Fear. Grief. Loss. Betrayal. Rachel Hollis has felt all those things. Now, she takes you to the other side.

Rachel Hollis sees you. As the millions who read her #1 New York Times bestsellers Girl, Wash Your Face and Girl, Stop Apologizing, attend her RISE conferences and follow her on social media know, she also wants to see you transform. When it comes to the “hard seasons” of life—the death of a loved one,  divorce, loss of a job—transformation seems impossible when grief and uncertainty dominate your days. Especially when, as Didn’t See that Coming reveals, no one asks to have their future completely rearranged for them.

But, as Rachel writes, it is up to you how you come through your pain—you can come through changed for the better, having learned and grown, or stuck in place where your identity becomes rooted in what hurt you.  With her signature humor, heartfelt honesty and true-life stories, in Didn’t See that Coming Rachel Hollis shares how to embrace the difficult moments in life for the learning experiences they are, and that a life well-lived is one of purpose and focused on the essentials. This is a small book about big feelings, inspirational, aspirational, and an anchor that shows that darkness can co-exist with the beautiful.

DIDN'T SEE THAT COMING by Rachel Hollis

Performed by Thérèse Plummer

#1 New York Times bestselling author Robyn Carr returns to the beloved town of Virgin River with a brand-new story about fresh starts, new friends and the magic of Christmas.

Kaylee Sloan’s home in Southern California is full of wonderful memories of the woman who raised her. But the memories are prolonging her grief over her mother’s recent death. A successful author, Kaylee hoped she could pour herself into her work. Instead she has terrible writer’s block and a looming deadline.

Determined to escape distractions and avoid the holiday season, Kaylee borrows a cabin in Virgin River. She knows the isolation will help her writing, and as she drives north through the mountains and the majestic redwoods, she immediately feels inspired. Until she arrives at a building that has just gone up in flames. Devastated, she heads to Jack’s Bar to plan her next steps. The local watering hole is the heart of the town, and once she crosses the threshold, she’s surprised to be embraced by people who are more than willing to help a friend—or a stranger—in need.

Kaylee’s world is expanding in ways she never dreamed possible. And when she rescues a kitten followed by a dog with a litter of puppies, she finds her heart opening up to the animals who need her. And then there’s the dog trainer who knows exactly how to help her. As the holidays approach, Kaylee’s dread turns to wonder. Because there’s no better place to spend Christmas than Virgin River.

RETURN TO VIRGIN RIVER by Robyn Carr

Read by Edoardo Ballerini, Gary Farmer, Marin Ireland, Cassandra Campbell, MacLeod Andrews, Tim Gerard Reynolds, Mike Ortego, Rex Anderson, Charlie Thurston, and Frankie Corzo

One of the most anticipated books of the season: The Millions, Vogue, People, New York Post, Medium, The Philadelpiha Inquirer, Newsday, St. Louis Post-Dispatch

The author of the #1 New York Times bestseller Beautiful Ruins delivers another “literary miracle” (NPR)—a propulsive, richly entertaining novel about two brothers swept up in the turbulent class warfare of the early twentieth century.

The Dolans live by their wits, jumping freight trains and lining up for day work at crooked  job agencies. While sixteen-year-old Rye yearns for a steady job and a home, his older brother, Gig, dreams of a better world, fighting alongside other union men for fair pay and decent treatment. Enter Ursula the Great, a vaudeville singer  who performs with a live cougar and introduces the brothers to a far more dangerous creature: a mining  magnate determined to keep his wealth and his hold on Ursula.

Dubious of Gig’s idealism, Rye finds himself drawn to a fearless nineteen-year-old activist and feminist named Elizabeth Gurley Flynn. But a storm is coming, threatening to overwhelm them all, and Rye will be forced to decide where he stands. Is it enough to win the occasional  battle, even if you cannot win the war?

An intimate story of brotherhood, love, sacrifice,  and betrayal set against the panoramic backdrop of an early twentieth-century America that eerily echoes our own time, The Cold Millions offers a  kaleidoscopic portrait of a nation grappling with the chasm between rich and poor, between harsh realities and simple dreams. Featuring an unforgettable cast of cops and tramps, suffragists and socialists, madams and murderers, it is a tour de force from a “writer who has planted himself firmly  in the first rank of American authors” (Boston Globe).

THE COLD MILLIONS by Jess Walter

2021 AUDIE FINALIST - AUDIOBOOK OF THE YEAR

Read by Nancy Pelosi, Laurence Fishburne, and Maya Rockeymoore Cummings

He said it in Baltimore, a city on the verge of explosion over police treatment of citizens.  He said it in Congress when microphones were shut down, barring free speech.  He said it when the President flaunted his power and ignored the Constitution.  He said it when the President resorted to bullying, name-calling and feeding racial divisions. We are better than this. He continued to say it until his final days last October.  He said it because he believed we must call out what is wrong and call on our better selves to make things right.

In We’re Better Than This, Cummings details the formative moments in his life that prepared him to hold President Donald Trump accountable for his actions while in office. Cummings powerfully weaves together the urgent drama of modern-day politics and the defining stories from his past. He offers a unique perspective on how his upbringing as the son of sharecroppers in a South Baltimore neighborhood, rampant with racism and poverty, laid the foundation of a life spent fighting for justice. 

Cummings was known for his ability to referee contentious members of Congress and reach across the aisle for the sake of justice. Since his early days in politics, Cummings proved his abilities as a leader and legal mind who could operate at the highest levels of democracy, always working with – and for – the underserved.

Part memoir, part call-to-action, the book goes behind the scenes with the House Democratic leadership, offering an eye-opening account of the relentless and unprecedented obstructionism by both the President and GOP. Cummings’ final words present a vital defense of how government oversight defines our collective trust and makes the case that, even in the face of our nation’s most challenging times, we must remain rooted in the politics of optimism.

WE'RE BETTER THAN THIS by Elijah Cummings

Performed by Isabel Adomakoh Young

“Glorious. A story that will be found and enjoyed and dreamed about for years to come.”—Neil Gaiman

A stunning modern-day Dickensian fable and a celebration of friendship and bravery for freethinkers everywhere.

It all starts on the morning the letter D disappears from language. First, it vanishes from Dhikilo’s parents’ conversation at breakfast, then from the road signs outside and from her school dinners. Soon the local dentist and the neighbor’s dalmatian are missing, and even the Donkey Derby has been called off.

Though she doesn’t know why, Dhikilo is summoned to the home of her old history teacher Professor Dodderfield and his faithful Labrador, Nelly Robinson. And this is where our story begins.

Set between England and the wintry land of Liminus, a world enslaved by the monstrous Gamp and populated by fearsome, enchanting creatures, D (A Tale of Two Worlds) is told with simple beauty and warmth. Its celebration of moral courage and freethinking is a powerful reminder of our human capacity for strength, hope and justice.

D (A TALE OF TWO WORLDS) by Michael Faber

Performed by Deryn Edwards

“Unforgettable” —Kelly Rimmer, New York Times bestselling author
“Riveting” —Karen Robards, New York Times bestselling author
“Harrowing” —Noelle Salazar, bestselling author
“Cinematic” —Ellen Keith, author of The Dutch Wife
“Captivating” —Glynis Peters, author of The Secret Orphan

Inspired by true events, the riveting story of a young Jewish woman trapped on the occupied island of Jersey during World War II.

Summer 1940: Hedy Bercu fled Vienna two years ago. Now she watches the skies over Jersey for German planes, convinced that an invasion is imminent. When it finally comes, there is no counterattack from Allied forces—the Channel Islands are simply not worth defending. Most islanders and occupying forces settle into an uneasy coexistence, but for Hedy, the situation is perilously different. For Hedy is Jewish—a fact that could mean deportation, or worse.

With no means of escape, Hedy hides in plain sight, working as a translator for the Germans while silently working against them. She forges a tentative friendship with a sympathetic German officer who is likewise trapped by circumstance. But as the war intensifies, Hedy knows she is in greater danger each day. Soon, her survival will depend not just on her own courage but on the community she has come to cherish and a man who should be her enemy.

Vividly recreating little-known events, this is an unforgettable tale of resilience and bravery, and of the extraordinary power found in quiet acts of heroism and love.

THE GIRL FROM THE CHANNEL ISLANDS by Jenny Lecoat

Performed by Vivienne Leheny

A woman disappears into the dark city night…

Gen is on the verge of a divorce from her cheating husband. When her sister, Meg, has a convention to attend in the Big Apple, she invites Gen along to celebrate her newly found freedom. But the perfect sisters’ getaway quickly goes awry when a tipsy Gen defiantly throws her wedding ring off the hotel room’s balcony. Then, wanting some fresh air, she decides to take a late-evening walk alone and vanishes without a trace.

The investigation that follows uncovers secrets—and betrayals—between sisters and spouses that will twist the truth in on itself until nothing is clear.

What really happened to Gen and who, besides Meg, was the last to see her?

The Last to See Her

THE LAST TO SEE HER by Courtney Evan Tate

Performed by Ron Butler

Will this billionaire bachelor say “I do” to love? Find out, only from New York Times bestselling author Brenda Jackson!

He desires her more than any other woman.

But falling in love isn’t part of the plan.

The arrangement is simple: a two-week getaway, then a marriage of convenience. Until Garth Outlaw’s potential bride is a no-show. Now family pilot Regan Fairchild is sharing his bed—and he can’t get enough…even though he’s vowed never to love again. Can Regan convince him the wife he needs and the woman he desires are one and the same?

From Harlequin Desire: Luxury, scandal, desire—welcome to the lives of the American elite.

Westmoreland Legacy: The Outlaws

Book 1: The Wife He Needs

The Wife He Needs

THE WIFE HE NEEDS by Brenda Jackson

Performed by Seth Podowitz

The cutting-edge Net Force thriller series, created by Tom Clancy and Steve Pieczenik and written by Jerome Preisler, reveals the invisible battlefield where the war for global dominance is fought.

The president’s new cybersecurity team, Net Force, is up and running. But a political deadlock in Washington makes the young agency dangerously vulnerable to the criminals, terror groups and hostile governments who would use the digital space to advance their destructive goals.

In Central Europe, an unknown enemy mounts a crippling high-tech assault against the organization’s military threat-response unit on its home base. The strike casts suspicion on a core member of Net Force, threatening to destroy the cyber defense group from within. But as they race to track down their attackers, the stakes are suddenly ratcheted higher. For a global syndicate of black hat hackers and a newly belligerent Russia are hatching a mysterious, shadowy scheme for world domination from a place known only as the Secret City.

Their attack protocol: leave Net Force in ashes while Moscow and its Dark Web allies set the stage for a devastating strike against the United States.

Unless the men and women of Net Force can regroup in time to stop them.

Net Force: Attack Protocol – A Novel

NET FORCE: ATTACK PROTOCOL by Jerome Preisler

Harper Audio proudly traces its roots back to 1952, when Dylan Thomas first recorded for our Caedmon label. For more than five decades, HarperAudio/Caedmon has been synonymous not only with distinguished poets reading their works, but also with equally distinguished authors and readers performing classic and contemporary texts.

THE LAST STORY OF MINA LEE by Nancy Jooyoun Kim

HarperAudio US