New Earphones Award Winners

Laura Rossi joins host Jo Reed to talk through three recent Earphones Award winners, each offering a distinct listening experience. They begin with Judge Stone by James Patterson and Viola Davis, on which Davis also delivers exceptional narration, bringing authority and emotional precision to a fast-moving legal thriller. Then it’s Cleopatra by Saara El-Arifi, where Adjoa Andoh delivers a commanding performance that makes the iconic queen feel regal, immediate, and fully human. They close with Trust No One by James Rollins and read by Simon Vance, who guides listeners across countries and centuries on a suspenseful hunt for a mysterious text said to hold the secret to immortality. Audiobooks Discussed: Judge Stone by James Patterson and Viola Davis, read by Viola Davis (Hachette Audio) Cleopatra by Saara El-Arifi, read by Adjoa Andoh (Random House Audio) Trust No One by James Rollins, read by Simon Vance (Harper Audio) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Contributor Kendra Winchester joins host Jo Reed to discuss three audiobooks that each spotlight a different side of Toni Morrison. In Language as Liberation, narrator Bahni Turpin guides listeners through Morrison’s own lectures, bringing an immediacy to her literary analysis of the American canon. Toni at Random, read with clarity and momentum by Deanna Anthony, highlights Morrison’s role in championing major Black writers as an editor at Random House. And January LaVoy’s reading of On Morrison carries Namwali Serpell’s close readings of the novels, making Morrison’s work feel newly alive. Three books, three authors, three narrations—each one sharpening a different view of Morrison’s lasting impact. Audiobooks Discussed: Language as Liberation: Reflections on the American Canon by Toni Morrison, read by Bahni Turpin (Random House Audio)   Toni at Random: An Iconic Writer’s Legendary Editorship by Dana A. Williams, read by Deanna Anthony (Harper Audio)   On Morrison by Namwali Serpell, read by January LaVoy (Random House Audio) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Host Jo Reed talks with contributor Leslie Fine about three audiobooks that circle around questions of identity, family, and belonging. In Kin by Tayari Jones, dual narrators Angel Pean and Ashley J. Hobbs give distinct voices to two lifelong friends shaped by maternal absence as well as the racial and class realities of the 1950s South. Boy From the North Country, written and read by Sam Sussman, blends autofiction and grief as a son returns home to his dying mother, while My Other Heart by Emma Nanami Strenner, narrated by Joy Ozymanski, follows two teenagers navigating questions of heritage, class, and family.  Three very different audiobooks, each asking—through story and performance—how we come to understand where we belong.   Audiobooks Discussed: Kin by Tayari Jones, read by Angel Pean and Ashley J. Hobbs (Random House Audio) Boy From the North Country written and read by Sam Sussman (Penguin Audio) My Other Heart by Emma Nanami Strenner, read by Joy Osmanski (Penguin Audio) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Host Jo Reed is joined by Michele Cobb to look at three audiobooks that use multiple narrators to tell stories from distinct perspectives. In Joan Silber’s Mercy, a cast of voices traces how an experience reverberates across lives and decades, with narration providing the emotional throughline. Rachel Hawkins’s The Storm leans into suspense and atmosphere, with strong performances sharpening a layered, true-crime-tinged mystery. And in Craig Thomas’s That’s Not How It Happened, four narrators bring clarity and texture to the story of a family and the uneasy overlap between private life and public storytelling.  Three very different books, each shaped by shifting perspectives—and in each case, it’s the narration that makes the whole story cohere.   Audiobooks Discussed: Mercy by Joan Silber, read by L.J. Ganser, Nan McNamara, Christina Moore, Alyssa Bresnahan, Helen Laser & Nick Walther (Recorded Books Inc.)   The Storm by Rachel Hawkins, read by Stephanie Németh-Parker, Alex Knox, Cathi Colas, Dan Bittner, Jane Oppenheimer, Patti Murin, and Petrea Burchard (Macmillan Audio)   That’s Not How It Happened by Craig Thomas, read by Marli Watson, Cobie Smulders, Josh Radnor, and Kevin Iannucci (Harlequin Audio) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Host Jo Reed is joined by Kirkus fiction editor Laurie Muchnick for a deep dive into Rachel Reid’s six-book Game Changers series. The basis for the HBO sensation Heated Rivalry, the books are a blend of pro hockey, queer romance, and unapologetic “spice.” The conversation zeroes in on two key audiobooks—Game Changer, read by Tor Thom, and The Long Game, read by Cooper North—highlighting how each narrator shapes character, tone, and emotional depth in very different ways. Along the way, Jo and Laurie consider what these romances promise (yes, a happily-ever-after), what they explore (from homophobia in sports to mental health), and how listening—especially to scenes of intimacy—changes the experience. A lively look at a very hot series—where performance shapes the story as much as the writing, and the chemistry comes through loud and clear.   Audiobooks Discussed: Game Changer by Rachel Reid, read by Tor Thom (Tantor Media) The Long Game by Rachel Reid, read by Cooper North (Harlequin Audio)   Other audiobooks in the Game Changers series by Rachel Reid:  Heated Rivalry and Tough Guy, read by Tor Thom (Tantor Media) Common Goal and Role Model, read by Cooper North (Harlequin Audio) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Lauren Groff’s narration of Brawler brings listeners directly into the cadence and emotional undercurrent of her prose. In this episode of Behind the Mic, she talks with host Jo Reed about building a collection as a series of evolving questions, from the opening story “The Wind” to the final piece “Annunciation,” which, as she puts it, is “shining a light outward” while gesturing back toward what comes before.  The conversation also explores how reading her work aloud—both while writing and in the recording studio—sharpens rhythm, shifts meaning, and keeps every sentence in motion. In an interview interspersed with excerpts of the audiobook, Lauren reflects on voice, structure, and the intimacy of hearing a writer tell her own stories.   Audiobooks Discussed: Brawler, written and read by Lauren Groff (Penguin Audio) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Kirkus young readers’ editor Laura Simeon suggests three middle-grade audiobooks that invite listening across generations, beginning with Anna James’s Alice With a Why, where Kristin Atherton’s graceful, finely tuned narration captures both the whimsy and emotional intelligence of this return to Wonderland. Jodi Meadows’ Confessions From the Group Chat offers a sharply observed look at middle-school dynamics, with Eevin Hartsough delivering a natural, conversational performance that makes Virginia’s missteps feel immediate and deeply human. And in Relic Hamilton, Genie Hunter, British author and former Children’s Laureate Joseph Coelho narrates his own fast-moving, imaginative adventure with energy and warmth, anchoring its time travel and mythmaking in a voice that feels personal and inviting. These are three engaging middle-grade stories, elevated by narrators who bring clarity, nuance, and a strong sense of voice to every moment.    Audiobooks Discussed: Alice With a Why by Anna James, read by Kristin Atherton (Listening Library) Confessions From the Group Chat by Jodi Meadows, read by Eevin Hartsough (Recorded Books) Relic Hamilton, Genie Hunter by Joseph Coelho, read by Joseph Coelho (Dreamscape)   Support for Behind the Mic comes from HarperCollinsFocus and HarperCollinsChristianPublishing, publishers of some of your favorite audiobooks and authors, including Colleen Coble, Mark Harmon, Jennie Allen, Max Lucado, Lysa TerKeurst, and many more. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Contributor Alan Minskoff joins host Jo Reed to talk about three notable books—from George Saunders, Xochitl Gonzalez, and Lauren Groff—that offer rich and rewarding listening. They begin with George Saunders’s Vigil, an inventive, full-cast production featuring Judy Greer, Stephen Root, and McLeod Andrews, where a youthful ghost serves as a death doula to an unrepentant oil tycoon. The conversation then turns to Xochitl Gonzalez’s Last Night in Brooklyn, narrated compellingly by Elizabeth Rodriguez, a sharp, observant look at friendship, ambition, and gentrification in mid-2000s Brooklyn. They conclude with Lauren Groff’s Brawler, a collection of emotionally resonant stories read with empathy and thoughtful restraint by the author herself.  Together, these audiobooks show how skillful narration—from full casts to author performances—can deepen the emotional and imaginative reach of contemporary fiction.   Audiobooks Discussed: Vigil by George Saunders, read by Judy Greer, Stephen Root, MacLeod Andrews, Kimberly Farr, Mark Bramhall, Barrett Leddy, Eric Jason Martin, Karissa Vacker, Sunil Malhotra, Cassandra Campbell, Kimberly M. Wetherell, Aaron Goodson, Maggi-Meg Reed, George Saunders, and a Full Cast (Random House Audio) LastNight in Brooklyn by Xochitl Gonzalez, read by Elizabeth Rodriguez (Macmillan Audio) Brawler by Lauren Groff, read by the author (Penguin Audio)   Support for Behind the Mic comes from HarperCollinsFocus and HarperCollinsChristianPublishing, publishers of some of your favorite audiobooks and authors, including Colleen Coble, Mark Harmon, Jennie Allen, Max Lucado, Lysa TerKeurst, and many more.   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Host Jo Reed and contributor Stephen Cummings begin with Escape by Stephen Fischbach, an Earphones Award winner narrated by Julia Whelan, Imani Jade Powers, and Sean Patrick Hopkins; it’s a debut novel that digs into the machinations of reality TV and the costs of reinvention. Next they turn to Paper Cut by Rachel Taff, narrated by Helen Laser, a sharp exploration of true crime culture that follows a former cult member facing renewed scrutiny when a documentarian wants to revisit her past. Finally, they discuss the Earphones-winning Crown City by Naomi Hirahara, narrated by Brian Nishii, a richly observed social history threaded with a mystery as a newly arrived Japanese immigrant navigates 1903 Pasadena. Together, the three audiobooks—and their narrators—offer distinct portraits of pressure, survival, and the long reach of the past.   Audiobooks Discussed:   Escape! by Stephen Fishbach, read by Julia Whelan, Imani Jade Powers, Sean Patrick Hopkins, and Stephen Fishbach (Penguin Audio)   Paper Cut by Rachel Taff, read by Helen Laser (Harper Audio)   Crown City by Naomi Hirahara, read by Brian Nishii (Recorded Books)   Support for Behind the Mic comes from HarperCollins Focus and HarperCollinsChristianPublishing, publishers of some of your favorite audiobooks and authors, including Colleen Coble, Mark Harmon, Jennie Allen, Max Lucado, Lysa TerKeurst, and many more. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Host Jo Reed and contributor Alex Ritchie dive into three striking audiobooks, beginning with Half His Age, Jennette McCurdy’s unsettling and sharply observed debut novel, narrated by the author in a style that mirrors its protagonist’s fragile bravado. Jo and Alex then travel to 15th-century Italy with Graceless Heart by Isabel Ibañez, where Beatrice Grannò’s lyrical narration illuminates both the sensuality of the setting and the pulse of magic running through the novel’s political intrigue. Finally, they explore The Book of Blood and Roses by Annie Summerlee, brought into vivid focus by Katie Leung’s clear, quietly magnetic delivery, which grounds the paranormal elements while sharpening the story’s emotional undercurrents. The conversation highlights how a narrator can deepen a book’s atmosphere, shape its emotional stakes, and transform the entire listening experience.   Audiobooks Discussed: HalfHis Age, written and read by Jennette McCurdy (Random House Audio)   Graceless Heart by Isabel Ibañez, read by Beatrice Grannò  (Macmillan Audio)   The Book of Blood and Roses by Annie Summerlee, read by Katie Leung (Penguin Audio)     Support for Behind the Mic comes from HarperCollinsFocus and HarperCollins Christian Publishing, publishers of some of your favorite audiobooks and authors, including Colleen Coble, Mark Harmon, Jennie Allen, Max Lucado, Lysa TerKeurst, and many more.   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices