Arianwen Parkes-Lockwood has narrated 8 audiobooks on Listento.it by 6 authors, with an average listener rating of 3.5★ across 7 ratings. The most-rated is Star-Crossed.
Star-Crossed
Summary
Why rely on fate when you can rewrite the stars? In this sparkling romantic comedy, one woman decides to tinker with the horoscopes of the man of her dreams.
"A bright, brilliant, joyful love story." (Josie Silver, number-one New York Times best-selling author of One Day in December)
Named one of the Best Books of the Year by Real Simple
When childhood sweethearts Justine (Sagittarius and serious skeptic) and Nick (Aquarius and true believer) bump into each other as adults, a life-changing love affair seems inevitable. To Justine, anyway. Especially when she learns Nick is an astrological devotee, whose decisions are guided by the stars, and more specifically, by the horoscopes in his favorite magazine. The same magazine Justine happens to write for. As Nick continues to not fall headlong in love with her, Justine decides to take Nick’s horoscope, and Fate itself, into her own hands. But, of course, Nick is not the only Aquarius making important life choices according to what is written in the stars.
Charting the ripple effects of Justine’s astrological meddling, Star-Crossed is a delicious, intelligent, and affecting love story about friendship, chance, and how we all navigate the kinds of choices that are hard to face alone.
Praise for Star-Crossed
"Swoon-worthy...a smart, sweet love story about friendship, destiny, and the power of choice." (Bustle)
"[A] juicy romance novel." (Good Housekeeping)
"Enchanting...this book will capture your attention and keep you entertained from the first page to the last." (BuzzFeed)
"This cleverly structured first outing from the pseudonymous Darke will appeal to fans of romantic comedy, astrology, and chaos. Utterly charming and ripe for development as a film." (Booklist)
"Winning.... Unpretentious, well-drawn characters and the fresh twist on the childhood sweethearts reunited setup make this perfect for fans of romantic comedies." (Publishers Weekly)
"Darke creates a world of stargazers whose destinies eventually collide.... Funny and enticing." (Library Journal)
©2019 Minnie Darke (P)2019 Random House Audio
The Lace Weaver
Summary
1941, Estonia. As Stalin’s brutal Red Army crushes everything in its path, Katarina battles to protect her grandmother’s precious legacy - the weaving of gossamer lace shawls stitched with intricate patterns that tell the stories passed down through generations. Meanwhile Lydia is suffocating in her prison of privilege in Moscow. Yearning for freedom and to discover her beloved mother’s Baltic heritage, she escapes to Estonia. Soon these two young women find themselves in a fight for life, liberty and love.
©2017 Lauren Chater (P)2018 W. F. Howes Ltd
Michelle de Kretser on Shirley Hazzard
Summary
On Shirley Hazzard is a vibrant and personal tribute in which the Miles Franklin Award-winning novelist Michelle de Kretser offers a masterclass in writing and reading. She celebrates the precision and musicality of Hazzard’s prose and illuminates the humour and humanity in her work. This exhilarating book is both a brilliant introduction to Hazzard and a gift for her longtime readers. On Shirley Hazzard reveals Michelle de Kretser’s lively intelligence at work and her distinctive wit. This testament to her sustained engagement with Hazzard’s work is, at its core, an appreciation of the significance and joy of good fiction. Receptiveness when reading is a prerequisite for perceptive analysis, according to both de Kretser and Hazzard. And for prose, the “simple and precise,” the “transient and insignificant” are key qualities: “Not moonlight but the glitter of broken glass,” for de Kretser as for Chekhov. Selective biographical details about Hazzard are relayed, too - her leaving Australia and formal education at the age of 16, her working, unhappily, at the United Nations in Manhattan, her long friendship with Graham Greene. Hazzard’s morality is also invoked - “solidarity with the vulnerable” and pacifism being of prime importance. Shirley Hazzard (1931-2016) published her first short story in The New Yorker in 1961. The magazine continued to publish her work in the decades thereafter, including excerpts from her most successful and beloved novel, the best-seller and National Book Critics Circle Award winner, The Transit of Venus (1980). Michelle de Kretser’s insightful and provocative appreciation does Hazzard fine justice.
©2019 Michelle de Kretser (P)2019 Audible Australia Pty Ltd
How to Be Thin in a World of Chocolate
Summary
Michele Connolly's warm and very funny take on managing weight loss is not only spot on in terms of weight loss science but is laugh-out-loud funny. Michele Connolly loves food. She loves burgers and pizza, waffles and chocolate. She likes to dine out, and if there are two desserts that sound great, she will order both. She regularly has wine and cheese for dinner. She is not someone who would willingly dine on salad. She doesn't count calories or exclude food groups or go on fad diets. She is not Paleo. She doesn't exercise four hours a day or go to bootcamps. She is not gifted with great genes or extra willpower. So how does she eat this way and still stay thin? In How to Be Thin in a World of Chocolate, Michele shares her strategies of how to lose weight while at the same time keeping or even increasing your sense of pleasure in life. Not to mention your sanity. Using simple and practical strategies, Michele helps you work out ways you can enjoy your treats, make exercise happen without thinking, avoid self-sabotage and focus your mind on the job at hand without rigorous discipline and willpower. Michele Connolly knows what it is like to deprive yourself of the food you love and feel guilty every time you indulge. She's been there and done that. She knows how you can be distracted from the pleasure of dinner with loved ones because you're obsessed with what you should and shouldn't eat. She knows what it is like to feel constantly unhappy in your clothes, in and out of them. Most of all she knows that feeling miserable about your weight is like a constant shadow over your life. But she also knows it doesn't have to be that way....
©2017 Michele Connolly (P)2017 Bolinda Publishing Pty Ltd
The Girl from Munich
Summary
A sweeping tale of love and loss in wartime Germany, inspired by a true story. Germany, 1943. The choices she makes will change her life forever. Growing up in Hitler's Germany, Charlotte von Klein has big dreams for the future. Her mind is full of plans for a sumptuous wedding to her childhood sweetheart, Heinrich, while working for the Luftwaffe, proudly giving her all for the Fatherland. But in 1943, the tide of the war is turning against Germany, and Lotte's life of privilege and comfort begins to collapse around her. As Hitler's Reich abandons Germany and the country falls to the Allied forces, Lotte is forced to flee from the unfolding chaos to the country with the darkly attractive Erich Drescher, her Luftwaffe superior. Amid the danger, pain and heartbreak of a country turning on itself, Lotte must forge a new life for herself. But as the country struggles to find its future, shadows of the past come rushing back, and Lotte finds herself questioning everything she has fought for - love, duty and freedom.
©2017 Tania Blanchard (P)2018 Bolinda Publishing Pty Ltd
The Lost Love Song
Summary
Behind every great love song is a great love story, from the author of Star-Crossed. Named one of the Best Books of the Year by Publishers Weekly “A tender tribute to the healing powers of love and music.... Readers will be wowed.” (Publishers Weekly, starred review) Concert pianist Diana is finally ready to marry her longtime fiance, Arie; she’s even composing a beautiful love song for him and finishes it while on tour. Before she can play it for him, though, tragedy strikes - and Diana is lost to Arie forever. But her song might not be. In Australia, the world has gone quiet for Arie, and he lives his life accordingly, struggling to cope with his loss. In Scotland, a woman named Evie is taking stock of her life after the end of another lackluster almost-relationship. Years of wandering the globe and failing to publish her poetry have taken their toll, and she might finally be ready to find what her travels have never been able to give her: a real home. And through a quirk of fate or circumstance, Diana’s song is passed from musician to musician. By winding its way around the world, it just might bring these two lost souls together. With heart-wrenching emotion, The Last Love Song explores what it means to be lost, what it means to be found, and the power of music to bring people together.
©2020 Minnie Darke (P)2020 Random House Audio
Letters from Berlin
Summary
From the best-selling author of The Girl from Munich and Suitcase of Dreams comes an unforgettable tale of love, courage, and betrayal inspired by a true story Berlin, 1943. As the Allied forces edge closer, the Third Reich tightens its grip on its people. For 18-year-old Susanna Göttmann, this means her adopted family, including the man she loves, Leo, are at risk. Desperate to protect her loved ones any way she can, Susie accepts the help of an influential Nazi officer. But it comes at a terrible cost - she must abandon any hope of a future with Leo and enter the frightening world of the Nazi elite. Yet all is not lost as her newfound position offers more than she could have hoped for.... With critical intelligence at her fingertips, Susie seizes a dangerous opportunity to help the Resistance. The decisions she makes could change the course of the war, but what will they mean for her family and her future? "An original and innovative take on the World War II genre that captures the hauntingly desperate essence of the war. Tania Blanchard has written yet another spectacular novel. Don’t miss this." (Better Reading)
©2020 Tania Blanchard. All rights reserved. (P)2020 Simon & Schuster Australia
Paris Dreaming
Summary
How the City of Lights gave her lessons in life and love: an Australian beauty journalist shares her obsession with Paris - a city which has been her guide through a lifelong journey of self-discovery.
Katrina Lawrence first fell in love with Paris at the age of five, and since then her roads have continually led her back to this most beautiful city, the City of Lights. Telling us the story of why Paris continually fascinates her, Katrina also gives us a mesmerising journey around Paris' most spectacular sights and most beguiling nooks and crannies as well as a profound musing on Paris and its people - from feminism to femininity, politics to perfume and, of course, those stylish Parisiennes who captivate us, from Catherine de Medici and Coco Chanel to Brigitte Bardot and Catherine Deneuve, making Paris Dreaming the ultimate chic, personal and charming memoir.
Studded with fascinating anecdotes and intriguing tidbits of trivia, Katrina shares the lessons Paris has taught her: everything from her favourite cafes and how to pick the perfect red lipstick to how to eat for pleasure. Written and narrated with warmth, gaiety, elegance and very real insight, Paris Dreaming is an audiobook not just for women who love Paris but for anyone in search of that elusive good life.
©2017 Katrina Lawrence (P)2017 Bolinda Publishing Pty Ltd