Desperation in Death (In Death #55), by J.D. Robb (author), Susan Ericksen (narrator)

Macmillan Audio, ISBN 9781250859250, September 2022

It's 2061, and there are young girls trapped in a hellish "Academy" in New York City, where they are being trained to be slaves--some of them, sex slaves. Among them are Mina, a beautiful girl with white skin and red hair, and Dorian, an equally beautiful mixed-race girl with darker, clear, perfect skin, and sharper features. They become allies in an attempt to get out--which is almost successful. Almost. Soon Mina is dead, and Dorian is injured, in hiding, and has a very hazy memory of what happened. When Mina's body is found, Lt. Eve Dallas catches the case, and soon realizes she's dealing with something very dark.

Alpha and Omega: A Companion Novella to Cry Wolf (Alpha and Omega #0.5), by Patricia Briggs (author), Holter Graham (narrator)

Penguin Audio, February 2013 (originally published in On the Prowl anthology, August 2007)

Anna is a werewolf. She was changed without her consent, into a pack where she is a disappointment--a submissive, rather than a female alpha. She's not happy with the rough contemptuous way she's treated, but she can't survive on her own as a werewolf, and she accepts her fate.

At least, until she learns that a newly changed young man has been sold to--someone. Someone who plans to use him as an experimental subject. Anna calls the werewolf king, and tells him what she knows about this crime the leader of her pack has committed. As a result, a dangerous conflict is about to break out.

In Defense of the Grim Reaper, by Riya Aarini (author), Glenn Hascall (narrator)

Riya Aarini, September 2022

This is  pretty cute little story, told in first person by the Grim Reaper, trying to set the record straight about what a nice, charming, and forward-thinking guy he is.

Sarek (Star Trek:The Original Series), by A.C. Crispin

Pocket Books, July 1999 (original publication March 1994)

This is the story of Sarek, Vulcan Ambassador, his marriage with Amanda Grayson, and his complicated relationship with his son, Spock.

We also follow Sarek's investigation of a plot he first began to suspect years ago, which seems to be coming to fruition now--but he doesn't yet have solid proof. 

The Keep Earth Human League, which wants to expel all nonhumans from Earth, but especially Vulcans, has crept along as a minor fringe group for years. Suddenly it has become larger, more active, more visible, and better-funded. Part of Sarek's diplomatic duties has been meeting periodically with a representative of the intensely private Freelans, who reside on a planet in the region otherwise controlled by the Romulans. For some reason, the Romulans have never claimed this world.

Match Made In Wyoming (Wyoming Wildflowers #2), by Patricia McLinn (author), Julia Motyka (narrator)

Craig Place Books, ISBN 9781944126445, November 2013 (original publication July 2001)

Taylor Anne Larsen has left her job at a big firm in Dallas, and bought a tiny practice in a small town in Wyoming. She has friends, including Matty, owner of one ranch and wife of the owner of another. She and Matty work together in a dog rescue organization, and her assistant in the law practice is also a friend, and there are others.

She's mostly seen Cal Ruskoff from a distance. He's handsome, interesting, and clearly determined to maintain that distance. Cal isn't from the town, or Wyoming, and he's got nothing to say about where he's from, or why he's working as the foreman on Matty's ranch.

The Anti-Cinderalla: A Very Royal Christmas, by Tawdra Kandle

Tawdra T. Kandle, 2022

Kyra is readying the household and family for Christmas, which this will be spent with her husband's family,

At Windsor Castle, because her husband is one of the grandsons of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh. This bugged me through the whole story, that Elizabeth only had four children, and the story doesn't bless her with a fifth child in a slightly alternate timeline to our own. Who is his royal parent? Not Charles, obviously. In Kyra's conversation with Princess Anne, it's clear that Anne's not her mother-in-law. One hopes not Andrew, the utter disgrace of the family. That leaves Edward, and in the few references to the Earl and Countess of Wessex, well, it's not ruled out.

Maybe this bothers no one but me. It does bother me, though, that Nicholas, in order to be the grandson of Elizabeth, needs to have a parent who was Elizabeth's child, and this detail is never clarified in any way. 

A Festive Surprise, by Margaret Amatt

Leannan Press, ISBN 9781914575815, October 2022

Farid Al-Karim is a Syrian refugee living in Scotland. He had to flee Syria because of his political activities, snuck across several countries, and finally reached the UK. He speaks good English, and is an experienced computer programmer, but even after getting legal approval to stay, his Syrian qualifications aren't recognized in the UK. So he's in Scotland, where a business connection of his father's, Archie Crichton-Leith, can give him a job. Unfortunately it's as a lumberjack, but it's work, and Archie also gives him a cottage to live in. The island is small, and friendly, and if he doesn't love the work, he does like Archie and the people he's working with.

Holly Devaney is a programmer working remotely, taking on the projects she wants, and living wherever she wants, usually for a few months at a time. Once she wanted to marry and put down roots; now she wants no permanent abode and no long-term relationship. She's in Scotland, on the same island as Farid, because her university friend Georgia, who married Archie earlier in the year, has offered her a cottage to stay in for the month of December, doing her work in splendid isolation. It's the one right next to Farid's.

Uncanny Times (Huntsman #1), by Laura Anne Gilman

Gallery Books, ISBN 9781534415928, October 2022

It's 1913. Rosemary and Aaron Harker, sister and brother, are Huntsmen. Their blood isn't entirely human, and they have the ability to hunt and kill the Uncanny, unnatural creatures of the night who sometimes hunt humans.

The Uncanny don't hunt humans often, because of the Huntsmen. When they do, the Huntsmen respond, and kill the offender against a long, uneasy truce. The Huntsmen don't try to wipe out the Uncanny, because there are too many of them, and humanity would be the losers.

Rosemary and Aaron receive a letter, telling them a distant cousin, knowledgeable about the Huntsmen but not quite one himself, has died. He left a note saying that if he died in unusual circumstances, Rosemary and Aaron should be summoned. They quickly pack and leave, with their hound, Botheration, for a small town in upstate New York.

The Bookstore Sisters, by Alice Hoffman

Amazon Original Stories, November 2022

Isabel grew up on Brinkley's Island, Maine, and always felt out of place. Her father ran a bookstore, but while he loved books, he was pretty bad at finances, or the most basic aspects of running a business. Family money was always tight. Their mother gave her and her sister a lot of love, though--until she died, when- Sophie was twelve and Isabel was ten. Their father did his best, and Sophie took over most of their mother's duties, but when their father died, Isabel had had enough. They had both promised to keep the bookstore running, but Isabel wants to sell it and split the funds. Sophie wins the fight, and Isabel leaves for New York.

She's only seen Sophie once since then, and that was twelve years ago, when Sophie's husband died while she was pregnant. Isabel knows she handled that really badly, and has worked hard to forget everything about Brinkley's Island. Then she gets an envelope in the mail, with a card that says nothing but HELP.

Inconstant Moon, by Larry Niven (author), Bronson Pinchot (narrator)

 

Blackstone Publishing, ISBN 9781538453490, September 2017 (original publication June 1971)

Stan, a science writer, and his girlfriend Leslie, a computer programmer, each independently realize that the sun has apparently gone nova. They're in California, on the night side of Earth when it happens, and they have only a few hours until the planet turns enough that they experience it first hand. They decide that they are going to enjoy their last night on Earth.