Audiobook review: The Names of a Hare by Bernice Barry

Narrator: Emma Powell

Vibes: 🏞️🐇✨

Thanks to Netgalley and Bolinda audio for the ALC.

I don't know quite where to begin with this review. Some stories leave you feeling overwhelmed and speechless and this was one such for me.

This was perfectly, achingly beautiful. I was transported, transfixed, by the glorious prose and the wonderful audiobook narration. I listened to the entire thing in less than a day because I simply could not stop. It made me feel so much! A tale about the power of women and the power of stories, it's slow paced and (for the most part) quiet, but it's easily my top read of the year and it will stay with me for a long, long time.

This is far more historical fiction than fantasy. Inspired by various legends, stories and real historical events, The Names of a Hare tells the life story of a woman living in rural Cornwall in the 1700s. We never learn her true name, though she goes by many aliases throughout her life. The daughter of a country Reverend, it's clear from her girlhood that she's different to other people and she's pulled, inexorably, to learn the ways of plants and healing. Is there magic? Perhaps. But there is great danger, as witch burnings and persecution are still rife for women who don't fit the mould society has set for them.

The flawed, awkward, intelligent, courageous protagonist tells her story in the most self aware and sometimes self depreciating manner. Her vivid descriptions of the Cornish countryside made me feel as if I was there with her. Her loves, her fear, her passions and her anger come across so clearly throughout that I ached with her, rejoiced with her, grieved with her. Emma Powell's beautiful narration helped bring her to life in the most incredible way. The audiobook is simply perfect. I finished the story feeling like I'd journeyed through her life with her.

One of the stories that inspired this tale and is interwoven with it is Lorna Doone, which I have not yet read. I will have to read it now if only so I can fully understand all the references when I inevitably reread this one.

Pure magic.

Pub date: 1 July 2026

Audiobook review: Pasha The Storm by Linda H. Codega

Narrator: Alyssa Bresnahan

Vibes: 🌊🏴‍☠️🫍

Thanks to Netgalley and RB Media for the free ALC.

This was a rip-roaring adventure from the first minute to the last with the coolest (crassest, horniest, potentially most annoying) protagonist ever. Pasha the Northern Storm is a little like Jack Sparrow, if Jack Sparrow were a 59 year old, one-eyed, wise-cracking, ruthless, grimy yet charismatic lesbian Pirate Queen.

The story is both unique and action-packed. I will admit rewinding the audiobook on numerous occasions to catch something I missed! The worldbuilding is incredible, with magical ships, complicated gods and expansion-bent colonialists. All of the POV characters are multifaceted and extremely flawed but incredibly enjoying to read about!

There were a couple of things I wasn't totally enamoured with, like the large age gap in the romance and the little snippets at the start of each chapter that I didn't feel added much to the story. But overall this was a really cool, really different sort of read. I will definitely keep an eye out for anything else the author writes in this world!

Alyssa Bresnahan does such an incredible job with the audiobook narration. Her dry delivery, especially of Pasha's POV chapters, was absolutely perfect. Highly recommend!

Pub date: 30 June 2026