Audiobook Reviews & Discussion

If your plus and pro books disappeared with the update, they’re not gone forever.  Within the app, click on Options – then at the top right corner, click on settings.  The settings screen will pop up, and at the bottom of the screen is the Restore Purchases Button.  Once you click the Restore Button, you will be asked for your iTunes password.  Once you enter your password, you will get a pop-up that says:

All previous purchases have been restored.  If you have downloaded books on a previous version, you will still need to navigate to those books and add them to your library.  We sincerely thank you for your continued support.

As the message says, you will need to re-download the books that were purchased previously, but you will not be charged for them.

Hope this helps.

I’ve seen the 10 books meme floating around a few different places – you’re supposed to tell the 10 books that have most influenced you in your life.  So, I thought I would join in and tell the top 10 books that have influenced my life.

1. The Bible - this is the number one book that has influenced my life for sure.  As a Christian, I try to read some of God’s word every day.

2. Matilda by Roald Dahl – this was my favorite book, by far, growing up.  I was always a book-worm, and I really loved Matilda, even though my parents were more than supportive, I just thought it was great that Matilda could use her brainpower to get back with Miss Trunchbull!

3. Little House on the Prairie by Laura Ingalls Wilder - well the whole series, really – but I loved them all, and thought it would have been such fun to be a part of the Ingalls family.

4. The Giving Tree by Shell Silverstein – this book made me cry the first time I really understood it – I read the words many times as a child without ever really understanding how much the tree gave the boy.

5. The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis – I looked in the back of the large wardrobe at my grandmother’s house trying to find Narnia on more than one occasion.  I couldn’t get enough of the adventures of Peter, Susan, Edmund, and Lucy.  Edmund’s betrayal and Aslan’s sacrifice such a wonderful mirror of Christ’s story.

6. Organizing from the Inside Out by Julie Morgenstern.  Not really because I was overwhelmed by clutter, or terribly unorganized.  I am very organized by nature and this book helped me see that the majority of people didn’t naturally label their spices and put them away alphabetically, and that I could probably help others a little with my natural gifts.

7. Mothers of Influence was given to me at my baby shower – and I think it helped me see how influential a mother can be in their child’s life, and made me want to be the primary caretaker of my daughter.

8. Tightwad Gazette mostly because I’m pretty frugal, and it was reassuring to see that there were others out there who were WAY more frugal than I am, and also there are some great $ saving ideas in there!

9. Hot, Flat and Crowded by Tom Friedman was a very interesting read on where we are, and where we need to be with our energy consumption.  It inspired me to sign up for the green option, though it costs more through our power company, and to wait just a *little* longer to turn on the AC when it’s warm out.

10. Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver, which I actually only read a month or two ago, but I couldn’t put it down.  I already loved buying produce at the farmer’s market, tomatoes from the grocery store really just don’t compare to the amazing bright red juicy beauties you can buy from a local farmer, and the local asparagus has been out of this world the past few weeks.  I think this book made me want to buy even more from local, sustainable choices and support the small farmers in my area so they can continue to be a part of our community!

There are so many books that are made into movies, and rarely do the movies follow the book exactly.  But, typically the plot follows pretty closely, with some of the details either changed or cut out a little bit.  I was pretty surprised how much they changed from the How to Train your Dragon book for the movie.

I thought the book was a really great story about thinking outside the box.  The movie was also a great story, but it was completely different, adding a love interest, and changing the story quite a bit.

I haven’t seen the new Robin Hood, has anybody else?  How well does it follow the classic book?

I love the blog cake wrecks – it is hilarious to see how professional cakes get messed up sometimes, and to see some really awesome cakes, too.

Recently, they featured some amazing book cakes, and I thought everyone would enjoy seeing them.

So, click on over to cake wrecks to see them all, and let me know which one is your favorite – mine was the giving tree cake, gorgeous!

We have some great books by Mary Janice Davidson for you to sink your teeth into.  Check them out in the App Store, or download them in Audiobooks or Audiobooks (ad free).

Undead and Uneasy – Sassy and quirky, with heaping doses of paranormal romance, MaryJanice Davidson’s “New York Times” best-selling Queen Betsy series sinks its teeth into fans and never lets go. Here Betsy must return the body of her werewolf friend Antonia to her own kind in Cape Cod. And who knows how the wolves will greet her. Then there’s her half-sister—the devil’s own daughter—who is feeling her oats and beginning to raise a little hell.

Undead and Unappreciated -”New York Times” best-selling author MaryJanice Davidson has made listeners jump from their seats with her thrilling tales and roll on the floor with her biting humor. Her Undead books—starring sassy, fashion-conscious vampire queen Betsy Taylor—are a unique treat worth sinking your fangs into. In between running her vampire nightclub and hunting down the perfect pair of shoes, Betsy learns her long-lost half sister Laura is actually the spawn of Satan. Complicating matters, prophesy states that the devil’s offspring and the queen of the vampires are destined to rule the world together. Breaking the news of world domination to her newly discovered sibling might be a bit more difficult than Betsy imagined.

Undead and Unreturnable – MaryJanice Davidson–the self-proclaimed “anti-Anne Rice”–is a “USA Today” best-selling author who has also cracked the extended “New York Times” list with her fresh and funny vampire novels. Starring vampire queen Betsy Taylor, the stories delve into an underworld where creatures of the night not only fear sunlight, but also pay their bills on time. Christmas is approaching, and since the holidays are a time for friends and family, Betsy takes stock of her situation. Her half-sister is the devil’s daughter. She has an evil stepmother. A despicable creature lives in her basement. Most unsettling of all, she has a spring wedding to plan. But just when Betsy thinks she may not survive the holiday season, she has a pleasant thought–she’s already dead.

Undead and Unwed -MaryJanice Davidson’s cult hit “Undead and Unwed” is a delightful mixture of “Sex and the City” and “Buffy the Vampire Slayer”. Waking up in a tacky coffin, and wearing offbrand shoes, Betsy Taylor can’t believe the horrible turn her life has taken—then she discovers she’s a vampire. Soon, Betsy becomes a participant in a power struggle between the forces of darkness. With only her friend Jessica and the hunky vampire Sinclair to help her, this new “Queen of Vampires” will have a tough time getting her afterlife straight.

Undead and Unemployed - MaryJanice Davidson is a New York Times and USA Today best-selling author. Her Undead books are extremely popular paranormal romances. Betsy needs a job and amazingly lands the perfect one—selling designer shoes at Macy’s. But the other vamps, including sexy Sinclair, don’t want their queen selling shoes. And the vampire hunters are becoming a real pain—murdering innocent vampires. It seems that everyone wants something from Betsy.

“Davidson’s witty dialogue, fast pacing, smart plotting, laugh-out-loud humor, and sexy relationships make this a joy to read.”—Booklist

Undead and Unpopular - A very modern vampire, Betsy Taylor is facing some formidible challenges. She is getting ready to negotiate her way through a highly political meeting with powerful European vampires. She just found out her best friend, Jessica, may have a fatal illness. And her fiancee Eric continues to evade every wedding plan. What to do? Put on high heels, hug her friend, and splash on something special for Eric, of course.

Undead and Unwelcome - Sassy and quirky, with heaping doses of paranormal romance, MaryJanice Davidson’s “New York Times” best-selling Queen Betsy series sinks its teeth into fans and never lets go. Here Betsy must return the body of her werewolf friend Antonia to her own kind in Cape Cod. And who knows how the wolves will greet her. Then there’s her half-sister—the devil’s own daughter—who is feeling her oats and beginning to raise a little hell.

Undead and Unworthy - Vampire Queen Betsy Taylor—newly married and living in the suburbs—rules the night in this seventh book from MaryJanice Davidson’s “New York Times” best-selling series. Already busy dealing with a pesky ghost, Betsy must rise to the occasion when a pack of formerly feral vamps comes calling.

As we already learned what is not in the Sherlock Holmes books, let’s dive in to see what is in there.  Here are some of the best quotes.  Holmes has such a confidence in what he does, as evidenced by many of these quotes.

You know my methods, Watson

How often have I said to you that when you ahve eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth?

To Sherlock Holmes, she is always the woman.

In solving a problem of this sort, the grand thing is to be able to reason backward.

We’re always looking for ideas for new features for our Audiobooks app.   So, tell me what you want to see in future releases. Below are a few things I’ve already heard from users, so tell me if these are important to you, too, or if you can think of anything else that would make Audiobooks an even better App!

1. Want to be able to select stream only for books – so they don’t download to your device and take up space

2. Want to either have cover art included in the app, or have the ability to add it if you want

3. Custom time option for the sleep timer

4. Ability to rate books within the app – and search by user ratings so you can see who the best readers are

How do you think this book helps you teach your kids some good lessons?  I thought of a few ways.

• You can’t always trust who people say they are, which is a good reason not to talk to strangers.  Alvin the Poor-but-honest-farmer turned out not to be who he said he was, and had very different motives than everybody thought.
• You should trust your instincts.  Toothless thought something wasn’t right with Alvin, but Hiccup didn’t listen to him.
• You don’t have to be the biggest, strongest, or most popular to be who you were made to be, and to be a hero.

Did you find any good lessons in the book?

We are so excited to announce Audiobooks 4.0!  We have added some great features, and we know you will love them.

We still have over 2,800 FREE classic book recordings by librivox for you to enjoy.  You can find your favorite titles searching for the most popular, recently added books, look through the whole list, or find them by genre, duration, author, narrator or language.  We also have a new featured book button, where you can see the book we are currently featuring.  If you’re feeling daring, you can play book roulette and hit the Surprise Me! button to listen to a randomly selected book.

We have also added Plus titles that are hand-selected and trimmed and offer a seamless listening experience.

The most exciting addition to the Audiobooks library are professionally recorded best-selling titles like How to Train your Dragon and My Sister’s Keeper for purchase right inside the app.

The free version now supports the DOWNLOAD of books for offline playback!  You can upgrade to the paid version to remove the ads and support Audiobooks.

We still have our great features like automatic bookmarking, sleep timer, advanced search, and your “My Books” library that stores all the books you have downloaded.

We have updated the player screen which now includes a scroll bar to show you where you are in the story, as well as a FAQ button.  We have also provide a short preview of each book that you can listen to before deciding whether or not you want to download the book.

We hope you enjoy all the new features, and would love to hear what you think!

We are so excited to announce our new Book Review Blog.  Over 1 million people have downloaded our Audiobooks apps, so we know there are lots of people who love listening to the classics on their iPhones, iPod Touches, and Andriod Devices.

We will be featuring one book each week, and hope to really get to know you, our users, and give you a space to talk about the great classics you have been listening to.  We also hope you all get to know us a little bit better as well.

The first book we will be featuring is Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll.  Can’t wait to see what we find down the rabbit hole.