8 of Libro.fm’s Most Pre-Ordered Books of Summer 2023

Jack and her husband Gabe are hired to break into buildings and hack through security. But after one of their jobs goes horribly wrong, Jack finds her husband dead. Now she must figure out who killed Gabe before they come for her next. Ruth Ware’s audiobooks are always a good time, and Zero Days is no exception.

As more of Louise Erdrich’s backlist comes out on audio, I grow to love her work even more. Next is her novel Tales of Burning Love, which follows Jack Mauser’s relationships with five different women. These women have loved him in their own ways, and now, for the first time, they have all gathered together to share their stories with the only women who can truly relate.

Set in Mexico City during the 1990s, Silver Nitrate follows Montserra, a sound editor who works in the film industry. Through a strange series of events, Montserra and her best friend Tristán must work with an up-and-coming actor to help lift a curse before it ruins their lives forever.

Kai Cheng Thom is a trans Chinese Canadian writer who firmly believes that every human life matters. But with anti-trans hate on the rise, she’s losing her faith in humanity. Falling Back in Love with Being Human follows her thought process of working through her ideas on identity, humanity, and lived experience. Having listened to her perform her work before, I am over the moon that Thom is reading her own audiobook.

As a huge Elizabeth Acevedo fan, I couldn’t be more excited for her first adult novel. Family Lore centers around a family with more secrets than they can count. Flor possesses an ability to predict when someone will die. When she decides to throw a living wake for herself, her family begins to wonder: does Flor know when she’s going to die or are there other motives behind her gathering them all together? Acevedo performs part of the audiobook with Sixta Morel and Danyeli Rodriguez del Orbe performing other perspectives in the novel.

Lara, a former actor, gathers with her adult children in the family’s orchard in Michigan where they beg her to tell stories from her former life. As Lara describes her love affair with actor Peter Duke, her daughters begin to examine their own lives and the decisions that they have made. With Meryl Streep performing, Tom Lake is sure to be a gem of an audiobook.

Thornhedge is a twisted fairy tale told as only T. Kingfisher can. Toadling is stolen by the fairies, but she grows up safe and loved in fairyland. Or so she thinks. When she reaches adulthood, the fairies ask a favor of Toadling, to grant a blessing on a newborn baby. But what starts out as a simple request becomes intensely complicated, as everything with the fae does.

In the second installment in the Radiant King duology, Shelley Parker-Chan’s new fantasy novel follows Zhu Yuanzhang, the Radiant King. But her recent victory over the Mongols is not enough. She desires to move south and crown herself emperor. But is it worth the cost of potentially losing everything she’s already worked for?