The Best Audiobooks of February 2025 

Our top pick for the month, The Crash is bestselling author Freida McFadden’s latest twisty thriller. Set during winter in rural Maine, this fast-paced story of betrayal and survival delivers a snowbound plot tailor-made for this month’s cold days and colder nights. Frequent McFadden narrator Lindsay Howard handles all characters except the likable lead with an appropriate icy distance, which will chill you to the bone. 

Plunge into the deep end of Ivy League competitive swimming and diving in this steamy but nuanced college romance. Known for her STEM themes, Hazelwood also has her ambitious protagonists pursuing medical careers. Both narrators sound like authentic college kids dealing with school, training, friends, secrets, and complicated emotions of love and passion, as well as the psychological stresses that often afflict high achievers. For fun: loyal Hazelwood fans should look for some easter eggs from The Love Hypothesis. 

In 1943, a frail old white woman shows up in Red Clay, Alabama, at the home of a Black former slave and says, “… a lifetime ago, my family owned yours.” This quintessentially American debut novel unspools the interwoven threads sewn over generations between an enslaved Black family and their white owners as the Civil War ends and Reconstruction begins. Golden Voice narrator Dion Graham does what he always does—brings an actor’s sensibility and versatility to multiple characters, themes, emotions, timeframes, and plot points, adding another layer of human connection to the story through his voice work.  

Has there ever been a better name for a dark yet funny romance series than Ruinous Love Trilogy? We think not. In this final installment, the third Kane brother, Fionn, meets traveling circus performer Rose Evans, who, of course, has murder up her sleeve when she’s not performing under the lights. Samantha Brentmoor and Eric Nolan are back as narrators with the perfect mix of humor and chemistry that has made this series a sizzling sensation. 

England. Between the wars. Detective fiction. Women’s POVs. This is historical fiction mystery writing at its best. Five great women crime writers, including Agatha Christie and Dorothy L. Sayers, gather in 1930s London to solve what appears to be an impossible case. Their goals: justice for the victim, of course, and also for themselves as they aim to prove their worth in a male-dominated writing establishment. Narrator Bessie Carter from Bridgerton delivers a jaunty, polished, energetic performance. Just her delectably dramatic pronunciation of the word “murder” deserves an Audie Award nomination!  

Present-day Brooklyn meets Caribbean folklore in this contemporary urban fantasy about two Black teens, their mothers, and their search for identity. But there is lots more to this strange tale; for one thing, one of the girls is a shape-shifting witch, who sheds her skin monthly and stays alive by feeding on others’ souls. And did we mention it’s written in verse? Narrator stars Robin Miles and Bahni Turpin had their work cut out for them, and the results left us in awe. Close your eyes, and you’ll think you’re in a theater with a live play in progress. This entire package—the unique premise, mix of cultures, striking cover, genius title, and transcendent performances—make this a top pick for any month of the year.  

A rom-com set in the world of writing rom-coms is a lighthearted feel-good treat as you either look forward to or dread Valentine’s Day. Whatever your mood, a few minutes of listening to this will make your spirit lighter. Buoyant narrator Karissa Vacker brings humor and warmth to popular romance author Melissa Ferguson’s clever and sweet story of two seemingly mismatched hearts brought together by books and fate.  

Sometimes a writer seems to invent a new way of looking at the world, and this book is one of those examples. This innovative approach to history examines the role of the color blue in Blackness. Looking back over five centuries, Perry examines both the glory and pain embedded in blue—in nature, music, art, social movements, and much more. Perry reads her own work with an edge, probably purposeful to ensure that you listen carefully and learn something from every spoken word. 

Bill Gates has been part of American conversations ranging from technology to politics to philanthropy for almost 50 years, but what do we know about him as a person? In Source Code, he opens up about his early formative years—a privileged childhood with doting parents, a teenager who snuck out of bed to code all night, a college dropout, and the founder of Microsoft at age 20. (This is just the first of three planned volumes.) It’s a revealing portrait of someone who quite literally changed the world. In a match made in audiobook heaven, actor Wil Wheaton, known for his interest in science and science fiction, charmingly narrates. 

Listening to poetry read aloud is one of life’s great pleasures, especially when love is in the air. As a team, we chose this collection of Mary Oliver poems and remembrances as one of our Best Audiobooks of 2023. What a nice surprise that only a short time later, now we have 200+ of the Pulitzer Prize winner’s works arranged by Oliver herself in a book truly meant to be heard. The narration is beautiful in its bareness and simplicity. We recommend picking one afternoon a week to listen to three or four poems so that Oliver’s voice and words offer you comfort and thoughtful reflection every week of the year.  

Most of us have taken Rick Steves with us, in a sense, on a far-away trip or trek or even a hike not too far from home. This time, after 50 years of traveling the world, Rick Steves is taking us with him, as author and narrator, as he revisits his own life-changing journey on the legendary “Hippie Trail”from Istanbul to Kathmandu in 1978. Soon after, Steves made the decision to give up a happy life as a piano teacher and become the travel guru we know him as today. Millions of us benefited from that decision. Did he? “There are regrets . . . but it’s a mission for me,” he told The New York Times. This is an exciting adventure story as well as a thought-provoking listen about life choices. 

We welcome the blurred lines between podcast and audiobook in this production by Malcolm Gladwell’s company, Pushkin Industries. Fiasco embodies the rigorous research and intimate storytelling of Pushkin’s other deeply researched and immersive audio storytelling, most notably The Bomber Mafia. Especially relevant during Black History Month, Fiasco explores many intersecting pieces behind the 1970s movement to desegregate Boston’s public schools through busing. Interviews with people who took part in different ways illuminate the challenges, both then and now, as America continues to be divided about how to address race, politics, and the struggle for equal education. Of special note: this link to the book’s many rich sources.  

Singer-songwriter Neko Case had a tough childhood. She was hungry. She lived in squalor. She was bullied. She was physically and emotionally abandoned. And worse. And yet, her lonely childhood paved the way to self-fulfillment and indie stardom. “Hold on, hold on,” she wails in one of her best-known songs, and this could certainly be her personal motto. Similar to Jennette McCurdy’s shocking childhood story, I’m Glad My Mom Died, Case’s self-narrated memoir horrifies but also inspires. Whether or not you know her music, her words are worth a close listen.  

Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist Geraldine Brooks turns her storytelling inward this time. In 2019, Brooks’s husband died unexpectedly, and she was forced to become “a fugitive from my own feelings” as she put all her time and weakened energy into navigating the practical details that accompany the death of a spouse. Joining the likes of Joan Didion, Joyce Carol Oates, and Calvin Trillin, Brooks shares her hard-earned wisdom about how to deeply love, fully grieve, and slowly but surely adapt to, if not overcome, life-changing loss. 

“Who are we? We are a billion voices, bright and brave; we are light, standing together in the fight.” For all ages of girls, for anyone who has a young girl in their life, and for anyone/everyone who needs a mood boost, this is a powerful poem, composed and read by presidential inaugural poet Amanda Gorman. No matter what month of the year, week of the month, or day of the week it may be, this is sure to transform your mindset to positivity and motivate you to dream big, and it’s only four minutes long! Read about Gorman’s inspiration for this book here.