Welcome to the inaugural edition of AudioSynced, hosted by Stacked and Abby the Librarian. This is your monthly stop for all things audio. If you didn’t get to participate this month, join in next month at Abby’s blog. All that you have to do is blog something audio related — a review, a discussion, or any news you have.

Reviews Around the Blogosphere:

• Playing by the Book gives us a great review of Katie Morag and the Two Grandmothers by Mairi Hedderwick. Not only do we get a great review, we get to see all of the inspiration from the book and recording. And that display from the library is brilliant. She writes: “With illustrations playing such an important role in the Katie Morag books I was curious to see how an audio book could possibly do the printed books justice. And yet, and yet, this recording does transport you to Scottish island life, in a magical and unforgettable manner.”

• Amanda at A Patchwork of Books offers up a variety of mini reviews, including A View from Yesterday and The Heretic’s Daughter on audio. She writes of the latter, “Listening to it, there were some moments I found my mind drifting away, but overall, the reader, the reading, and the overall story were very good.”

• Janssen reviewed Susan Beth Pfeffer’s Moon series. Of the audio books for Life as We Knew It and The Dead and the Gone, she writes: “I found myself looking for excuses to listen to it (the laundry has never been so well-managed in my house).”

• Elisabeth at YS Princess gives us her take on the first and second of Libba Bray’s “Gemma Doyle” series. She writes, “I have never heard a narrator with such amazing accents for all of her different characters. I was delightfully surprised that listening to this book on CD didn’t feel like I was listening to War and Peace, or some other Old English book.” She also offers up a review of Fairy Haven and the Quest for the Wand, which she says, “I found this audio book difficult to pay attention to. If I stopped paying attention even for what seemed like only a moment, I was really confused as to what was going on.”

• Abby reviewed the 39 Clues audio books. She writes, “David Pittu gives a full-voiced performance and the number of accents he includes is impressive. These would make great family listens for road trips with the lively narration and the fast-paced plots keeping the interest of everyone in the car.”

• The Book Lady’s Blog gives us a three-for-one review, to include Naked, Mennonite in a Little Black Dress, and Assassination Vacation. She writes, “You can’t go wrong with any of them.”

• Kylee read and reviewed a cozy mystery — Joanne Fluke’s Cherry Cheesecake Murder. For those of you not in the know, they do have entire mystery series based in food, and this is one of the most popular. Of the audio, Kylee says, “I was expecting to miss out on the recipes that are in the books, but the unabridged is truly that! The recipes are on the audio, how cool is that?”

• Right here at STACKED, I reviewed I’d Tell You I Love You, But Then I’d Have to Kill You, The Geography of Bliss, and Saving CeeCee Honeycutt. I had some issues with the first book’s narration, but I absolutely loved the second book and found the third an engaging, fully-voiced audio with perfect southern flair.

Looking for places to find more Audio reviews?

• Reading with My Ears has such a wide variety of audio book reviews, but what stands out is how well the review covers audio-related issues apart from the plot. Haven’t tried an audio book before? This will guide you the right way, as this librarian has served on the Odyssey Committee and knows a thing or two about quality audio.

• Audiobooker, part of Booklist Online’s blog series, covers not only audio reviews, but offers a lot more than that. Here you can get inside the studios, meet the readers, and much more. To learn more about the dirty work of audio books, this is the place to go.

• Books for Ears covers a little of everything and does a good job of breaking down the author, title, and the reader, which as we know, can make or break the audio book.

How about where to find audio books?

• Janssen offers a great overview of finding free downloadable audio books from your public library. Now, you no longer have the excuse of being unable to make it to the library – try it from home!

• Playing by the Book started a resource page for audio books, which gives you some places to go to for free audio books (and some great resources on the value of listening).

• Sterling Publishing is beginning a new program to offer free downloadable audio books of some of their greatest print hits. You can find out more about the program and get to downloading today (March 1!) by going right here.

Did you review or give audio books a spot light in the last month on your blog? Share your links in the comments, and I’ll add them to the roundup!