Audiobooks narrated by Tovah Ott

Beards and Bondage Collection: Books 1-3

Book 1: A week-long getaway...City girl Claudia Cade's carefree life is plunged into chaos when a camping trip with her brother in the national forests of Northern California turns into a deadly dash for her survival. A solitary world turned upside down...Nature photographer Shepard Olsen has resigned himself to a quiet existence, until a woman in need of his protection shows up on his doorstep and throws his universe into disarray. The two begin an intense, passionate relationship of Dominance and submission, pleasure and pain,but with dark memories haunting them and decisions about the future rapidly approaching, Claudia can’t help but wonder...how long can they be each other's haven? Book 2: When she needs a sanctuary…Targeted by a sadistic former client, attorney Liz Lewis needs a place to lay low. When a friend offers her a safe house, she eagerly accepts, unaware that she’ll have to share the farm with her friend’s brawny, beautiful brother, Silas McInroy.…she invades his…Weary of a world that doesn’t understand him, Silas just wants to be left alone to grow the best produce upstate New York has to offer. With her world turned upside down and danger on her trail, Liz knows that this temporary refuge can’t last forever…but leaving the comfort and ease of Silas’s arms and farm to face the reality of her life may be the hardest thing she’s ever had to do. Book 3: Betrayed and set adrift…Months before she’s set to walk down the aisle, assistant district attorney Brooklyn Lewis suffers an unthinkable loss. Attorney Vaughn Coleman and his partner Chris Shaw have also lost the love of their lives, who was found lifeless in the same bed as Brooklyn’s fiancé, taken from them by the same killer. Unmoored by grief, Brooklyn, Chris, & Vaughn fall into a relationship that both fulfills them and threatens to pull them under the waves of guilt, but they soon realize it may take the love of three people to bring their battered ships back to shore.

Rebekah Weatherspoon (Author), Derrick Hardin, Kylah Willams, Royal Jaye, Tovah Ott (Narrator)

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Ride or Die: A Feminist Manifesto for the Well-Being of Black Women

Do you have a "ride or die chick" in your life? A "ride or die chick" is a Black woman who holds down her family and community. She's that friend or family member that you can call up in the middle of the night to bail you out of jail, if ever needed, and you know she'll show up and won't ask any questions. She does anything for her family, friends, and significant other, even at the cost of her own well-being. "No" is not in her vocabulary. She's beloved by you and many others, but her ride or die trope becomes a problem when she does it indiscriminately. Her self-worth is connected to how much labor she can provide for others. She goes above and beyond for everyone in every aspect of her life-work, family, church, and often it's not reciprocated, and a "ride or die chick" doesn't require it to be because she's a "strong Black woman." To her, love should be earned, and there's no limit to what she'll do for it. In this book, author, adjunct professor of sociology, and former therapist, Shanita Hubbard disrupts the "ride or die" complex, and argues that this way of life has left Black women exhausted, overworked, overlooked, and feeling depleted. She suggests that Black women are to susceptible this mentality because it's normalized in our culture. It rings loud in our favorite hip-hop songs, and it even shows up in the most important relationship we will ever have-the one with yourself. Compassionate, candid, hard-hitting, and 100% unapologetic, Ride-or-Die melds Hubbard's entertaining conversations with her Black girlfriends and her personal experiences as a redeemed "ride-or-die chick" and a former "captain of the build-a-brother team" to fervently dismantle cultural norms that require Black women to take care of everyone but themselves. Ride or Die urges you to expel the myth that your self-worth is connected to how much labor you provide others, and guides you toward healing. Using hip hop as a backdrop to explore norms that are harmful to Black women, Hubbard shows the way you may be unknowingly perpetuating this harm within your relationships. Hubbard urges you to pull the plug on the "ride or die chick."

Shanita Hubbard (Author), Tovah Ott (Narrator)

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Eden's Everdark

Hailed by Newbery winner Kelly Barnhill as "stunning, moving, and marvelously strange," this tale of a young girl who stumbles into a magical realm ruled by a wicked witch is a haunting and ultimately uplifting middle grade novel about grief, family, and decades-old magic. Still grieving the loss of her mother, Eden visits Safina Island, her ancestral home, as a healing balm. But when she discovers an old sketchbook that belonged to her mother, she's haunted by the images she sees drawn there. A creepy mansion covered with roots and leaves. A monstrous dog with dagger-sharp teeth. And a tall woman with wind-blown hair and long, sharp nails who is as beautiful as she is terrifying. Days later, exploring the island alone, Eden follows a black cat through a rift in the bright day. She stumbles into Everdark, a parallel world where the sun never rises, where spirits linger between death and the afterlife, and where everything from her mother's drawings is all too real—especially the Witch of Everdark, who wants to make Eden her eternal daughter. Can Eden find a way to defeat the witch's magic? Or will she remain trapped in Everdark forever?

Karen Strong (Author), Tovah Ott (Narrator)

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Harbor: Beards and Bondage, Book 3

From award-winning author Rebekah Weatherspoon comes the final installment in this sensual, suspenseful trilogy... Betrayed and set adrift… Months before she’s set to walk down the aisle, assistant district attorney Brooklyn Lewis suffers an unthinkable loss. It’s bad enough her fiancé is violently taken from her, but along with her grief she must also process the fact that the man of her dreams was unfaithful. Friends and family want to see her heal, but Brooklyn doesn’t know how to move on from the trauma and deception until she discovers she’s not the only one broken by this tragedy. A light in the storm… Attorney Vaughn Coleman and his partner Chris Shaw have also lost the love of their lives, who was found lifeless in the same bed as Brooklyn’s fiancé, taken from them by the same killer. Unmoored by grief, Brooklyn, Chris, and Vaughn fall into a relationship that both fulfills them and threatens to pull them under the waves of guilt, but they soon realize it may take the love of three people to bring their battered ships back to shore. *This romance features a polyamorous relationship between two men and a woman, with BDSM overtones*

Rebekah Weatherspoon (Author), Royal Jaye, Tovah Ott (Narrator)

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Sanctuary: Beards and Bondage, Book 2

From multi award-winning author Rebekah Weatherspoon, comes book 2 in this sexy, suspenseful series... When she needs a sanctuary… Targeted by a sadistic former client, attorney Liz Lewis needs a place to lay low. When a friend offers her his family farm as a safe house, she eagerly accepts, unaware that she’ll have to share the farm with her friend’s brawny, beautiful brother, Silas McInroy. …she invades his… Weary of a world that doesn’t understand him, Silas just wants to be left alone to grow the best produce upstate New York has to offer. Still, he’s not going to toss a woman out when her safety is on the line. But the only way to explain her presence on his farm is to claim that they fell in love online…and the last thing he needs is a fake relationship that threatens to become more and more real every day. With her world turned upside down and danger on her trail, Liz knows that this temporary refuge can’t last forever…but leaving the comfort and ease of Silas’s arms and farm to face the reality of her life may be the hardest thing she’s ever had to do. *** WARNING: This audiobook contains scenes of mild bondage and domination between a gorgeous lawyer and a sexy farmer who is terrible with women. And five farm dogs with varying degrees of loyalty to both the hero and heroine.***

Rebekah Weatherspoon (Author), Derrick Hardin, Tovah Ott (Narrator)

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Mama Bear: One Black Mother’s Fight for Her Child’s Life and Her Own

“Brave. Compelling. Provocative. ” —Gabrielle Union Wade, actress and New York Times bestselling author In this moving memoir, Shirley Smith, wife of NBA Champion and All-Star J. R. Smith, tells the story of giving birth to one of the youngest premature babies to survive—using her experience to heighten awareness of the crisis of Black maternal and infant health and pay tribute to Black women’s resilience. Shirley Smith and her husband, NBA champion J. R. Smith, looked forward to the birth of their second child, Dakota, as they celebrated New Year’s Eve with family at home. After dinner, Shirley felt a sharp pain that worsened through the night. Only 21-weeks pregnant, she was in labor. Mama Bear is the story of her 141-day ordeal, from entering a hospital emergency room on New Year’s morning and giving birth to her premature newborn, to taking her daughter home for the first time the following May. In telling her story, written with Zelda Lockhart, Shirley shines a spotlight on the dangers Black women face during pregnancy. Black mothers are twice as likely as their white counterparts to go into labor prematurely and lose their babies—and almost four times as likely to die giving birth. Neither socioeconomic status nor access to quality healthcare seem to matter. Tennis champion Serena Williams experienced life-threatening complications during childbirth, and Beyoncé suffered toxemia with her premature twins. Shirley chronicles the emotional and physical battle she and J. R. endured to save their daughter, and her continual struggles to support her family while nurturing herself. Like many Black women, Shirley was raised to believe that pain is a sign of weakness. The one who kept it together for everybody, she had always put herself second. She parallels this difficult journey to her childhood growing up with an addict mother, and having to raise herself and her brother from a very young age. A chronicle of pain, loss, and infidelity, Mama Bear is ultimately a story of love—a celebration of community, family, faith, healing, the maternal bond, and one woman’s indomitable spirit. Supplemental enhancement PDF accompanies the audiobook.

Shirley Smith (Author), Tovah Ott (Narrator)

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Beasts of Prey

Brought to you by Penguin. A brand-new fantasy adventure for fans of AN EMBER IN THE ASHES, SHADOW AND BONE and THE GILDED ONES. Magic doesn't exist in the broken city of Lkossa anymore, especially for girls like sixteen-year-old Koffi. Indentured to the notorious Night Zoo, she cares for its fearsome and mythical creatures to pay off her family's debts and secure their freedom. But when her loved ones' safety is threatened by the Zoo's cruel master, Koffi unleashes a power she doesn't fully understand . . . As the son of a decorated hero, Ekon is all but destined to become an elite warrior. Until a fire at the Night Zoo upends his certain future and, on the brink of his final rite of passage, Ekon is cast out - his reputation left in tatters. For Koffi and Ekon, the outlook is bleak - unless they can capture the Shetani, the vicious monster that plagues their city, and recover their futures. But defeating the Shetani is something no one has yet achieved, though many have tried. As Koffi and Ekon enter the Greater Jungle, a world steeped in wild magic and untold dangers, the tentative alliance between them is tested to the extreme. The hunt begins - but are they the hunters or the hunted? An extraordinary adventure inspired by Pan-African mythology, from exciting debut author Ayana Gray. © Ayana Gray 2021 (P) Penguin Audio 2021

Ayana Gray (Author), Keylor Leigh, Ronald Peet, Tovah Ott (Narrator)

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Heartbreak Bay

An Amazon Charts and #1 Wall Street Journal bestselling series. They’re hunting a killer so silent, so invisible, that his unspeakable crimes are the only proof he exists. A car submerged in a remote pond. The bodies of two girls strapped into their seats. The mystery of their mother, vanished without a trace, leads Gwen Proctor and Kezia Claremont into dangerous territory. On the surface, Gwen’s life is good—two children approaching adulthood, a committed partner, and a harrowing past dead and gone. But that past is attracting the attention of someone invisible…and unstoppable. Trouble’s just beginning. So is the body count in this backwoods Tennessee town. As threats mount and Gwen’s hunted by an enemy who pulls all the strings, Kezia has her back. But working to solve these vicious and unreasonable crimes will expose them both to a killer they can’t for the life of them see coming.

Rachel Caine (Author), Dan John Miller, Emily Sutton-Smith, Tovah Ott (Narrator)

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Her Husband, My Savage

If you love something, let it go. If it comes back, it's yours...right? Eight years after moving away from her hometown of Miami, Cherokee is back home to take care of her sickly grandmother. While trying to stay low and off the scene, she puts all her focus into her job and her family. That is, until the man who broke her heart many years ago unexpectedly walks into her life once again.Along with his right-hand man, Dillinger Rivera has the streets on lock. He's just weeks away from getting married to his beautiful fianceè Carmilla and couldn't be happier. Nothing can knock him off his square, until his first love Cherokee steps back on the scene with some secrets that change Dillinger's life forever. Santos has been trying to walk the straight and narrow with his longtime girlfriend A'Layla ever since she left him due to his infidelity. When she took him back, he vowed never to hurt her again and had been holding true to that until one secret he had kept buried comes back to bite him in the worst way possible. When Santos finds out that Layla has a few secrets of her own, will they put an end to what they've built for over a decade, or will Santos fight tooth and nail for the only woman that has ever had a place in his heart?

Charmanie Saquea (Author), Andre Jax, Lacey Laurel, Tovah Ott (Narrator)

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Her Husband, My Savage 2

Just when Cherokee thought she was going to be done with her first love for good, she's hit with some news that throws a monkey wrench in her plans to rid herself of Dillinger Rivera. Dillinger is willing to do anything in his power to show Cherokee that she still holds his heart in her hands, even if that means getting rid of his wife, Carmilla. Only thing is, Carmilla is not going to just let go of the man she has dedicated the past five years of her life to that easily. After being stabbed in the heart by the man she loved, A'Layla has plans on enjoying the single life with no interruptions. Too bad Santos refuses to accept the fact that she's done with him for good. If that wasn't enough, she still has the undeniably sexy chocolate god known as Jacier in her corner, slowly breaking down her walls. With both headstrong men willing to do whatever it takes to be the man in her life, A'Layla is thrown into a whirlwind of drama that she never saw coming.

Charmanie Saquea (Author), Andre Jax, Lacey Laurel, Tovah Ott (Narrator)

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The Suffragist Playbook: Your Guide to Changing the World

Do you have a cause you’re passionate about? Take a few tips from the suffragists, who led one of the largest, longest, and least well-known movements in American history. The women’s suffrage movement was decades in the making and came with many harsh setbacks. But it resulted in a permanent victory: women’s right to vote. How did the suffragists do it? One hundred years later, an eye-opening look at their playbook shows that some of their strategies seem oddly familiar. Women’s marches at inauguration time? Check. Publicity stunts, optics, and influencers? They practically invented them. Petitions, lobbying, speeches, raising money, and writing articles? All of that, too. From moments of inspiration to some of the movement’s darker aspects—including the racism of some suffragist leaders, violence against picketers, and hunger strikes in jail—this clear-eyed view takes in the role of key figures: Susan B. Anthony, Lucy Stone, Sojourner Truth, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Frances Willard, Ida B. Wells, Alice Paul, and many more. Engagingly narrated by Lucinda Robb and Rebecca Boggs Roberts, whose friendship goes back generations (to their grandmothers, Lady Bird Johnson and Lindy Boggs, and their mothers, Lynda Robb and Cokie Roberts), this unique melding of seminal history and smart tactics is sure to capture the attention of activists-in-the-making today.

Lucinda Robb, Rebecca Boggs Roberts (Author), Tovah Ott (Narrator)

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The Dragons, the Giant, the Women: A Memoir

An engrossing memoir of escaping the First Liberian Civil War and building a life in the United States When Wayétu Moore turns five years old, her father and grandmother throw her a big birthday party at their home in Monrovia, Liberia, but all she can think about is how much she misses her mother, who is working and studying in faraway New York. Before she gets the reunion her father promised her, war breaks out in Liberia. The family is forced to flee their home on foot, walking and hiding for three weeks until they arrive in the village of Lai. Finally, a rebel soldier smuggles them across the border to Sierra Leone, reuniting the family and setting them off on yet another journey, this time to the United States. Spanning this harrowing journey in Moore’s early childhood, her years adjusting to life in Texas as a black woman and an immigrant, and her eventual return to Liberia, The Dragons, the Giant, the Women is a deeply moving story of the search for home in the midst of upheaval. Moore has a novelist’s eye for suspense and emotional depth, and this unforgettable memoir is full of imaginative, lyrical flights and lush prose. In capturing both the hazy magic and the stark realities of what is becoming an increasingly pervasive experience, Moore shines a light on the great political and personal forces that continue to affect many migrants around the world, and calls us all to acknowledge the tenacious power of love and family.

Wayétu Moore (Author), Tovah Ott (Narrator)

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Audiobooks Narrated by Tovah Ott