SYNC Summer 2014: Week 5 #syncya

Man, I can't believe it's already the second week of June! The kids are finally out of school, and summer is officially upon us. You know what that means! Free audiobooks! =) SYNC recently announced the list of audiobook pairings up for grabs this summer. Here's what you can grab through Wednesday of next week...for free!

This week's YA title is Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein, performed by Morven Christie & Lucy Gaskell for Bolinda Audio.

Oct. 11th, 1943-A British spy plane crashes in Nazi-occupied France. Its pilot and passenger are best friends. One of the girls has a chance at survival. The other has lost the game before it's barely begun.

When "Verity" is arrested by the Gestapo, she's sure she doesn't stand a chance. As a secret agent captured in enemy territory, she's living a spy's worst nightmare. Her Nazi interrogators give her a simple choice: reveal her mission or face a grisly execution.

As she intricately weaves her confession, Verity uncovers her past, how she became friends with the pilot Maddie, and why she left Maddie in the wrecked fuselage of their plane. On each new scrap of paper, Verity battles for her life, confronting her views on courage, failure and her desperate hope to make it home. But will trading her secrets be enough to save her from the enemy?

A Michael L. Printz Award Honor book that was called "a fiendishly-plotted mind game of a novel" in The New York Times, Code Name Verity is a visceral read of danger, resolve, and survival that shows just how far true friends will go to save each other.

This week's classic title is The Hiding Place by Corrie Ten Boom and Elizabeth & John Sherrill, performed by Bernadette Dunne for Christian Audio.

At one time Corrie ten Boom would have laughed at the idea that there would ever be a story to tell. For the first fifty years of her life nothing at all out of the ordinary had ever happened to her. She was an old-maid watchmaker living contentedly with her spinster sister and their elderly father in the tiny Dutch house over their shop. Their uneventful days, as regulated as their own watches, revolved around their abiding love for one another. However, with the Nazi invasion and occupation of Holland, a story did ensue.

Corrie ten Boom and her family became leaders in the Dutch Underground, hiding Jewish people in their home in a specially built room and aiding their escape from the Nazis. For their help, all but Corrie found death in a concentration camp. The Hiding Place is their story.

I keep hearing just how awesome Code Name Verity is, and that the sequel is just as fabulous, but I'm kind of scared of this story. I can't even put my finger on why, but I am. Maybe listening will help? I love reading about this time period, as sad as it is, and real life accounts are my favorite, so I'm sure to be inspired by Corrie's story in The Hiding Place.

Will you be picking up either of these titles?  Remember, they're only available through Wednesday, and new titles will be put up on Thursday for download.  Other things to note:

• CHECK OUT the 2014 titles!
• LISTEN to sound clips on SoundCloud to help you decide!
• GET your device ready! You must have the OverDrive Media Console or APP to download the SYNC titles! Visit the OverDrive website to download.
• Questions? Email: synchelp@audiofilemagazine.com
• Text message alerts – Text syncya to 25827 for SYNC title download alerts.
• Email updates – sign up for SYNC title alerts by email.
• Follow the SYNC blog.

To download this week's titles, just click on the image below to be taken directly to the SYNC download page:

I hope you take advantage of this program. I've been doing it for the last few years, and I've had the opportunity to listen to a ton of great audio for free.  If you've never tried audiobooks before, it's a great opportunity to do so without the obligation of buying one that you might not enjoy.  And if you love audiobooks, well, it's a great time to stock up on some titles you may have missed.  Win/win.  =)