Volik (Bonded Souls, Book One), by S.J. Tilly | Free Audiobook
18 June 2026
The Arachnid (The Poisoner, Book 2), by I.V. Ophelia | Free Audiobook
18 June 2026
Audiobook details
Victorian London has never been this dangerous to fall in love in
Alina Lis keeps a quiet apothecary in gaslit London, stocked with herbs for honest customers and something colder reserved for the men she has personally judged beyond saving. She has perfected exact doses and clean exits, treating each kill as a private correction to a city that rarely punishes men like that on its own. What she has not planned for is one of her targets walking back into her shop alive, charming, and entirely too interested in why he is still breathing.
Silas Forbes is used to getting what he wants, and lately what he wants is answers about the poison still moving through his blood and the woman who put it there. He should hate her for it. Instead he keeps finding reasons to return to her apothecary, testing how close he can get without giving away exactly what he is. The closer he gets, the harder it becomes for either of them to keep pretending this is only curiosity.
As their strange courtship draws the attention of London's gossiping elite, older secrets start surfacing on both sides, secrets neither Alina nor Silas is ready to hand over. Some bonds are not meant to be broken, no matter how dangerous it is to admit that out loud.
I am generally cautious about books pitched as one bestseller meets another, because the comparison rarely holds up once you actually press play. The Lost Apothecary meets Gothikana promised me poison and gothic atmosphere in equal measure, and for once the marketing did not oversell it.
Alina Lis is one of the more entertaining narrators by circumstance I have come across in this genre lately. She is a Victorian botanist who poisons men she deems beyond redemption, and the book leans into her matter of fact tone about murder rather than playing it for shock. It works because Ophelia never asks you to root against her, only to enjoy how calmly she walks you through a process most authors would dress up with far more hand wringing.
The setup with Silas Forbes complicates that calm quickly. He survives a dose that should have killed him, and instead of disappearing he comes back to her apothecary again and again, clearly working an angle of his own. Their scenes together carry a tension that has less to do with familiar romance beats and more with two people each hiding something the other one badly needs to know.
Where the book earns its gothic label is in the atmosphere, gaslit streets and hushed society gossip, with something older than either lead clearly moving underneath the plot. Ophelia does not rush the reveal of what Silas actually is, and that patience pays off once the story commits fully to its supernatural turn in the back half.
One thing worth knowing going in: this audio edition trims a few of the more intense scenes found in the original independently published release, a detail some longtime readers of the series have pointed out. It is a sensible call for the format, and the story holds up fine without them.
On the narration: Matt Sykes and Stephanie Willis split the leads in duet style, and the chemistry between their performances does a lot of the book's heavy lifting. Willis keeps Alina's clipped, controlled delivery believable even in her darkest moments, while Sykes carries Silas from charming nuisance to something far older without ever tipping into camp. At just under 12 hours, the slower first half earns its keep once the payoff arrives.
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The Poisoner by I.V. Ophelia sets you down in gaslit Victorian London, inside the apothecary of a botanist who quietly poisons the men she considers beyond saving. When one of her targets turns up alive and oddly determined to keep coming back, the controlled world Alina Lis has built around herself starts to crack.
The free trial, cancellable at any time, gives you full access to all 11 hours and 56 minutes, performed in duet narration by Matt Sykes and Stephanie Willis. Their back and forth captures the wary, charged dynamic between Silas and Alina, with Willis keeping Alina's composure intact even as the story slowly pulls it apart.
The audiobook remains yours forever, even after the trial ends. The free trial also gives you access to thousands of other titles, with no commitment. Start listening now.
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