e-ALC, 02:23:12
Narrated by: Jennifer Sterling
Release Date: May 19, 2026
Published by: Tantor Media, Inc
Read from: May 25, 2026
Stand-alone
Source: Libby ( I also received this e-ARC from the publisher and Netgalley. This did nothing to influence my review.)
Content Warning: Abortion
For Readers of: Audio, Coming of Age, Contemporary, DEAR, Feminist, Libby, Novel in Verse, YAA beautifully crafted YA novel in verse that follows a 17-year-old girl’s backpacking trip across Europe—filled with awe, danger, friendships, and something like love.
Jenny Campbell, recent high school graduate, has spent her unrooted childhood planning for a future she can control: NYU, marketing major, big-city life. But first, a carefully mapped solo backpacking trip through Europe.
Only, the trip doesn’t stay on the map. As she travels between countries and memories, Jenny begins to loosen her grip on the life she’s scripted. She works at a bookshop in Greece, treks through the Balkans on overnight trains, falls in something-like-love in Rome.
At summer’s end, Jenny returns to the States ready to launch her New York City future. And then, she learns she’s pregnant. Choosing to end her pregnancy, Jenny tries to keep her plans—but finds she may no longer be the person meant to live them.
Calling Me Home is part classic travel bildungsroman (you can almost taste the ouzo in Greece and feel the wind of Ireland) and part meditation on how abortion is just one piece of a person’s story.
*MY THOUGHTS*
This was a doozie. I never would have assumed that I would have cried over a 2 hour audiobook, but here I am. This was a lot but in a good way. I don’t think I was expecting it at all. But this did serve as a big reminder…. This choice is ALWAYS a difficult one.
So what I mean by that…. There is an abortion that happens in this. Since it’s a novel in verse it doesn’t go into a lot of detail, but you get the gist of it from the words. And although she went through with it, she spent a lot of time being heartbroken that she did so. This choice, no matter who you are, where you are in life, is never an easy one. And anyone that says it is is lying. The people who come to these choices and have to make them are incredibly strong. FULL STOP.
The rest of the book was ok. Again, it is a novel in verse so it wasn’t like a lot of background or information, and I had to infer a lot, but it was still good. First of all, she was bad ass. She was on a solo backpacking trip across Europe! When she returns to the states she realizes she’s pregnant. This is also when she realizes what she wants to do about it. The way it changes her is almost palpable. I got teary watching her come into her own.
This was good, but I will always wish for a prose novel. I’m not a huge fan of interpretation and not having a lot of details. But even still, this was still good and got the message across….. That this choice is never one made lightly.
Overall, I give this
