Apple Watch 7 won't play Audible book

This is not a new problem but I have not found a solution that works. I have a new Apple Watch 7 and have synched a book from my iPhone, but as others have noted in the past, the controls don't work and i can't listen to the book. I did have the book playing once early on even though the Audible app wasn't working. I could not find where it was playing. From further reading, maybe it was from the Now Playing app. But that does not work now. I wanted the Apple Watch primarily to listen to Audible books without having to take my phone with me. I'm very disappointed that it does not work. Is it an Audible issue or an Apple Watch issue? How can I get this to work?