Horrible narrator!!! Please get a new one!!!

How could the performance have been better?

The narrator is HORRIBLE. I gave up on it initially. I went back and stuck with it despite the narrator. PLEASE find a better narrator!!!!! Her pronunciation is terrible. She can't do character voices. Her inflection is practically non existant. I could find no saving graces with this narrator.

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26 people found this helpful

narrator needs to slow down and be more diverse in

narrator too fast and all voices were alike. good premise though. will try #2. book.

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21 people found this helpful

Be Ware

What disappointed you about Any Witch Way You Can (Wicked Witches of the Midwest Book 1)?

The narrator did not read very well. She continuously mispronounced words.

If you’ve listened to books by Amanda M. Lee before, how does this one compare?

This is my first book.

How did the narrator detract from the book?

She did not no how to pronounce certain words.

You didn’t love this book... but did it have any redeeming qualities?

The story line was interesting.

Any additional comments?

If the book were free, I wouldn't complain but because I had to use a credit, I am unhappy.

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19 people found this helpful

Meh

This book, oh, this book.

It has a great premise. Its execution is not even that horrible. It has as good a plot as you are going to find in this type of book. It has almost likeable characters. There is plenty of sequel bait if one likes it to have the opportunity for many more.

But the editing. Wait, there was no editing. If there was editing, the author needs a refund.

Here are a few of the phrases that stood out (note: I was listening to the Audible version and only wrote down quotes/words when convenient): "I rose my eyebrows confrontationally." Okay. I guess her eyebrows were up in arms about something. Still don't know how one can do that confrontationally unless they were advancing on someone else.
"Extended beer gut." I guess that would be as opposed to the flat beer guts.
"She was understandably curious, which I understand." Hmmm. I don't understandably understand.
"I mentally kicked myself." Glad for the clarification.
"Nodded mutely." Nodded speakingly I guess would be the opposite.
"Muttered blandly." Hmm. "Muttered spicily" would be if they were having Indian food, I guess.

And I added my comments only because that is what I thought when I heard those clips. I was taken out of the story time and time again by comments like these.

Every action had an adverb in front of it. They couldn't be slumbering, they had to be "happily slumbering." They "nodded mutely," when "nodded" would have been fine and dandy. She couldn't just be "curious," she had to be "understandably curious."

That is the kind of stuff that a good editor will deal with for the author. That is the kind of stuff that will make people not remember your story but remember your -ly adjectives and adverbs being unrelenting.

And then there was the dialogue. If I weren't so educated on YA books, I would dismissively say, (see, I can do it, too) "Oh, this dialogue belongs in a YA book." But I know that dialogue in YA books can be very quick and clever and not all snark, quirkiness, and attempts to be too cute for words.

There were a number of good parts of the book. I liked the characters when they weren't so snarky or know it all. I liked some of the parent-child interactions. But much of the book was cute and quirky for cute and quirky's sake.

Since I did listen to the Audible version, I will say a thing or two about the narrator. First, she read very, very swiftly. Second, she pronounced some words incorrectly. (See, that dang -ly popping up again.) "Vehemently" was pronounced "vee-HE-ment-lee." Strong emphasis on "he" when "he" is really not how it is pronounced. This word came up a number of times in various forms and all were mispronounced.
Now, since I didn't follow along with the text, I don't know if the wrong word was written a few times or if the narrator just read the word wrong, but that happened. Again, totally takes you out of the narrative.
She also seemed too arch. Again, that might have more to do with the written dialogue than the spoken, but it was an issue. Sometimes I felt it was totally the wrong tone to be taking.


I so wanted to love this book. As it was, I just finished it because I didn't want to start another one.

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14 people found this helpful

This Book

What did you like best about Any Witch Way You Can (Wicked Witches of the Midwest Book 1)? What did you like least?

This book wasn't exactly what I had been hoping for. Actually I am not sure how I even made it to the end. Let's face it, the book was boring. It had no substance to it. Even the characters you do not get to know well. The entire book was focused on a house full of women that had to fight and bicker constantly, with a few dead bodies thrown in for good measure. How it could even claim to be a mystery book is beyond me as well. I guessed right away who it was because there was only a handful of people it could of been.

Could you see Any Witch Way You Can (Wicked Witches of the Midwest Book 1) being made into a movie or a TV series? Who should the stars be?

The performance was absolutely horrible. It sounded like someone was reading a book to me and not doing a very good job of it. At one point in the book she was actually reading with her nose plugged. It sounded so awful that I burst out laughing.

Any additional comments?

Both the author and the narrator need to get new jobs.

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13 people found this helpful

This was a fun, quick, and enjoyable story

This book is the first in the series Wicked Witches of the Midwest, by Amanda M. Lee, Published December 12th 2012 by Winchester Shaw Publications. Narrated by Aris.

The genre of this book is paranormal, modern detective, fantasy and magic. Which are all my favorites.

This is a story of the Winchester family, a family of witches that consists of an old aunt (don’t let that fool you, she is quit handful), three middle aged sisters, each one has a daughter (three cousins). Bay Winchester is working as the local editor of Hemlock Cove’s only newspaper, while her two cousins Clove and Thistle work in a shop. A murder happens in the town, and Bay feels she can be in benefit in more than one way, with the help of her family, the town’s sheriff, and a biker, she will solve this case.

This was a fun, quick, and enjoyable story, once I started it was hard to leave it (I ended up listening to it in one day). I do, however, have to admit the setting had some big holes in it that left me wondering. The whole town knows that there is a family of witches, and all they do is gaze uncomfortably at them?? Or what kind of sheriff asks the local witch to accompany him to the crime scene?? Yet I felt that the characters were real and believable enough, they were likable. I mean it’s a family of seven women, their bickering and fighting made sense to me (as I’m living in four women family so I know). Although they weren’t as deep as I would have liked. The events were told by the narrative rather than shown, and while the story was fast paced and fun, the characters were kind of predictable and (there wasn’t a lot of events there to start with), interesting, but somehow kind of dull.

The narrator Aris did an excellent job with the story, I mostly enjoyed the bickering of the girls, she made it very fun and realistic at the same time, each character had its own accent and tone. Her voice gave the action parts more realism and made them far more interesting than reading. Needless to say I will be looking forward to listen to the second book, and I think I will be finishing this series.

Audiobook provided for review by the author.

Please find this complete review and many others at audiobookreviewer dot com

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7 people found this helpful

Predictable and poorly read.

What could have made this a 4 or 5-star listening experience for you?

A different narrator, one who knows how to pronounce simple words like "vehemently." Really, has Aris never had an actual conversation? Also, an audio book should be more of a play and less of a speed read. Giving the characters personality and life makes for a much more enjoyable listen.

How did the narrator detract from the book?

The narrator was monotonal, has little to no grasp of word pronunciation, and reads too fast.

Any additional comments?

I drive 1,000 miles every week for work. To make is less tedious, I listen to a lot of audio books, this has been my least favorite so far.

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4 people found this helpful

Funny

This book was about 3 cousins, their mothers and aunt. They are witches. This book is witty and full of mystery. I look forward to reading more in this series.

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4 people found this helpful

yuck...slow to start and unrealistic end.

Boring but I could not tell if it was the reader or the story itself

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4 people found this helpful

This Was Horrible

I would not recommend this book to anyone. I think I got to chapter 2 before I started skipping ahead. I stopped reading in chapter 9 and that was because I just didn't care anymore. Bay and her family argue too much about mundane things. After a while it gets real old. The characters are incredibly unrealistic. Since when does the chief of police talk so openly with a reporter about an ongoing murder investigation? There really really wasn't much of a plot. Bay is supposed to be investigating the murder but all she does is argue with her family and complain about being an outcast in a town based on witches. Which brings me to my next complaint, there is no paranormal activity. Bay can see ghost. So what? There is absolutely no evidence of her being a witch other than her telling us every few chapters. Learn from my mistake and skip this book.

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3 people found this helpful