First time Audio Book listener

I love reading Nancy Warrens books but I thought I’d give this one a try by audio. I can tell you that the narrator really brings the story to life.
The story is about a young lady called Poppy who enters and is selected to participate in the Great British Baking Contest, a much loved television show. But Poppy also has another agenda and reluctantly ends up also becoming an amateur sleuth amongst other things.
I will stop there as I can’t give any spoilers away and you’ll have to listen for yourself. Give it a go.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

Fun murder mystery

I love the author and her mystery series. That combined with the familiar setting of a pseudo- GBBO makes you fall deep into the characters and you are kept guessing until the very end. Poppy is a contestant on a baking show and one of her fellow contestants meets a deadly end. Poppy, already doing some investigating of her own mysterious background, gets pulled into helping to solve the crime! I look forward to the next in the series.

The only issue (as I have seen other reviewers note) is that the narrator's British accents and rhythm of speech can be offputting at times. The story is engaging enough to make up for that though and you get over it. Looking at the reviews of the other Nancy Warren audiobooks it looks like the narration improves and I'm excited to keep going.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

Can I just

be in the show even though I bake like a toddler. No seriously the writing is so good you can’t stop reading when you start the book or should I say listening maybe. Can wait for the next one

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

I’ll persevere…

The book is an easy listen, along the same lines as all of Nancy Warren’s other series. Lighthearted and straightforwards.
Unfortunately Hollis McCarthy really isn’t the right narrator for this book - her English accents are really quite bad and distract from the story as she goes from van dyke cock-er-ney to northern to Irish, within one sentence of the same character… it’s a shame as I love her narration of the Jane Frost books. But if your going to do an book set in the UK with predominantly UK characters, use a narrator from the UK… we’ve got loads of amazing ones too!!

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

Love It!

Love the Vampire Knitting Club books and I think this new series is going to be great too! I love the story, characters and detail and the way it’s set up for another whole series, leaving you wanting to find out more about Poppy’s past. I can’t wait to get started on the next book. My only criticism is with the narrator’s British accents, you get used to them after a while, but they can be a little cringeworthy at times. It’s a shame because the narrator on the Vampire Knitting Club books does very good British accents. Overall it won’t stop me listening to the series though.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

2 people found this helpful

The Great Witches Baking Show

I received a free code for the audiobook version of this book from the author and voluntarily reviewed it.

I've been enjoying this author's other series The Vampire Knitting Club and I was excited when she released this first book in a new series. I like paranormal cozy mystery books and add in the baking theme as well as a baking competition seemed so much fun. I was so happy to get my hands on the audiobook for this one and started listening as soon as I finished my current book.

The Great Witches Baking Show follows the story of Poppy. Poppy is one of the contestants, but she's not here for the competition, her main goal is to find out more about her past and she thinks it might be connected to Broomewode Hall where the show is being held. She's a great baker as well and has trained hard to be on this show. I thought it was interesting how she had an extra goal for being there. There are also some fun baking related scenes.

The story started off a bit slow for me, there is a lot of information to get first. From how the show works to Poppy's past and background to why she's here. Then there is the first episode of baking and only after that the mystery really starts, although I didn't mind this set-up and had expected the mystery to start later in the book as that's what happens in this author's other series as well. And while I liked the baking part, I only got really into it once the mystery started as it felt that only then the story really took off. And the other side plot lines start progressing around then as well.

I liked the mystery, even though it takes some time to really start there area bunch of clues and set-ups in the first part before the murder occurs, which was great. I also liked that even though it gets solved relatively fast it was still an interesting mystery and there are some well done red herrings and a nice twist when the real murderer and motive is revealed. I liked how things got wrapped up at the end and we got a few more scenes before the book ended.

Besides the mystery there also is the paranormal storyline. Poppy finds out she's a witch in this book and she has to figure out what that means and how to handle it. I liked how there is some information about the whole witches thing, but it's spaced throughout the book and not everything is revealed at once, which made it easier to absorb the information we got. I liked the paranormal aspect so far and how there are different type of witches and I look forward to finding out more. The paranormal theme was nicely woven throughout the book.

I liked Poppy as a main character. She did seem a bit too focused on finding out where she came for, but it did give her a good motivation and extra interest in being here. I also liked how she wanted to solve the mystery. She was very determined to get the answers she is looking for. I liked how she dealt with finding out she's a witch, yes she accepts things quite quickly, but I liked that and through it fit the book. There is no long going back and forth and while she's a bit unsure about her powers it's clear quickly that she really is a witch and I liked she has a few instances where she used her powers already. The cat Gateau also was a fun addition. And I liked how she already made a witchy friend who could help her along.

There is a huge cast of characters, which took some gettign used to. Especially at first it was hard to remember who was who. It helped when partway through the book some characters played a lesser role so it was easier to get a feel for the characters that were more involved with this mystery. The different voices the narrator had for the different characters helped me along a bit to slowly start to remember who was who. By the end of the book I was doing decently with remember the more common side characters and luckily throughout the book there are enough hints and reminder so it's easy to get reminded of why a certain character is.

The mystery got resolved in this book, but the quest for answers about Poppy's family and the baking show contest will probably be ongoing plot lines that continue throughout the series. I liked how both of those plot lines made some progress here, but there is clearly still a lot to uncover too.

This was a new to me narrator and while I had to get used to her style a bit at first, I ended up liking her narration for this book. She did a great job with giving characters different voices and accents, which also helped me get a better feel for the characters. I thought she did a great job narrating this book and am hoping the rest of the series will be in audio as well.

To summarize: This was a fun first book in a new series by this author. I like the way the mystery, paranormal and other elements get blended in an interesting story. The story started off a bit slow, but I was interested from the start to see where things went. The mystery is a good one and I liked how there were some red herrings and interesting twists. The paranormal aspect is introduced as well when Poppy finds out she's a witch, I liked how that was handled and how the paranormal part was woven throughout the series. The baking show contest and Poppy's search for answers about her birth family seem like they will be continuing plot lines throughout the series, but both storylines made progress in this book already. I liked Poppy as main character and look forward to reading more about her. With the large group of side characters it was a bit hard to remember who was who at first, but it got easier as the story progressed. And the different voices and accents the narrator gave to them also helped. It took me a bit of time to get used to this new to me narrator, but I ended up liking her style for this book. I hope the rest of the series will be audio as well so I can listen to those as well.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful

Fabulous!

After reading the Vampire Knitting Club series I decided to try the baking show series and I haven’t been disappointed! Great characters and a really good storyline. If you’re familiar with the Great British Bake Off then you’ll love this series! Looking forward to reading/listening to the rest of books! 5🌟

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

Great Story...

Love the story, I've read them all, but this audio version is let down badly by the narrator. Unfortunately Hollis McCarthy is absolutely awful at playing multiple characters...the voices of Jonathon and Elspeth...oh my goodness, they are terrible, embarrassingly TERRIBLE. Such a shame as they are a great set of books.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

Comfortable Crime

This is a paranormal mystery for those who love The Great British Bake-off and the Antiques Roadshow. It's entertaining, easy and ultimately feel-good listen with a murder or two on the menu. However, if you like all loose ends tidied up by the end of a book this might not be for you. We find out some answers but deeper questions remain unanswered inviting us to continue listening to the series.

On the upside:

There's a cute cat, the main character has an interesting back story, the setting is beautifully described and anyone who dies comes back as a ghost. The recipes and baking inspiration are also a nice touch.

On the downside:

I struggled with the narration. The English accents are not good and this made parts of the text hard to follow. It distanced me from some characters and could be frustrating at times.

Having said all that, I will be reading or listening to A Baker's Coven which continues this slowly woven tale.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful