Review copy was received from Publisher. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
Betwixt by Danielle Garrett Narrator: Amanda Ronconi
Series: Beechwood Harbor Magic Mystery #0.5
Published by Tantor Audio on March 5, 2019
Genres: Cozy Mystery, Paranormal
Length: 7 hours,
Format: Audiobook
Source: Publisher
Goodreads
Amazon, Audible, Libro.fm
Betwixt is a collection of the in-between. Catch up with Holly and Scarlet in these stories of the mischief and mayhem they get themselves into while you wait for the next full-length novel.
Stories included:
~A Witch of a Day
~Cats, Bats, and Talking Hats
~Good Gravy! Thanksgiving at Beechwood Manor
~Along Came a Ghost
~The Ghost Hunter Who Saved Christmas
~A Witch's Best Friend (brand new and exclusive to this collection)
~Undercover Wolf (brand new and exclusive to this collection)Each story has a special note from Danielle that helps navigate where the story or novella fits in the timeline and special background information.
One town. Two leading ladies.
More magic than you can shake a wand at.
Welcome back to Beechwood Harbor.
This anthology is made up of stories set in Beechwood Harbor. They are set in the Beechwood Harbor Magic Mystery series or between it and the new Beechwood Harbor Ghost Mystery series. I had only read the first story in the BHMM series and I was fine.
I love when an author puts together a bunch of novellas into an anthology. Danielle Garrett tells us where the story falls in with the series, which is really wonderful. I love that. These are short enough, it wouldn’t work well to review each separately but I will give you some basic information on each story.
A Witch of a Day was published separately as BHMM 0.5 and is a prequel to the series. It shares with us how Holly ends up in Beechwood Harbor.
Cats, Bats, and Talking Hats (2017) is the story of Holly’s first Halloween party in BH when Lacey has a vampire Halloween party. Holly is still getting to know her roommates and this is sort of her first mystery in BH.
Good Gravy! Thanksgiving at Beechwood Manor (published 2016 as a blog exclusive for her newsletter group). It falls between Twice the Witch (2) and Witch Slapped (3).
Along Came a Ghost was published separately as BHMM 4.5. It introduces Scarlet who is the main character in the new BHGM series.
The Ghost Hunter Who Saved Christmas (pub 2017) Holly and Scarlet team up to save Christmas for children.
A Witch’s Best Friend (brand new and exclusive to this collection) The story of Holly and Boots meeting, while Holly was at Magic Academy. This novella is a prequel to all the BHMM.
Undercover Wolf (brand new and exclusive to this collection) is set after Lucky Witch in the BHMM and contains major spoilers if you have not read it.
I felt these were all well-written and added interesting details to the overall story of the series. Both series and Betwixt are in Kindle Unlimited. So it is easy to read them, but I enjoyed the additional charm of the audiobook performance.
Narration:
Amanda Ronconi is a familiar and well-enjoyed narrator for me. I listened comfortably at 1.5x speed. The voices for the various females (Holly, Stacie, Lacey, Scarlet) did not always seem distinct other than the ghosts. Posy has her own particular voice. Adam is the primary male and you can tell who he is by his outrageous dialogue even if he didn’t have a different sound. The performance was enjoyable.
Listen to a clip:
About Amanda Ronconi
Amanda is an actress and narrator who divides her time between New York City and Upstate New York. She has a BFA from NYU where she studied at the Stella Adler Conservatory. She has performed in theaters around New York City and regionally at The Alley, Capital Rep and many productions at the Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey.
Her Off-Broadway solo comedy, Shirley at the Tropicana, received critical acclaim and was subsequently featured in The New York Times. Film and TV credits include Daydream Believer (Slamdance 2001’s Best Dramatic Feature winner), The Understudy, Deadly Sins (ID Discovery), IFC’s Get Hit and Chasing Paradise. National network and regional commercials include Chase Bank, Sony and Blue Cross/Blue Shield. Her voiceover work encompasses nearly 100 audiobooks available on Audible.com. She is a member of SAG-AFTRA and Actors’ Equity.
Amanda’s new solo show, Kempner, will debut in 2016.
About Danielle Garrett
From a young age, Danielle Garrett was obsessed with fantastic places and the stories set in them. As a lifelong bookworm, she’s gone on hundreds of adventures through the eyes of wizards, princesses, elves, and some rather wonderful everyday people as well.
Danielle now lives in Oregon and while she travels as often as possible, she wouldn’t call anywhere else home. She shares her life with her husband and their house full of animals, and when not writing, spends her time being a house servant for three extremely spoiled cats.
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I read all types of books but my favorites are urban fantasy and romantic suspense.I like some romance and some action / adventure / mystery in everything.I like sex in my books but please, only between TWO people.Intimate conversation is equally important to the sex in a book.It lets me see the characters.The other thing I enjoy is humor.
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Reading this book contributed to these challenges:
- 2019 Audiobooks
- 2019 Releases
Oh cool! I just listened to the first in the Beechwood Harbor Ghost Mysteries and enjoyed it with Scarlett. I agree that its great to get all the shorts and novellas for a series gathered up together like this.
I don’t know if you read the BHMM first but the BHGM is the second series and this is a bridge between them with a bit of each. I really enjoyed it. I’m listening to the first Scarlet book next.
I love anthology collections tied to series, too! I’ve yet to listen to the narrator but see so many glowing reviews of her performances. Wonderful review, Anne!
Thank you! I like these series. This anthology is kind of a link between two series. It’s cozy and we both do more dark thrillers than cozy.
Oh it looks like a nice one there! I’m curious to try one of her books.
I’d start at the beginning but it’s a fun cozy series.
I really enjoyed this anthology too. I love getting the smaller glimpses into the main and side characters that don’t make it into the main novels. Amanda Ronconi is one of my favorite narrators.
Melanie @ Hot Listens & Books of My Heart
Exactly! It is a character development which doesn’t always fit the flow of the main books.
I need to return to this series. I read books 1 & 2. I really enjoyed. Glad you are enjoying the audio.
I’m a fan of Amanda Ronconi. Otherwise I would read as the books are on KU. That’s how I’m catching up with BHMM.
I see this series around a lot and Amazon loves to recommend it to me but I’ve never given it a chance. I feel like I should change that!
Well it’s a fun cozy mystery series. The books are on KU. I love Amanda Ronconi so I am doing the second series on audio. I don’t do as much cozy these days, but this one is well written.
I do love this genre and these sound like such fun!
These are fun. I am picky about my cozy mysteries and I think these are well written.
Glad you enjoyed this collection of stories. I think it’s a great introduction to the world and writing style, with only a few spoilers to the BHMM series (and one big one with respect to Nick). I’ve been enjoying the series since the first audiobook, and just started the first Ghost Mystery book today. It’s a lot of fun!
I really enjoyed it and thought it was well done. I’m nearly finished with the first Ghost Hunter also. I should finish today, we will see.