Butter Witch

Torrent Witches, Book 1

By: Tess Lake

Narrated by: Natalie Duke

Length: 6 hrs and 31 mins

Publisher's summary

The International Butter Festival has come to town! When Harlow Torrent, part-time journalist and full-time Slip witch stumbles upon a dead body, frozen and drained of blood, she's pulled into a murder mystery.

Someone has murdered one of the Butter Festival competitors. Was it Zero Bend, punk sculptor extraordinaire with a history of violence? Perhaps Fusion Swan, a sleazy agent playing the publicity game when his clients meet their untimely end?

Between trying to run her struggling online newspaper, dealing with her highly caffeinated cousins Molly and Luce, fending off three meddling witch mothers who will do anything to get their daughters married off (including drugging food with magic potions) and great Aunt Cass who appears to be running an underground laboratory of some kind, Harlow barely has time to breathe, let alone solve a murder.

Romance certainly isn't on the cards either but the hot scruffy guy new to town seems to have other ideas....

©2016 Tess Lake (P)2016 Tess Lake

Great audio interpretation!

urban-fantasy, witches, humor, ya-only-means-no-gratuitous-erotica, mystery
Read on September 28, 2016

Never heard of a slip witch before, but it sounds like pain to be one. As far as the butter carving contest, while I'm used to them here in northern climes, it seems more than odd for the mid-Atlantic states. Beyond that stuff, it was a hilarious romp of mystery and a dysfunctional family of witches. The publisher's blurb gives some clues without spoilers.
I was fortunate to get the audio edition, and Natalie Duke was great as the audio performer, with a pleasant voice and ease of characterization.
I received this book in exchange for an honest review upon my request from the publisher, author, or narrator courtesy of AudiobookBOOM.

Fun Witch Cozy

This book starts a bit rocky like a lot of new series, doing a lot of scene-setting and explaining up front and then jumping around as it tries to fit in all the background information. It settles into its stride about mid-book when the solving of the mystery kicks into high gear. The characters are fun and memorable, particularly Harlow, and all of the family members stand out as individuals.

I don't think narrator Natalie Duke did them justice in setting them apart from each other, although I did enjoy a lot her reading in general, a lot of her female voices are hard to tell apart.

I read some reviewer comments that these books are too similar to another witch series from Amanda Lee, but I don't personally think that's the case. There are some superficial similarities as they're both journalists and witches with crazy families in coastal towns, but it's no more similar than all the small-town bookstore-owning or bakery-owning cozies out there are to each other. So I would say if you like witch cozies this series is definitely worth trying.

I read a lot of witch cozies and this one stood out for me. I'm going to listen to Treasure Witch next, the second book in the series, and I'm looking forward to see the characters continue to develop. Disclaimer: I was provided this audiobook at no charge by the author in exchange for an unbiased review.

Easy listen

Characters are cute and funny. Took a bit to get into the story. Will read the next one.

About as good as it gets

Cozy mysteries are not my first love and I am still fairly new to the genre.That said, this book was so much fun! From the first to last syllable I was - don't say it....- spellbound! I did. I went there. This isn't going to be pushing my Robert Frost books off the shelf, but for what it is, it's awesome. It reminds me of the movie Practical Magic which I didn't like much when it first came out. Now that I'm older and less pretentious, I watched it again and really enjoyed it.
The humor was clever and ample, the plot engaging, the characters - each and every one - great and likeable, the mystery good especially for a cozy and overall it's charming. Adams the cat simply MUST have a larger part in the next book which I really look forward to! The narrator did a fabulous job and I dearly hope she narrates the next 20 in this series.
I was gifted this audio book in exchange for an honest review. Lucky me!

Cute

this was a cute, fun story. It reminds me of a cross between Molly Harpers Halfmoon Hollow stories and Kristen Painters Nocturne Falls. i look forward to reading more of these. I receive this audio book free for an honest review.

Better than I was expecting

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

This magical murder mystery held my attention from beginning to end. Harlow Torrent is a slip witch that doesn't have a lot of control over her powers. Surrounded by her meddling mom, aunts, and cousins, hilarity ensues.

Have you listened to any of Natalie Duke’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

I haven't heard Natalie Duke before, but I thought she did a great job narrating this book.

Any additional comments?

This audiobook was given by the author, narrator, or publisher at no cost in exchange for an unbiased review via Audiobook Boom.

absolute delicious entertainment

What a wonderful way to spend time enjoying this family of witches and their escapades! funny and mysterious at the same time! captured my attention right from the first paragraph.

Fun witch cozy

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

Butter Witch is well written and a great start to a new series, so I'd absolutely recommend it to anyone that enjoys a good cozy mystery. The magical elements aren't so overwhelming as to turn off people that don't care for the supernatural genre.

What was one of the most memorable moments of Butter Witch?

I particularly enjoyed the dinner party and the out of control salad.

Which character – as performed by Natalie Duke – was your favorite?

I loved Adams, although if I were to pick a main character it would be Harlow. The narrator did a fantastic job of giving each character his or her own voice.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

Yes, I would have been able to listen to it all in one sitting if it had been feasible. I enjoyed the book so much that I immediately downloaded the next book in the series.

Any additional comments?

This audiobook was given by the author, narrator, or publisher at no cost in exchange for an unbiased review via Audiobook Boom

Fun and Entertaining

Any additional comments?

3.5 stars
Fun, entertaining, lighthearted and humorous story. Cozy little witch mystery. Just an all around fun, easy afternoon listen. Great when you want a book to listen to that has a good story but isn't to complicated. I have listened to other cozy mystery's, and this was one of the better ones.

Great cast of characters with an interesting story.
Slip Witch is new to me, I had never heard of that before. It puts an interesting twist on being able to control your magic. Enjoyed the mishaps of Harlow's magic going awry.

This is the first Tess Lake book I have listened to and I really enjoyed it.
Natalie Duke did a great job with the narration. Pleasant voice. Good character voices. Clearly spoken, smooth even pace. Her narration made it a very enjoyable listen.

This audiobook was provided by the author, narrator or publisher at no cost in exchange for an unbiased review .

Dejavu

As the story went on, it deviated from Amanda Lee's witch series set up, which I'm thankful for. The set up is still too close for me to give it a higher rating than that sadly. I hope in future books, she deviates further and creates her own little world more to let her characters grow into their own.