Semester Aboard

More than Magic, Book 1

By: Elizabeth Kirke

Narrated by: Starla Huchton

Jen Maddox is a few days into her summer study-abroad program and has loved every moment on her cruise ship turned college campus. Everyone tells her the experience will change her life, but none of them realize just how right they really are.

One night, Jen goes out on deck and encounters five other students. She knows Charlie from one of her classes, and he’s a funny, friendly, regular guy. Picture-perfect Dani and his gorgeous wife, Mariana, live right down the hall from Jen, and she has seen TS, who’s built like a truck, around the ship, and recognizes the cute but quiet Thomas as well.

Then Jen sees something that isn’t humanly possible. Jen would have thought that it was all a dream if not for the fact that Charlie, Dani, Mariana, TS, and Thomas are making every effort to cover it up. Suddenly, the five of them are everything but normal, and Jen is determined to figure out what they’re hiding.

When she does, her life really does change. Jen expected to spend her summer studying the cultures of Latin America; she never dreamed she’d learn about a magical culture instead.

But Jen’s childhood fantasy come true is about to turn into a nightmare; there’s something on the ship. Something dangerous. Suddenly, everyone on board is threatened by a creature that Jen never even believed existed. Jen and her new friends might be the only people who can stop it!

Now Jen has to learn everything she can about her new world before it kills her. And her friends. And maybe everyone on the entire ship.

©2012 Elizabeth Kirke (P)2018 Elizabeth Kirke

An Actionpacked Start to a New YA Magical Series!

Jennifer is having the time of her life spending a whole Semester aboard a ship sailing down the South American Coastline stopping for trips and excursion as well as taking classes to keep up with their syllabus.
One night needing fresh air Jennifer witnesses something that shouldn’t be possible. To keep Jennifer from saying anything that tell her all will be explained at the next port. So for next couple of days she followed and becomes friendly with the most fascinating group on the boat.
No one is more surprised than Jen to find she is a witch. So Thomas starts training her, Jen is over the moon. Unfortunately as this is a first in a series there is a lot of magic world building. This is a fun paranormal adventure on board ship with great locations. The narration was excellent with all the voices that had to be done. A great start to a new series, and can’t wait to see how Jennifer progresses with her magic.
I received this audiobook as part of my participation in a blog tour with Audiobookworm Promotions. The tour is being sponsored by Elizabeth Kirke. The gifting of this audiobook did not affect my opinion of it.

Semester Aboard

If you saw something happen that quite frankly seemed impossible, would you believe your eyes? Would you question what you saw or ignore it and have your mind make up scenarios to what really occurred? For Jen Maddox, a boy from a class on the ship falls off of a moving ship into water fifty feet below and bounces back up like no big deal. How would you react to something like that? Kirke captivates the audience with intrigue, action and a world of fantasy elements. What you think that you know about werewolves, witches, elements of nature, and vampires…all stories that are told at bedtime and in movies, but the real deal may just be closer than we think.

Jen is coasting through her classwork on a ship and enjoys spending her time out on the deck. Late at night, when she just needs some air from the stuffiness of her room, in the pouring rain…she thinks that she must be crazy to go out. To her disbelief, others are out on deck. She thinks that they are asking for a death wish, being on the railing and when that boy goes overboard, they all try to cover it up! Jen refuses to believe that it is just weariness—she knows what she saw and she is determined to get answers—especially once the boy jumps back onto the ship like it wasn’t something that could have just killed him. These students, there is something secretive and different about them. Not one to ignore her curiosity, she won’t stop prodding them until she gets answers. Who are they? What are they? Those answers put her in danger, especially when they tell her that there is a vampire on the ship who is illegally feeding from her schoolmates on the ship. Learning a few things about herself along the way, she is determined to go to lengths to save these people, even if she doesn't know how. Can she help them in any way or is she completely useless and out of her element?

Kirke has one incredible first installment. This story has superb character development, an interesting take on fantasy, and is chalked full of creativity. Since this review is complimenting the audiobook, it appears that the story is well-written from the voice relay. Huchton’s narration is impeccable and enjoyable. The character vocalizations are all different and her relay is easy to follow. If you are a reader of young adult and fantasy, you may want to pick up this first installment. Since this is the first in the More Than Magic series, readers can simply jump right in. Fair warning though, you may find yourself filling your bookshelves or electronic devices with more from this series and/or author.

An audiobook was provided to Turning Another Page by Audiobookworm Promotions and in no way affects the honesty of this review. We provide a five-star rating to Semester Aboard by Elizabeth Kirke.

enjoyable read/listen

I really enjoyed this character based story. So many characters to get to know. Overall the story feels a bit young even though this is supposed to be college age, but other than that enjoyable. Seeing the world with new eyes and uncovering talents never gets old. Looking forward to the next one.

Magic creatures galore

Jenn is a normal girl on a summer abroad program who suddenly sees something that she didn’t think possible. Than she’s faced with many different questions as she realizes that magic is actually real and that magic people hide in plain sight. She finds she is one as well and gets put to the test. Good book filled with all kind of awesome fantastic creatures.

Enjoyable Story

The story of Jennifer and her encounter with magical creatures is a fun, long, almost to innocent, story. She goes on twist and turns. By the end, you feel like you’ve been on the journey with her and you’ve come to know the characters.

The writer handled the age gap well and explained it to where it didn’t feel cringey.
What I didn’t like was how words were repeated… ‘Then” was used to carry the story forward. People sighed often. Dani ruffled everyone’s hair paragraph after paragraph.
I didn’t like how it seemed more like the characters were in high school at times and not college. They didn’t seem mature enough for college.

For the audible…

I liked the reader’s chuckle. She did a great job changing voices. Sometimes, though, it read flat, no emotions.

All around, I enjoyed the story enough to buy the next ebook and audible. I can’t wait to find out what is next.

AWESOME BEGINNING TO VAMPIRE SERIES!

Absolutely loved it! The narrator brought the story to life! The author weaves a mysterious and magical tale taking place on a ship as Jen travels on a cruise ship acting as a college campus for a semester of study abroad. I thought it was beautifully written and am definitely wanting to hear more in the series! Coming to Audible? I definitely recommend it, it's a fun crazy and magically frightening read! :)
I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.

Fun portrayal of diverse paranormal creatures

This is the first full-length novel in the More than Magic series of new adult urban fantasy by Elizabeth Kirke. It’s a complete story that can be enjoyed on its own, although it is clearly introducing this world and these characters for further adventures.

I liked the premise of this book, with a young college student trapped on a cruise ship with various magical creatures during her semester abroad. I loved the portrayal of diverse paranormal creatures and the unique mythology developed for them. I liked the characters, although some of them acted a bit young for their age. Our main character, Jen, seemed a bit bland compared to her friends, who all had fun quirks.

The pacing felt a bit uneven. There were a few too many info dumps as Jen learns about magic and her friends primarily through dialog. The action scenes were suspenseful though, and kept me listening to find out what would happen next.

I enjoyed the narration by Starla Huchton. Her performance was well paced and easy to understand, and I enjoyed the character voices. I think this is a great choice for listening.

I own the Kindle book but was given a free copy of this audiobook by the author; I volunteered to provide an honest review.

Adventure in a magical mysterious world

I first read Semester Aboard in 2014, and I fell in love with the characters. Elizabeth Kirke creates a magical, modern world that I lost myself in. Her characters are well defined and very complex. Kirke paints a spectacular picture in each port stop. It was so easy to lose myself within the pages.

I’ve read Semester Aboard a few times since then and I immerse myself in it each time. Listening to Starla Huchton bring it to life for me again was well, magical. Huchton infuses her passion and intensity into this story. When Jen and her new friends are confronted by a creature on the boat and a fight ensues, I was right there on the ship deck with them feeling every punch, snarl, and bite. It was fantastic!

As debut novels go, Semester Aboard is a flawless adventure into a mysterious, magical world. I highly recommend the series and the audiobook.

Fantastic YA Fantasy

When Jen joined the summer Study Abroad Programme, to travel on a cruise ship from country to country, the last thing that she could have imagined was that she would find out that she was a Witch – A Magic and that several other students on the ship were also Magic’s of varying types.

As the story develops the cruise takes a far more dangerous turn…

Elizabeth Kirke has woven a wonderful YA paranormal adventure. I don’t read or listen to many books in the YA genre but I thoroughly enjoyed this. Semester Aboard has all of the elements that make a paranormal adventure great!

I really liked all the main characters in this fabulous story. Each character was well developed and interesting. I like that the paranormal character each have their own unique aspects that I have not encountered before.

Starla Hutchton was a great fit as the voice actor on Semester Aboard. Starla’s character voices were easily recognisable and there is a lot of dialogue between the main 6 characters, so I feel that this is the sign of an exceptional voice actor. The voice’s also sounded age appropriate and really well suited to the individual characters. I found her easy to listen to and she was consistent throughout the whole story.

I am so looking forward to further audiobooks within this series.

I received this audiobook as part of my participation in a blog tour with Audiobookworm Promotions. The tour is being sponsored by Elizabeth Kirke. The gifting of this audiobook did not affect my opinion of it.

Amazing book and narration!

Loved it! Amazing action packed book and fantastic narration! The voices were perfect and the characters were well developed!