Whispering Oaks: The Curse

By: Meredith I. Anderson

Narrated by: David Webb

Teenage Brittany Standish travels to spend the summer at her grandfather's farm, a property called Whispering Oaks. Unintentionally using "Ocular Sinister" while taking a nap, she captures and makes friends with the Elfin Guardian, Shamus. They are a leprechaun-like group of folks who possess great magic. Going to Torgilson's store, she is almost attacked by a large male African lion. She makes a childish wish, "I wish that lion were in a park somewhere and the Torgilson's had a statue." Her wish is granted by an inexperienced "wish fairy" who has secreted away in her pocket. This wish puts the Elfin population into great danger.

Mortal enemy of the Elfins, the Nenuphar detect the use of Elfin magic and Drayfus, the Nenuphar Wizard, arrives from the Underworld with the intention of destroying the Elfin civilization and enslaving the population. It's not long before the wizard discovers that he must first go through Brittany Standish and her entire family before he can get to the Elfins. Unable to prove to his superiors that Elfins do indeed exist at Whispering Oaks, Drayfus resorts to the darkest of magic, calling the Banshee of Death from the underworld to attack the humans that stand in his way. Come, walk through the woods with the master storyteller and discover the secrets of Whispering Oaks. Meet the people of the Ellis family's village; meet the new and strange characters from the Elfin world.

This is the first book of a series designed to capture the imagination and entertain any and all avid listeners.

©2015 Meredith I. Anderson (P)2016 Meredith I. Anderson

Very Captivating!

What did you love best about Whispering Oaks: The Curse?

The fact that I couldn't wait to get back in the car and continue the story was great!

What about David Webb’s performance did you like?

I really enjoyed the way he changed his voice from character to character!

Any additional comments?

My son was listening to the first hour of the book with me, and when we stopped to get out of the car, he looks up at me and says "I really like this story dad!" I just smiled and said, "me too."

Adventure and fun

Fun and adventure for the whole family can be found in this book. This book left me with the satisfaction of an amazing bedtime story. It is a fantasy with new creatures and characters. It is a great balance of just enough depth to interest the adult and just enough simplicity to keep the kids begging for more.
Defiantly one that I will replay again.
My only complaint was minor (very minor) hesitations mid sentence by the narrator in a few places, and a few times a name was mispronounced, but I still knew what it was. Otherwise it was very well done. It was easy to keep characters straight with various voices.
All in all I recommend this book to anyone looking for good triumphs over evil adventure, without the cliche characters of most books. My kids enjoyed reading this book as pre-teens, and now as teenagers (13, 15, and 17) couldn't help but sit and listen every time I turned it on. Even my husband got sucked in.