Narrator killed this for me.

Narrator is way to old for this book, the main character is a lot younger. couldn't finish this one. it bugged me sooooo much.

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Witches & mages

I enjoyed listening to this book about a witch who is rescued from a jail cell and ends up at the school her parents had attended.

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1 person found this helpful

Let the spell of a great listen get to you

Book 1 in the series.
This story is a reverse harem story . Heroine is Stevie.
Stevie weds to find out what is going on and why . Black Magic is following her. She was warned away from an academy by her mother. Her parents were killed . It seems Tarot cards are randomly showing up showing themselves to Stevie.

Stevie has no choice but to go to the Academy , a dark Mag framed Stevie for murdering her best friend. Once she gets to the Academy that where things really take off

The performance of Nicole Poole and Stephen Dexter was fantastic. The way they did each character was great. The voices are strong and addictive

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Very fun and entertaining

Not a huge fan of the sexual tension between all the male characters. But the story line is fun and I love the main character. She has a lot of spunk!

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Sexy and magical

Highly enjoyed this book. The story lines were very interesting and steamy. Great detail in the writing, which made it easy to picture this magical world and its characters. If you like witches and romance this books for you! Can't wait to read the rest of this book series.

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another cookie cutter disappointing book

From the start of this book with the random mage and transformation into an owl, I realized it was not for me but I kept listening hoping to be proved wrong. I wasn’t. What a waste of time. This is definitely, aside from the sexual aspect, a young adult book with a too old narrator.

It was another disappointing book where it seems the author just writes without formulating an actual direction they wish to take the book so it becomes frustrating trying to figure it out. I swear sometimes I have to double check the authors are different because I’ve come across so many of these books that seems so cookie-cutter. A story of a girl who has no idea what she’s capable of or what she is because her mother shielded her from it then dies or disappears, leaving her defenseless, weak and ill prepared for a fight with powerful beings that always seem to come after her to kill her. She then finds herself in some environment where she is bossed around or bullied, only to manifest into someone that has amazing powerful powers, at the end, that make her super strong but not as strong as her protector(s) who always come to her rescue ...I don’t get it, what is the draw?

Come on, are you Kidding me? she has magical powers but she chooses to ignore a side of herself because her now dead mom said it was bad? I see a 12 year old to maybe a 15-year-old following those rules because they’re afraid to get in trouble but anyone older would be curious about their magic. I don’t get why we still have to peddle this concept of ignorance is bliss until it really isn’t and then looking for outside sources to help when in fact these girls could be bada**es from the start. what would the story look like if she already had skills before all of this nonsense started ...it would be epic, even if she ended up at the school. I think of the book “the chosen” where she’s forced to be under someone else’s rules but still she’s a bad a**.

Is it the cost of narrators that are driving authors to choose incorrectly? do the narrators not have to give a sample? just because someone has a good voice does not make them a good narrator. In this particular book the narrator has a very mature sounding voice. This book didn’t need someone that sounded like they were 16 but it definitely didn’t need someone that sounded like they were 40.

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Juvenile *Embarrassed Giggling* Teen Fantasy

The only thing keeping this book from being tailor made for 11-year-old girls is the all too frequent F-bombs and graphic sexual content. Sarah Piper introduces orphaned witch 'Starla Eve "Stevie" Milan', whisked away to a Hogwarts-clone Magic School after being attacked by a rogue mage. Once Stevie is enrolled in the 'Arcane Academy', the Junior-High-level immaturity of everyone involved quickly becomes striking (Aaah.. fond memories of Grade 8🙄). Thankfully, Piper makes her characters College-aged (Stevie is 23) - so the sex obsessions aren't as cringeworthy - but the frustrated-horny aspects of the book are pretty heavyhanded (repeated joking conversations about missing "Mr. Winkie" - her vibrator - after moving to school are illustrative). In addition, trying to interpret Stevie's witch mother's heretical prophecies is an awkwardly complicated plot device, and the elemental tarot mythology magic system is more distracting than anything else. Piper can't seem to settle on a mandate (Is this a coming-of-age story? A "Mean Girls"-inspired friendship exploration? A sexual-awakening tale? A Fantasy Action-adventure? A new-understanding-of-family character evolution?). I was frustrated at the book never managing to succeed at *any* of them.

Subpar narration by Nicole Poole (reading from Stevie's perspective) and Stephen Dexter (doing the male parts) contributed to my "Meh" evaluation of the book, too. Both are undeniably professional - and backed up by creditable technical support from Tantor Audio engineers - but Dexter overdramatizes dialogue and Poole often sounds disinterested (at times, it's pretty clear that she's reading a book lying open on her lap).

Altogether, I can't rate 'Spells Of Iron And Bone' any higher than 4.5 stars out of 10. As a 'Plus' selection (included with my subscription), it was a passable diversion, I guess - but you would have to be a diehard fan of the YA Fantasy/Reverse Harem genres to invest a Credit on it.

[NOTE: When Stevie described herself as having a "Lady Boner" over having a bunch of tea fixings, I audibly groaned. It became evident that stuff this sophomoric just isn't for me]

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