Somebody Tell Aunt Tillie She's Dead cover art

Somebody Tell Aunt Tillie She's Dead

Toad Witch Series, Book 1

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Somebody Tell Aunt Tillie She's Dead

By: Christiana Miller
Narrated by: Marie Rose
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About this listen

A little magic can go a long way - to really screwing up a girl's life!

Mara is having the worst month of her life. At least, that's what her cards tell her and they've never been wrong. She's evicted from her apartment, loses her job, and is banned from Beverly Hills. So when the tarot cards predict her imminent demise, she uses a little magic to make her world right.

Suddenly, an aunt she's never met dies, leaving Mara as her sole heir. But when Mara moves into her inherited home, she discovers Aunt Tillie never moved out. She's still one pissed-off old lady, even postmortem, and she blames Mara's magical meddling for her death.

When Mara accidentally releases a demon and awakens the spirit of the most powerful witch in history, Tillie's ready to kill her - literally. It's the only way she can think of to save the girl from herself. The witch and the demon, however, have other plans for Mara's body!

©2011, 2012 HekaRose Publishing and Christiana Miller (P)2014 HekaRose Publishing and Christiana Miller Cosy Fantasy Magic Mystery Fiction Paranormal Witchcraft Magic Users Suspense
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Most relevant
If your a fan of Molly Harper, Amanda M Lee and the likes then I am sure you will enjoy this book,

The narrator does a great job and the story is very easy to listen to, with several twists and turns the plot is entertaining and has a happy ending, I have I really enjoyed the story, and completed the book in 2 days, I am looking forward to Mara's next adventure in the Toad Witch Series.

A nice fun little story

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If you could sum up Somebody Tell Aunt Tillie She's Dead in three words, what would they be?

Dead charming. Fun.

What did you like best about this story?

I thought it was a very complementary mix of author and narrator - which is essential in such a light, characterful tale with lots of witty asides and so on. Although the story was substantial, it was the dialogue that I felt was the shining part. It was that interplay, and the range of interesting characters behind it that really kept me engaged and listening.

I very much enjoyed the character of Gus in particular, although all of them were well-written.

What does Marie Rose bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you had only read the book?

I did receive this audio book in exchange for an honest review, and I can honestly say that I thought her narration was ideally pitched for the book. As mentioned before, I thought Christiana Miller's strength was in her writing of characters and their dialogue - and Marie Rose's performances enhanced that brilliantly.

You always knew exactly which character was talking - she gave them all distinctive voices that I felt fitted seamlessly with their dialogue, so scenes really did come to life. Her delivery was light, engaging, and her timing on the comic lines often made me smile.

I particularly enjoyed her performance of Gus - and her depiction of the creepy Lehrer made me quite physically cringe.

Not having read the book before listening, I was obviously coming to these characters through the prism of her performance, but it felt to me like a cohesive audio story (rather than a narrator narrating a book in audio form), which was why it was immersive.

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

Actually yes - partly due to unforeseen circumstances, I did end up listening to most of it in one sitting. I don't normally listen to audio books in quite such a long session, and so it wasn't entirely ideal, but it was real credit to the book that it held my attention that long. It did feel a tiny bit long for a light tale, but it was thoroughly enjoyable.

A fun, engaging paranormal story

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Which character – as performed by Marie Rose – was your favourite?

Gus is so beautifully self absorbed yet caring for his friends, and Marie Rose voiced him beautifully.

Entertaining

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The narrator did a good job. Pleasant voice. She got the tone of the book just right, the sarcastic remarks, and that was nice!

I liked the tone of the story, and I liked Mara, the main character. Not sure about Gus, her best friend who was a little nasty. The story was enjoyable.

But….
Some parts were a little drawn out. I was waiting for Aunt Tillie to make an appearance (since the book is called after her) but that took a while. The story could have been told perfectly well in a third of the pages. Which also meant my mind drifted off easily.

The first large part of the book is mostly about Mara’s life falling apart and her complaining about it. In a funny way, but also a bit slow. Except for the almost-too-scary nightmares. And just a bit too much complaining without doing something about it. End of chapter 15(!) and finally, after more than 2 hours 45 minutes, THE package arrives. And I sighed a sigh of relief. Things can get started now. Finally, it’s actually about Aunt Tillie’s legacy!

But you know what? By the title of this book I thought Aunt Tillie wouldn’t know she was dead, but she did! I was so disappointed, this was what I had been looking forward to the whole time! The title is misleading!

And then the story became a hot mess. This book would have benefitted from a good amount of editing and a clearer plot. Dreams, reality, it’s all one big blur. And after waiting for so long for something to finally happen, and have it be so disappointing when it finally did, I had to conclude this book wasn’t giving me joy. It just got too weird. I quit at chapter 31 out of 49. Still 3 stars because it wasn’t BAD just not for me.

There is quite a lot swearing. Just a fair warning for those who don’t like that. So don’t expect a cozy. It has horror-y moments. I personally don’t do horror, but this was just within my limits. But even though you can find this book when you search for cozies, it’s not really a cozy. Definitely 18+.

Some good, some less so

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Listener received this title free

I really enjoyed this one. There is so much humour, drama and amazing storyline. There is so much happening in this story that it is really absorbing. It actually surprised me when I reached the end of the book as I was enjoying it so much.

The narrator did a really good job and I really liked the different voices and the pace.

Oh this is just too good

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