#audiobookreview

Book Tour & Book Review 

Widdershins by Helen Steadman

Widdershins is inspired by the Newcastle witch trials. Despite being the largest mass execution of witches on a single day in England, these trials are not widely known about. In August 1650, 15 women & one man were hanged as witches after a Scottish witchfinder found them guilty of consorting with the devil. 

Widdershins is told through the eyes of Jane Chandler, a young woman accused of witchcraft, & John Sharpe, the witchfinder.. Jane Chandler is an apprentice healer. From childhood, she & her mother have used herbs to cure the sick. But Jane soon learns that her sheltered life in a small village is not safe from the troubles of the wider world. From his father’s beatings to his uncle’s raging sermons, John Sharpe is beset by bad fortune. Fighting through personal tragedy, he finds his purpose: to become a witchfinder & save innocents from the scourge of witchcraft. 

 Widdershins was a heartbreaking, fascinating & twisted read! The author did a great job taking a time in history & bringing it back to life for us! It didn't take long for this book to grab hold of me! The story is told from 2 POV’s Jane & the witchfinder which I really liked. It was nice being able to hear from both sides almost like listening to good & evil in one! Jane is the main character and you won't be able to stop the heartbreak you will feel for her! This really was a sad but great story! I cant wait to start Sunwise!

Author Bio

Dr Helen Steadman is a historical novelist. Her first novel, Widdershins & its sequel, Sunwise were inspired by the Newcastle witch trials. Helen is particularly interested in revealing hidden histories & she is a thorough researcher who goes to great lengths in pursuit of historical accuracy. To get under the skin of the cunning women in Widdershins and Sunwise, Helen trained in herbalism & learned how to make herbal medicines from bark, seeds, flowers & berries.

 The Amazon purchase link can be found in the LinkTree link in my bio!

 Thank you Love Book Tours & Author Helen Steadman for my gifted audiobook & my palace on the book tour!

BY KIRA JANE BUXTON

4¼⭐ | NARRATION 😍 = Amazing | Narrated by 📣 Robert Petkoff

🔦FEATURING ❐ Zombie-ish Apocalypse ❐ From the POV of a Crow named Shit Turd (S.T. for short) ❐ Who cusses like a sailor and loves Cheetos™ ❐ It also features a few other creatures from the animal kingdom

First and foremost, Hollow Kingdom is hilariously funny and full of cuss words, which I had no problem with; but others might. It’s also somewhat irreverent and even melancholy at times and yet it still ended on a hopeful note...at least for the animal race, not so much for the human race, though. What turns the human race into zombie-like beings, I don’t really know to tell you the truth. Something to do with our need to be connected at all times...maybe? Things that make you go hmmm…

Talking to Strangers by Malcolm Gladwell. Unabridged, read by Gladwell. 8 hours 42 minutes. Hachette Audio. 9781549150333. http://www.powells.com/book/-9781549150333?partnerid=34778&p_bt

It was this conversation between Gladwell and It's Been A Minute (podcast) host Sam Sanders that got me to try this book, even though audiobooks aren't really my thing. http://www.npr.org/2019/09/16/761277894/best-selling-author-malcolm-gladwell-on-talking-to-strangers-a-live-conversation

I finished listening to it in record time because it sounds like a podcast, with high production quality, interview snippets, and even music to supplement Gladwell's reading (which itself is great). I hope more nonfiction audiobooks follow this example. (If you know of any others, please list them in the comments.)

To sum up the book, we're not good at understanding one another, and the world would be better if we all stopped making hurried judgements about each other. Sandra Bland's death bookends a variety of other case studies that might seem unrelated, but which Gladwell connects and explores. I particularly liked his discussion of the conviction of Amanda Knox because she didn't have the expected reaction to her roommate's murder. That stayed with me, maybe because Knox lives near Seattle.

After I finished this, I read the graphic novel Stay. In the opening pages a young woman and her fiancé arrive at a beach for a short vacation. It's windy. He's decapitated by a flying metal sign. And she's just kind of blank. She talks to his parents on the phone in a way that everything seems fine, then goes to check in to their apartment. There are signs that she's on edge and deeply upset, but they're hidden moments -- mostly she doesn't seem to be reacting to what happened, even when she's having conversations with a stranger about herself and the man she loved.

Without listening to Gladwell's book, I may not have finished Stay, but because of it observing the woman's grief and her expression of it felt intimate.

Cloverhill Lake is an exclusive community, comprised of young families. The residents are very ‘social’ and their calendars are full of occasions where parents and children can get together. However… a Labor Day party in Cloverhill Lake ends in tragedy. Ally Whitlock borrows Regan Hoffman’s car to refresh the ice supply, but when she starts Regan’s car, it explodes.  Was Regan, a recent widow,…

Title: And Then He Pressed Play

Author: Robert J. Halliwell

Narrator: Gary Furlong, Alana Kerr Collins, Pagan McGrath

Rating: 4.5/5 stars

Thank you to NetGalley and Victory Editing NetGalley Co-op for providing me with a copy of this audiobook in return for an honest review.

When Canadian exchange student, A.J. Walker, meets local Irish lad, Bren O’Shea, on the first day of their 2006 school year; he doesn’t know what to make of him.  He’s sure Bren is making fun of him, and by the end of the school day, Bren is certain that A.J. is a rich snob who’d rather listen to his antiquated discman than make conversation. But with a little bit of give from both boys something wonderful could grow.

Gary Furlong is an utter master at accents, so it comes as no surprise that he was able to pull off the different characters and provide nuance to their variable backgrounds. Alana Kerr Collins and Pagan McGrath added their talents to the production by voicing all the female characters, a nice touch as I can occasionally be taken out of a story by a strained male voice attempting a higher pitch. All of the acting was superb and I was in tears a few times.

What I liked:  I absolutely loved how this story was told, the characters were realistic and the plot swept me along. I find it can often be hit or miss with Young Adult books for me, luckily this wasn’t angst driven. I’m about a decade older than the kids would have been in 2006, but the cultural references were familiar enough that I felt nostalgic for my own teen years and friendships. While there was a particularly dark aspect in the story that was incredibly upsetting, I can’t fault the overall narrative because of it.

What didn’t work for me: I’m being possibly unfair here by only giving 4.5 stars instead of the full 5 I initially thought I would. I just felt it ended too suddenly, I would have preferred a few more scenes of camaraderie with the rest of the friend group, we went from December to June in a matter of moments. Basically I enjoyed the book so much I needed to hang out with everyone a bit longer.

Final thoughts: A wonderful coming-of-age story, filled with laughter, tears and hope.

Who would enjoy this: Fans of YA, Coming-of-age and first love.

I placed a hold on this title after reading a review from one of my fellow bookbloggers. Recently, my hold became available, so, as a result, it was my latest Libby listen. I’m not sure how to describe this crime novel. Some parts of this were very serious – about identity theft, and sociopaths. Alternately, the other part was very fanciful – about a dog who thinks almost like a human, and, in a…

Source: Audiobook review copyPublication: 12 March 2026 from AvonNarrator: Charlie SandersonListening Time: 10hours 3 minsASIN: B0G2F5TWTX My thanks to Avon Books for a review copy There’s no smoke without fire… As someone who has suffered abuse at the hands of men, Maddie protects women by murdering those who attack them – men she calls ‘fleas’. Fleas are men who follow women home. Abusive…

Source: Audiobook review copyPublication: 19 February 2025Listening time: 9 hours 21 minutesASIN: B0FDQY8F32 My thanks to Hodder & Stoughton for an advance copy for review Three of them adrift on the narrowboat. Mother, son, and wickedness. Peggy Jenkins and her teenage son, Samson, live on a remote stretch of canal in the Midlands. She is a writer and he is a schoolboy. Together, they battle…