A Witch's Handbook of Kisses and Curses

Half-Moon Hollow, Book 7

By: Molly Harper

Narrated by: Amanda Ronconi

Length: 9 hrs

Publisher's summary

Nola Leary would have been content to stay in Kilcairy, Ireland, healing villagers at her family’s clinic with a mix of magic and modern medicine. But a series of ill-timed omens and a deathbed promise to her grandmother have sent her on a quest to Half-Moon Hollow, Kentucky, to secure her family’s magical potency for the next generation. Her supernatural task? To unearth four artifacts hidden by her grandfather before a rival magical family beats her to it.

Complication One: The artifacts are lost somewhere in vampire Jane Jameson’s occult bookshop. Complication Two: Her new neighbor, Jed Trudeau, keeps turning up half-naked at the strangest times, a distraction Nola doesn’t need. And teaming up with a real-life Adonis is as dangerous as it sounds, especially since Jed’s got the face of an angel and the abs of a washboard. Can Nola complete her mission before falling completely under his spell?

©2013 Molly Harper White (P)2013 Audible, Inc.

Enough about the accent!

Yes, I read the reviews. And, as soon as the book got underway I became a bit salty about those comments. Listen everyone... NOT everyone can have a beautiful, lyrical accent! Some of us (Nola included) have mixed up, cobbled together speach patterns! And Amanda Roconi plays the part to perfection, BTW! She sounds Bostonian and Irish because, get this guys, SHE IS! That sort of thing can happen when a person is raised in between two very different locations. Being a redneck Hispanic woman I can relate a bit. Ok, hissy fit over.
This story is so lovely and it also tied together so many small details so well! There is a small part (small SPOILER ahead) in which Nola plays back a memory about her mother coming to "take her to live with her" when she was a young girl which brought me to tears (SPOILER OVER here).
Molly Harper does an excellent job here! If, for some reason, you can't handle Boston accents then I can imagine this isn't the book for you. But, if you want to read about Half Moon Hallow, love Jane Jameson and all her wonderful family, AND get to know new friends and family, this is the book for you.

WONDERFULLY DIFFERENT

Loved it! A few more new characters and some of the old crew to keep you laughing.

A fun sweet story

If you are looking for a sweet story full of magic and magical creatures this one is perfect. Great characters and narration.

Just ignore the accent

The narrator's interpretation of the main character's accent is painful, but other than that the book is another great installment in the Half Moon Hollow series.

Sad to be SO disappointed with the narration...

First and foremost, I LOVE Molly Harper's books. I have listened to all of them in the audiobook format and until now have never been disappointed. I am very sad to say that the narration so is poor that I find myself distracted from the great writing. Until now I have really enjoyed Amanda Ronconi's work. However, the Boston accent is so bad in this recording that at first I actually thought it was a joke and part of the storyline. The narrator will read an entire passage with no accent whatsoever and then throw in one or two of the well-known cliche Boston accent words (pahk the caah, etc.). When she does this I'm a instantly snapped out of the story and focused on the strange accent.

While I agree a series should stick with the same narrator whenever possible, if the author felt the Boston accent was too important to the story to lose (I haven't finished the book, but at this point that doesn't seem to be the case) a different narrator would have been a better choice.

I always anxiously await Molly Harper's work and will continue to do so. I hope any future new accents are fully vetted before recording begins. Harper's books deserve the best possible narration and unfortunately this one misses the mark.

A FUN WITCHY ROMP THROUGH KENTUCKY

I'm loving these little spinoffs that Molly Harper does and this one might be the best of them all!

Once again Amanda Ronconi knocks it out of the ballpark though I was a bit confused at first because every blurb I read said this newcomer to the world of Jane Jameson was from Ireland. Let me clarify before you listen - she is actually from Boston until she was sent to live with family in Ireland. I was horrified at first, thinking my beloved narrator couldn't pull off an Irish accent to save her life. I kept hearing Bostonian. It wasn't until later that I learned she was from Boston and the whole thing made sense... so don't worry - she's supposed to sound that way.

Nola is a healer witch who is raised after the age of 14 by her Irish grandmother and is essentially now in charge of her family's witchy heritage. For a while now they've been feuding with another clan and every now and then have to cast a magical spell to keep the village safe. Unfortunately the 4 elemental objects they need to do this were hidden so well they aren't even in Ireland anymore; Nola's grandmother sent them away with her lover when he left... without telling him she was pregnant.

Now Nola has traveled to Kentucky to find her grandfather's shop is now run by a vampire; Jane Jameson and her crew make wonderful appearances throughout the novel enough to this time be actual minor characters. While searching through the loads of artifacts in the shops, Nola meets Jed, and despite having left her boyfriend back in Ireland she can't help be drawn to this Tennessee born cajun (okay that part I didn't understand but who cares - he's hot!) Fun ensues as Nola weaves her way into the hearts of everyone, especially Dick.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. It could be a stand alone novel but I highly recommend reading all the others because they are all mentioned somewhere along the way. 5 stars!

hilarious and suspenseful

I absolutely LOVE this series so far! my only peeve was that the accents weren't explained until later in the book. For your reference, Nola is originally from Boston, moved to Ireland, and Jeb has a Cajun twang, in addition to his southern drawl, that is explained later. The narrator did an awesome job with the mishmash of accents, once understood what the premise was.

Much better than last Harper book

I thought this was a much better book than "Driving Mr. Dead". I found the humor in this book on par with some of Ms. Harper's better books. Characters had interesting backgrounds that made me want to see how things turned out. Yes, the book is predictable in it's final outcome. It's a romcom book. The fun is about the twists and turns on the way there. This book did a good job.

I would recommend reading all the the "Nice Girls Don't..." series first as this book relies heavily on characters from those books and the inside jokes may be lost on you without that.

Finally, the reader, Amanda Ronconi, may have been tasked too hard for this book. I really sympathize as she is a great reader and does many accents well. But, the lead character in this book is supposed to have an accent that is a combination of Boston (think JFK) and Irish. It was at times painful to listen to. Yuck. I don't think Ms. Ronconi blew it as much as that was just a horrible accent to assign to any character - that was all Molly Harper's fault. The reader sounded best at times when she just gave up on trying to put any Boston in and just let Irish roll out. After a few hours you'll get used to it, but wow, it's like adjusting to eating cheeseburgers with chocolate sauce on top. You could do it, but it just hurts to think about.

I'm a Molly Harper junkie...

What did you love best about A Witch's Handbook of Kisses and Curses?

I love the fact that there is a whole new crop of friends in Half-Moon hollow but we aren't ditching those whom we already love! Nola is feisty and independent, which I love in my heroines, but she's also a bit vulnerable which keeps her relate-able. (Okay, that's not a word, but it accurately conveys my opinion!)

I love Molly Harper books! I just wish we had more of them or that they were released faster. Granted, she has to have time to write them, but I really enjoy the wit, snark, and fun that can always be found in her work. I am not a fan of my housecleaning days, but I really don't mind them when I have a Molly Harper audio book to keep me company while I wash floors and dust my living room. Even folding laundry isn't nearly as tedious when I can laugh over the antics of her characters!

Amanda Ronconi is a great narrator, but there was just something off with her rendition of Nola. The Bostonian/Irish didn't work for me. There were times when it was inconsistent and just annoying. It will grow on you, but you really have to listen for awhile before that happens. Until then - well, its just annoying. I would have preferred that she just not have an accent or adopt a regional dialect in this case. I would have enjoyed it more without the Bostonian/Irish lilt.

Loved it - you will too!

What a great book loved it and you will TOOO witches and elements on my!