How to Save an Undead Life

Beginner's Guide to Necromancy Series, Book 1

By: Hailey Edwards

Narrated by: Rebecca Mitchell

Length: 8 hrs and 11 mins

Publisher's summary

Grier Woolworth spends her nights weaving spooky tales of lost souls and tragedies for tourists on the streets of downtown Savannah. Hoop skirt and parasol aside, it's not a bad gig. The pay is crap, but the tips keep the lights on in her personal haunted mansion and her pantry stocked with ramen.

Life is about as normal as it gets for an ex-necromancer hiding among humans - until the society that excommunicated Grier offers her a second chance at being more than ordinary. Too bad no one warned her the trouble with being extraordinary is it can get you killed.

Contains mature themes.

©2017 Hailey Edwards (P)2018 Tantor

Waiting

Didn’t like that we are left with nothing at then end. Made me feel cheated. Of course I had to buy the next book to see if it is worth it. Everything is a big secret and there aren’t any foreshadowing of who and what is doing anything. Hope I am not disappointed in the second book.

Full of twists!

This is my first book by Hailey Edwards and I truly enjoyed the story. The best thing about he story is, it’s different from others. The “haunted house”, the lead female and the lead male are fun, yet a little bit of a mystery.

I love Greer, she’s a down to earth girl who is trying to stay afloat in a word that wants to keep her down.

She spent 5 years in a supernatural prison for a crime she didn’t commit, and now has been pardoned.

Her best friend, her best guy (even if she hasn’t figured out he’s her best guy) and the house, Wooly, all do their best to keep her on the straight and narrow. And yes, I said the House helps. The house is alive in its own haunted way and it’s awesome.

When Danger strikes and Greer is in grave danger, all bets are off. They’ll do whatever they need to, to save her.

Story Gets Better As It Goes Along

Definitely a good story that sets up much more intrigue. I had tried out this listen several months ago and put it down. This time I listened on. Many more characters and forces are weaved into our heroine’s life, and things become more layered and unexpected. I’m excited for the next book!

Unique, hillarious, great start to the series!

I loved this book. It was a very unique story line, and I love the characters and world-building. It was good enough that I went back and started picking up all of the author's other books.

Good story, narration just ok

Enjoyed the world building and first book in the series. I switched to reading while listening at chapter 2 so I could keep track. I mostly read more the half the book. Listened to the last two chapters. Narrator was fine but for some reason I tuned out when listening early in the book. I enjoyed the book much more switching between.

3.75 Stars 🌟

I think I did this backwards in the fact that I read her other series The Potentate of Atlanta first. Apparently, this series came first and introduced the main characters and built the world. The POA series was a spin off (and now I totally get why there were times when I was confused or felt like I was missing something, but I digress...)

So, we get to meet Grier Woolworth - a necromancer- and are introduced to a kind of behind-the-scenes look into the "Society". This first book is a little choppy and the flow is nowhere near the flow and writing style that I experienced with the POA series, but BECAUSE I have read every single book of that series (and there were A LOT) as well as many of her other series, I have complete faith that this series is only going to get better as the books continue forward.

At this point, I like Grier as a character. I'm kind of confused about the "why" that she's not more upset with what happened to her - and to be honest, I don't really even understand WHY she was thrown in jail without a trial at 16 years old. But, I have faith that those reasons will be revealed....

This book did a fine job of setting the stage and beginning to build the world. I have my initial feelings about Boaz and Linus, but I am going to wait a bit more to see if my initial feelings are correct. I have my doubts about a couple of things......

Meh

It's a bit hard to follow. This is supposed to be the first book in the series, but I feel like I must have missed several prior books.

Sort of Interesting But Slow

This happens to be one of my go to authors but I was quite disappointed in this book. It was rather slow and keep losing my interest at times.

Listen at 0.95/0.90 & stick with the narrator!

I’ve read A LOT of reviews saying they just couldn’t stand the narrator’s voice (Rebecca Mitchell) and they gave up.

I think that’s a mistake. Yes, the narrator’s voice, tone, inflection and cadence are all a bit odd, at first. BUT, I found it much easier to listen, grasp and enjoy when I slowed her down just a tiny bit. I listened to this Beginner’s Guide to Necromancy series at 0.95 (listen/read to this series first for a better experience!) and then The Potentate of Atlanta series at 0.90.

Grier comes off as kind of odd herself, which considering her upbringing, traumatic experiences at Atramentous a haunted house, no family etc. - I think the narrator captured Grier’s unease and slightly odd personality quite well!

The first 3 chapters or so (maybe about 1 hour total) is all it took me to get hooked on the series, immerse my mind into the storyline and get used to the narrator’s oddities.

If you stick with it and slow her down a tiny bit, you just might fall in love with Grier and family like I did.

Another addictive series by Hailey Edwards

Ms. Edwards puts her own spin on how vampires are made in this tantalizing series set in Savannah, Georgia. Grier Woolworth lives in a haunted house, but where else would a necromancer live? With all the history of Savannah, it will be fun to see how much Hailey can incorporate.

It’s a great beginning to the series and I can’t wait for the next one. It’s refreshing to hear a narrator read a series set in the South and not lay on a thick fake accent. I thought she did an excellent job.