Blood and Mistletoe (Ivy Granger)

De: E. J. Stevens

Narrado por: Melanie A. Mason, David Wilson Brown

Holidays are worse than a full moon for making people crazy. In Harborsmouth, where many of the residents are undead vampires or monstrous fae, the combination may prove deadly.

Ivy Granger, psychic private investigator, returns to the streets of Harborsmouth in this addition to the best-selling urban fantasy series.

Holidays are hell, a point driven home when a certain demon attorney returns with information regarding a series of bloody murders. Five Harborsmouth residents have been killed, and every victim has one thing in common - they are fae. Whoever is killing faeries must be stopped, but they leave only one clue behind - a piece of mistletoe floating in a pool of the victim's blood.

The holidays just got interesting. Too bad this case may drive Ivy mad before the New Year. Heck, she'll be lucky to survive Christmas.

©2012 E.J. Stevens (P)2015 E.J. Stevens

not your typical holiday story

This is not your typical holiday story as Ivy is told of fae being murdered, which of course she must help stop. Once again EJ Stevens creates a great story bridging the gap between book 1 and 2. Great development of Jinx, Ivy, and the other minor characters as well as telling a very interesting story. The narration is great and having 2 narrators allows for more diversity in voices allowing for more variation for the various characters. Ivy is a strong brave heroine in these books and is very loyal to her friends sometimes to a fault.
I received a free copy of the audiobook and am voluntarily leaving my honest review of the production of this book.

An interesting story, read well.

I do like stories with multiple narrators so the women don't have to sound like men and vice versa. The narrators did a good jobs with the characters. It was a well-written story too.

I received a free copy from the author under no obligation to write this review. I just wanted to do it.

Good but not her best

I was a bit disappointed with this story it was good but no where near her other Ivy Granger stories.

Good story but subpar narration

I received a copy of this book in audio format from the author in exchange for an honest review.

Ivy is decided to spend a normal Christmas now that she has a boyfriend. But he is called to resolve a problem, and the shortly after, Ivy will get a new case to solve. Five fae have been recently killed in Harborsmouth, leaving behind a piece of mistletoe in a pool of the victim's blood.

After listening to book one, I have to say that I have enjoyed this one more. We are not drowned in interminable monologues and explanations like at the beginning of the series, which makes things flow more smoothly. The rhythm does not feel completely okay though, having some parts very slow and others very fast like Stevens is skipping things and not giving the grade of detail she should. I think she should find a balance to make stories more enjoyable. One tends to zone out on the slow parts and them, bam! we are somewhere else.

I had issues again connecting to the characters and feeling the urgency of the search for the murderer. I think this is due to the issues previously described. It is true that it is a bit better compared with book one, but there is still a lot of room for improvement.

What I did not enjoy at all this time was the narration. It was mostly done by Melanie A. Mason. Although her interpretation skills are quite good, I missed some different voices for the different characters. All sounded the same. David Wilson Brown had a few lines corresponding to some characters, but his interpretation felt out of place, and it did not make sense that a male narrator was used for female characters when there was already a female narrator. This confused me a lot, since at first it seemed Brown's voice was used for male characters, as it should have been. I wonder who made this decision and why. The audio production had several issues too. There are several very noticeable audio edits on Melanie A. Mason's part. So noticeable that for those bits it seems she was using the unedited audio. Brown's parts sounded louder than the rest, which felt quite abrupt and broke the rhythm of the narration.

Also, it could be a personal preference, but I preferred Tracy Odom as Ivy Granger. This is one of those series where we get a change of narrator. Books one and two are narrated by Tracy Odom, while the rest are narrated by Melanie A. Mason and a male narrator. I guess this is due to Mason's limited voice range.

I am curious as to where this series will go, so expect more reviews in the next weeks.

Great book

As always E.J. Stevens has written another great book and even better book to listen to.

Holidays are Hell!

I really enjoyed this story. I actually messed up and ended up listening to this story first before listening to Shadow Sight, which is book #1. Once I realized what I had done I went back to listen to the first story. In all honesty I think this story was better than the first one. I think author E. J. Stevens has created a great series. I loved the characters in this series and they all have important parts to play in each story. This story is packed with excitement, action, mystery, and a unique twist. This story has folklore and Stevens uses different and various reference to mythology. The creatures and myths are perfectly written in this story. I recommend if you've read/listened to Shadow Sight, then make sure you get this novella book #1.5. and it's well worth the purchase.

Melanie A. Mason and David Wilson Brown did a great job as they team up to tell this story. They made a great duo as they bring this story to life.

I received this audio at no charge from the author/narrator in exchange for an honest and unbiased review through Audiobook Blast.

just okay

Audio Version Review
I was gifted this book in exchange for an honest review. Ivy is a psychic detective on the path of a killer. She is strong, resilient and Fae. Her supporting cast is well developed in this novella. The story-tellers David and Melanie definitely get the job done. This is the first book that I have "read" that has a dual narration and that was a bit distracting to me. I almost felt as though Melanie was not able to create individual characters through her voice, so I suspected that David was brought in to fill that gap. The story was just okay for me, I am partial to a little more romance. This would be highly recommended to a YA audience who is all about a little mystery. Three fangs.

Story great!......Audio not so great.

Ivy the most popular private investigator right now is swamped with cases! After her successful battle with the big nasty in Shadow Sight, her phone has been non-stop ringing! That devil of a demon, Forneus, returns to let Ivy know that there have been fae murders happening in town that no one seems to be paying much attention to. Five fae to be exact and they all have nothing in common. Boy does Ivy have her work cut out for her!

While Ivy is contemplating how to go about her investigation, she begins to experience the downside to dating the Kelpie King Ceff, and is totally bummed out for the holidays, (which is the first holiday in a long time she has actually had a boyfriend :(

I totally felt bad for Ivy for multiple reasons in this book. First off her Psychometry gift. The ability puts her in the servitude of others because she can't touch anything! How do you shop, make food when you're hungry, wipe your own ass because the toilet seat or paper may have had contact with someone when they had horrible diarrhea! I mean WTH! It does seem more like a curse than a gift to me, just like it does to Ivy! Secondly, she has a boyfriend now, how the hell are they going to do the bump and grind?! They've been dating for months now and not even a toe curling kiss from him! This good deed stuff she's doing with her "gift" better get her Sainthood!

Blood and Mistletoe is a great addition to the Ivy Granger Series! I enjoyed how the characters' relationships are coming together for me, and their development. However, I will highly recommend you read the book rather than listen to the audiobook. I rate this book with 4 Stars. Read the narrators review to see my explanation.

Narrators Review

This novella was narrated by two people, neither one the narrator for book one, two or three. Melanie Mason and David Wilson-Brown narrated Blood and Mistletoe. I'm not sure how the book was produced but it sounded as though they didn't record together in the same studio. The quality of the recording was not professional! Melanie narrated and David belted out loudly for side characters throughout the book. Although I should say David did an excellent job with the introduction, and has a very nice voice, that wasn't my problem with David. David's recorded parts were way off kilter with Melanie's, so when he speaks he is much louder than Melanie. Plus, when David did speak his line, the tone and emotion in his voice doesn't match the mood for the scene he is reading for. If David were to have been in the studio with Melanie, the flow of conversation would have been nicer and at least at the same volume level for Pete's sake!

Melanie's role in the audio fiasco was a different story. Her sound quality was fine but it was obvious when stopped/started recording. During a scene her voice clearly sounded different, and the tone as well, so you can hear when the recording is cobbled together. Also, although Melanie has a nice voice, she wasn't a good fit for Ivy Granger. I'm not sure if it's biased because I already heard Traci Odom as Ivy and really connected with her as Ivy, or if I felt like I met Ivy she just wouldn't sound like that. Personal preference I guess, and doesn't mean Melanie has a bad voice.

I give the narration 1 Star. The poor quality took away from my listening pleasure, which is why my overall rating is 3 Stars.

Great short story

Ivy and Jinx are adorable. It’s the holidays and they are hunting down a fae killer. The book is fast moving. Each character is well developed. The story flows well. I recommend this book to anyone who likes magical characters and investigative stories. I enjoyed the book and look forward to reading , listening to more in the Ivy Granger series.

The narrator was great. She is enthusiastic and a joy to listen to.

Love this author

I just love this author. She always has the most unique take. I really like how she mixes paranormal with mystery.

The narrator was wonderful. I can’t wait to see what comes next from either of these two.