A Magic Touch

Memory Guild, Book 1

By: Ward Parker

Narrated by: Madeline Mrozek

Length: 7 hrs and 56 mins

Publisher's Summary

Be careful what you touch.

My name is Darla, and people think I’m weird. I know this because I’m a telepath.

After my second husband bails without a word, I’m moving back to my hometown, San Marcos, Florida, one of the nation’s oldest cities. I’m here to open a nearly 300-year-old inn and, hopefully, begin a new life. It turns out the inn comes with ghosts and other supernatural features. And the paranormal in my genes is going haywire.

My telepathy has always been hit or miss. But now, along with the arrival of my first hot flashes, I gain a new ability: psychometry. By touching an object, I can read the thoughts and emotions of other people who have touched it.

Good thoughts as well as creepy thoughts. Sweet emotions as well as memories of murder.

Yep, I help a detective investigate a murder. And not a bad-looking detective, I should add.

Living in an ancient city and running an old inn, I’m constantly touching things filled with memories.

And some of them could kill me.

©2021 Ward Parker (P)2022 Ward Parker

New first in series

This author is new to me and this is the first book in this series., It was a fun listen with great characters and paranormal elements and a mystery to solve.
And the detective is not bad either!
Madeline Mrozek did a great job with the narration.

This was a review copy and this is my honest review.

Loved it

This audio book was so great! I loved the story line and everything about this book. The narrator did a wonderful job bringing it to life!

Entertaining

This is the first book by this author that I have read or listened to. I was offered an audio copy by the narrator. I am not required to positively review the book nor the narration. These are my own opinions.

At first, I felt I was being talked down to but that is not on the narrator.

Our protagonist is Darla, and she is a psychometrist. A psychometrist defined in this book is a person that can read other people's memories by touching objects they have touched. This can be beneficial unless you haven’t learned to manage it. A side effect can be death if you relive the death of another.

I laughed out loud often while listening to this story. I found it entertaining and am looking forward to the next episode.

Great Series Starter

This was a great start to a new series. The story line and character work were well written and entertaining. Madeline Mrozek did a fantastic job of breathing life into this book and made it a joy to listen to. I can't wait for more from both author and narrator.

I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.

Entertaining read

I loved this book. with a middle age lead character. Finally a book for me with humor and a mystery! Narration helped to bring the characters to life. Can't wait for the next book.

Super hard to wait for book 2

Madeline did a superb job with narration. I felt I knew each of the characters so much better from inflection and cadence she used. The story is great and I really cannot wait to find out about the last husband. No spoilers here, read or listen for yourself!

Fantastic Mystery

Darla is telepathic, she can touch stuff and see past scenes. Darla finds her friend dead with an old coin in her mouth. Now she must investigate and find the killer. I'll admit I got this audiobook cause I liked the look of the cover and I had no clue what it was about, I'm glad to find out that it's a paranormal mystery. I liked this book, Darla is a good character. I have nothing against fast paced mysteries but sometimes you just need a good slow burn mystery, this is a slow burn. This audio drew me quickly, soon I was doing my guessing game of who did it, I never win that game. I can't wait to listen to the other books in this series. Ward Parker is new to me and I'm glad I found him. The narrator of this audio did a very good job.

Too much fun!

evil, adventure, mysteries, greed, Florida, paranormal, ghosts, vampire, werewolves, witches, antiques, hospitality-industry, gargoyle, situational-humor, verbal-humor, guilds, law-enforcement, historic-buildings, historical-figures, historical-places-events, historical-research, history-and-culture, supernatural, family-dynamics, middle-aged, relationship-issues, renovation*****

I'm not a Floridian, but I do really geek history, and this book has lots of it!
Magic runs in her family so she's accustomed to it, but she suddenly discovers a talent for psychometry, her mother's new talents, her daughter's lack of direction since college, AND the dead body of her dear friend. AND a historic coin with some really bad effects. And THAT"S just the beginning! Lots of humor, several centuries of Floridian historical tidbits, a skeptical (but hot) police detective, and lots of characters who are memorable and delightful. Loved it!
Madeline Mrozek has the monumental task of narrating this great story, giving life to the cast of many, and managing to keep from laughing out loud!

Nice story!

Interesting urban fantasy adventure involving a woman starting over, a murder mystery, magical item, and the paranormal world. Likable characters and entertaining storyline. Looking forward to book 2. The narrator did a good job with providing unique voices for each character and appropriate tone inflections for each scene. I received a free copy of this audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.

Intriguing urban fantasy

After two failed marriages, Darla Chesswick decides to start a new life and returns to her hometown, where she purchases a 300-year-old inn in hopes of getting herself on her feet. Her plan was good, but the second day back, she finds her best friend murdered in her shop with a strange coin hidden in her mouth. But Darla is not like any other fifty-something woman; she is a telepath and can read people's memories through objects they touched. This is how she finds out about her friend's murderer, and makes her mission to find him and avenge her friend's death.

This was a fun and entertaining story. I'm not so used to reading paranormal books, but I like urban fantasy, so I gave this audiobook a try. Darla is not the most charismatic of characters, but her actions awoke something in me. She is initially a bit of a mess, but who wouldn't be at discovering a new superpower? She grows over time, though, and I quite liked her towards the end of the book. Some fantastic characters inhabit Darla's new home that I found very endearing: my favorite ones were a gargoyle with a British accent and a vampire that's been trapped for many years. It's all so hilarious that it made me want to live in the rickety old inn.

But not everything is funny in this book. The murderer soon catches wind of Darla's nosing around, so she will fear for her life. There is quite some action and thrill, especially in the book's second half.

To show how Darla's telemetry works, Parker wrote monologues as they were "thought" when touching a specific object. I'm not so sure about this approach. I usually like flashbacks in stories, but this way of doing them broke the story's rhythm. There's also the fact that not everyone thinks in words. I usually don't, so it felt weird hearing characters describing their actions while performing them.

While the story in this book was generally light and entertaining, the glimpse about what we may see in future books really caught my interest. I'm looking forward to the next installment!

Still, my favorite part of this audiobook was Madeline Mrozrek's narration. She brought the characters to life with exquisite interpretations and different voices and styles for them all. In addition, the audio production was spotless. This is one of those cases where a good story becomes excellent thanks to the narrator.

I received this book for free in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

Midlife fun

Loved the story plenty of fun and twists and turns. Loved the characters and well read by the nurator so thumbs up from me 😊

A magic listen!

A well written, well narrated tale of witchery and other creatures that will keep you entertained and wanting to follow the heroine, hopefully, into another book. I will look forward to it!!!

Brilliant first in series

Darla Chesswick has move back to San Marcos. To start again a year after her second husband left her. She has bought an old inn and plans to fix it up and run it. When she discovers the friend she was planing on staying with dead life take a very dangerous turn. Her powers expand . this is the first book in what promises to be an excellent series. I am adding this series to my TBR list

The narration is excellent
I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.

Fascinating story

I found the first chapter difficult, as a UK reader the strong American accent was a little off putting but I’m so glad I persevered by the end of the second chapter I was totally hooked on the story and listened for over 3 hours at a sitting it was so hard to let it go. If you like supernatural you will love this.