A Southern Charms Cozy Potluck

A Paranormal Cozy Mystery Box Set, Books 1-3

By: Bella Falls

Narrated by: Johanna Parker

Length: 22 hrs and 48 mins

Publisher's summary

Magic and mystery are only part of the Southern Charms of Honeysuckle Hollow....

Moonshine & Magic: Charli Goodwin finds herself at the center of a mystery that threatens the very foundations of Honeysuckle Hollow and the safety of every paranormal citizen in it - starting with Charlie herself. With the clock ticking, will Charli's special magical talents be enough to save not only the town but her own life?

Fried Chicken & Fangs: When an outspoken resident who opposes the changes to the magical small Southern town turns up dead, it's up to Charli Goodwin and her special talents to get on the case...except her valuable magic doesn't seem to be working. Will Charli be able to figure out who is pulling the strings before the foundations of the town are destroyed?

Sweet Tea & Spells: Lots of changes in town and in her life, including her ex-fiance's upcoming wedding to her cousin, have Charli Goodwin trying to be on her best behavior. But when an outsider infiltrates Honeysuckle and another death threatens to ruin more than just the future of the upcoming nuptials, Charli winds up at the center of another murder investigation.

©2019 Bella Falls (P)2020 Tantor

Narrator brought story to life

I like how fun and mischief this series is!! Charlie bird likes to find and solve problems. Great series

A Little Heavy on the Potty Humor

After the 1,000th utterance, “pixie poop” loses its southern charm. Same goes for “hexing your hinney” and “hinney” in general. Talk of unicorn farts fails to impress. The author seems hung up on bodily fluids/functions.

She does craft a decent mystery, however. There are a few too many inconsequential characters. As well as characters who should play a more prominent role who we are not introduced to before they just appear in the third person, such as Matt’s wife, TJ.

These books are allllllll about the narrator. Johanna Parker is incredible and fun. Her tired old Nana voices are pretty much the same for every old woman, but I’ll overlook that. Her pacing is impeccable. Charlie comes off a bit too Gumpish, but I’ll ignore that, too. She does magic with the source material. These stories might not rate without her.

A Warm Milk Book

The first time I heard Johanna Parker's voice was in her reading of the Sookie Stackhouse books. I was going through a hard time, so sad, my head full of worries, and I couldn't sleep. Prior to this time, I had always turned my nose up at audio books as I thought it was "not really reading." However, in a state of mind I needed to escape from time to time, Overdrive and Audible became a lifeline. I have come to understand audiobooks as not reading but listening to a story, a human past time long before writing and reading came along. Reading demands more attention and participation, as we build the world when we engage our internal narrator. But what to do when we want a break from our internal narrator without sitting in front of a television or computer? I discovered listening to a storyteller, a talented narrator who helps paint the picture and set the mood, the perfect solution. When my internal narrator was droning a monologue of doom and gloom and I was too distressed to fall asleep, I listened to Ms. Parker's sweet, southern drawl tell Charlaine Harris's tales of lascivious vampires.

Johanna Parker, the narrator of these books, is the reason I decided to select the series during a 2 for 1 sale on Audible. I am glad I did. Though I am doing much better, I still appreciate what I call "warm milk" books. Warm milk books need to have two things: 1) A narrator with a sweet, soft voice and 2) A story that is whimsical, fantastical, and as far from real world concerns as possible while having just enough intrigue to keep one listening rather than thinking. This series has both of those qualities, and that is why I recommend it. Parker's voice may not be for everyone, but if you haven't listened to her before, I encourage you to sample this series and see if she is for you. I believe she does a wonderful job of portraying an earnest, intelligent, down-to-earth southern belle with a heart-of-gold and one supernatural gift or another. I liked this series also for the writing, which was much more darling than the Stackhouse series. This was nice for me, because I am not so interested in sex or gore in my warm milk books. This is a sweet, charming series to listen to and I am happy to have it in my collection.

Enjoyed the series

I really like book sets and this one was light and entertaining. Head strong female character finding her way and learning to trust her gift

Charlie Bird

3 fun stories about a tracker and all the trouble she gets into. Don’t listen to those that say the narrator is slow, just bump the speed to 1.1 and enjoy.

Great little stories

These are great little stories, this is a very nice clean series. If you’re looking for sex or steamy, you won’t find it here it’s very PG, but entertaining in my humble opinion.

quirky witch story

this was a new take on the witch community stories and we'll done. I can see where the author could do a lit mire stories even using other characters from this line

A fun unique series

The stories are fun and getting to know the characters made the book! Not big into love triangles but that wasn’t a major focus

Cute

Very cute collection, as a southern woman, the way the narrator spoke soooo extremely slow that it grated on me at first. I got used to it eventually though and it didn’t bother me as much. But stories are cute.

Worth the read but I’m glad they were free 🤷🏼‍♀️

First the narrator is amazing. I can see how some said it takes a few mins to get used to her but I love her.
The story line is good but…it’s not consistent. Without giving anything away…this will be fun🤦🏼‍♀️😂 Apparently things can happen to some and not others…. And others can’t get involved but get to, then get in trouble for doing nothing…just to do it again. Then…they get to make stupid decisions when they shouldn’t🤦🏼‍♀️🤯
It’s still a fun book. Just be prepared to wanna jump in the book & b!tc% smack someone. 🤷🏼‍♀️