Any Witch Way You Can (Wicked Witches of the Midwest Book 1)

By: Amanda M. Lee

Narrated by: Aris

Length: 6 hrs and 13 mins

Publisher's Summary

Bay Winchester is having a tough week.

As the local editor of Hemlock Cove's only newspaper, she just happens to be present when a body is found in an area corn maze. To make matters worse, the police believe the murder may have something to do with the occult.

This wouldn't be a problem for a normal reporter, but since Bay is descended from a well-known line of actual witches, the town is understandably on edge.

Between the suspicious townspeople, the befuddled police presence and that random hot biker guy that may or may not have something to do with the murder -- Bay has her hands full.

When you add the typical family problems, multiplying ghosts -- and one monster of a zit that she's sure came from her aunt's curse -- Bay is just struggling to make it through the week.

Of course, when the killer sets his sights on Bay, things could get a whole lot worse.

Note: These books are full of sarcasm and are a little bit snarky -- so read only if you like to laugh and you aren't easily offended. This is the first book in the Wicked Witches of the Midwest mystery series.

©2012 Amanda M. Lee (P)2015 Amanda M. Lee

Be Ware

What disappointed you about Any Witch Way You Can (Wicked Witches of the Midwest Book 1)?

The narrator did not read very well. She continuously mispronounced words.

If you’ve listened to books by Amanda M. Lee before, how does this one compare?

This is my first book.

How did the narrator detract from the book?

She did not no how to pronounce certain words.

You didn’t love this book... but did it have any redeeming qualities?

The story line was interesting.

Any additional comments?

If the book were free, I wouldn't complain but because I had to use a credit, I am unhappy.

Horrible narrator!!! Please get a new one!!!

How could the performance have been better?

The narrator is HORRIBLE. I gave up on it initially. I went back and stuck with it despite the narrator. PLEASE find a better narrator!!!!! Her pronunciation is terrible. She can't do character voices. Her inflection is practically non existant. I could find no saving graces with this narrator.

narrator needs to slow down and be more diverse in

narrator too fast and all voices were alike. good premise though. will try #2. book.

This Book

What did you like best about Any Witch Way You Can (Wicked Witches of the Midwest Book 1)? What did you like least?

This book wasn't exactly what I had been hoping for. Actually I am not sure how I even made it to the end. Let's face it, the book was boring. It had no substance to it. Even the characters you do not get to know well. The entire book was focused on a house full of women that had to fight and bicker constantly, with a few dead bodies thrown in for good measure. How it could even claim to be a mystery book is beyond me as well. I guessed right away who it was because there was only a handful of people it could of been.

Could you see Any Witch Way You Can (Wicked Witches of the Midwest Book 1) being made into a movie or a TV series? Who should the stars be?

The performance was absolutely horrible. It sounded like someone was reading a book to me and not doing a very good job of it. At one point in the book she was actually reading with her nose plugged. It sounded so awful that I burst out laughing.

Any additional comments?

Both the author and the narrator need to get new jobs.

Predictable and poorly read.

What could have made this a 4 or 5-star listening experience for you?

A different narrator, one who knows how to pronounce simple words like "vehemently." Really, has Aris never had an actual conversation? Also, an audio book should be more of a play and less of a speed read. Giving the characters personality and life makes for a much more enjoyable listen.

How did the narrator detract from the book?

The narrator was monotonal, has little to no grasp of word pronunciation, and reads too fast.

Any additional comments?

I drive 1,000 miles every week for work. To make is less tedious, I listen to a lot of audio books, this has been my least favorite so far.

Just stressful to read

What would have made Any Witch Way You Can (Wicked Witches of the Midwest Book 1) better?

This book was six hours long. Five hours were passive-aggressive family drama that raised my blood pressure, and one hour was plot. The writing was almost all dialogue, and very little action took place that wasn't people speaking to each other, usually to be obnoxious to each other. The protagonist and her cousins are in their twenties, I think, but consistently act like teenagers in how they interact with their parents and each other. The writing is very bland and spare, and it leaves me wanting to have some description or interest in the scenes or characters. But it's just more Midwestern passive-aggression, again and again, for hours. I've read books with that kind of family dynamic before that didn't constantly grate on my nerves, so I know it can be done.

The witches in question are boring and inactive. There's no consistent system of magic. There's no interest in or appreciation of magic at all. The love interest is ludicrous. Characterization fluctuates wildly (example: Aunt Tilly is both hyper-perceptive and completely oblivious to sarcasm, depending on the chapter). There's a huge amount of body-shaming of older women. The majority of attitudes towards marijuana are straight out of Reefer Madness, and when they're finally revealed to be hypocritical, the joke falls extremely flat.

I sped the playback up the farther along in the book I got so that I wouldn't have to listen to it for as long.

Would you ever listen to anything by Amanda M. Lee again?

Until I have three good friends tell me a different book of hers is completely different, no. Definitely not.

What didn’t you like about Aris’s performance?

I can't tell if she wasn't a very good performer, or if it just seemed that way because of the writing.

What character would you cut from Any Witch Way You Can (Wicked Witches of the Midwest Book 1)?

Aunt Tilly, most of the family, Landon.

Any additional comments?

There are better books for you to read.

awful!

the book would have been entertaining but the reader was so bad. when she pinches her nose to make a voice I was done with book

yuck...slow to start and unrealistic end.

Boring but I could not tell if it was the reader or the story itself

Meh

This book, oh, this book.

It has a great premise. Its execution is not even that horrible. It has as good a plot as you are going to find in this type of book. It has almost likeable characters. There is plenty of sequel bait if one likes it to have the opportunity for many more.

But the editing. Wait, there was no editing. If there was editing, the author needs a refund.

Here are a few of the phrases that stood out (note: I was listening to the Audible version and only wrote down quotes/words when convenient): "I rose my eyebrows confrontationally." Okay. I guess her eyebrows were up in arms about something. Still don't know how one can do that confrontationally unless they were advancing on someone else.
"Extended beer gut." I guess that would be as opposed to the flat beer guts.
"She was understandably curious, which I understand." Hmmm. I don't understandably understand.
"I mentally kicked myself." Glad for the clarification.
"Nodded mutely." Nodded speakingly I guess would be the opposite.
"Muttered blandly." Hmm. "Muttered spicily" would be if they were having Indian food, I guess.

And I added my comments only because that is what I thought when I heard those clips. I was taken out of the story time and time again by comments like these.

Every action had an adverb in front of it. They couldn't be slumbering, they had to be "happily slumbering." They "nodded mutely," when "nodded" would have been fine and dandy. She couldn't just be "curious," she had to be "understandably curious."

That is the kind of stuff that a good editor will deal with for the author. That is the kind of stuff that will make people not remember your story but remember your -ly adjectives and adverbs being unrelenting.

And then there was the dialogue. If I weren't so educated on YA books, I would dismissively say, (see, I can do it, too) "Oh, this dialogue belongs in a YA book." But I know that dialogue in YA books can be very quick and clever and not all snark, quirkiness, and attempts to be too cute for words.

There were a number of good parts of the book. I liked the characters when they weren't so snarky or know it all. I liked some of the parent-child interactions. But much of the book was cute and quirky for cute and quirky's sake.

Since I did listen to the Audible version, I will say a thing or two about the narrator. First, she read very, very swiftly. Second, she pronounced some words incorrectly. (See, that dang -ly popping up again.) "Vehemently" was pronounced "vee-HE-ment-lee." Strong emphasis on "he" when "he" is really not how it is pronounced. This word came up a number of times in various forms and all were mispronounced.
Now, since I didn't follow along with the text, I don't know if the wrong word was written a few times or if the narrator just read the word wrong, but that happened. Again, totally takes you out of the narrative.
She also seemed too arch. Again, that might have more to do with the written dialogue than the spoken, but it was an issue. Sometimes I felt it was totally the wrong tone to be taking.


I so wanted to love this book. As it was, I just finished it because I didn't want to start another one.

Was this re recorded?

I swear I used to have a copy of this audio book narrated by someone else. This voice talent is terrible.

I'm Sorry - couldn't finish it

I listen to a lot of books and rarely send one back - but I'm afraid this one will have to be returned. I can't comment on the story as I was unable to listen beyond 20 minutes. The problem was the narrator who sounded very young, which isn't a bad thing in itself. However, she also gabbled her words so quickly that I found it impossible to continue listening. A Shame. I won't buy anything narrated by Aris again.

Magical Mayhem 🎃

Story witty and beautifully narrated by Aris, enjoyed up to book 7 of this series and fell in love with the characters. Such a disappointment narrators changed and cannot endure Hollis, who doesn't fully distinguish between characters. For wonderful narration and bringing to life the players in this story, it's a 5 ☆ for this book. lots of lol moments. long live aunt Tilly!

Very entertaining

I liked it so much I went on to buy the rest of the series and have picked up some of the short stories and fairy-tale offshoots

Terrible narration!

How could the performance have been better?

The narrator was terrible, really rushed reading, pauses and emphasis in the wrong places. I had to give up on the story because I couldn't stand her voice. I was enjoying the story but really couldn't tolerate the narrator.