Storm in a Teacup

By: Emmie Mears

Narrated by: Amber Benson

Length: 10 hrs and 7 mins

Publisher's summary

Mediator Ayala Storme kills demons by night and handles PR by day. She avoids Mediator luncheons and a fellow Mediator who’s been trying to get in her pants for years. She does her job. She keeps her sword clean and her body count high.

But when a rash of disappearances leads her to discover that Nashville’s hellkin are spawning a new race of monster on human hosts, Ayala will be the first line of defense against these day-walking killers. That is until one of them saves her life. Dodging the Mediators and the demons alike, Ayala’s new knowledge of the hybrids’ free will challenges everything she’s ever known about her job. Racing the clock and trying to outrun her comrades and enemies alike, she’s not sure who will catch her first....

Cover design by Jes Negron.

©2015 Emmie Mears (P)2015 Audible, Inc.

Enjoyable tale.

The narration was OK. not my favorite, not the worst. The story is good. I skipped parts to get through it faster. I will try the next one.

Strong female lead and good story

The story had some holes but was over all a great read. The performance could have been better. She was not able to do more than a couple different voices so the dialog could have been stronger. The main character is a strong female lead that is easy to root for with witty one liners.

Good story!

Would you try another book from Emmie Mears and/or Amber Benson?

I would try another book by Emmie Mears. Not sure about Amber Benson. Her voice wasn't as animated as I expected

Who was your favorite character and why?

My favorite character was Ayala. She has very important decisions to make and not a lot of time to make them. She's tough, but only on the outside because she cares a lot about creatures.

Did the narration match the pace of the story?

It did. The narrator got into the groove of the story about 1/3 the way through. After that, the story reeled me in.

Was Storm in a Teacup worth the listening time?

It was. Storm in a Teacup was a good book. It kept me interested and I even was nervous for the characters a few times. It was good.

Any additional comments?

At first, the narrator wasn't sparking my interest. Her voice for the protagonist was very hard and sharp. I thought it was just me and after listening awhile, I decided it really was just me. The protagonist is a very hard and sharp woman who is in a difficult place. She has a mystery to badge3v4solve and some difficult moral choices. Her employer is not exactly understanding a new hybrid demon/human because "it's always been done this way." Famous last words. Kill that which you do not understand.

The narrator doesn't use much voice range in the characters, but it wasn't a deal breaker. I didn't like the narrator's voice much when I first started listening, but as I got wrapped up in the story, the voice seemed to fit better and better.

The ending isn't a cliffhanger, nor is it a happily ever after. It's not death and mayhem, just moving on. I like the HEA much better, but it's ok. Give it a shot.

Good story, mediocre performance.

I found the storyline good enough that I am curious to read more books and see what happens with the characters. My only objection would be the narration. The performer, does well enough with the narrative and voice of the main character. However, when it comes to other characters, especially men, she falls woefully short. Their voices come across as stereo typical and forced. She does not realize that it is the content, wording and flow that allow us to perceive the differences between characters be they men or women. Her rendering of male voices I find so ridiculous, that I'm not sure I can even listen to another book. Rather than buy sequels from audible books, I will more than likely buy them from Kindle and read them myself. I'm sure my imagination will be a vast improvement over the Audible performance.

excellent

loved it. really. going to buy extra credits now to get more of this series. kick ass heroine. urban paranormal.

Unique Story with Rough Narration

This story was unique and, after a slow start for the first half, finally picked up and got more interesting and complex. My biggest issue was with the narration. All but the main character sounded like cartoon voices; it was distracting and detracted from the story a lot. :(

Ok, found a good series!

This was an entertaining, hold your interest, Sci fi ? mystery.
I wanted to listen right through but was unable. Picking it back up was like easily falling back into the story. Hope the next one is just as enjoyable!

Alternate Reality on A Unicorn

What did you love best about Storm in a Teacup?

Quirky, interesting protagonist, BRILLIANT characterizations by Amber Benson.

What did you like best about this story?

Engaging Alternate universe to support an intriguing plot, and characters

What does Amber Benson bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

A tour-de-force of voice characterizations. Instead of one person reading different parts, sometimes I slipped into believing I was hearing different people speaking. I wish ALL Audio books had this level of voice acting

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

Lord yes. It was ha5rd to pause

Ayala yes, Amber no!!

I really liked this story, it was a great urban fantasy read! The world is rich and well thought out and Ayala is a strong character with a highly ingrained moral code. The plot is fun and fast-paced with interesting supporting characters and many twists.

Unfortunately, I thought Amber Benson's narration was inconsistent at best. She does a fine job with Ayala, but many supporting characters are given horrible cartoonish voices that are distracting and make them sound flat and one-dimensional. Her rendition of Hazel, Ben and Grifflet in particular are grating and annoying. I can't imagine an actual person ever sounding like that! Maybe it was poor direction.

Amber is a respected actress and I've enjoyed her other work, but when you compare this narration to others in her weight class I feel that Amber comes up short. Lorelei King, Anna Fields, Scott Brick and most particularly Amber's Buffy co-star James Marsters all are able to do more with characters and nuance than she shows in this book.

I'll be getting the rest of the series in print.

Liked it better than anticipated,

after I had a hard time getting into it, I liked this book really well. It took me three starts to get into the flow of this story.
The world building starts out very slow and explanations could have come much more early on.
Another distraction: the narrator gave a lot of characters grating or high pitched voices, so bad that I've been switching to my Kindle in between.
But:
Storm in a Teacup is overall very entertaining, has fresh ideas. The main characters are likeable, there are no explicit sex scenes, but heartwarming intimate ones.
The book improves in the second half, the story as well as the narration.
So glad I stuck with it, and I am on my way to hear the second one in the series right now.