Spellbound & Hellhounds

Coven Chronicles, Book 1

By: Nia Rose

Narrated by: Alex Goodman

Length: 6 hrs and 19 mins

Publisher's Summary

Witches and wizards and spells. Oh, my!

Enter the world of Raen, turn left at the land of dragons, and you’ll find yourself in the country of Aeristria. A place overflowing with magic and creatures that were once only heard of in fairy tales. In the heart of Aeristria is the capital city Tolvade. Here you will find shops and taverns, laughter and fun, runesmiths looking for their next job, and sneaky pickpocketing imps. Steer clear of the galloping gang of centaurs, and you will see the headquarters of the prestigious Coven.

Within the Coven’s lower ranks, you’ll find Vanessa, a third year hunter itching to become a spellweaver. She and her trusted demon partner Botobolbilian must investigate an explosion at the academy and bring the culprit responsible in. Easy job, right?

Wrong.

Vanessa and her partner find that this investigation runs deep in black magic and sprinkled with feral demon summonings. With countless lives on the line, Vanessa struggles with self-doubt and following her heart (and laws) as she tries to right the wrongs of these heinous criminals and bring them to justice before they do anymore harm. 

But, with an oncoming yearly blizzard just days away, is it too late? Even with all the magic, spells, and power on Raen, this job might be the last that this duo ever faces.

©2019 Nia Rose (P)2019 Nia Rose

Cotton candy

Take this review as a friend sugar coating or an honest review, i dont care. As an aspiring writer I keep in touch and know the author, and geeked when I got a chance to listen to her audiobook. And I often read her other forms of work and toss ideas back and forth when I can.

The story was not my normal read/listen, I'm much more of a sci-fi nerd myself. Her discriptions gave the world and people more life and painted the mental movie much more than other authors I've seen in fantasy genre books. She gave the characters feeling as well from mains to the minions of world casting. I laughed, worried, spit out my drink once, and cursed a few times. All of them honest and good reactions to be able to pull from a reader/listener. Im now going to be one of the hopefuls waiting on her next writing, like the good nerd I am.

If I ever get a novel written and published I want the guy who did the audio to read and do mine. He wasn't afraid to go and do accents, male and female tones, and just overall try and breath life into what he was reading. Don't believe me, listen to it and hear for yourself. Hoping he does more books for her.

5/5 for writer for making me enjoy fantasy again.

5/5 for narrator for doing a hell of a job and making me spit out my drink.

I'll also never look at cotton candy the same again.

start

an interesting start to a series that I would like to continue to either read and/or listen to.

Loved it an hooked

I am completely hooked on this series and can not wait for the next book!! The story line is interesting and keeps you guessing and the narrator does a wonderful job with inflection and voices. I highly recommend

Loved it!!

I wasn't sure if I would like it or not. I love this book! The characters, the story, the narrator, all of it. I cannot recommend it enough. Do not hesitate on this one if you like the genre. I can't wait till book 2 comes out.

Five out of Five Stars!

Before I start this review I want to say that I listened to this novel narrated by Alex Goodman, who did such an amazing job voicing the narrative and characters. I truly felt through his narration the distinctiveness of each character's voice and the magic of the scenery. An absolutely terrific audio book!

On to the story itself...

I've been a follower of Nia Rose for a long time. I knew once I got my hands on this story I'd love it. And I did. Absolutely and truly loved it.

A unique world of magic and fantasy, Spellbounds and Hellhounds takes you alongside the journey of Vanessa - a witch who desires to be promoted in the ranks of her coven. Powerful, sassy, but a little clumsy, Vanessa strives for more out of life, and with her sophisticated and witty ogre partner Botobolbilian, "Bobo" for short, she is determined to prove herself.

When an ancient evil arises, it takes the combined strength of Vanessa, Bobo, and their friends to face it.

Nia Rose writes about a magical world filled with brilliant characters so beautifully and elegantly, I was enchanted from the first sentence. Out of everything in this book, the one thing I loved the most were the interactions between the characters. Bobo is by far the funniest ogre I've ever seen!

In the end, all I can say more is that this is a wonderful start to what is no doubt going to be a fantastic series by a fantastic author. Five Stars!

Great New Magical World!

Nia Rose created a captivating world in the start of this series with Spellbound & Hellhounds, Coven Chronicles Book 1. This fantasy world is alive with supernatural creatures of varying degrees of good or evil powers and structures constructed of magic described to create detailed images in my mind. A balance of exploits and achievements, to witty humor captured my imagination in a one sitting listen. Yep it kept me engaged.

Vanessa, new member of the Coven grows up in this complex world of Raen, in the country of Aeristria, within the city Tolvade as she works to achieve her assignments to reach the next level in the Coven. Each of the magical creatures she encounters are like the woven spells of complex wards including all the colors, smells, sights, and sounds. As Vanessa works to defeat the 24 evil ones, galloping from one compromising situation after another, hellbent on succeeding to the rank of spell weaver. Not only has Leon, an accomplished spell weaver of the same Coven, come to her rescue previously, but also saves Vanessa and Bobo from the pack of hellhounds. Leon glowered down at Vanessa with smugness earned by his sage experience, teetering on the edge of promotion to the rank of summoner. They share an unlikely partnership in Vanessa’s quest.

Bobo was my favorite endearing ogre with an accented voice that matched perfectly to the well-developed character. He is Vanessa’s pet, protector, and confidant. His saving her - “suicidal hide on a regular basis” - is merely a taste of the tongue and cheek banter. Infused humor made me laugh aloud more than one.

Alex Goodman’s engaging pace kept my attention with clear, crisp narration, from start to finish. His transitions of voices between the characters was consistent and helped color the images of each. Alex’s voice acting was so winning that finding the pause or stop button was impossible.

I highly recommend Spellbound & Hellhound for those who want to be taken to a magic land of fantasy this series for those who enjoy a fantasy of magic

A world worth visiting.

A very unique take on a fantasy world that is relatable in a sense. Quirky humor, loveable characters, and just enough action as to not to be bored.

I loved it!💜

This storyline was terrific and the characters were so much fun!! While reading/listening and was thinking how I hoped this was going to be a series and I’m so excited knowing there is more to come. My favorite saying? “double dip a candlestick”
A great YA book.
The narration was absolutely amazing. So many characters and Alex Goodman nailed each and everyone. Fantastic!
I highly recommend this book!

Sisters Spotlight 💜

Great story

This was a great book, I enjoyed it so much I saved it to listen to over again. Keep up the awsome work I love your Books

I'm hooked!!

I need book two. wow! it was captivating! the descriptions of the demons were excellent...so well thought out and described! the narration was awesome....bobo is so loveable!!! this is a must read!

Thoroughly enjoyable story

I have to say that this narrator has great talent. I loved the voices, the accents, a true story teller.
It was a real pleasure to listen to a well- written story, full of rich characters, more than a dash of visual comedy, magic and suspense.
Bravo.

Great

This a great story, I love Bowbow! He’s so funny.
I laughed and I cried too.
There’s magic, mayhem, a tiny bit of violence and lots of magical characters, I particularly liked the vampire delivery guy, it made me giggle to think of a vampire delivering takeout lol.
The narration was very good too, so overall I fully recommend this book!
Now for book 2...

Deep and engaging

Spellbound and Hellhounds had me hooked from the beginning, it’s well paced introduction was excellent introduction to its deep and detailed magic system, which is both simple and complicated at the same time. I absolutely love the characters especially Bobo! Is Nis Rose is one hell of a writer and Alex Goldman’s performance felt natural. I can’t recommend it enough

Simply brilliant.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book, it had me hooked from the start, the story is perfectly paced leading you deeper in mysterious magical world.
The characters are very likeable, Bobo made me laugh and he's one of my favourite characters.
The detailing and depth is superb, making it so easy to get lost in the book.
The narration is flawless, really bringing the characters to life, giving each of them thier own personality and uniqueness.
This has quickly become one of my favourite books.
Easy 5⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐