Petty Magic
Being the Memoirs and Confessions of Miss Evelyn Harbinger, Temptress and Troublemaker
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Narrated by:
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Kelley Hazen
About this listen
Evelyn Harbinger sees nothing wrong with a one-night stand. At 149 years old, Eve may look like she bakes oatmeal cookies in the afternoon and dozes in her rocking chair in the evening, but once the gray hair and wrinkles are traded for jet-black tresses and porcelain skin, she can still turn heads as the beautiful girl she once was. Can't fault a girl for having a little fun, can you?
This is all fine and well until Eve meets Justin, who reminds her so much of a former lover that one night is no longer enough. Eve's coven has always turned a blind eye to her nighttime mischief, but this time they think she's gone too far-and they certainly don't hesitate to tell her so. Dodging the warnings of family and friends, Eve must also defend her sister, Helena, when another beldame accuses Helena of killing her own husband sixty years before.
As the evidence against Helena begins to pile up, Eve distracts herself by spending more and more nights-and days-romancing Justin as her former self. There are so many peculiar ways in which Justin is like Jonah, her partner behind enemy lines in World War II and the one true love of her life. Experts in espionage, Jonah and Eve advanced the allied cause at great personal sacrifice. Now Eve suspects that her Jonah has returned to her, and despite the disapproval of her coven and the knowledge that love with a mortal man can only end in sorrow, she can't give him up. But can she prove it's really him?
In this captivating tale of adventure and timeless romance, novelist Camille DeAngelis blends World War II heroics with witchcraft and wit, conjuring a fabulously rich world where beldames and mortal men dare to fall in love.
©2010 Camille DeAngelis (P)2013 Camille DeAngelisMs.Hazen has a voice of musical honey, deeply delicious to the ear, well articulated and intoned. It would be a pleasure to hear her simply read a telephone book. But this story is far from that and she uses her skill as narrator to breath life into all of the characters, both male and (mostly) female with distinctively individual voices as well as becoming the beldame story teller.
Written in the first person, the central character, Evelyn, admits the reader to her lifestyle and the society of her large association of family and friends. Her witches are not eternal but they can expect a far longer life than most mere mortals and at the start of her confessions, she is almost one hundred and fifty, no longer the attractive young thing she used to be but still able to appear to be so for a limited time. Before her energies fade and she returns to her more elderly appearance. This way she can still enjoy one-nightly daliances with attractive, much younger men. And does - but just the one night each time...
Until the nephew of the elderly (only human) local antique dealer arrives to take over the shop. He reminds her so much of her one true love so many decades before and the story then takes the reader through alternating accounts of her life before and during World War II and her time with Jonah, and the present day growing, but doomed, romance with Justin. And throughout those present day reflections, there are delightful peeks into the great family assembly for Christmas, internal dispute, and tips on travelling more quickly and in privacy than most of us would ever encounter.
Yes, this is witches as different from the usual spell casters as is likely to be found. Instead , the book is a concoction of old fashioned glamour, close relationships, lost love and youth - and often hilariously funny. It is paced quite slowly for the reader to enjoy every delicious morsel My deepest thanks to the rights holder who, at my request, freely gifted me a complimentary copy of Petty Magic, via Storyteller. It was a joy and a delight, a perfect pairing of author and narrator. Highly recommended, even if romance and witches are not your usual genre.
Do you believe in reincarnation?
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The narrator had a great voice for Eve as a main character and also for the many different characters and accents, though some of the foreign names were emphasized a bit strongly.
A memoir
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