Bitter Spirits by Jenn Bennett 
Series: Roaring Twenties #1 
Rating: A Narration: B 
Narrator: Amy Landon 
Published by Tantor Audio on 05-14-14 
Genres: Paranormal Romance 
Format: Audiobook 
Pages: 328 pages 
Length: 10 hrs and 35 mins 
Source: Publisher 
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There's a big curse in little Chinatown…and it's not Prohibition.

It’s the roaring twenties, and San Francisco is a hotbed of illegal boozing, raw lust, and black magic. The fog-covered Bay Area can be an intoxicating scene, particularly when you specialize in spirits…

Aida Palmer performs a spirit medium show onstage at Chinatown’s illustrious Gris-Gris speakeasy. However, her ability to summon (and expel) the dead is more than just an act.

Winter Magnusson is a notorious bootlegger who’s more comfortable with guns than ghosts—unfortunately for him, he’s the recent target of a malevolent hex that renders him a magnet for hauntings. After Aida’s supernatural assistance is enlisted to banish the ghosts, her spirit-chilled aura heats up as the charming bootlegger casts a different sort of spell on her.

On the hunt for the curseworker responsible for the hex, Aida and Winter become drunk on passion. And the closer they become, the more they realize they have ghosts of their own to exorcise…

Bitter Spirits is a many firsts for me. First Jenn Bennett book. First 20s era book. First audio narrated by Amy Landon. And all three were winners!

Jenn Bennett:

Awesome writing! She quickly took a real town and American era and gave it new life. The characters are wonderfully complex and well-developed. Bennett had me caring about Aida and Winter from chapter one. Not only was Aida an independent heroine but she had just enough softness to her that it was easy to see why a man would find her desirable. Winter as the hero was both swoon worthy and a touch dangerous.

The Era:

The roaring 20s is a great era to explore. I’ve watched movies and TV shows set in the era. The danger and thrill of Prohibition, women starting to seek their independence and the Merry Widows. LOL Not to mention the glamorous clothing. It’s all so romantic before you even throw in a tall, dark and slightly tortured hero.  You can have your Dukes and Earls, I’ll take a bootlegger like Winter any day.

Amy Landon’s Narration:

Amy does a great job bring Aida, Winter and the rest of the cast of Bitter Spirits to life. Her timing and pinch was right on the spot and she managed to pull out the emotions that the characters were feeling in turn making me feel them even more than I’m sure I would have just reading the book. The only thing I could complain about is I wish Winter’s voice was a little more masculine but this is one the down falls of a female narrating a male character. Or at least for me. Amy did a good job with Winter but I pictured him to be very manly and alpha so a deeper and rough voice would have been perfect.

NEXT!

As much as I enjoyed Amy Landon’s narration of Bitter Spirits I can’t wait a couple of weeks for an audio request to arrive in my mail box. I’m running home to start reading the ebook from Netgalley.

About Jenn Bennett

Jenn Bennett is author of the Arcadia Bell urban fantasy series from Pocket Books and the upcoming Roaring Twenties paranormal romance series from Berkley. Born in Germany, she has a B.F.A. in Painting from Troy University. She’s lived and traveled extensively throughout Europe, the U.S., and the Far East, and currently lives near Atlanta with one husband and two very bad pugs. Get weekly Facebook updates from Jenn by liking her fan page, or follow her on Twitter for daily dribbles about her current writing projects, the book industry, and miscellaneous obsessions.

 

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