Audiobook Review: Hunting in Bruges by E.J. Stevens (@mlsimmons, @EJStevensAuthor)

Posted April 15, 2018 by Melanie in Audiobook Reviews, Giveaways, Melanie, Reviews, Urban Fantasy / 27 Comments

Audiobook Review: Hunting in Bruges by E.J. Stevens (@mlsimmons, @EJStevensAuthor)
Hunting in Bruges by E. J. Stevens
Narrator: Melanie Mason, Anthony Bowling
Series: Hunter's Guild #1, Ivy Granger #3.5
Published by Sacred Oaks Press
Published on: April 3, 2018
Genres: Urban Fantasy
Length: 7 hours and 10 minutes
Format: Audiobook
Source: Author
One StarOne StarOne StarHalf a Star
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The only thing worse than being a Hunter in the fae-ridden city of Harborsmouth, is hunting vamps in Bruges.

Being shipped off to Belgium sucks. The medieval city of Bruges is quaint, but the local Hunters' Guild is understaffed, the canals are choked with dead bodies, and there's no shortage of supernatural predators as likely suspects.

On second thought, maybe Bruges isn't so bad after all.

With a desire to prove herself, protect the innocent, and advance within the ranks of the Hunters' Guild, Jenna Lehane hits the cobbled streets of Bruges with blades at the ready. Someone, or something, is murdering tourists and dumping their bodies in the city's scenic canals. With the help of a mysterious stranger, Jenna begins to piece together clues that are dotted throughout the city like blood spatter.

Determined to stop the killings, Jenna delves into a bloody local history that only raises more questions—but some secrets are best left buried. Jenna must put her combat training to the test as she struggles to unearth the truth about an ancient enemy.

Hunting in Bruges is the first novel in the Hunters' Guild urban fantasy series set in the world of Ivy Granger.

Audiobook Fangtastic Paranormal

I’ve been a fan of the Ivy Granger series for a while. This spinoff series follows a character we meet in the Ivy Granger series. It takes place after book three in Ivy Granger, but can be read as a stand alone series. Jenna is a hunter. She works for the Hunter’s Guild and can see ghosts. She really likes to kill vampires and strings their fangs on a necklace as a trophy.

So, Jenna is shipped off to Bruges, Belgium to help them find out why so many people are turning up dead. Most of the hunters are in Brussels for a big meeting, so the Bruges guild is running on a skeleton crew. The man left in charge is quite the ass. He doesn’t like women and doesn’t think they should be hunters, so him and Jenna get off on the wrong foot right from the start.

I should back up a bit, on the train to Bruges from Brussels, Jenna meets a man named Ash. He shows her around Bruges just a bit before she goes to the guild. During this time, we get a good picture of Bruges. The descriptions are really great. I loved hearing about the architecture of the old buildings.

So, back to the guild, there is Simon Chadwick who is in charge of the guild for right now and he is an ass. There is also Celeste, who is a witch that is also a bit of a junkie. She smokes stuff that would be toxic to a human, but just gets witches high. It can also cause them to lose their memory and not be very good with magic any more. Aleksey Zharkov is a one-handed guy that is the demolitions expert for the team. He likes his job a little too much. Darryl Lambert is a blind librarian who gets around pretty well, even with his handicap. Last, but not least is Benjamin Martens, the doc.

So Jenna has to find out who is killing people in Bruges and just leaving them on the street and with this ragtag group of hunters. And while Ash is trying to sight see and socialize with her.

This is a fun story. There is a lot of action and, as I said, the descriptions of the town are great. It is a bit predictable. There are a few things that I figured out pretty quickly, but I still enjoyed the story. I would love to read more stories about Jenna. She really took control and grew in this story. I didn’t love this story as much as the Ivy Granger stories. While, I enjoyed the secondary characters in this, I didn’t like them as much as Jinx and the gang back in Harborsmouth. I do think this is a great addition for people who are looking to start learning about this world or for people already familiar with Ivy Granger.

Narration
This audiobook is recorded in a format called duet. It features a female and male narrator. In this book, the female does the majority of the narration, because this book is told entirely from the woman’s POV. She does all the narration for the female dialogues and the non-dialogue pieces of the story. The male just read the sentence from the male POVs. This is not my favorite form of audiobook. I find it a bit jarring at first when the male narrator comes in during the middle of a chapter (so far, this is the only series that I listen to that is recorded in this format). The more I listen to the story, the more I’m okay with it, but at the start of each book, it always takes me a bit to get into it. I know people who love this format and prefer it over anything else. So this is a person thing for me. If you haven’t tried this format, I suggest you give it a try sometime and see what you think of it.

I will say that I do like these narrators. I think they both do a really good job. I like the voices that they use for each of the characters. I did think that this sounded a lot like Ivy, though it is hard for me to say for sure because it has been over a year since I listened to my last Ivy Granger book. I would listen to this pair again.

 
 
 

Happy audiobook birthday to Hunting in Bruges! We’re celebrating the audio release with a giveaway.

Hunting in Bruges (Hunters’ Guild #1, Ivy Granger Psychic Detective #3.5) by E.J. Stevens.  Narrated by Melanie Mason and Anthony Bowling.

Start Listening Now

Learn more on Goodreads, Audible, and the author’s website.  Keep reading for a chance to win a Hunting in Bruges prize pack.

 

Audiobook Release Party Giveaway

Enter to win a Hunting in Bruges Prize Pack, including a pen, custom earbuds, a Hunting in Bruges mini poster signed by the author, and a Passport to the World of Ivy Granger signed by the author and the audiobook narrators!

To enter, use the Rafflecopter form below.  This giveaway is open to the US/UK/CA.  Giveaway ends April 30, 2018 midnight EST.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Want more fun?  Take a trip to Bruges with monster hunter Jenna Lehane in this Hunting in Bruges animated book cover video.  Watch a few times to find all of the effects!  Things to look for…

  • Sword
  • Jenna’s hair
  • Clock
  • Jenna’s arm and face
  • Clouds
  • Lights in Windows

Did you find all of the special effects?

Melanie Signature

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I’m Melanie and I live in Ohio. I have two horses and a dog. I’m an animal lover, avid book reader and audiobook listener. I like to live vicariously through fictional characters. I enjoy reading and listening to mostly fictional books in the paranormal genre, including Urban Fantasy, Paranormal Romance and Horror. My favorite paranormal creatures are shifters, doesn’t matter the flavor.

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27 responses to “Audiobook Review: Hunting in Bruges by E.J. Stevens (@mlsimmons, @EJStevensAuthor)”

  3. Northwoman  

    I’ve been wanting to get further in my reading on the Ivy Granger series, or I would have tried this one already. I met the author at DragonCon last September and she’s lovely. Someday I’ll get move along in these 2 series. I think I already bought them all in ebook. Anne – Books of My Heart
    Northwoman recently posted…Series on Saturday: Fantasy

  12. Carole

    I have not had a chance to read this author yet but this does sound like the kind of read that I would enjoy. I have only listened to one book with narrators that did all of the male or female narration but the book was also told in alternating points of view so it was nice to have character voices stay the same.
    Carole recently posted…New Releases – April 17, 2018 #newreleases #newbooks