Jenna the Vampire Slayer

I had never heard of this author before this book, but enjoyed my first introduction to her work with it being an enjoyable urban fantasy novel with a strong lead character and a good supporting cast. This book supposedly links to some of the author's previous work (including the main character of this one) but not having read them did not detract from my enjoyment of this one.

Jenna is a highly trained young hunter who finds herself assigned to investigate some deaths in Belgium and while the deaths are supernatural in origin, they are actually only part of a much larger plot taking place in that city.

Both narrators do a good job in this book, having a suitably distinctive range of voices for the main cast, but the jumping between the two of them was a little jarring at first since the usual variation from a single narrator tends to be a jump directly to a full cast rather than a duo, but once used to the changes it did work well for this book.

Overall, an enjoyable start to a series and one that encourages me to look into more works from this author in the future.

[Note - I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.]

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1 person found this helpful

Outstanding audio production!

I received this audiobook for free in exchange for an honest review.

This audiobook production was really outstanding! But sadly, the story disappointed me a bit.

This book is an award-finalist, so obviously I don’t really know what’s good. But let me list the problems I had with the story:

#1 The secret of the protagonist’s new companion, the “mysterious stranger”, is apparent pretty early on. Yet Jenna herself only figures it out in the second half of the book. The reason for that felt very weak to me. I know this is a tool that some people love (knowing something that the protagonist doesn’t), but for me, it just doesn’t work. It made me think she’s a bit daft 🙁

#2 The story didn’t have a very good flow. The pacing was off for me and I found it difficult to figure out where we were going and what the point of everything was.

#3 Jenna is a very serious young lady. Her companions try to banter and flirt but she only gets super annoyed and would seriously prefer to be ambushed. This bothered me because it just made her not very likeable. Of course not every protagonist has to crank out the jokes. But her reaction to her friends flirting and joking felt way too harsh.

On to some positive aspects. A female protagonist, and one male, one female sidekick? That was already awesome in Buffy and it makes for a great slayer.. uhh.. Hunter team! The paranormal concept of vampires using a glamour to appear attractive was creative. Damn bloodsuckers don’t always have to be perfect!

Now that I’m done, I can say that the storyline overall has some good substance. But it took me a long time to finish this and I interrupted it for two other audiobooks because I was bored. “Hunting in Bruges” just didn’t grab me. The pace picked up a bit in the second half though.

As I said initially, the audio production was fantastic. It was a new to me concept and I truly wish everyone would do it like this! Melanie A. Mason is the main narrator. The story is told entirely from Jenna’s point of view so that makes sense. But the bonus is, that Anthony Bowling is narrating all male characters’ lines. Not only are both narrators really great, with very distinct voices, but the editing is done very well, so the men’s lines fit in seamlessly. The narration itself was very captivating.

I so wanted to love this audiobook. Because it’s a great Urban Fantasy concept and the production is so amazing. But I just can’t.

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Bruges

LOVED this first of a two part book!Jenna has the world on her shoulders.She takes it very seriously.The whole team are likable.Well,except for Chad.Narration by Melanie A. Mason and Anthony Bowing was fantastic!Looking forward to part two!
I was given this book by the narrator,author or publisher free for an honest review.

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Fabulous story

Tale about female supernatural hunter and her adventures. Main character felt really strong. Liked the variety of the monsters. Overall very enjoyful book. Narration was well done.

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1 person found this helpful

Fantastic story

Loved this. The story is great as always and the audiobook was a lot longer than expected.

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Loved this!!

Jenna is an awesome character. She kicks ass and takes no names. She has been in the Guild since she was 13 and loves her work but when she is sent on an assignment to Bruges, she thinks its as a punishment. She doesn't like leaving Harborsmouth because bad things seem to be happening there but she has no choice. People are dying in Bruges and someone has to stop it. When Jenna arrives in Bruges she is trust into the job straight away. Can she figure out why the vamps are killing people with no regard to secrecy? More importantly though is can she stop them when the Guild in Bruges is working on a skeleton crew?

Lets take a moment to talk about Bruges. I've never been there but the authors descriptions of the place make me want to go. She brings life to the city and I think it's the perfect setting. It's such an old city steeped in history and I loved learning about it along with Jenna. Jenna can see ghosts and Bruges is a place where you could imagine a lot of ghosts would linger.

Hunting in Bruges has a host of different characters and I think Ash was my favourite. He was a breath of fresh air!! Kooky, fun and sweet, he captured my heart a little. I so want to read more of his back story though!! I loved the dynamics of his relationship with Jenna and loved seeing it develop. Jenna is my second favourite. She is such a worthy heroine! Strong, smart and kind, she does everything she can to keep innocents from getting hurt (even if it gets her in trouble with the Guild!!). I loved her fire as well. She is spunky but also quite vulnerable. She was so easy to like and is right up there with my favourite heroines ever.

Anyway, Hunting in Bruges has everything a great Urban Fantasy should, a kick ass heroine, a lovable hot guy, pleanty of different supernatural beings and a fast paced story line. The plot was also well thought out and I loved the idea of a vamp turf war! Every time I picked this up, I didn't want to put it down again. Its an action packed story that will keep you guessing till the very end. From the superbly written characters to the fascinating setting, Hunting in Bruges is a must read. I loved everything about this book and so cant wait for book 2!

Both Melanie A. Mason and Anthony Bowling read this well. It always takes a few minutes to get used to dual narration but I always enjoy it when I do. Melanie A. Mason performs Jenna brilliantly and I loved her performance. Anthony Bowling also performed really well but I felt like he didn't capture Ash like I was hoping. I still enjoyed his performance though.

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5 people found this helpful

A great addition to urban fantasy

Note: This is a spin off from the Ivy Granger series and works perfectly fine as a stand a lone.

Hunting in Bruges is a worthy addition to the urban fantasy genre. I really enjoyed this book. So much fun and intensity! Jenna is an excellent character. She’s got her past and a core set of values, both of which serve her well as she’s tossed into a difficult situation. Bruges is not her first choice of where to serve the Guild. She finds thing in quite the state when she gets there. The resident witch Celeste is strung out and not in neat, tidy control of her powers. The second in command, Simon Chadwick, is a sexist pig who’s not above using his position to take advantage of people. The Guild coroner, Doc Martens, is lazy, drunk, and not dedicated to his job. Yes, indeed, looks like Jenna is on her own for solving a string of murders.

At least until Ash appears. He gives her info on the local Bruges scene and also makes her laugh. However, there is something odd about Ash. My one little quibble is that Jenna didn’t pick up on this until well into the story when it was so obvious to me as the reader. Still, she did have her hands full with the pile of bodies, the messed up Bruges Guild, and a child-killing water fae. Luckily she has a knowledgeable Guild archivist (Darryl Lambert) and a disabled munitions expert (Aleksey) on hand!

The story was well balanced with action, character growth, and setting. I’ve never been to Belgium but now I would like to! Of course, I would go after Jenna has cleared the major cities of paranormal nasties. As Jenna digs into the pile of bodies, it quickly becomes clear that vampires are involved. There’s two major vampire families in Bruges. They are ancient and well established. Jenna certainly has her hands full!

Jenna herself is someone I would want on my team. She’s not perfect but she’s loyal, stubborn, and handy with weapons. She and Ash make a good team even though Jenna doesn’t completely trust him. I really liked how she tried to clean up the Bruges Guild as best as she can without stepping on toes. That is until it becomes necessary to risk punishment by the Guild in order to save innocents. She had tough choices to make and she did it well.

The other characters round out the story. I really liked the archivist, Darryl. He used to be a good fighter out in the field but now his blindness keeps him behind a desk. He requested his current position and he serves it well. Aleksey came into the story pretty late and I look forward to seeing what Stevens does with his character in the future. Celeste brought that sexuality and a bit of playfulness to the tale. I do have to note that we had few female characters in this tale and I would have liked a few more to balance things. Celeste eventually rises to the occasion.

The story ramps up with a potential impending disaster for humanity. I was on the edge of my seat for the last 2 hours of this book. I didn’t want to put it down. The tale wraps up well, completing the story arc for this book. I greatly look forward to future additions to this series. 5/5 stars.

The Narration: Melanie A. Mason and Anthony Bowling narrated this book. Mason had the lion’s share making a great Jenna Lehane. Bowling’s voice was used for when male characters spoke. While Bowling did well, felt that it wasn’t really necessary to have 2 narrators for this book. I think I would have enjoyed the narration a touch more if it was just Mason. While the recording was well done, I always knew that Bowling wasn’t in the same room as Mason for his small parts. The volume was good and Bowling didn’t sound tinny, but there was still something that made his additions stand apart. Setting that aside, Mason did great with the various character voices. Celeste sounds like a drug-abusing under-sexed witch. Jenna has a variety of emotions and those were performed well for the entire book. There were also a variety of accents and those all came across well. 4.5/5 stars.

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2 people found this helpful

Really enjoyable.

I’m a fan of the Ivy Granger books and Jenna was one of my favourite characters I’ve been looking forward to this audiobook.
Love the new characters especially Ash.
I would have liked to hear what happened to Chad.
Both the voiceover artists did a wonderful job and I hope they do the next book.

I was given acolytes of this audiobook but any opinions are honest and my own.

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1 person found this helpful

Good

I was given this free review copy at my request and have voluntarily left this review.
Good

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