I feel like I haven’t done an audiobook blog tour in a long time! I’m so excited to talk about this one. Look at that cover too though. Thank you so much to the team at Audiobookworm Promotions for hosting this tour and for having me on it! I’m so excited. I said that already but it’s just that true!
The Shrike & the Shadows
by Chantal Gadoury & A.M. Wright
Narrated by: Ryan Haugen
Publisher: The Parliament House
Release Date: March 3, 2020
Genre: NA Fantasy
The village of Krume is plagued by a haunted wood and a hungry witch. It’s been that way for as long as Hans and Greta can remember, though they have never seen the witch themselves; no one has.
When men start to disappear once again in the cover of night – their bloody hearts turning up on doorsteps – the village falls into frenzied madness.
Hans and Greta, two outcast orphans, find themselves facing accusations of witchcraft and are met with an ultimatum: burn at the stake, or leave the village forever.
With nowhere else to go, they abandon their only home.
As they venture into the strange forest, their path is fraught with horrific creatures, wild and vivid hallucinations, and a mysterious man tied to the witch’s past.
The Shrike is watching, just beyond the deep darkness of the woods.
Amazon Bestselling Author, Chantal Gadoury, is a 2011 graduate from Susquehanna University with a Bachelor’s Degree in Creative Writing. Since graduation, she has published The Songs in Our Hearts, and The Songs We Remember, with 48Fourteen Publishing. Allerleirauh, Between the Sea and Stars, Blinding Night and WinterDream with the Parliament House Press. Chantal first started writing stories at the age of seven and continues with that love of writing today. For Chantal, writing novels has become a lifelong dream come true! When she’s not typing away at her next project, she enjoys painting, drinking lots of Iced Coffee, and watching Disney Classics. Chantal lives in Muncy, Pennsylvania with her Mom, sister and furry-‘brother’ Taran.
A.M. Wright is an Ohio native, perched on the shores of Lake Erie for as long as she can remember. She is a graduate of Walsh University and holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Corporate Communications, with two minors in Marketing and Writing. She has a passion for reading, writing, and drawing; and has a particularly strong love for shojo-manga and all genres of anime. When A.M. Wright isn’t focused on her day job, she is sorting through submissions, writing too many stories to keep track of, and playing video games with her fiance in a townhouse that’s just a fifteen minute drive from “The Roller Coaster Capital of the World.”
Ryan Haugen tried to write for a long time. He has nothing to show for it – in fact this is the first time he’s sat down to write since college.
Actually, he isn’t even sitting right now. He’s standing, and coming to grips with how writing has always caused him to deceive himself. So, that honest work tied to fiction would ever materialize shocks even him.
As a narrator, Ryan has no formal qualifications or training.
As a producer, he has an above-average grasp of Windows 10 and Audacity.
As a purveyor of twist endings, he would have you know he quit his day job to pursue narration full time in his home studio after 7 months of part-time narration, and 15 books narrated.
Ever engaged, passionate, and consumptive of all forms of media, Ryan floats in bewildered contentment at the notion anyone would want to listen to him speak for dozens of hours, but hopes you enjoy his youthful performances in the tales he tells, and that by now, you truly believe he is a better storyteller than he is writer.”
Disclaimer: I received this audiobook as part of my participation in a blog tour with Audiobookworm Promotions. The tour is being sponsored by The Parliament House. The gifting of this audiobook did not affect my opinion of it.
Another retelling that I wasn’t sure about but this was a little bit more obvious than the others! I haven’t had much Hansel and Gretel retellings in the book world so this was really fun to find and listen to.
In this novel, we have a Shrike – which feeds on men and has never been seen before by anyone in the village. Hans and Greta are orphans and haven’t had an encounter with the Shrike before. However, things are starting to get worse as the hearts of the men that disappear have been turning up on doorsteps and somehow Hans and Greta are being accused of witchcraft.
Yes, of course, blame the orphans because they don’t have any adults to help stand up for them, but whatever.
I think our narrator Haugen did a great job with this novel. I think it worked out that we had a neutral narrator for this. I think that out of all of the characters that we got to see, I think Greta was my favorite character. I’m kind of bummed that this was just a standalone but sometimes it works out so much better for certain stories.
Sometimes Leelynn Reads 