The Bookwyrm's Review of Witch For Hire by N.E. Conneely

Author: N.E. Conneely

Length: 258 Pages/7 Hours, 14 Minutes (Audio)

Release Date: January 11, 2014/ February 11, 2015 (Audio)

Narrator: Jeff Hays

Genre: Urban Fantasy

I was completely blown away by this book. It was a great read! The setting is a twist on our world, where magical types like Witches, Elves, Dwarves, Dragons etc. have been in charge forever, while vanilla humans were kept as slaves until 300 years ago. The current President of the US is a dragon, and is dealing with the idea of reparations to humans, basically a twist on our society. 

The story takes place in Georgia, where the main character, Michelle, is a witch with no clan affiliation, who has a consulting business helping different police departments solve magical crimes. She lives in a boarding house run by Brownies, and is trying to live a normal, busy life. She is contacted by local police to help with a case of Trolls escaped off their preserve, a danger, since Trolls eat people. Making matters worse is a group of humans who are helping them to evade capture, thinking they can be rehabilitated. She deals with other cases as well, all while dealing with office politics, a suddenly confusing personal life, and some personal revelations about her parentage. Will she be able to find the Trolls, and stop whoever is behind it? Read it to find out, it is very much worth the time. 

As far as the narrator, Jeff Hayes just shot into my top ten narrators. I actually thought the main narrative, done in the first person of Michelle, was being voiced by a woman. Instead, it was Jeff Hays, who did multiple female  and male voices in several registers and accents, each voice distinct. Some of the best voice work I've heard in 1000+ audiobooks.


I would recommend this to fans of Simon R. Green's and Mike Resnick's brand of urban fantasy, as well as fans of Patricia Briggs.  I can't wait for the next installment. This is an author to watch!

Rating: 4.5/5