the audio kept stopping, it was really really strange.
I liked the story but not enough to want to pick up the rest.

I couldn't connect with the MC in any way. She felt selfish and childish. I couldn't really see where the story was headed, half the time I was lost in the MC's endless rambling. This book just wasn't my favorite.

I was really surprised when I started reading this book to discover it was a sequel. Nowhere in the description of this ARC was it mentions of it being a second book.

I haven’t read the first one and maybe I would’nt need to but I don’t feel like I am the proper person to give a feedback on this one. I think it was possible to read it without having read the first one but you kind of missed a lot of stuff and things from the previous book. I also found the book a bit slow.

Really like the pace of this book and found the characters to be interesting and funny. I look forward to see the next installments.\,

*received for free from netgalley for honest review* Didnt read the first book but got the picture without needing to, it was hard for me to get into this book but it was overall pretty good

How to Talk to a Goddess (And Other Lessons in Real Magic) by Emily Croy Barker
Narrated by Alyssa Bresnahan
Publisher: RB Media, Recorded Books
Genre: Sci Fi & Fantasy
Release Date: February 16, 2021

How to Talk to a Goddess (And Other Lessons in Real Magic) by Emily Croy Barker and is the sequel to The Thinking Woman's Guide to Real Magic. This was like coming home to an old friend!

If you haven't read the first book, I would definitely recommend diving into that one first, but the beginning of this book provides some backstory so you can catch up.

So I absolutely loved this book. I found it to be captivating, intriguing, funny, and I couldn't stop listening. This audiobook is around 19 hours and I finished it in 4 days.

This book takes you on an adventure with so many twists and turns that you just don't know what to expect next!

The characters are great and well-developed. I find Nora, the main character, to be so relatable, funny, strong, intelligent and her story is so fascinating!

The narration by Alyssa Bresnahan is incredible! She brings the characters to life!

I definitely recommend checking out this fantasy series!

I'm so grateful to Emily Croy Barker, RB Media, Recorded Books, and NetGalley for providing me with a free copy of this ARC ebook in exchange for my honest review.

Ok, so I'll start by saying that I like quirky books. I enjoy a odd tale or a story that asks for suspension of disbelief. I thought I was prepared for this book, but I just....didn't care for it.

There were bits I liked, and concepts I enjoyed, but the entire tale was meandering and winding and wasn't leading to anything in particular. I really tried. I wanted to ride the train of this book and get carried away, but I found myself rolling my eyes at some of the choices the characters made, not because of any magical elements, but because their choices were quite odd.

As always, your milage may vary, but I think this book was very wordy and not in way that swept me up in imagery and fantasy. I kept checking the time left, which is never a good sign.

The summary:
This was a decent book that had enjoyable bits, even if you didn't read the first book in this series. I didn't hate much of it, except how woman are treated in the magical world. Maybe the series should be "The modern woman's guide to real magic" instead of "the thinking woman's" since that more closely aligns with what it feels like. Thank you, NetGalley for letting me listen to this audio ARC!

The review:
I liked this book. Unfortunately for me, this is the first book in the series that I've read, but I think that's only a smidge unfortunate for you because I can't tell you if the plots that weren't tied up in the first book were tied up in this one or not, except possibly for one.

I can tell you that the plot for this book seems to have very few, if any loose ends to be tied up in subsequent books.

I can tell you that it seems like the megalomanic got their comeuppance. I say seems because, let's be honest, the second you count a megalomanic as "taken care of" some cosmic clock starts ticking down the time until they return with a sinister "Mwahahahahahah! I am back and now I'm really angry!" The likelihood of that happening, to me, seems quite high.

I can tell you that the continuation of this series should be very easy to manage, as there's plenty of runway left.

I can also tell you that I'm a little confused by the main romantic relationship in this book. That could be because I haven't read book one. That could also be because the romance felt contrived, unnecessary, and forced. I don't know. Audience Participation: Those of you who've read both books in the series, let me know if you think this romance is out of place, unnecessary, or whatever, will you?

I will say that I felt like Nora had a good enough reason without the potentially unnecessary romance to come back to this magical world. Being able to do magic that doesn't work in our world? Sounds like a pretty good reason to get up and get to a new world to me. Final note on the romance - I am not a fan of how Nora's spoiler final problem was resolved. Again, it felt contrived, unnecessary, forced, and also a wee bit icky. Yes there reasons for that built into the story, but didn't make it feel much less icky to me.

I can tell you that I'm also a little confused about who in this book is supposed to be "the thinking woman." Yes, Nora has an advanced degree. The book even starts off with Nora in her "real" graduate student life. This part feels about 75% unnecessary, bland, and not super interesting. After that, yes, Nora is the protagonist and yes, she does some thinking and seems to use her advanced education in the form of a few quotes, buuuuuut so much of this book to me still felt like "Nora, going from point a to b, because someone else decided that's the way to go."

With all that said though, it still was a decent book that had enjoyable bits, even if you didn't read the first book in this series. I didn't hate much of it, except how woman are treated in the magical world. I saw a few readers of the first book comparing this to Alice in Wonderland and now that I've seen it, I can't unsee the parallels in this book as well. Still, Alice is a good book (or cartoon, whatever) so, it's hard to hate on this book for that. Even my struggle with the marketing of "the thinking woman," it's still a decent book. Maybe though, the series should be "The modern woman's guide to real magic" instead of "the thinking woman's" since that more closely aligns with what it feels like. You know, like a modern A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court.*


*Assumption made on the title alone, as A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court still languishes in my TBR pile.

Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC in exchange for an impartial review. I love these characters and was so eagerly awaiting this sequel to The Thinking Woman's Guide to Real Magic that I went ahead with the audiobook, though I really just wanted to read it. I hope to do so in the summer. This review will focus on the story more than the audiobook, though I can say that I enjoyed the narrator and felt she conveyed the story well without being overly intrusive.

Because I love the characters, I was willing to go along on whatever ride they offered, but this sequel felt more like a new episode in their adventures than a continuation of their previous story. That's not necessarily a bad thing or even unusual, but that approach doesn't seem to fit the literary vibe of the original novel. It resulted in too quick a resolution to previous challenges and a plodding set-up of the new plotline and characters. Barker takes her time with character and plot development, and partially, that's an excellent example of craft, but often the novel just feels slow and repetitive.

Even so, I thoroughly enjoyed visiting with these characters again, and no matter the ridiculousness of some aspects of plot, the book works overall (for me, anyway).

I have received this ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review

Without diving into the first book, I will admit that I was pretty intrigued by How to Talk to a Goddess Unfortunately, I was having trouble with my audiobook because it kept pausing at the most awkward times. Then it would pick up and I feel like I missed so much and was very confused with what was happening.

Due to this happening throughout the entire audio, I'm going to have to admit defeat once again. I couldn't connect to the character or what was happening because I just couldn't follow along. Since there's no way to get the actual ebook yet, I just had to sit and suffer. I was hoping I could dive back into the parts that I missed without the audiobook messing up but no such luck there.

I guess I will have to try again once the actual book comes out. Maybe my opinion will change.

Nearly four years ago I was browsing shelves at a local library and The Thinking Woman’s Guide to Real Magic by Emily Croy Barker caught my attention. It was a paperback and rather thick, as these sorts of fantasy books tend to be. Anyway, I checked it out and read it and I was in love. It was a fantasy book about magic unlike anything I’d read. There was action, drama, and a bit more than a suggestion of a blooming romance. I really loved the writing: it was just a joy to read the words. I have read it a couple more times since then and still take delight in reading it. Alas there was the very long wait for the follow up book. I was rather lucky not to have read it until 2017. Some readers have been waiting since 2013. It’s no surprise to say I was thrilled when I heard late last year that the next book was being published in 2021.

The strange part for me is this book was published on audiobook well before the text editions. Normally I’d wait for the ebook to be released but I was slightly impatient to read the rest of the story. So when I noticed the audiobook on Netgalley, I immediately requested it and happily was accepted. It’s taken a while to finish the book so it’s just now I am writing this review.

As I mentioned before, I am new to audiobooks and have not had much experience of being read to before. I do remember our fourth grade English teacher reading Charlotte’s Web before we all went en masse to see the film back in the 70s. Anyway, this is a new way to process a book and I will be honest and say it was pretty odd and weird and strange and hard at first. It took a while before I got used to it. I also think the audiobook narrator took a bit of time to fully get into it too because I didn’t find too much difference between a lot of characters at first. Or maybe that was just me. I did persist and I think I’m a bit more used to this now that I have completed over nineteen hours of listening. :)

I won’t go into the story of the first book except to say that Nora had just returned through the gateway to her home at the end of it. When we meet her again in book two she has been home for a few weeks or months and has settled into an existence of sorts. But she is definitely not feeling at ease with the way life is going. She misses using magic and she misses Aruendiel. Her life just doesn’t seem complete. A few chance situations eventually lead her back to the other world where she eventually reunites with Aruendiel, who is a bit shocked to see her back after making sure she was safe at home. He does have a few other emotions, though, and those are eventually explored in this volume.

It’s not long before Nora meets up with someone from her past in this world and again faces much difficulty which she must handle on her own. But help comes in the form of someone new and mysterious and this new connection leads her into totally new territory and give her power she has never had before. It’s definitely not straightforward and it becomes a matter of working out who she might trust in order to take the steps she need to continue on.

The romance ramps up in this part of the story but there is still plenty of action and drama to take in. I found that this again was unlike any book I’ve read before in this genre. It just takes a totally different approach. I really did enjoy this in the end but I find it so difficult to compare to the first book due to the different format. I can’t say too much about the writing either because I found I had to concentrate a lot more to keep up with the story. When the ebook comes out later this year, I will read that and more fully appreciate the story. But really I did like the essence of the story and I can see there is more in the future for Nora, Aruendiel and some other characters we meet in this book.

I’m going to give this 4 solid stars for the moment. I may well change it once I’ve read a text edition.

Thank you to Netgalley and RB Media for sharing an advance reader copy in exchange for my review.

Not knowing this was a Book 2, I eagerly started on this adventure of Nora's, trying to put her life back together after returning from a magical world.

I think a better connection could have been made with the characters and the romance had I read Book 1 first.

Even though jumping in with book 2 wasn't too confusing, the story seemed rather boring. Book 1 was filled with marriages and love stories aand learning about Nora's magical abilities. Book 2 is about how unhappy Nora is, running away from enemies, not knowing who to trust, etc . Having no tie-in with the character, I just wasn't invested in her turmoil and was very bored with the story.

I would recommend making it more obvious that this is a Book 2, with the appropriate series labels.

I am sadly dnf-ing in this book at about 37%. The story seems to ramble and I don't want to follow. Sometimes you jell with a character, the world, and their journey so you don't mind a bit of a meandering plot. I think I have changed in what I liked in a story since the last book came out.

I know there is no age on when you should have your stuff together but I didn't get some of the choices Nora made, romantically. And that's odd because there was a nice slow burn in the first book that was rushed in this second book. Also the stuff with her ex was annoying.

I did not enjoy the story about the acolytes of the goddess. That might just be a "me" thing. Religious fundamentalism "triggers" me and that's how this part of the story read. But I really wasn't enjoying the story up until this point and I just decided to get off the ride with the religious witches. I figured I'd still leave feedback since I did get almost 40% through a very long book.

Thank you NetGalley for allowing me to listen to this audiobook.

The start of the book was so promising, but I was not prepared for such a long and confusing adventure. Who is the goddess, who is not, so much unreliable content that I felt like it was dragging on for too long? Maybe it's just me or the wrong time I picked this up. I gave it three stars as overall there were magic parts that I liked and I enjoyed the ending.

To be released from evil clutches just to return again because the one is person still there to whom your heart desires. This is here Nora’s finds herself.

Caught up in the compelling magic that this other world brings. Leaving her family behind, this time by choice, Nora seeks to find Aruendiel. Along her journey she will get sucked into a den of mystery and entrapment where things may not be as they seem. Though she’s smart and strong, can she get out of this alive.

This is such a captivating tale of magic and Gods. Of immortality and the consequences of such.

This had me wanting more the whole way through. If you enjoy tales of gods and humans, heroism, magic, and mirage where humans try to become them then this might be right up your alley. It is also a bit of a romance and betrayal with battered woman and beauty loves beast story. And I feel as if this doesn’t quite get it right. There is so much to this tale.

Definitely worth checking out this story if you enjoy fantasy.

This book was recieved by Netgalley in exchange of an honest review.

I haven't read or even heard of the first book, but was easily able to pick up what happened during this book which I really appreciate from the author.
Sadly I didn't enjoy this book though because Nora is so so very unlikeable. I wanted to bitch slap her bad attitude out of her so many times.

Narrator was 5 stars however

Sadly, this title just disappeared from my device before I had to chance to listen to it. If anyone would send it to me directly, I would love to listen to it and rate it honestly. But the app is constantly crushing and deleting what I've already downloaded, so this one had the same faith.

How to Talk to a Goddess (and Other Lessons in Real Magic) is the perfect sequel. It recaps the events in the previous novel gradually, without tedious informational paragraphs, while keeping the reader engaged. It also has a nice mixture of old and new characters. The best part, however, is that the storyline is new and engaging. There are a whole new set of challenges and wonders for the main character to explore. Nora is a beautifully complex heroine. The audiobook narration is also wonderfully done; Alyssa Bresnahan gave each speaker their own unique voice.