A lovely modern take on a traditional tale, True Loaf tells the tale of a baker who receives an unusual request from a mysterious man, with ingredients that can only be found in the forest. The sense of magic and traditional herbal witchcraft adds to the whimsical nature of this book and allows for the enjoyable suspension of disbelief common to traditional folk tales.
The narrator was excellent, and, in the way of great narrators, unnoticeable, providing no barrier to or distraction from the story.
However, I was left with an unfinished feeling when the book ended. I wanted to know more, and it felt like there should have been a second story continuing the tale!

Riley's bakery is known for accepting requests from their customers. When a strange man requests a bread baked with yarrow, she goes to the forest to find it. Things aren't always what they seem, though.

I am unfamiliar with the Balkan folklore that inspired this short story, but it was cute! I would love to see this fleshed out and included in a book of short stories or even turned into its own full length book.

Many thanks to NetGalley for providing me an audio ARC of this book.

I was deeply intrigued to see a book based on Balkan Folklore as I'd never heard any tales from that region. The descriptions that L. Austen Johnson provides of each person is quite lovely and the story is quite captivating. I wish this had been longer to allow for deeper story and character development. I would love to see a longer chapter book version of this tale from this author!

Penny Scott-Andrews is a lovely narrator!

Thank you to NetGalley, L. Austen Johnson, Lore and Lyre, Independent Book Publishers Association (IBPA), and Members' Audiobooks for this advanced audiobook copy of this tale in exchange for my honest review.

A short imaginative story by L Austen Johnson. I have never been the biggest reader of short stories but I thought I would give this one a go. I definetly enjoyed it but I felt it was too short. The story felt underdeveloped and I would have loved more detail and for a few more things to be explained. I guess this is the problem with short stories compared to novels! I just felt a little confused by the ending - I needed just a little bit more!

That said I did enjoy this modern folklore tail and I would read more by the author in the future.

Thank you to netgalley and the puublisher for a gifted copy of this audio book in exhange for an honest review.

A fun tale, and I wish it was longer. I wish it had a bit more detail, or was a bit more developed- I felt it could have taken more time to set the scene in the beginning and it resolved too quickly at the end, but I did enjoy how the story sparked my imagination.
Thanks NetGalley

True Loaf is a Short Story Inspired by Balkan Folklore. The story is only 10 pages and definitely worth the read. A creepy fairytale astrosphere involving a baker and two brothers. I wish their was a little more personality to the characters. The ending definitely let me wanting to return to the world again.

Thank you to NetGalley for an audiobook version in exchange for an honest review.

A delightfully whimsical tale that could be plucked from any classic fairy tale collection! The narrator's voice, accents, and character mannerisms enhance the story, giving the whimsical feel a whole new level. The story is short, simple, and sweet, and as a reader, I am hopeful Johnson will continue with fairy tale retellings, perhaps even a full length novel!

An intriguing short audio folklore tale in the Balkan folklore style. I'm not sure what I expected really, I had thought it might be child friendly but perhaps not,as it contains mild swearing and is slightly scary towards the end. I did enjoy this modern folklore story. The narrator keeps the pace going well and you can picture the forest scenes well in your minds eye. All in all I enjoyed the story. I can't really say much more as it will give the story away.

Thanks to NetGalley for the audiobook in exchange for a review! This is a short story inspired by Balkan folklore in which a strange man puts in a request at the bakery which requires Riley to go on a journey to find this ingredient and fulfill the order. This is a magical and mysterious short story that might be great to read during Halloween. I’m not familiar with the Balkan folklore so I’m unaware on how this short story compares. The ending was brief which left me confused and wanting a more thorough explanation. Additionally, the narrator was pleasant, but the production quality lacked which hindered the overall experience.

Disclaimer: I received this audiobook as part of my participation in a blog tour with Audiobookworm Promotions. The tour is being sponsored by Author’s Republic. The gifting of this audiobook did not affect my opinion of it.

This was perfectly short and perfectly good! I know that it was only supposed to be fifteen minutes – which it is! – but I was like “wait it’s over already?!” I was just so excited to be able to listen to more of this since in the short amount of time, it was already a great novel.

This is such a short review tbh because there isn’t much I can say without talking about the entire story, but it was a great take on the fae and being in the modern world. A part of me actually forgot that this did take place in the modern world until I heard Riley look at her cell phone. I kind of thought that this was taking place in an alternate world without any technology and stuff, you know? So that was done so well that I almost forgot about that aspect!

Scott-Andrews was also such a great narrator. I haven’t heard her before, but I’d definitely listen to more books narrated by her. She was really intriguing, and there’s just something about her voice that made me want to listen to the story more. I think she did such an amazing job with this short story. I’ll have to look up some of her other work as well, and I’m hoping I can find some that I’ll end up liking!

Short and sweet, this was a great audiobook.

A quick very short folk tale, magical, eerie, and compelling.

This is a hard one to rate, because it is so short, and I am not familiar with the traditional tale it is based on, but the writing is really excellent! I found it to be evocative and menacing, yet also light-hearted and with a dash of humour mixed in. It was really easy to listen to, and was performed really well.

The down side, for me, and, again, this might just be due to my unfamiliarity with the folklore behind it, was that the ending seemed really abrupt, just as I thought the story was getting going, it wrapped up, without really wrapping up anything: there's a bond mentioned, but not explained, there's two characters who have no back story, and there's a world hinted at, but never explored or described. So, for me, what I listened to was great, but it felt like it was incomplete.

A cute and short story done up like a fairytale. The narration on the audio book was wonderful. Such a lovely accent and voice modulation.
The story is about a bakery girl who gets an odd request from a stranger. Being in a small town, she is unsure whether or not to try to fulfill the request. She has to go on an adventure to find the special ingredient and meets another stranger in the woods. She bargains with the second stranger to make him the same kind of loaf that the original stranger asked for. With his information, she find two types of the special ingredient and uses each to make a different loaf. When the two strangers come to pick up their requested loaves, the girl finds out that not everything is as it seems. The two strangers were related and seemed to be each other’s opposites; but this is where I got lost. What about the slightly different ingredients caused their true identities to come out and why was this even happening? Why was she then bound to one of them? And what did bound mean in this case anyway?
The writing was lovely, but a little more explanation was needed. The story moved along well, but left me confused at the end.

Je ne savais pas trop à quoi m'attendre mais ça était une bonne surprise ! Je ne suis pas une fan de livre de fantasy mais j'ai apprécier celui-là, c'était un premier pas dans ce genre. La voix de la narratrice nous emporte très rapidement dans l'histoire. Je pourrais dire cependant que l'histoire aurais pu être d'avantage développer, il y a plein de questions sans réponses.

I wasn't sure what to expect but it was a nice surprise! I'm not a fan of fantasy books but I enjoyed this one, it was a first step in this genre. The voice of the narrator carries us very quickly in the story. I could say however that the story could have been further developed, there are plenty of unanswered questions.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing this book in exchange for a honest review.

This was quite a short audiobook, I actually read it twice to try and get a better understanding and I don't think I get it.

As with many short stories, it leaves me wanting more. A book that makes you think and ask why at the end. Based on folklore.

A very sweet story for a great cause. The only thing I didn't really like was the voice doing the narration.

This short story was fun and entertaining to listen to.

I love that it was inspired by folklore. Short and sweet, perfect to listen to on the go.

Narrator was okay, but pronunciation/accent put me off at times.

Will definitely be trying more folklore inspired short stories.

Thank you to publishers and NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This was a short and sweet story inspired by traditional folktales. I did not realize how short this was, I really wish it was a little bit longer and that we got a little bit more history and background of the characters! It was difficult to know the characters' actions and motivations from the short text that we got. I did like Riley's character and how determined she was to complete her mission, and I was very intrigued by the two brothers and how they were connected to Riley's bakery.

The pacing was good and the setting gave me vibes of Hansel and Gretel as the story slowly unfolded. The mood also reminded me of the spooky vibes of Over the Garden Wall, a cartoon show whose episodes are also bite-sized (about 10 minutes each), similar to this work. I liked the cover art as well, although overall the story felt a little bit unresolved to me because of how short it was.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for providing me with an e-arc of this book.

This was a fun short story! I was hooked from the beginning and engaged throughout. It's so short that it is difficult to discuss without ruining the plot but I did enjoy it. I found the end to be a bit fast for me but I often feel that way about short stories in general. Lastly I loved the magical undertone of this story it was very cozy. I would happily read more from this author!

Big thanks to Netgalley and L. Austen Johnston for the audio ARC in exchange for a review.

This is a short (like 16 minutes, short) story, modernized a bit, of a woman who unknowingly makes a deal with someone who is more than what they seem.

I would totally love to have this made into a full length story, with romance, and sibling rivalry, forbidden love and of course magic!

Overall, 4 stars. It was cute and to the point (a micro story!)