A lovely, sweeping novel full of whimsy, adventure and atmosphere. On top of the story being delightful on its own right, the narration truly brings it to life

This was shorter than i touhg but it was pretty entrataining and i didn't expect what would happen at all.
It made me take interest in Balkan Folklore, because for it's shortness, it doesn't explain so much about it and leave it so open.

Thank you NetGalley and Independent Book Publishers Association (IBPA) for the free audiobook copy of True Loaf, A Balkan Folklore Inspired Short Story by L. Austen Johnson, narrated by Penny Scott-Andrews.

Roughly 16 minutes long, True Loaf is a whimsical short-story with a modern folklore setting, about a bakery employee named Riley who is given a task to fetch yarrow from the nearby woods in order to fulfill a strange customer's request. The brevity of the story doesn't leave much room for character development or world-building, and the ending is so abrupt that it primarily leaves the reader puzzled.I was also perplexed as to why this book was categorized as NA on NetGalley. The overall style and content are compatible with Middle Grade (except for the main character being old enough to drive a car & one instance of "ass"). 

Though I was somewhat dissatisfied with this short story, frequent short story readers or middle grade enthusiasts might enjoy it more. True Loaf is now available from Amazon and other audiobook retailers.#TrueLoaf #NetGalley

I loved the magical realism elements in this enchanting short story! I do wish the ending had been a little more flushed out and more elaborated on but overall a fun, quick read.

True Loaf is something that you would read to your children before bed. It’s short and sweet and has just enough magic and whimsy to keep the little ones happy, and that’s why it didn’t really work for me.
Even though it is a very well written short story, True Loaf is just too short to leave lasting impressions on me, and that’s fine, I’m not the targeted audience.

This review will be posted on my Goodreads page as well.

Thank you NetGalley and Lore and Lyre, Independent Book Publishers Association (IBPA), Members' Audiobooks for my copy of True Loaf A Balkan Folklore Inspired Short Story by L. Austen Johnson Narrated by Penny Scott-Andrews in exchange for an honest review. It published July 27, 2021.
This short-story was very well-written and narrated. I wouldn't recommend it for younger children though, but teens and adults could enjoy it!

Sure cute quick fairytale like audiobook. I really enjoyed the narrator doing all of the characters voices.

This is a cute, whimsical short story. The author told a fun story with just enough mystery in only a few pages. It was interesting to learn that the story was inspired by Balkan folklore.. The cover is also beautiful and perfectly captures the feeling of the story. I loved the ending and the overall tone of the story. The narrator of the audiobook was fantastic.

3.5/5

I really enjoyed this short story!

It tells us a story of a girl who owns a bakery and goes to the woods to find a rare ingredient for a custom order. Everything happens so fast and I wish it was longer and more detailed. I don’t think that I fully understood the idea of the author and the lesson that I needed to learn from this. Also, the ending was very confusing.

Anyway, it’s great if you want to read something in under 10 minutes. I listened to the audiobook and I can say that not everyone will like the narrator’s voice.

I'll admit that I really wanted to have a lot to say about this, but I really don't have that much that I can say. It was very short, and it was well-written. I don't know that I really got the point of the story--at least not entirely. I felt like there was something missing. In fact, I felt like there might have been a lot missing.

I listened to this on audiobook, and I also didn't love the narrator's voice. I realize that's a matter of personal taste, but it's worth mentioning.

All in all, this is a good little story if you just want something short and magical. I can't say, however, that it was really one of my favorites. That doesn't mean, though, that it won't be one of yours!

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.

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.