Awakened Within

A Vienna Rossi Paranormal Mystery (A Lost Souls, Book 1)

By: Michelle Ann Hollstein

Narrated by: Karen Bachman

Length: 5 hrs and 44 mins

Publisher's summary

In order to make the nightmare stop, Vienna Rossi realizes she must take matters into her own hands.

She’s compelled by an unseen force to hop on a last-minute flight to track down a murderer. Awakened within her is a psychic gift she never knew she had, a handsome spirit guide who drives her nuts, and the ability to help lost souls cross over to the other side.

Vienna and her spirit guide, Jack, team up with Vienna’s best friend, Kim, for a dangerous murder-solving, ghost-hunting adventure.

©2014 Michelle Ann Hollstein (P)2018 Michelle Ann Hollstein

Fantastic Story!

I really enjoyed this story. The listener gets engrossed in it immediately. It is a very well written tale that is accompanied by a talented narrator.

Good!

The mystery is a good one. It took an unexpected turn for me. That doesn't usually happen, so this is a good thing. I like the characters and I especially liked Jack. I'm interested in seeing where this relationship goes.
I listened to the audio book version of this book and Karen Bachman does a good job. She has some really good dramatic acting. You know when you should be scared, mad, excited. There were a few times I felt that maybe she was a bit monotone, but, I almost want to say that she was feeling the somberness of the story.
All in all, I really liked the book and would love to listen to book 2.

Thoroughly enjoyable

This audiobook was thoroughly enjoyable. It has a lot of mystery, a murder, suspense, humor and the paranormal.

Awakened Within

A fantastic read. Vienna awakens a power within her. She decides to follow an unseen force and takes a flight. This grabbed me right from the start to finish. There is humor I just loved this mystery. The Narrator did a great job as well. The Author has a very creative mind. Is great at world building and bringing out the Characters. I definitely recommend this read.
Shauna Joesten

Great Book

I thoroughly enjoyed this book! Vienna was a fun character! I loved her irritation with Jack disappearing all the time. And Goldie was a riot!

Great action book to sit down and enjoy! The narration was spot on.

Good Read

Awakened Within: A Vienna Rossi Paranormal Mystery was a good read by Michelle Ann Hollstein. Vienna Rossi has been compelled by an unseen force to go on a plane to track down a murderer. She finds that she has awakened a psychic gift she never knew she had. She also has an infuriating and handsome spirit guide to help her. She has the ability to help lost souls crossover to the other side. Vienna teams up with her best friend Kim, and spirit guide Jack, to solve murder and take on a ghost hunting adventure. I enjoyed this book and can't wait to read more by the author.

Interesting story

Bare bones story with great narration. I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.

Put the Bunny Back in the Box

This story is definitely geared towards younger women. I am neither so while I enjoyed the overall story, the presentation of it wasn’t for me. The immaturity of the characters made it difficult for me to like them with the exception of Vienna. She was the protagonist and seemed the most real. The characters are well developed and are more towards the airy and hoity-toity side. Their development made me dislike them more and more and I think the author nailed their dialogue and personalities perfectly. While I didn’t care for any of it, I can say the characters were done quite well and quite to my dissatisfaction. I didn’t know rice crust pizza was a thing.

The plot is fairly simple and the mystery isn’t too hard to figure out, but the ride is a fun one. Paranormal mysteries are often the same story retold, although this one is a bit different and I think as the series progresses that it will really stand out from some of the others. With this being the first in the story I realize that there is a lot to build upon and think this was a good start to something more.

Karen Bachman did a really good job voicing the characters. She did Bunny perfectly and really added to my dislike of her. She did a spot on narration for all the characters and really was able to do a voice that matched each personality. I don’t think the dialogue would have worked without her narration and hope she stays on for the series.

I was voluntarily provided this free review copy audiobook by the author, narrator, or publisher.

Fantastic Cozy Paranormal!

When I read the reviews on this book I wondered about it. I've heard of cozy mysteries, but cozy paranormal? Well, that is exactly what it was! The kind of book where you just love the characters and want to cozy into the book. I think this author has invented a new genre. Great concept, highly original, loved every bit of it.

Interesting start to new paranormal mystery series

Vienna has been experiencing a nightmare, causing her to escape a way on a whim to her father's vacation house in Palm Springs. But instead of the relaxing getaway she was hoping for, instead she gets some family drama and some odd things she can't explain. Next thing Vienna knows, it is up to her and her best friend Kim as well as mysterious Jack to solve a deadly mystery.

I am always up for a paranormal mystery so when I read the synopsis for Awakened Within I was very interested to read it. I found this to be an engaging mystery with some creepy elements and with a great cast of characters. I loved that we get to meet Vienna just when she is starting to develop her gifts so we can learn how it works right along with her. I really really want a unlikely romance to occur between Jack and Vienna, but I can't see that happening but I will keep hoping! The paranormal aspect of the book was interesting and I would love to know more about her gifts, her agreement and her spirit guide. And the mystery was a nice twist that I did not expect. Michelle kept me on my toes guessing what would happen next and I love that in my mysteries.

I listened to the audiobook and I found it very enjoyable. The narrator was able to give personality and spunk to the characters (her voice for Bunny was my absolutely my favorite!!) and it was easy to get lost in the mystery. The one downside to the audiobook was that occasionally the perspective would switch between characters with no warning and their internal voices were the same so it took a minute for me to figure out what was going on and who was talking. Overall though I think this audiobook was well done and I would love to listen to the rest of the series. I enjoyed getting to know Vienna, Kim, Bunny and Jack and I want to see what mystery they solve next.