L.A. Witch: Birthday

By: T.J. McCaffrey

Narrated by: Virtual Voice

Enter a world where middle school meets magic, and destiny is written in the tremors of the earth. In "L.A. Witch: Birthday," Holly Ivy McNee's life takes a dramatic turn when, on her twelfth birthday, she discovers that she's not just an ordinary girl. She was born on the night of a great earthquake, and now, twelve years later, those same earthquakes are back, more intense than ever. Holly suspects she is somehow connected.

Mysterious messages begin to appear, hinting at a hidden world. Phrases like, "Dragons with dragons only converse," and "Twice dragon. Beware," suggest a secret language and a dangerous destiny that Holly must understand. As she navigates the challenges of middle school, Holly must also grapple with her growing magical powers. She learns that "witches don't lie," underscoring the importance of truth and integrity as she encounters a cast of characters including a mysterious librarian, Mrs. Balfour, who has a connection to Holly's past, and a talking cat, Hermes.

Holly's journey is more than just magic; it’s a quest for self-discovery. As she blends her everyday life with her magical one. Along the way, Holly teams up with her friends, Brian, Tiffany, and Natasha, as they discover they are all connected to a prophecy that will determine the fate of Los Angeles.

Virtual Voice is terrible

Story was pretty good but the virtual voice was so bad it distracted. Such a shame. The reader can make or break a book.

Well…

Virtual voice really held the story back. The story was great, but I struggled to finish it because of the virtual voice mispronunciation and saying ‘dash’ when author meant to show characters were being interrupted.

A I LACKS EMOTION & INFLECTION

Loving the story but catch my self pausing to add how the characters should sound in my head.
A I is not expressing any of the exasperation / frustrations that an elevan going on 12, middle school girl would have in abundance.
The narration is missing the whine of Holly, as well as her mother's jokingly whining back at her make a cute binding moment, fall flat.
I know A I is new but I believe this is a GIGO situation, and not the fault of the program as much as it is an issue the programmers need to correct.
I hope they can do so without taking anyone in particulars live voice without giving credit.

Still can’t stand Virtual Voice

I was excited to listen to this, because I have enjoyed Todd McCaffrey’s books before. The story was ok. It resolved and made sense in the last chapter. I still can’t stand Virtual Voice. There are mispronunciations galore, and it misses inflections, tonalities, and breaks common to spoken language. I’m not sure how much the virtual voice influenced my opinion of the book. I might listen to another of this series, but I won’t if it’s in virtual voice.

Best for pre teens

The writing is aimed at a rather young audience. Short sentences. Awkward construction. Not at all helped by a male AI voice that reads in an awkward manner. Suggest at least allowing the female led characters to be read by an awkward female voice. It wouldn't help the rest for older audiences but it would better reflect the female girl witches with only a handful of male characters. It passes the Bechdel Test which is the strongest aspect of the story. Sadly the male AI undermines that strength entirely because it feels like yet another pre teen/teen boy driven hero story. Give the female driven story the female voice and it would be stronger. Market it toward the appropriate pre teen audience and allow girls to feel empowered by a story about girls being heros to shine with the right audience. Read with the right voice to emphasize the female heros the story definitely works. With the male voice it weakens the narrative and the message that girls can save the world with their friends with their token boy in the mix as effectively as marvel men with their token women.