Bitter Waters

By: Vivian Shaw

Narrated by: Catrin Walker-Booth

A witty, charming standalone novella starring Greta Helsing, doctor to the undead, who must get to the bottom of a mystery involving a newly turned child vampire.

A barrow-wight shows up on Greta and Varney’s doorstep one night with 11-year-old Lucy Ashton who’s been newly—and forcefully—bitten and turned. Who did this to her, and why? With the help of her vampiric friends, Greta is determined to find out.

©2024 Vivian Shaw (P)2024 Orbit

A happy surprise!

Was thrilled to listen to this novella from Ms. Shaw. After the last book of the series I was afraid that it was a goodbye to all of the curious and wonderful characters that I’d finally gotten to know and understand by the third book. Highly recommend that you start with the first of this series—while Bitter Waters is a great stand-alone, some important character elements will be missed without critical backstory provided in the preceding novels. It is perfectly narrated. Highly recommend this series— please check it out!

Delightful fairy tale feel

This is my third listen from this author. She tells stories of vampires, werewolves, and other magical beings in fresh and engaging ways. This is a fun break if you’ve had too many depressing books lately.

continued development of the characters.

great little story. wish it was longer. love Gretta and the whole crew! next novel..let's follow young Lucy on an adventure in Romania.

Great characters!

Love this family of characters. Hope to see so much more! If you haven't read her other stories, I would highly recommend it!

delightful but too short story following up from her last book.

marvelous integration of new and old vampire's stories. the book was too short and does seem to be a "bridge" for whatever this superb author is working on now.

Absolutely delightful!!

What a perfect little book! I was a little worried that the main plot point of a little girl being turned vampire would be too heavy. But it was handled really well, and the overall feel of this book is one of love and comfort. I was so happy to revisit these beloved characters, and was not disappointed one bit by this book. Except that it was too short! LOL.

Also pleased that this new narrator (different from the original trilogy) was just as good!

A thoroughly delightful listening experience, all around!

Lovely Novella

Listening to a Greta Van Helsing book is like visiting old friends. Vivian Shaw is a fantastic author and the narrator though different from the novels is fabulous.

Looking Forward to More!

So excited to see this series continue. Loved the last ones and the idea behind the world. Combine that with good storytelling and great narration you get what I consider a good “read”. (Sorry. Not into giving any kind of spoilers in my reviews)

Great writing! Definitely going back for more. :)

This was on an Audible Deal of the Day, so I decided to try it. I'm so glad I did! This novella was a fun dip into this author's world of the undead and super-naturals. There is reference to what happens in previous novels, but this book can stand on it's own. I thoroughly enjoyed the story and characters. The only real issue I had was the narrator was not very good at voice distinction between characters, so it was difficult to know who was saying what throughout. It was not enough of an issue to DNF, however. Her voice was fine, just not enough distinction. If the author is going to use this narrator again, I would suggest notes about voice characterization.
I will definitely be reading more by this author. :)

Cozy little novella

This is a completely wonderful little addition to the world of Dr. Greta Helsing! I loved this other books in this series but they are not really required to enjoy this novella. The characters are all explained nicely from Ruthven to Varney, and then the new addition of Lucy, the little girl turned into a vampire. This is nicely contained where there is a search for the culprit and finding a suitable loving home for Lucy (I love that she is a bookworm!). And you get to meet the very famous Dracula himself. This story is full of caring adults (besides the one that did the despicable turning of a little girl) and is a warm and cozy read that is just so much fun!

So, I highly recommend this novella and even more recommend reading the other books in this series because this is a fun world to escape to, full of famous vampires, a caring doctor, and many interesting supernatural creatures!