Opium and Absinthe Audiobook By Lydia Kang cover art

Opium and Absinthe

A Novel

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Opium and Absinthe

By: Lydia Kang
Narrated by: Bailey Carr
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From the bestselling author of A Beautiful Poison comes another spellbinding historical novel full of intrigue, occult mystery, and unexpected twists.

New York City, 1899. Tillie Pembroke’s sister lies dead, her body drained of blood and with two puncture wounds on her neck. Bram Stoker’s new novel, Dracula, has just been published, and Tillie’s imagination leaps to the impossible: the murderer is a vampire. But it can’t be - can it?

A ravenous reader and researcher, Tillie has something of an addiction to truth, and she won’t rest until she unravels the mystery of her sister’s death. Unfortunately, Tillie’s addicted to more than just truth; to ease the pain from a recent injury, she’s taking more and more laudanum...and some in her immediate circle are happy to keep her well supplied.

Tillie can’t bring herself to believe vampires exist. But with the hysteria surrounding her sister’s death, the continued vampiric slayings, and the opium swirling through her body, it’s becoming increasingly difficult for a girl who relies on facts and figures to know what’s real - or whether she can trust those closest to her.

©2020 Lydia Kang (P)2020 Brilliance Publishing, Inc., all rights reserved. Amateur Sleuths Historical Mystery Women Sleuths Exciting Vampires
Engaging Mystery • Historical Authenticity • Spunky Heroine • Intriguing Plot Twists • Well-researched Setting
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The story is overshadowed by the horrible narration. I was interested in the story but couldn’t get through it. So many words mispronounced and the accents were unbelievably bad. Save the credit and read the book. I would be interested if they redid it with a new reader.

Worst narration I’ve heard in >300 audio books

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The narrator routinely mispronounces words which is incredibly jarring! The most common mispronunciation is "shone". She also couldn't get "ray" (the sea creature), "anatomy", "brooch" and other words correct. Someone who reads without the haughty affectations would serve these stories better. The story itself was pretty good. Better than The Impossible Girl certainly.

Fine story, terrible narrator!

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This story will keep you guessing until the final scenes. Almost everyone's a suspect and our narrator, Tillie, while extremely likable, resourceful, and a young woman definitely ahead of her time, is also notoriously unreliable, given that she has to conquer some personal demons while solving the mystery of her sister's death.

The narration could have been better, more nuanced, certainly; but it's not so terrible that it detracts from the story as a whole.

For those hoping this will be a straight-up "vampire" story, move on now. This isn't one of those—it's so much better! I highly recommend this to anyone who'd like to sink their teeth into a well-plotted, historical mystery, I'll definitely be looking for more of Kang's work in the future!

Great Mystery!

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Somehow I expected something more there were too many repetitious phrases, unlikeable characters, 21st century scrambled sensibilities mixed in with Victorian attitudes. Kind of a mess.

Disappointed

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This was an interesting story but it wasn’t gripping. I didn’t find myself yearning to find out what happens next. Some of it was a bit predictable but there are some unseen twists as well.

Interesting but not gripping

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The history of life in the time of absinthe and opium. I had very little knowledge of this era.

The content

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it was really good listening I enjoyed it very much. I would recommend this book to any one of my friends because of the historical aspects of it and the authenticity of it made it such an interesting read.

Great Listening! Will buy another book .

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A fabulous "page-turner" that kept me up late, listening to hear the culmination. Loved it!

Engrossing!

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I struggled to like the characters at first, but found her recovery from addiction to be solid and it ended well. would read more by this author

really good ending

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The narrator has such a soothing voice and the story was really good. I didn't want to stop listening once I started. It's a well written novel with quite the surprising villian.

great story

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