Welcome to one of the September 21st stops on the book tour for The Storyteller’s Diary by J. Edwards Holt, organized by The AudioBookworm. Be sure to follow the rest of the tour for other features, reviews, and author interviews!
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About the Book
The Storyteller’s Diary
Written by J. Edwards Holt
Narrated by Dean Ruple
Genre: Fantasy, Short Fiction
Page Count: 247
Audio Length: 5 hours 11 minutes
Add it to your Goodreads TBR!
Whether you’re looking for mystery, adventure, light-hearted laughs, or even something on the scarier side, The Storyteller’s Diary has it all! Set in the fantasy world of J. Edwards Holt’s Little Men, Big Treasures trilogy, this collection of short stories includes over a dozen tales, featuring all kinds of fantastic mythical creatures like dragons, wizards, elves, and much, much more!
Amazon US | Amazon CA | Amazon UK | Audible
My Review
My Rating: 4 Stars
The Storyteller’s Diary is an anthology of bedtime story length fairytales steeped in classic folk creatures, whimsical settings, and themes of morality. While some stories are sillier than others, all of them aim to teach a lesson about living good and peaceful lives, loving family and neighbours, and not taking anything for granted. Some of the stories mirror biblical stories and parables very closely (one near the middle is very much a “he who is without sin shall cast the first stone” sort of story), while others feel more unique.
All of these stories would make great bedtime stories for kids of all ages, and this book would also be wonderful family storytime reading for lazy afternoons, camping trips, and storm days. I would recommend this to all my friends with kids.
I am reviewing the audiobook edition, specifically, so I would also like to comment that the narrator’s performance was very good. His voice is crisp, his pacing is appropriate, and he does make a good effort to vary the voices of different characters in dialogue. There are appropriate pauses between stories, too. I’ve listened to some audio anthologies where one story blends into the next, leading to confusion for the listener, but that is not the case with this performance.
For the book itself, I rate The Storyteller’s Diary 4 out of 5 stars. It’s very good and I would recommend it, but I wasn’t completely captivated by it. For the narrator’s performance, again I rate it 4 out of 5 stars. It was quite good, and I would not hesitate to listen to another audiobook performed by the same narrator. Overall, therefore, my rating is a solid 4 stars.
I would like to thank the author for granting me access to a free review copy in exchange for an honest review as part of a blog tour for The Storyteller’s Diary organized by Audiobookworm Promotions.
Amazon US | Amazon CA | Amazon UK | Audible
About the Author
Born in North Carolina, United States, J. Edwards Holt always knew that he wanted to be a writer. After graduating high school, he attended college and pursued a degree in education, but later decided to change course and follow his dream to become a novelist and children’s author.
Now a full-time writer, editor, and blogger, Holt spends his free time dreaming up stories and reading. He is passionate about spreading Christian messages through his writing, watching science fiction and super hero movies, and collecting comic books.
Website | Twitter | Facebook | Goodreads | Instagram | Amazon
About the Narrator
Dean Ruple
I’ve loved to read for as long as I can remember, but I have been in love with the audiobook form since I was 13 years old – I was grounded for the week, but found an old Walkman cassette player and passed the time with some great books. While I have been narrating professionally for less than a year, I already have a number of titles of various genres under my belt. In addition to my work on ACX, I also have experience doing sports announcing for local teams. As a teacher of English for 8 years, I read to and with my students almost every day from a variety of genres. I submitted my first audiobook, Reecah’s Flight by Richard H. Stephens, in February of 2020, the culmination of years of dreams and work, and have been going strong since!
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