How to Talk to a Goddess (And Other Lessons in Real Magic)

Written by Emily Croy Barker

Narrated by Alyssa Bresnahan

Nora knows she needs to move on. And forget about magic.

She’s back in graduate school, and her life is going surprisingly well. She doesn’t need to think about other worlds, about enchantments and demons, or about magicians—even though she once aspired to become one herself. Most of all, she really should forget the magician Aruendiel, who shared the secrets of magic with her but fiercely guarded the deepest secrets of his heart.

Then a chance encounter gives Nora the opportunity to slip between worlds again—and the next phase of her magical education begins.

Her reunion with Aruendiel, so eagerly sought, triggers catastrophe. Alone and injured in a hostile land, Nora finds a new ally and accepts her first real job as a magician. Just as she’s hitting her stride in this new role, however, Nora discovers that her intoxicating new power has a higher price than she anticipated.

Trying to distinguish between friend and enemy, truth and falsehood, Nora can take nothing for granted. It will take more than even the most powerful of discernment spells to help her and Aruendiel see clearly in a dark fog of illusions and lies. And finding her way to the truth could cost Nora her life....

• Language: English
• Publisher: Recorded Books, Inc.
• Release date: Feb 16, 2021
• ISBN: 9781980085409

Emily Croy Barker

A graduate of Harvard University, Emily Croy Barker is a writer and editor who grew up in North Carolina and Maine and now lives in New Jersey. By day, she covers lawyers—formerly as executive editor of The American Lawyer magazine and now as an in-house editor at a large legal organization. The rest of the time, she gets to write about magicians.

Reviews for How to Talk to a Goddess (And Other Lessons in Real Magic)

[Colleen Reilly Wriston · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Just lovely! The immediate follow-up to the thinking woman's guide to real magic.

[archakr-1 · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

I had high hopes after the first book. Four chapters in, I wondered what happened. Ten chapters in, I wondered what happened to the editor. Turns out it was self-published, even though the first book was published through Penguin. I finished the book, hoping it might all come together at some point, but I was sorely disappointed. Major plot points from the first book were 'resolved' and dismissed within the first few chapters, strong character traits were lost, and it had the absolute worst ending I've encountered in a long time. It desperately needed a heartless editor.