Not the best narrator

Enjoyable story but the narrator was not the best, her accents were awful and almost gave up listening but after I guessed ‘whodunnit’ wanted to find out if I was right. Would definitely read some more of this authors books.

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Loved it!

Expected to not be too interested but the narrator was great! She really brought the character to life in a really nice way, I really liked her in no time and by the end I wanted her to get a happy ending, I’m glad it’s a series and I plan to read the next one soon, I think books based in this era tend to come off as a Sherlock Holmes rip off but this really didn’t, perhaps helped by a female lead but I really enjoyed it and didn’t get those vibes at all! I would definitely recommend it and I hope the same narrator reads the rest of the series!

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Fun Victorian, female sleuth adventure

This is a fun female reporter/sleuth adventure set in the Victorian era, which is very well researched by the author from the suffragette movement, the unfolding Irish uprising to what foods were typically eaten at different times of day and how people from different classes entertained themselves.

The story was quite intriguing and the twists and turns to uncover the mystery were engaging, while the back stories of the lead characters were interwoven with the main narrative and rounded them out nicely. Some parts of the book seemed a bit pointless, and, while interesting, felt as if they were just padding or included, because the author had wanted to use the information she had uncovered in research, relevant or not.

Penny Green is a very likeable, forthright, but also quite naive protagonist, and I am not too convinced by her sleuthing skills; thankfully that is what Inspector Blakely is there for and they make an interesting team and their budding romance is sweet and believable for the time period.
However, the way they bungled the ‘undercover assignment’ was pretty cringe worthy and hard to believe that an inspector would be so amateurish.

The narrator Gabrielle Baker did a brilliant job portraying a Northern lass, without sounding too broad and common and really enhanced the story for me.

I received this book in audio book format free from the author and am leaving this review of my own volition.

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Dull and annoying narration

Just couldn’t get past the dull and annoying narration. Not sure if it’s because she’s putting on a northern accent, but every sentence has the exact same cadence and an annoying superciliousness that completely ruined the story and made the protagonist extremely unlikable... ugh

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Dreary drivel

What a terrible audiobook! The original idea behind the plot could have produced an enjoyable book, but alas, it failed in every way imaginable. To compound the problem, the narration is sadly lacking… utterly lifeless with a distracting lisp and poor accents (complete with a French waiter straight out of ‘Allo ‘Allo)
Looking through other reviews of one and two stars, I fail to see how Audible promotes this as 4 star. I wish I hadn’t wasted my time.

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Why don’t Audible label YA fiction as such

I know that there is some excellent fiction for young people and I enjoy reading it on occasion but I was expecting this to be an adult fiction. The appalling narration didn’t help. There was no life or energy in the reading and nothing to engage the reader.

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6 people found this helpful