Narrated by Roger Hampton
In Once Upon a Tartan
Hester has been packed off to Scotland in disgrace, following her breaking of a betrothal she didn’t want, to a man who tried to force her into marriage for her money. She has been badly emotionally bruised by these events, not just because the man in question seduced her and proceeded to bandy her name about society, but because he made her doubt her own judgement, making her feel less than she was. Even Hester’s own mother made her feel degraded by sending her away from London.
Hester is staying near the estate of her brother-in-law and his wife, Ian and Augusta MacGregor, Earl and Countess of Balfour. Her brother, Matthew, has recently married Ian’s sister, and Hester is looking after their daughter, Fiona, while the pair are travelling abroad. Also in residence is Ian’s great-aunt Ariadne (Ree), who is one of those splendidly forthright and flirtatious dowagers so beloved of historical romance. While Hester is outwardly content, shrewd Ian knows that all is not well with her, but is at a loss as to what to do to help her.
The unexpected arrival of Tiberius Lamartaine Flynn, Earl of Spathfoy, does nothing to improve Hester’s peace of mind. Spathfoy is another of Fiona’s big, strapping uncles (the others being Ian and his brothers), and the elder brother of Fiona’s late father. Hester is immediately suspicious of his motives for arriving unannounced, but she can’t help but be charmed by the way he deals with Fiona, who is a very precocious (though not brattish) child. At the same time, she can’t help but be attracted by his good looks, his innate kindness, and his beautiful voice.
The fact that Tye is possessed of an exquisite voice is mentioned several times in the book; so knowing, even before I read the print version, who would be narrating the audiobook meant that I knew I wouldn’t find myself listening to it and thinking there was no correlation between that aspect of the character as he was written and as I heard him. I may have had issues with some aspects of Roger Hampton’s performance in the previous book in this series, but there’s no denying that he has a gorgeous voice – soft, and slightly husky which, in this story, was not far short of perfect for the hero.
Tye is a wonderful character. He’s everything one would expect of a romantic hero – honourable, sensitive, intelligent, and ridiculously handsome; but he’s also apt to be a bit of a stuffed shirt. I particularly enjoyed his love of language and the way he loved to use ten words when one would have done. It made him seem a bit pompous yet rather loveable at the same time. Mr. Hampton does a very nice job of differentiating between these different aspects of Tye’s character. When we first meet him, his tones are quite clipped and he sounds terribly proper, even when he is playfully admonishing Fiona; but as he begins to unbend a little, and then to fall in love, he adopts a much more appealing, softer tone. When he’s warring inwardly over his feelings for and actions towards Hester, the listener can hear the conflict in the slight gruffness that creeps into his speech, and in the love scenes … well, let’s just say that Hester wasn’t the only listener to have been seduced by the beauty of Tye’s voice!
The longer Tye spends in Hester’s company, the deeper his fascination with her becomes. When he discovers that the fascination is mutual, he is terribly conflicted. He’s very attracted to Hester and recognises that she has been badly shaken by her experiences with her ex-fiancé. He senses that she needs affection and reassurance, things he is more than prepared to provide, but he is also assailed by guilt, knowing that once the true purpose of his visit is revealed, Hester will despise him. But he can’t resist her and they embark upon a passionate and tender affair.
As is usual in Ms. Burrowes’ romances, the love scenes are erotic in their sensuality rather than overly explicit, and I think that is especially true in Once Upon a Tartan where there’s such a strong sense of the emotional connection between the two protagonists.
Tye is the novel’s heart, a man who strives to do the best for everyone around him, usually to the detriment of his own wants and needs. He’s a complex character who maintains a calm and collected exterior, but underneath, is full of contradictions. He loves his family and resents them at the same time; he has been put into an untenable position by his father, the Marquis of Quinworth, whose tendency towards despotism has only increased since his wife’s recent desertion, and has taken on more and more of the responsibility for the running of the marquisate. At the same time, he is doing his best to look after the interests of his younger unmarried sisters who, while they have all the advantages wealth can bring, are at their father’s disposal and under threat of being summarily married off without any consideration of their own wishes on the matter.
It takes Hester a while to work it out, but once she – and the listener – does, it’s obvious. Tye isn’t weak or unfeeling, he’s just the opposite. He cares too much and it’s that quality that has allowed his father to force him into such a horrible position. Fortunately, that quality is also his saving grace, when his feelings for Hester enable him to take a stand against Quinworth and do the right thing.
Once again, Grace Burrowes has penned a thoroughly captivating and well-characterised romance full of warmth and affection. She has a gift for writing children as real people rather than just “endearing moppets” and her characterisation of Fiona is superb. I had reservations about Mr. Hampton’s voicing of her in the last book, and knowing she was a much more prominent character in this one, I admit to being concerned that I was going to find it difficult to listen to her. Fortunately, however, that wasn’t the case. I went back to The Bridegroom Wore Plaid to remind myself of how she’d sounded, and while she is, in terms of inflection and accent, the same, the narrator’s interpretation has lost much of the squeakiness I’d disliked before.
I also very much enjoyed re-encountering some of the other characters from the first book, most notably Ian and Augusta. Unlike some series books, in which past characters appear in purely cameo roles, Ian is a prominent secondary character and I enjoyed the relationship that was beginning to develop between Ian and Tye and hope to see more of it in the next book.
Overall, I’m pleased to say that in listening to Once Upon a Tartan, I experienced none of the reservations I’d experienced in listening to the previous book in the series. It’s always pleasing when a book you loved in print is just as satisfying in audio, and I have no hesitation in giving this one a hearty thumbs up!
Caz
Narration: A-
Book Content: A
Steam Factor: Glad I had my earbuds in
Violence: None
Genre: Historical Romance
Publisher: Tantor Audio
Once Upon a Tartan was provided to AudioGals for review by Tantor Audio.
3 thoughts on “Once Upon a Tartan by Grace Burrowes”
Comments are closed.