The Untamed Mackenzie by Jennifer Ashley

Narrated by Angela Dawe

Ashley’s Mackenzie Series has a large and loyal following, dealing as it does with the perfect bad boy Scottish duke, Hart Mackenzie, and his equally bad boy brothers Mac, Cameron, and Ian. The first in the series, The Madness of Lord Ian Mackenzie, was unique and compelling, with a hero in the autism scale; subsequent stories were less unusual but just as irresistible. The Untamed Mackenzie is a novella-length addition featuring the Mackenzie bastard half-brother Lloyd Fellows. The prologue gives us insight into his bleak existence as a child on the streets, his single mum a barmaid, his father the elder Mackenzie who refused to acknowledge the child. Lloyd is now a Scotland Yard detective; indeed, in earlier books, he spent a lot of time trying to pin crimes on his half-brothers as revenge for his life.

Louisa Scranton is the sister of Isabella Mackenzie, Cameron’s long-suffering wife. Their father was doing Ponzi schemes before Ponzi was even born, creating a scandal that leaves Louisa with dim marriage prospects. When Bishop Hargate offers for her hand in exchange for her father’s debt, she considers it as Hargate himself falls dead at her feet, apparently poisoned by the tea Louisa has just served him. Detective Fellows is called in to extricate Louisa from a murder charge. If you’ve been following the series, you already know the two have had a passionate kiss or two, so it’s no surprise that their relationship gets more heated as Fellows solves the murder mystery.

The fact that the romance started two or so books ago makes it easier to get right to the point: who killed Hargate, and how will Lloyd and Louisa finally get past their class differences and start a life together?

Angela Dawe narrates all the titles in the series, and she is a delight to listen to. I’ve become so familiar with her characters I don’t even need to hear the dialogue tags – she has consistent and easily identifiable voices across the entire series for all the brothers, their wives and even their children – well, at least Cameron’s son Daniel, if not all the various Mackenzie toddlers now popping up like weeds. My biggest quibble with her Mackenzie series narration is that I think Hart’s wife, Eleanor, should have a more pronounced Scots accent. This doesn’t even signify in this story, although Eleanor is featured. (I mention it only to show I’m not totally biased in her favor.)

Melinda

Narration: A

Book Content: A

Steam Factor: Glad I had my earbuds in

Violence: Minimal to fighting

Genre: HIstorical Fiction

Publisher: Tantor Audio

The Untamed Mackenzie was provided to AudioGals for review by Tantor Audio.