In My Wildest Fantasies by Julianne MacLean

In My Wildest Fantasies lgNarrated by Rosalyn Landor

In My Wildest Fantasies is a British, historical romance with elements of suspense. The first book in the Pembroke Palace six-book series, it sets the background for the Sinclair family story. While there is a teaser at the end, which describes the main conflict for the second book, it could nonetheless be listened to as a stand-alone book, as the love life of the primary hero and heroine is resolved.

When I first read the description of this book, I was expecting the cliche romance where the hero and heroine experience love at first sight after the hero rescues the heroine. To my delight, In My Wildest Fantasies contained much more, including intrigue, passion, scandal, and even unexpected plot twists. While at times I felt like these underlying themes just scratched the surface of what could have been an A+ read, their introduction nonetheless proves entertaining as the reader will be left guessing and imagining the countless provocative possibilities. Add in Rosalyn Landor’s experienced narration, and you have a solid audiobook.

We first meet Lady Rebecca Newland and Devon Sinclair, the future Duke of Pembroke, when Devon rescues Rebecca from a near drowning after a coach accident. Rebecca, being an innocent, sheltered girl of seventeen, instantly romanticizes Devon as her hero after this spark filled rescue. Devon, however, while also feeling this attraction, chooses to ignore Rebecca when he discovers that she is still underage.

Four years later, Rebecca is faced with a terrible mandate. Her father insists that she marry her neighbor, Maximilian Rushton, an arrogant, cruel man who has already behaved dishonorably towards her through no invitation of her own. Given the fact that he is also a man of a lower rank than Rebecca, she is convinced that Mr. Rushton must have some sinister leverage over her father.

With the aid of her Aunt, Rebecca runs away in search of her hero. As one can surmise from the title, Rebecca has passionately fantasized about Devon since their first meeting. Now she is determined to make her dreams come true and convince Devon to marry and love her.

As fate would have it, Devon has just returned home from a three-year trip abroad to America, and his father is insisting that he marry before the end of the year or lose his inheritance. In fact, this is an ultimatum that must be fulfilled by all four of the Sinclair brothers, thus forming the basis for most of the books to come in the Pembroke Palace series. Convincing Devon to marry her, however, will not be as easy as it would at first appear. For Rebecca’s father and Mr. Rushton are only a couple of the many obstacles. Further complications include: Devon’s father’s handpicked future duchess who he invites to visit the family; Devon’s brother, Vincent, who holds a deep-seated grudge, and is determined to thwart any effort by Devon to find true love; and Devon’s own fear of loving a woman or, even more terrifying, serving as a woman’s hero. Perhaps Ms. MacLean’s most ingenious obstacle comes in the form of a double-edged sword which arises from the most unlikely of places – an erotic diary that Rebecca discovers and whose education provides an appearance that both serves to attract Devon’s interest and arouse his suspicions as to her true character and motives.

Further rounding out the story, is Rosalyn Landor’s narration. Ms. Landor is a prolific narrator with well over a hundred audiobooks under her belt, many of which are romances. As should be expected from such an experienced performer, she delivers a solid reading of In My Wildest Fantasies. Her pacing of the story, accents, and acting of emotions are beyond reproach. Additionally, from Rebecca’s higher, softer more youthful voice to her Aunt’s slightly deeper more mature one, I really enjoyed her highly differentiated intonations for the female characters which, not only made the story easier to follow, but also played in perfectly, bringing to life the particular person being impersonated. Ms. Landor’s male characterizations are also relatively good. While leaving no doubt as to which are male, and clearly differentiating between the younger and older men, I found it a little harder to differentiate amongst the younger ones (primarily when Devon and his brothers were speaking).

One potential narration issue that I did note, however, relates to the quality of the production. I have listened to dozens of audiobooks, and I have never experienced this before, so I played the audiobook on numerous devices to confirm that I did indeed hear what I thought I was hearing. Namely, when played out loud, “s” sounds (and to a much lesser extent “t” sounds) had a slight whistling effect. It was not extremely distracting, but it was noticeable causing me to lower the volume a number of times in order to minimize the effect. Interestingly, this was not a problem when I listened to the audiobook with my earphones.

Therefore, while the performance merits a B grade, unfortunately production matters must also be considered in the narration grade. As a result of the sharp “s” effect noted in the preceding paragraph, I lowered the overall narration grade to a B-.

All in all, In My Wildest Fantasies exceeded my expectations, and I found it to be an enjoyable listen that left me wanting to learn more about the Sinclair family. This is a book that lovers of European historical romance novels will not want to miss!

BJ

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Narration:  B-

Book Content:  B+

Steam Factor:  For your burning ears only

Violence:  Minimal

Genre:  European Historical Romance

Publisher:  Julianne MacLean

 

In My Wildest Fantasies was provided to AudioGals for review by the author.

 

4 thoughts on “In My Wildest Fantasies by Julianne MacLean

  1. I recently reviewed The Mistress Diaries, which is Vincent’s story. I definitely want to read the rest of this series. I liked the characters a lot, and I was especially pleased to read a romance that wasn’t filled with cliches.

    1. Yes, this book definitely exceeded my expectations. From the description, I figured it would just be a cliche; but it was so much more! I will keep an eye out for your Mistress Diaries review: )

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