My Lady Notorious by Jo Beverley

Narrated by Alison Larkin

I was so excited when I heard one of my favourite historical series of all time was finally being released in audio format audio. My Lady Notorious is the first book in Jo Beverley’s iconic Malloren series. I began with Book 4 (Secrets of the Night) and 5 (Devilish), which I picked up at my local used bookstore about eight years ago. I devoured them and immediately ordered the first three books and then read all five books, but in order this time.

This might explain, in part, why the series revolves around the Marquess of Rothgar for me. Even though My Lady Notorious is about Lord Cynric Malloren (“Cyn” – pronounced Sin and it is no accident that his heroine is Lady Chastity Ware) and Rothgar appears fairly briefly in the story, his role is pivotal – but, more about him later.

The story begins when Lord Cyn is returning home from a visit to his older sister’s estate. Cyn is a Captain in the Army and has been serving in the Americas during the French and Indian War. He became very ill with a fever and was brought home to recuperate. He is chafing at the bit because he feels better but his older brother, Rothgar, is cosseting him. He detests it. He was born for adventure. When his coach is held up, he quickly decides there is adventure to be had and a mystery to be solved and by the end of Chapter 1, has been willingly abducted by the mysterious “Charles”.

Charles is the eponymous notorious Lady Chastity Ware, daughter of the earl of Walgrave. She was disgraced when, after refusing to marry the man of her father’s choosing, he arranged for her to be found in a most compromising position. Rather than forcing her hand however, she remained resolute in her refusal. Banished to a small cottage on her father’s estate with her reputation ruined and her hair shorn, the only clothing available to her is that of a penitent’s. Because she is plucky and brave, she wears men’s clothes. She is not penitent as she has done nothing of which to be ashamed.

Her recently widowed older sister, Verity, has just borne a son, the heir to her dead husband’s estate. The guardian of the child is her brother-in-law (who also happens to be the man Chastity’s father wanted her to marry). Fearing for the child’s safety but mistrustful of her father after what happened to Chastity, Verity has brought the baby to Chastity and they plan to flee to Maidenhead, where Verity’s former beau, Major Nathaniel Fraser, is stationed. Verity hopes that Nathaniel will marry her and shelter both her and the child. “Charles” and Verity hijack the coach to give them means to travel to Maidenhead.

Cyn is no fool and he cottons to Charles’ charade almost immediately. He goes along with it because he quickly appreciates Verity’s plight and he’s charmed by Chasity, his very own damsel in distress. He doesn’t know her story and desperately wants to. He believes she has greater need of him than even Verity and is determined to help her.

Cyn is not the usual romance hero – he is not terribly tall and not big and broad. This comes in handy when Cyn decides their best way forward is to travel incognito with him disguised as the baby’s mother. Thus, we have a cross-dressing hero and heroine and a road trip all at once. (Happiness!!)

It’s so very clever. Familiar with the story, I was able to notice different things this time – little things that showed great respect to readers; Charles is slight and not buxom but even so, Cyn spots a certain lack of, er, assets, in his breeches and quickly deduces she is a woman; Cyn makes a handsome woman and his own physical attributes mean that he can pull off the deception. The plot also neatly gets around impropriety because it is not improper for Charles and Cyn to be alone together. So there is plenty of this couple together. (More happiness!!)

Yes, they fall in love very quickly but Chastity comments on that later in the book so it does not go unnoticed. (Also, I DID NOT CARE.)

There is a magnificent use in My Lady Notorious of the motifs of a jewelled pin and a kiss – both given by Rothgar. They are small but pivotal parts of the first and final books in the Malloren series (later books are in the Malloren World but all the Malloren siblings are happily paired by the end of Devilish) and as such, they serve as a kind of beautiful set of bookends to the series. But I will say no more other than to watch out for those things here and in Devilish (when the time comes). I’ve re-read Devilish many times but this was the first time I’d revisited My Lady Notorious. Noticing those motifs, well, it felt like a bit of an Easter egg.

I’ve listened to Alison Larkin previously and I’ve enjoyed her narrations for the most part and I definitely appreciated her performance this time around. Her characterizations of Cyn and Chastity were very good. There were times when I felt that Cyn’s affect wasn’t quite right but it was fairly rare.

For the most part, Ms. Larkin portrays Cyn’s love of adventure and zest for life convincingly. Similarly, she displays Chastity’s fears and hopes and worries, all covered over by a strong brave front, with skill. There’s another factor which makes this book a unique narrating challenge though – Ms. Larkin was required to portray Chastity and “Charles” and Cyn and “Lady Inchcliffe”. Charles and Chastity had to sound similar enough to be recognisably the same person but different enough to indicate the differing genders. And the same goes for Cyn and his alter ego. This was done exceedingly well.

The problem for me came with Rothgar. I’m far from convinced that she will successfully pull off the necessary vocal acting to effectively portray him in his book, Devilish. Rothgar plays a significant role throughout the series and he is supremely cool in an Alan Rickman kind of way. He is urbane, intelligent, smooth, and a master manipulator. Here, he just didn’t have the voice I envisioned and while I could (kind of) go along with it because he isn’t the main character, I just don’t think I’m going to be able to do it when he is. He sounded kind of nasal and more like Kenneth Williams (circa Carry On films) rather than the dulcet but also slightly scary tones I was expecting/wishing for. I tried really hard to come up with my perfect voice for Rothgar but I failed. I reckon Nicholas Boulton could do it. Unfortunately, I don’t believe Ms. Larkin can. Rothgar is a man who wields incredible power. When he talks softly, he is his most chilling and he has plans within plans within plans – and he plans all the time. He’s kind of like a benevolent Georgian Mafia Don (except he’s not a criminal). He is AWESOME.

Cyn has a twin sister, Lady Elf, and brothers Bright and Brand. Cyn, Bright, Brand and Chastity’s brother Fort, sounded pretty much the same. At times, the earl of Walgrave sounds exactly like Rothgar (this is not a good thing on a number of levels – some of Walgrave’s scenes are with Rothgar and it makes it somewhat difficult to work out who’s talking. But also, Walgrave is crazy-eight bonkers and Rothgar is… well, Rothgar).

This left me in a bit of a dilemma when it came to grading the narration. It was very good, with only a couple of vocal errors (for instance, at one point someone had a budge in his breeches instead of a bulge). On the one hand, Cyn and Chastity (which involved four different depictions rather than the usual two) and the other main characters were portrayed convincingly. But, I was disappointed in the Rothgar characterisation. Getting back to what I was saying in the beginning of this review, Rothgar is this series for me. Balancing it all, I’m left with a B- for narration. Perhaps (I hope) Ms. Larkin will surprise me with her voicing of Rothgar when Devilish arrives. Perhaps the publisher will go with a different narrator for that book (and if so, I can only wish it will be someone who can bring it). For this book however, Alison Larkin did well. I love the story, I love the characters and, when there were things in the narration I disliked or about which I was ambivalent, the story shone through and kept me listening avidly. I’d definitely recommend this one. But I’m still nervous about Devilish…

Kaetrin

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Narration:  B-

Book Content:  A

Steam Level:  Glad I had my earbuds in

Violence:  Fighting

Genre:  Historical Romance

Publisher:  Tantor Audio

My Lady Notorious was provided to AudioGals for review by Tantor Audio.