Narrated by Alison Larkin
The Winter Bride is the second in a series of books about the four Chance sisters – who aren’t actually sisters (well two are, the other two aren’t!), instead being a group of women who were brought together under very inauspicious circumstances and who, on breaking out of those circumstances, decide to rename themselves because their escape from a life of drudgery and abuse has given them all a second chance.
The girls now reside with their splendidly eccentric “aunt” Beatrice, Lady Davenham, who is busily making plans for the come-outs of Damaris and Jane, but Damaris isn’t keen on the idea. She doesn’t want to find herself a husband, which is the usual purpose of having a Season, but Lady Bea reassures her that she doesn’t have to get married if she doesn’t want to, and tells her she should look upon her season as a chance to live a little and have some fun.
In the previous book in the series, The Autumn Bride, Abigail Chance married Max, Lord Davenham (Lady Beatrice’s nephew), and he has asked his best friend Freddy Monkton-Coombes to keep an eye on the other girls while he and Abby are away on their honeymoon. Freddy, a ladies’ man and confirmed bachelor who lives in fear of the crowds of “muffins” (young, marriage-minded women) who are determined to land him, is not particularly enthused at the prospect, but he nonetheless agrees to look out for the girls and provide an escort when required.
Freddy and Damaris strike up a gentle friendship – and then one day, Freddy hits upon a scheme which will get both of them something they want. The time is approaching for his annual visit to his family home, somewhere he only goes on one particular day a year for his brother’s memorial service, but this year, his mother has organised a house-party which will be filled with eligible “muffins.” He reasons that if he announces his engagement, his mother will have to call off the house party and stop nagging him to get married, so he asks Damaris if she will become betrothed to him. She has already made him aware of her intention never to marry, and as he doesn’t want to get married either, there is no danger of their betrothal leading to the altar.
I always enjoy a “fake-relationship” plot and this one is very well done indeed. Damaris and Freddy discover they are alike in many ways – both have long-held and deeply buried secrets, have grown up suffering the disapprobation of their parents and, deep down, are looking for something more in their lives than what they currently have. Best of all, they communicate well and truly understand each other, sensing their affinity and seeing that there is more to the other than there would at first seem. Damaris is a likeable and sympathetic heroine who has been through some horrible things in her life, but has steadfastly refused to let them destroy her. Instead of becoming bitter and cold, she is caring and considerate, a perfect match for Freddy, who is an absolutely wonderful hero. He has a reputation as a womaniser, and the face he presents to the world is one of a devil-may-care man-about-town who pretends he is unaffected by his brother’s death and that his parents’ attitude towards him doesn’t hurt – but Damaris quickly sees the real Freddy beneath the veneer.
“You’re a chameleon, Freddy Monkton-Coombes. To most of London society, you’re nothing but an entertaining rattle, a frivolous fellow with not a serious thought in your head.”
“I assure you, there’s always at least one thought in my head.” He waggled his brows at her in a lascivious fashion.
She ignored it. “To Max you’re a friend to rely on; to Flynn, a partner with a business brain as sharp as his own; to Nanny McBride you’re her darling boy who spoils her with little treats—long after her usefulness has passed, and very few servants in this world command that kind of loyalty; to me you’re—” She broke off, suddenly flustered by what she’d been about to say.
“Yes? What am I to you, Miss Chance?” It was his deepest rake-on-the-prowl voice.
She collected herself and replied, “To me, you’re very kind.”
The Winter Bride is a thoroughly enjoyable and emotionally satisfying story featuring two well-rounded protagonists and features a set of similarly well-drawn supporting characters. It says much about the quality of the story and writing that the problems I experienced with the narration didn’t detract from my enjoyment too much. Alison Larkin’s narration is 80% excellent, but I again felt letdown by the way she portrayed the hero. On paper, Freddie is utterly gorgeous – handsome, funny, kind, self-deprecating and, when it counts, sexy as hell. Many Regency romances have their heroes adopt a laconic, ennui-laden drawl, but Ms Larkin takes Freddie’s too far, so that even in the more romantic scenes, he sounds like the worst kind of upper-class twit.
One may ask why I continue to listen to Ms Larkin’s narrations in light of this, and it’s a question I ask myself frequently. The answer is always the same – it’s because she is verygood at everything else and I keep hoping that somewhere along the line, she will find an acceptable and attractive way to portray the male leads in the audiobooks she narrates. I’ve listened to a couple of audios where she’s almost made it – but this isn’t one of them.
The narrative flows well, and Ms Larkin really gets to grips with the emotional side of the story as well as bringing out the humour. She voices all the sisters distinctly, her interpretation of Lady Bea is a hoot, and all the secondary characters are as well-played as the major ones, complete with a variety of convincing regional accents where appropriate. There are a couple of minor mispronunciations along the way, and one more frequent one which I confess was rather annoying –Bea – the diminutive form of Beatrice – is pronounced “bee” NOT “bee-ah”, which is something Kaetrin mentioned in her review of The Autumn Bride.
Overall however, listening to The Winter Bride was an enjoyable experience, even in the light of the reservations I have expressed regarding the narration, and I will certainly be looking out for the next in the series.
Caz
Narration: B-
Book Content: B+
Steam Factor: Glad I had my earbuds in
Violence: Minimal – a bout of fisticuffs/hand-to-hand fighting
Genre: Historical Romance
Publisher: Tantor Audio
The Winter Bride was provided to AudioGals for review by Tantor Audio.
Hey Caz……you’d think that Larkin would get the message by now! She keeps turning up as the narrator of books I loved in print. It’s driving me crazy! Someone needs to boot her in the butt…..it’s killing my audio fun.
On another note….have you listened to the new Venetia?
Hi Mel
Over the last year or so Ms Larkin has recorded a HUGE number of audios – mostly historicals, I think, but contemporaries, too. I don’t know why she suddenly became “flavour of the month” – and as I find myself saying often, she’s pretty good at ALMOST everything. But unfortunately, the thing she needs to improve is such a key factor when one is listening to a romance. I thought she did well in Noble Intentions (which I reviewed last week for AAR), and she wasn’t too bad in This Scandalous Summer, but in practically every review of her I write, I find myself saying the same thing.
Like you, there are a number of audios I’ve not purchased because she’s listed as the narrator.
I haven’t listened to Venetia yet – it’s on my TBL pile! And I’ll be reviewing The Masqueraders here at some point. Have you listened to either of them yet?
I have listened to both and am on tenterhooks waiting for your reviews.
I read your reviews Caz and I agree with you most of the time about almost everything else, but I just have to tell you that I LOVE Alison Larkin’s narration and I buy audiobooks because she narrates them – every time! Oh My God! Have you HEARD her narration of Pride and Prejudice???? It’s FANTASTIC!
I LOVED The Autumn Bride and now The Winter Bride which made me laugh and cry and I liked Freddy’s voice because it was consistent with the voice she gave the character in The Autumn Bride and because it wasn’t just that same male voice – yawn – that we hear coming out from most narrators – this one had personality and charm.
I spent some time in England and I have to tell you, her accents are perfect. I’d rather support and acknowledge real talent like Alison’s than tear down a great talent like this one and risk a less gifted narrator narrating the kind of books i love!
I think we should support and acknowledge this quality of work. I feel safe getting a book narrated by Alison Larkin and can’t imagine anyone else bringing the kind of life to The Winter Bride that she did. Had to say.
Michelle, I’m really glad Ms Larkin’s narrations work for you. As I’ve said repeatedly, I think she’s very talented, which is probably why I get so frustrated and disappointed with the way she voices the heroes in the books she narrates. She gets it right occasionally (I mentioned Noble Intentions upthread), and while I think Freddy’s voice worked on some levels it didn’t quite work overall. But as I’m fond of saying, one man’s meat is another man’s poison – there are one or two popular narrators I can’t bear to listen to, so there you go.
Oh, and I’m English (as is Ms Larkin, I believe), so I can at least agree with you about the accuracy of her English accents.