A Good Rake is Hard to Find by Manda Collins


A Good Rake Is Hard to FindNarrated by Anne Flosnik

Everything about A Good Rake is Hard to Find had so much potential as a historical re-imagining of the Sons of Anarchy. I kept imagining Mr. Darcy in full dress, sweating, maybe wiping a brow furrowed in concentration as he raced along a road with his fellow companions. Unfortunately, my imagination was more entertaining than the actual book.

Miss Lenora Craven is devastated at the death of her brother Jonathan, supposedly by thieves. And she knows exactly who to blame – Lord Frederick Lisle. If Freddie had truly been her brother’s friend, he wouldn’t have let him join the Lords of Anarchy and ride that particular stretch of road at night.

When Lenora confronts Freddie at his club with her beliefs, he is stunned. He loved Jonny like a brother, despite his broken engagement with Lenora. While he knows he couldn’t have done anything to stop Jonny from riding at night, he does hold himself partially responsible. Freddie, better than anyone, knew how bad the Lords of Anarchy could get. After all, it is his cousin – and tormentor – who leads them. Freddie knows his cousin very well, so well he wonders at the circumstances of Jonny’s death. He vows to do whatever it takes to discover the truth behind her brother’s death and figures the best way to start is to announce his betrothal to Lenora.

A Good Rake is Hard to Find should have been right up my alley. Historical romance is one of my preferred listening genres. Combine that with a Regency version of a motorcycle club? I should have devoured this book. Instead it fell flat. Not only did I start the book feeling as if I was missing something (in fact I was – the breakup of the main couple’s betrothal in Why Lords Lose Their Hearts), the plot is half-hearted at best. It doesn’t offer valid enough reasons for Lenora or Freddie to go off together to figure out what happened to her brother. And when we do discover what happened, it’s more of a consolation prize (“Oh, he died in such a way”) than a decisive ending. And as half the basis of the book is Lenora’s journey to discover the truth, only for her to say “Oh, okay” in the end is a very big let down. If the characters don’t care what in the end, why should I?

There is also no concrete resolution at the end in regards to the bad guys. And the romance between Lenora an Freddie is lackluster as well; it’s as if the two get together because they didn’t know what else to do! Unsurprisingly, I was very unsatisfied by it all.

Unfortunately, the narration was as disappointing as the book. In the past, I’ve had no problems with Ms. Flosnik; her performance of Coulter’s The Courtship is one of my all time favorites. However, A Good Rake is Hard to Find is not one of her best performances I’ve listened to… or the second. Flosnik sounds like she’s on speed and the narration is so fast that I had a hard time keeping up with the book. The early voices are slightly synthesized as if she is speaking through one of the machines Peter Frampton favors (I’m not sure if this is because I have a review copy or not). I am a fast talker but this book put me to shame; at one point, I checked to make sure I hadn’t hit a button on my phone. However, the pace eventually evened out around the halfway point and the narration settled into a more comfortable listen.

Not only is there an issue with the speed but with the characters as well. They all run together. Even after the narration slows, the male characters all sound alike. If I had to describe them, I would say they all sounded old and properly British. The old part is a bother too, considering Freddie is young – around twenty-five. The pronunciation of the Earl of Mainwaring name in no way sounded like it is spelled. Flosnik pronounced it like “Mannering”.  I’m not sure if this is one of those American/British accent differences but it too bothered me (not quite sure why as I listened to the book and couldn’t see the words!). Her female portrayals are fine, using pitch for differentiation, so that’s a point in her favor. Otherwise there isn’t any element that made them particularly memorable.

I have no idea what happened with Flosnik and this book. I hope her performance here is a temporary blip and not an indication of future performances. As it is, I will not be listening to the next book when it comes out in October.

Diana


Narration:  C-

Book Content:  C-

Steam Factor:  Glad I had my earbuds in

Violence:  Minimal

Genre:  Historical Romance

Publisher:  Tantor Audio

 

A Good Rake Is Hard to Find was provided to AudioGals by Tantor Audio for review.

 

10 thoughts on “A Good Rake is Hard to Find by Manda Collins


  1. Actually, Mainwaring IS usually pronounced as “Mannering”! It’s one of those odd names – like Cholmondely is pronounced “Chumley” (honestly!)

    I confess I’m not a fan of either author or narrator, but I’m sorry you were disappointed.

    1. Thanks for the info Caz! It’s good to know the narrator is authentic! :P Names are a particular pet peeve of mind and this kept nagging me throughout the book.

      1. You’re welcome – I can understand it would be frustrating, but we do have stupid names like that which, when said aloud, bear little relation to their spellings!

        1. I understand that! :D I live in an area with the same issues. Except ours are with place names and not proper ones. For example, we have people who live in hollows, pronounced “hollars”. :/

  2. Tantor! Why do you keep giving romance listeners this type of cover? A “Lord” in the 19th century would not have been built this way! I doubt even the hardest working laborer would have been. If you insist on all these bare chested hero covers, tone down the 21st century bodybuilding physiques – please. Although I’m not often influenced by covers, this one makes me want to avoid looking further at the content.

    Rant over – for the moment.

    1. I’m glad you said that because I was thinking the same thing. Covers like that are part of what gives the entire genre such a bad name.

    2. You know, I didn’t even notice the cover issues. The covers of audiobooks, and not just Tantor’s, have been historically so bad to begin with that I ignore them. Half the time they don’t represent the book or it’s character. Although there have been times I’ve wanted to commend an audio publisher in my for reviews for providing a cover that is spot on with its depiction.

      1. Tantor features bare chested heroes constantly – more than any other audio publisher I’ve seen. It’s like someone believes it’s a shortcut to women’s fantasies. Give ’em a bare chest and they’ll buy! Quite insulting to my way of thinking. Rant continues…

      2. And I agree on the good covers – I want to say “Look – a romance cover that makes sense!” Tantor has done so with a few authors such as Amy Harmon so maybe there is hope that the bare chested type will decrease in number.

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