Beguiled by Joanna Chambers

Beguiled by Joanna ChambersNarrated by Hamish McKinlay

Beguiled is the second story in Joanna Chambers’s Enlightenment series and it does not stand alone well. The entire series is great so that’s not bad news – but start at book one.

Warning: Spoilers for book one, Provoked, follow.

Caz reviewed Provoked here and had a glowing report on the narration by Hamish McKinlay so when I had the chance to review Beguiled, I jumped at it. I read the digital books when they were first released so I was familiar with the story already. Where Provoked ends with the two protagonists not together, Beguiled has a HFN ending. The full HEA comes in the third book, Enlightened (which I believe Caz will be reviewing here shortly).

In Provoked, lawyer David Lauriston met Lord Murdo Balfour and they had a fling, against the background of David assisting a man whose brother was tried and convicted for treason and sentenced to transportation to New South Wales. At the time, David was labouring under the belief that his homosexual desires were “unnatural” and something to be ashamed of. Nevertheless, as an upright and extremely ethical man, he had determined never to marry, believing he could not properly commit to the role of husband to a wife. By the end of the book, this had led to disappointment for Elizabeth Chalmers, a daughter of David’s professional mentor.

Beguiled takes place two years after the events of the first book. David has not seen Murdo since then but he has undergone quite a change in how he thinks about himself and much of that is because of Murdo. He still thinks about him fondly and is happily surprised to find Murdo in Edinburgh for King Edward’s visit (which really happened, in 1822). The happiness is tempered somewhat by David’s caution that to get further involved with Murdo may lead to pain and heartbreak for him but the connection between the two men is strong and David is unable to resist its pull. For Murdo’s part, he doesn’t even try.

Elizabeth is now Lady Kinnell, having married Lord Kinnell shortly after David told her they were never going to happen (he was kind but it was still painful for her). Elizabeth is in Edinburgh for the king’s visit and when her path crosses with David’s again it quickly becomes obvious that the marriage is not happy and Elizabeth husband is terribly abusive. (Trigger Warning: Domestic abuse. It’s not graphic but it is a part of the story.)

Euan McLennan, the brother of the man convicted of treason in the first book, makes an appearance too. He is now a journalist for a radical paper in London and is also in town covering the king’s visit.

The book skilfully weaves the true events of 1822 – the parade, the reimagining of Highlander tradition by Sir Walter Scott, the king’s levy and appearance at the theatre – with David’s romance with Murdo and his efforts to assist Elizabeth escape her violent husband. I visited Edinburgh in 2016 so I found the detail of the city even more enjoyable this time around – I could actually picture some of the places, having walked the Royal Mile myself now.

Caz was right about the narration. Hamish McKinlay’s performance was excellent. Murdo had a mostly-British accent; even though he was of Scottish stock, his family had been in London for a long time and he had been educated in England. The other characters were mostly Scottish and Mr. McKinlay showed a number of Scottish dialects in his narration, both making it easy to differentiate the characters by ear alone but also paying respect to the diversity of the characters themselves.

Mr. McKinlay softened his voice for the female characters (which was, for the most part, only Elizabeth) rather than changing his pitch all that much but I found it more than enough for me to sink into the performance and believe it.

There were some occasions when Mr. McKinlay stumbled a little over words, running some together but this is a minor quibble only.

Beguiled is a well-plotted romantic story, rich in history and I liked it even better on audio than I did in print. Recommended.

Kaetrin


 

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