Hello Stranger by Lisa Kleypas

Hello Stranger by Lisa KleypasNarrated by Mary Jane Wells

One of my favourite characters from the Ravenels series has been Dr. Garrett Gibson. She’s loosely based on the actual first female doctor in Britain, Elizabeth Garrett Anderson. In Hello Stranger, the fictional Garrett gets her HEA with Ethan Ransom, a detective in the Metropolitan Police who has a not-so-secret connection with the Ravenel family.

Ethan and Garrett have crossed paths briefly before in the series and when they did, it was clear there was more than a little attraction. The story begins when Garrett is walking home in the dark after spending the day working in the clinic for staff of Winterbourne’s (department store). The clinic is not in a good area of London and Ethan has taken it upon himself to follow her home to keep her safe. When Garrett is set upon by three footpads who threaten sexual assault, Ethan steps in. Garrett is not a helpless damsel. She can more than hold her own in most one-on-one situations – but she was outnumbered this time and needed help (even though she is reluctant to admit it).

Ethan then convinces Garrett to take some self-defence lessons from him, putting them both in each other’s proximity again, but this time with more touching. The sparks fly.

There isn’t much courtship in the story. The pair go from barely knowing one another to being 100% committed in barely a blink. I do love a hero who is devoted to his lady so there was plenty for me to enjoy, but even so, I did notice the lack of developmental steps in the romance.

Ethan was raised in London by his Irish parents and so has more than a little brogue to his natural speaking voice. However, in the circles Ethan often frequents, the Irish accent is considered a problem so he has learned to speak in a London accent for the most part. However, when he’s “sweetheartin’” he’s all Irish all the time. This presented a challenge to Mary Jane Wells, who had to use two accents for one character. Unfortunately, the Irish part didn’t always hold for the entire scene so there was a little more switching than I think was originally intended. That said, Ethan does say many romantic things to Garrett over the course of the book and the Irish accent made them all the more swoonworthy.

Garrett is not particularly given to flowery words; it was fun to see her flustered and unsure in this arena. She is such a scarily competent woman that so rarely happens.

Ethan and Garrett quickly become a couple but they have to be careful because Ethan is gathering evidence of a criminal conspiracy which involves members of Cabinet and high ranking public servants. Garrett is at risk by associating with him.

Garrett is a dedicated doctor and there is a significant amount of competence porn as she goes about saving lives using the most cutting-edge technology and techniques available to her in the 1870s. I saw a review which questioned the authenticity of these sections but I was comfortable with the depiction here, particularly given the real-life basis for her character.

What I wasn’t very comfortable with was Ethan’s backstory of having super seekrit spy training in “martial arts” based on the movements of animals and the “erotic arts” from native experts in India. The only role India had to play in the book was to be the exotic place Ethan learned certain skillsets. It was clear orientalism. None of the Indian characters even had a name. Indians were not shown as more than the kama sutra and martial arts and there was only a tiny bit by way of cultural context given. There was no need for it in the story. Indian culture is far deeper and richer than what is depicted in the book.

However, the book wasn’t all bad representation. Neither Ethan or Garrett are members of the nobility, notwithstanding their wealthy and high-placed friends. In their particular professions, both protagonists see the inequality rampant in English society and both are passionate about fairness and justice.

I liked the way the story played out in terms of the suspenseful subplot and I was definitely happy with Ethan and Garrett together.

Mary Jane Wells has been a reliably great narrator and, for the most part, her performance in Hello Stranger was as I expected. There were a few times when, as mentioned earlier, Ethan’s Irish accent didn’t quite work and there was one rather glaring occasion when West Ravenel spoke with Rhys Winterbourne’s Welsh accent! I was a little surprised this latter wasn’t picked up and corrected during the editing process.

Where Ms. Wells excels is in delivering the descriptive phrases Lisa Kleypas uses in the book. She lingers over the words with just the right emphasis and pacing to give maximum boost to the word pictures of the text, without ever being too slow or belabouring the point.

I particularly enjoyed the developing bromance between Ethan and West and I liked the vocal sparkle Ms. Wells gave to their interactions.

Hello Stranger isn’t my favourite of the series so far – that would be a toss-up between Marrying Winterbourne and Devil in Spring – but there was plenty to enjoy. Add an interesting historical backdrop, narration of the calibre of Mary Jane Wells’s and Irish endearments in my ears, there was a lot to enjoy. On the other hand, that the cultural representation of India* was so poorly done, it may well be a dealbreaker for some listeners.

*NB The author has recently apologised for this aspect of the story and has flagged she will be changing future editions.

Editor’s note: Kaetrin comments in her grading, “Book Content:  B- (assuming one can separate out the orientalism but a D for that)”

Kaetrin


 

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