Puzzling narration

Having listened to Any Old Diamonds, the first book in the series, I think Cornell Collins’ narration on it’s own would have been fine. I suppose the publishers were aiming to emphasis the dual POV. Enjoyable story, good to see glimpses of characters from earlier series.

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Having 2 narrators didn’t work

I found this an odd story, I expected more twists and turns. Cornell Colins’s narration was brilliant as usual but it jarred against having a second ‘voice’ for the same characters.

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Warning:

WARNING: this novel contains HETEROS and their ANTICS. I assume KJ Charles was unwell or something. Story still good, she is a brilliant author, the 2nd narrator isn't as bad as all the other reviews say but is a little grating, especially when voicing James and definitely better at 1.2 speed.

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Not loving the dual narration

The story was absolutely brilliant, as always but I really didn’t like the dual narration, Cornell Colins is the best narrator ever, why interfere with perfection. I found the swapping from one narrator to another jarring, if future stories have two narrators in the future I’ll stick with the kindle books only.

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3 people found this helpful

Enjoyable Story

The story premise is good and the characters are likeable. The narration was good too.

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Excellent story but narrators not in sync

As any production be it 'audible' or stage,the seasoned audience will discern a good author/story and will enjoy the journey as the quality of the original characters/events outshine the production's players/narrators and hook the audiences imagination and ESCELLENT STORY is the overall experience.


No reflection on the narrators if they had read as the book alone.

I hope future Amazon audibles ensure that with two narrators, playing the same characters, as with stage production should meet and have a read'through so they share the same 'history' /essence of the characters and then work voices together. For me, it took me a little time to adjust to the same character being portrayed differently by each narrator : different especially as social stereotypes /class differences in voice tone/pitch/accent.

However the STORY IS EXCELLENT, ENJOYABLE...and RECOMMENDED

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Brill story as usual

Fab book as usual from K J Charles,
Male narrator good, woman one was not good, too slow and can’t speed up with two. Also strange accent and I can’t believe a British person doesn’t know how to say Cirencester….

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Sukey put the kettle on

Narrators who should never have been teamed up for this book. Cornell Collins was excellent in Book 1 Any Old Diamonds and excellent here and could very well have carried the entire story in Book 2 Gilded Cage with total success alone. The story did not benefit from the 2nd narrator: Victoria Aston who made errors in pronunciations and her toffee nosed accent for James was just OTT as if she hadn't bothered to listen to Book 1 to research the character. Despite this, the story was enjoyable, the MCs were interesting (but not likeable), there was drama and tension. The bedroom scenes were passionless, badly written and cringeworthy, voiced by Ms Aston. It was nice to revisit Gerry and Alec, and to hear of their efforts to continue their affair with Gerry going straight. Sukey and James look to be heading for a kitchen sink drama, as she refuses to take his name, title and position. Over all impression: it was OK.

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3 people found this helpful

Great book, great and bad reading

Have to agree with other reviewers here in that the female reader kills the story. I was relieved every time a new chapter started with the male voice.

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Jarring dual narration

Cornell Collins is a really wonderful narrator, so I was very surprised to discover this book had dual narration. The female narrator does a decent job, but still I found the change of narration from chapter to chapter upset the flow of the story. It was really unnecessary to have a female narrator and I would have enjoyed this book more with just Cornell Collins.
The story itself is an M/F romance. KJ Charles is well known for writing MM and ticking every diversity box, whether or not it fits with the historical context.
The story was nice, but not as well written as some of the other books by this author. There was clumsy prose and some painfully awkward sex scenes. It appears KJ Charles writes MM better than MF.

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3 people found this helpful