good story, dodgy pronunciation

excellent story let down by inconsistent pronunciation of French words penchant chaise valet cravat to name but a few. Irritating.

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The Scoundrel and the Nincompoop

Americanized tale of Regency England, with city blocks and other clumsy venacular. Good effort at mimicking the genre made famous by Georgette Heyer. The MCs are pityful: Oliver who twos and fros continually with situations, emotions and actions, crippled physically and mentally, sending poor Jack into several tizzies and conundrums. The story is a series of graphic physical interactions peppered with the "plot". The banter is unreal, the MC relationship has no passion. There is no humour. Good descriptions of scenery and vestments.

There are no spoken chapter numbers to break the events into acts; the single voice narration therefore runs on when the subject has actually changed: very confusing The narration is excellent, too good for this story. DISAPPOINTING

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2 people found this helpful

Very enjoyable

I really enjoyed this book, I stayed up late to finish it in one go.

Jack and Oliver are lovely characters, Jack a fuller character than Oliver. There is an intense focus on the two characters throughout the book, with the supporting characters having little impact. I believed in their attraction, their growing feelings, and angst. I have a higher tolerance for the will-they-won't-they push and pull in m/m historical romance than in other types of romance books. After all, it is completely understandable to be conflicted when following your hearts means breaking the law and risking utter ruination.

The mystery element of the story is halfhearted. It serves more as a device for Jack and Oliver to spend time together, and to reflect upon their own feelings and situation. I lost track of who was supposed to have done what in the case of the missing letters. Had the mystery writing been strong, this would have been an excellent book.

Gary Furlong is an excellent narrator with an attractive voice. As has been pointed out by others, Jack's (and his sister's) accent is completely wrong. They were supposed to be London born and bred, but the accent - while attractive - is northern. I kept expecting there to be a backstory of how Jack's family came to be living in London. Even with all the talk of Mayfair and whatnot, I missed the London grit, and sometimes forgot that we were in London. Oliver was perfect.

Overall I recommend this book, and will myself seek out further titles by this author, and by this narrator.

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Great in spite of the language

Would you consider the audio edition of The Soldier's Scoundrel to be better than the print version?

I've never read the print version

Who was your favorite character and why?

Jack, for his smart mouth

Which scene did you most enjoy?

The churchyard scene

If you made a film of this book, what would be the tag line be?

The same as the book

Any additional comments?

I loved this. It's brilliantly written, both lead male characters are fantastic and the lively way they converse really captured me, as well as the raw emotion. As I believe this is the author's debut novel, I thought it was fantastic. My only complaint was the coarse language that the author seemed to feel it necessary to use. So many authors do that with sex scenes, turning something beautiful into something crude, however, the emotions of the characters shone through regardless and it didn't stop me reading the book three times almost back to back. I would also say that the narrator's choice of accent seemed a bit odd, giving a guy brought up on the streets of London a northern accent, but oddly, it worked.

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1 person found this helpful

3.5 stars

Enjoyable easy listen, but nothing that made it stand out from other books. Definitely for those who like the author K.J. Charles.

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Great narration, entertaining story

This was a really entertaining historical M/M romance with, on the whole, super narration by Gary Furlong. My only bugbear with the narration was that Jack Turner was a Londoner and yet Gary voiced him as being from Yorkshire which was noticeably inaccurate for an English listener. I doubt American listeners wouod have noticed though.

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