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Kindred Hearts  By  cover art

Kindred Hearts

By: Rowan Speedwell
Narrated by: Paul Morey
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Publisher's summary

Charming rascal Tristan Northwood seems to have it all: an ancient name, a noble inheritance, a lovely wife, and a son he adores. Women love him, men admire him, and it seems there is nothing he can’t do, whether it’s seducing a society wife or winning a carriage race. Little does society suspect that the name means nothing to him, the fortune is in his father’s controlling hands, and he has no interest in his wife except a very distant friendship. Society bores him, and he takes dares because he only feels alive when he’s dancing on the edge...until his wife’s brother comes home from the wars.

Decorated war hero Major Charles Mountjoy jerks Tris out of his despair by inspiring feelings of passion Tris had never suspected himself capable of. Almost as terrifying as those feelings for Charles are the signs Charles might return his affection - or, even worse, that Charles sees the man Tristan has been trying so valiantly to hide from the world.

©2011 Rowan Speedwell (P)2012 Rowan Speedwell
  • Unabridged Audiobook
  • Categories: LGBTQ+

What listeners say about Kindred Hearts

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

Pronunciation matters!

Would you try another book from Rowan Speedwell and/or Paul Morey?

Probably.

Would you be willing to try another book from Rowan Speedwell? Why or why not?

Perhaps-- depends on whether I'm interested in the topic or not.

What three words best describe Paul Morey’s performance?

god awful pronunciation

Any additional comments?

While in general, I like Paul Morey's voice & pacing, the pronunciation mistakes were so bad as to become ridiculous and distracting. Goethe, for instance, is not pronounced "go-eth." And having not one, but two characters supposedly fluent in German, actually making that fluency a part of the plot, means, probably, that they'd get that name correct.

That said, the story was interesting, in a regency m/m romance sort of way. Predictable as anything, but nice brain candy.

The performance, aside from the pronunciation errors, was enjoyable as well. Morey has a nice voice, calm and soothing. His character voices keep the story entertaining, and the characters are clearly distinguishable from one another and the narrative voice. Seriously, a little research could've made this performance much, much better. However, the place names, historical and literary names, French & German pronunciations.... all suck. If you don't mind that, go for it. It bugs the snot outta me, personally.

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9 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Amazing writing and narration

What other book might you compare Kindred Hearts to and why?

In genre it reminds me a lot of the late Barbara Cartland books, though that should not be set as a guideline for the story.

Which character – as performed by Paul Morey – was your favorite?

Gibson, I loved his accent. In general Paul Morey was excellent at performing voices, as they only changed slightly in tone, instead dialect and accent were used to describe the individual characters.

Any additional comments?

The story had a great diversity among the characters, Charlotte and Tristan were probably those with the best descriptions. The initial description of Tristan's life, not only as a child but also leading up to his marriage quickly stirred my sympathy. The changes that transpire for him through his life are well described and I love the initially slow moving romance.

Charlotte was a delight to listen to, though I often disagreed with her decisions she has a calm way of looking at things. During the first quarter of the book I often found myself smiling at her odd inputs. I might have continued to do that through the rest of the book, but when you do it all the time you stop noticing.

All the main characters had pretty well-developed backgrounds as you moved on through the story.

The stigma of sodomy at the time is handled very well in the book, both how society views it and how the protagonist deals with it.

The language is also generally kept in the right language, very few times is new slang used instead of the more proper form of speaking. It does not make the book hard to understand in any way, but it creates the atmosphere of that time. Only slips I noticed was during the sex scenes, which there weren't too many of. There was more focus on the romance and what it meant to their lives than the sexual part, which I found very refreshing from a lot of gay romance audiobooks.

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5 people found this helpful

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    3 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
  • JT
  • 12-24-19

lovely novel, poor choice of narrator

Full disclosure, I did not finish this audiobook but instead read the ebook from Hoopla. There's nothing WRONG with the narrator, precisely - but he's American. reading a novel about British characters, living in England, during the Napoleonic Wars. it's jarring. he makes the barest attempt at dialects when they are specifically written out, but, for example, no attempt to make a specifically Scottish character sound any different than any of our English leads. it really didn't work for me.

The novel itself is wonderful and will probably be a reread for me, and I recognise that not everyone will be as thrown by the American accent as I was. but personally, while I wholeheartedly recommend the book, I'd only choose this method of enjoying it if I had no other option available.

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4 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Narrator hurt the story

The love of everything holy the narrator is redioules! I like the story but the narrator ruins it! Why oh why do you give a woman the deepest voice possible? And why do you randomly give someone an accent ot of no where when they didn't have one for the least several chapters? Honestly it makes it hard to enjoy this book... Mostly when you give a woman a deeper masculinit voice than the main male characters. I wish audible had an option where you can point narrators you don't like so they won't pop up again as options... But other than that I am liking the story enough to put up with it.

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3 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Well Done!

I am a fan of Rowan Speedwell because she is able to present psychological problems in her characters very realistically.
I read this book before listening to it, Paul Morey was able to add to the story via character presentation.
Definitely recommended. I also recommend "Finding Zach" with the same author/narrator.

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3 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

Disappointed

Would you say that listening to this book was time well-spent? Why or why not?

Let me begin my review by saying that I had actually read this book when it first came out on my kindle and had given it 4 stars so I thought it would actually be fun to listen to it since I was waiting for the next installment in a couple different series and just needed a filler. To say that I was disappointed was an understatement. First of all, the narrator REALLY got under my skin. The characters in this book were mostly English but not one of them had an English accent although a very poor Scottish brogue was thrown in there every once in a while. Second, there were a few times that as the narrator changed characters he never changed voices or if he went from a male character to a female, his voice actually became deeper. Also, I'm not really sure if I just didn't remember the story as being so trite or if it was just hearing it instead of reading it and kind of narrating in my head but I really just wanted to tell Tristan to stop being such a whiner and grow up. Not to mention Charlotte was the most out of touch person on the planet. So I am sorry to say that I actually had to force myself to finish this book and was really sorry to have wasted a credit on it especially since it went on sale for $6 after I purchased it.

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3 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

I so wanted to like this book more

First of all let me say I loved Rowan Speedwell's other audiobook Finding Zach it was such a refreshing change from most of the other male/male fiction out there. So it was with high hopes I started Kindred Harts. the good thing is Speedwell still manages to draw a complex main person who is dealing with real issues. the bad news is I just could not find myself sympathizing or even empathizing with anyone in this book. I mean don't we all wish we had Tristan's issues he is smart good looking seems to have a matural ability in almost every field he enters and oh yes he is rich too. The idea that the love of his life just falls into his lap was just too much. By all accounts Tristan is a likeable guy who is just very lonely. I found myself asking if he is liked by almost everyone why is Charles the first person to show him kindness. it was this theme along with a contrived plot that made me almost stop listening several times.

I will give Speedwell's work another try because of her first triuph but this book was a great let down for me.

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3 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

Odd audio, nice enough story

Agree with other reviewers about pronunciations and accent. Being forewarned helped. I suspect the non-British accent will grate for some, and “convent garden”, “suripitously”, and nearly every place name will not help. But I rate it “better than not having audio” as I found it listenable. YMMV.

I like the premise for the story - a (likely autistic, not specified) woman marries a closet case who then falls for her brother so they have all the cover needed to be one big happy family. Fair time is given to establishing Tristan & Charlotte’s routine before her brother shows up.

Here’s where I admit that I fell asleep for some of the middle part and didn’t rewind. The writing is a little stilted in a way where I always felt at a remove. Like listening to a narrator tell me about events rather than listening to the characters relate events. “And then they did this, and then they did that” and “I shouldn’t say that in front of ladies” kind of vibe. I do not prefer that style of writing, it feels adolescent to me. Again, YMMV.

Steam: unknown. I was drifting in and out of sleep by the time details became an issue. But there is more general. discussion of sex, protection, pox, and making babies early on, and an M/M blowjob later on. So the sexytimes are not detail free but don’t go hard into step by step details.

Narration: See first paragraph. For me it was better than not having narration, but there are pronunciation and accent choices that were not good.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Well read historical gay romance

Would you consider the audio edition of Kindred Hearts to be better than the print version?

I only have the audio version to go by, which was fantastic!

What did you like best about this story?

The accuracy of the history, and the details of the time.

Which character – as performed by Paul Morey – was your favorite?

Tristan

Who was the most memorable character of Kindred Hearts and why?

Tristan. He's very insecure and immature at the start, but he grows so much throughout the story.

Any additional comments?

Tristan Northwood is a deviant by the standards of his time. He drinks like a fish, parties like a rock star, takes any dare that is thrown his way and sleeps with any woman that blinks in his direction. It’s all just a façade that he presents as his public persona. He lost his mother and baby sister when he was just a boy, and he’s felt his father’s disdain for him every day since. Now a grown man, his father continues to control him as he is the one that holds the purse strings.

An arranged marriage is set as the Baron no longer wants his son and only heir ramshackling his way across the countryside. Charlotte Mountjoy and Tristan are married and being their otherwise unconventional marriage as mere strangers. Over the next several years though they develop a bond that is unwavering, becoming best friends and parents to a little boy with another child on the way. But Tris is even more restless all these years later. Until Lottie’s twin brother Charles comes for a visit.

Tris is attracted to Charles from the start, which only adds to his uncertainty as of late. He’s always had an odd attraction to the same sex, but never acted on it due to the negative and damning effects of homosexuality at the time. Charles as well hides his attraction to Tris, until he learns that the attraction is mutual. But Tristan’s self loathing and dangerous plans threaten to destroy any chance these two would have at happiness.

I loved the history that was woven into the story. From the costumes of the period down to Napoleon and the war. The book was set in the late 1800’s, a time in which homosexuality was considered sodomy and punishable by incarceration, possibly death. It was interesting how Speedwell painted this aspect of the storyline without weighing down the overall story. I was fascinated as I listened to Tristan’s exploits and followed him as he went from insecure and immature to a strong, fierce and loyal doctor. Charles and Lottie play a huge role in his growth throughout the story. They both love him unconditionally, but it’s Charles that is IN love with him, and it’s that love that gives Tris the strength to become the man he is at the end.

This book was narrated by Paul Morey, and Morey is a fantastic story teller. You can hear the emotions in his voice from changes in octave to slight nuances within the different characters. He expertly nails the sensuality and passion of the more intimate scenes between Charles and Tris as well. I know they say an audio book is a different experience from reading the story, but I would recommend this book regardless of the final delivery.

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  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

Whoever chose this narrator should lose their job

An American narrator for entirely English characters in literal England? This is embarrassing. His attempt at local dialects is passable the few times he bothers, but he uses an American accent for the English leads and even for characters who outright refer to themselves as Scotsmen. It's beyond distracting. This is enough to earn a one star on its own--what a horrendous decision.

But worse than the choice to use an American dialect is the nearly monotone delivery. It's just a slow, smooth ride all the way through, no hurried tone for tense scenes, exciting tone for steamy scenes, etc. It's all just smooth, level reading. Example: Charles is intrigued to notice Tristan may be into him and thinks to himself, "Interesting." Paul Morey reads it with as much intrigue as a snail taking a nap. Having the fun sapped from moments like that sucks. His plain tone makes sense for a textbook, not a romance novel.

The dialogue doesn't sound like human speech; it's completely indistinguishable from the prose. Narration should add to the experience, not flatten it! There's also an irritating strumming of a guitar at the beginning of each chapter as if this were a romance taking place in Southern America. Cringey. Plus a prominent female side character is voiced with a lower register than the male leads, which would be a surprising but acceptable choice if I had any faith in the narrator to have done it purposefully rather than out of sheer inability to offer more than one female voice. Overall, this is a shameful performance. Whoever is responsible for choosing this narrator should not be in a position of choosing narrators.

I'd honestly ignore the appalling narration for a good story, but this story is unbelievably slow. Things don't kick off until 30-40% through.

Tristan's mental health struggle is the type of thing I love to see explored seriously in stories, but it feels contrived in this novel. The romance goes from 0 to 100 in the blink of an eye, and the inciting incident centers on a mental health episode. I hate this trope. It's so insulting. One life-threatening scene revolves around a mental health episode about not yet servicing a partner in bed, for Christ's sake. And, no, it was not written with care, believability, or accuracy. The book really mistreats such issues despite trying so hard (too hard) to say something meaningful about mental health. Many blocky monologues full of armchair mental health theories are hamfisted in via various clueless characters (including doctors, oof). Not every writer is capable of handling this issues well each time, and Rowan Speedwell fails miserably with this book.

The first steamy scene is jarring and not believable. The characters enter headspaces not at all consistent with what went on moments before (which, you guessed it, was a mental health episode). This is actually when I suspected I'd be unable to finish this book (if it continued on that same path of sudden, illogical leaps). A few nonsensical, comically unbelievable chapters later, and I had to DNF this book.

Some smaller issues I had all stemmed from how contrived the whole thing is, too. They weren't pretending to be meaningful, deep insights so I didn't mind as much, but they're failures all the same. The writer is completely unable to convince me that Tristan would have never experienced kindness during intimacy or heard the words "I love you" from a lover. He is written as a charming daredevil who women chase after--at least one woman would have had love or lust drive her to give him affection. Tristan never having had his pleasure prioritized or received a love confession is just contrived to make Charles giving it to him seem special, but it felt hollow because of how unlikely that is for such an experienced, likeable grown man. Tristan's wife is wonderfully clever and unique, but that ultimately seems to be the case only so she'd give her blessing to her brother boning her husband. Her brother--what even was his name again? oh, yeah, Charles--is just a tad too forgettable.

I wanted more tension and believability, but the story is just bone dry for almost half of it until it tips suddenly into soggy nonsense. Three stars because the prose is nice and the story is mostly fine--it's just not for me at all.

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