Kindred Hearts

By: Rowan Speedwell

Narrated by: Paul Morey

Length: 12 hrs and 50 mins

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

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.

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.

very we written

there was a casting error made when an American English-speaking narrator is reading a queen's English written story. if you can get past the fact that the narration has been butchered, the story is very good.

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.

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.

Good story...

What did you like best about Kindred Hearts? What did you like least?

I liked the concept of Kindred hearts, it is really cool how the story turned out. I thought the author dragged the story on a little too long. I liked the build up to revelation, but after that it was just skating to reach the end.

Would you recommend Kindred Hearts to your friends? Why or why not?

Yes, it still a good read, and a different take on Historical M/M romance.

What does Paul Morey bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

I love Paul Morey's narration, he always brings the characters to life for me, and he is able to read the sexual scene without over exaggeration.

Was Kindred Hearts worth the listening time?

Yes, it was.

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.

Solid Story But Narration Problematic

This historical romance addressed the Draconian views of male homosexuality that still exist in some parts of world today. But the main characters, Charlie & Tristan faced public trial, disgrace and ruin along with possible execution if charges were brought against them. I found their involvement with the Battle of Waterloo, doctoring and overcoming hardships (no spoilers here) interesting, heart wrenching and moved the story forward.

My problem with the story was minor but irritating: the author overused the word "placid" describing Lottie to the point it was boring, and I wondered if he possessed a thesaurus. How about calm, serene, tranquil, etc.

Here's my biggest issue: the performance. An American narrated an thoroughly British story using an American accent. Fine, but then he attempted horrible Irish, Spanish, Belgium accents that made me cringe. I mean laugh and cringe simultaneously. I'm sure if he'd read it consistently in his native accent, I would've overlooked it, but the man nearly ruined the story by his inability to mimic those accents. They didn't have to be perfect, but good grief.

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.

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.