In Default of Heirs Male

By: Jann Rowland

Narrated by: Mary Sarah

Length: 15 hrs and 25 mins

Publisher's summary

Longbourn estate in Hertfordshire, home of the Bennet family, is entailed. Armed with this unfortunate knowledge, the females of the family have long lived with the threat of eviction from their beloved home should Mr. Bennet pass away before his time.

When the unthinkable happens, the Bennet ladies prepare to leave their home as the heir arrives to take control of his inheritance. Salvation comes, however, by the most surprising of news: Mrs. Bennet is with child.

While waiting for the child to be born, Elizabeth takes control over the estate. Fortunately, the Netherfield party arrives, and the attentions of the new master of the estate bring them all to hope that Jane, at least, will achieve her heart's desire.

But little does Elizabeth know she is also the subject of a gentleman's interest, for Mr. Darcy sees her as an excellent woman who is eager to uphold the trust with which her father favored her. Despite his feelings, Elizabeth is slow to understand the love that might be within her grasp, as she struggles with her duty under the specter of the heir, who believes the Bennets have cheated him of his inheritance and will do whatever he can to ensure he gets what he believes is his.

©2021 Jann Rowland (P)2021 Tantor

Where was Stevie Zimmerman???

This was a great story, and I will look for more by Jann Rowland. If it is narrated, again, by Ms Sarah I may hesitate however in using a credit.

Please listen at 1.25 (minimum) and be prepared for extended pauses, even at that speed, and what can only be described as a lisping sound. Although, it is not a true lisp as there are also other hard consonant sounds and very long A sounds. For example, Aunt Is pronounced Ont, dispatch is disspadch, purpose is purrposs, not is nawwt, active is ocktive, and I have no idea how many Ts are at the end of Bennet.🧐😂

Had it not been such a good story, I would not have gotten through it.

How did this person ever become a book narrator?

Cannot finish. I love the story, and always enjoy Jann’s books, but this narrator is just terrible to listen too. The characters all sound like they aren’t even listening to themselves speak. They are slowly talking with inflections that don’t fit the topic of conversation. Elizabeth in particular sounds like a debutante hit with ennui instead of the sharp, witty woman we know her to be. And, the reader has a terrible lisp that adds a th sound to words ending with t or d. I have never heard a reader with such poor enunciation. Even with the sound turned up and the speed increased I could barely understand her or tolerate her narration. I will be watching carefully for anything narrated by Mary Sarah to ensure I never purchase her again.

Great book

I absolutely loved it. Such a great story. Very different. While listening to it I could not help but notice the narrator’s weird pronunciation of father and Lady Catherine. Otherwise she did a great job.

Wow!

You must read/listen to all of her books. Rowland has a wonderful ability to use the old characters in new ways. Loved it.

Uniquely interesting story....but

Good grief, what bizarre narration, up there with the top 10 horrid narrations. Too bad because it is a good story. I can usually get through bad narration but the insipid whispering mixed with loud exclamations makes it hard on the ears if you're wearing buds. I think she has the talent just not the wisdom of how to go about it and the lisps are too much. All the villains are here, Lady Catherine, Caroline Bingly, Mr. Collins, Wickham, an unruly tenant. Thankfully, Lydia and Mrs. Bennet aren't screeching and the indolent Mr. Bennet is already gone. I liked the story and if you can tolerate the narration I think it's worth the credit. Since Audible only puts junk in the Plus Catalog ie. bodice rippers, violent reads, fantasy stupid stuff, and very outdated books (not in a good way) and self-publishers, D-list celebrities' "advice" or "confessionals" it would be nice if they put the badly narrated books in there too so we wouldn't have to spend a credit.

The narrator is not consistent with voices

She doesn't really stick with one pitch for the voice of any female character. The men have a lot more individuality to their voices and have more emotion than the women do, and she sticks with such a slow serene tone for all the book that it is hard to note the urgency in certain scenes.

Delightful

Very pleasant P&P variant. Clearly this author does not feel Jane and Bingly are a good fit. I tend to agree.

Wonderful retelling!

I saw other reviews that were tough on the performance. I do not believe this is the actors fault as I have heard others narrated by her that were not like that. I suspect someone slowed down her recording to extend the length, which makes it sound as if she has an over-exaggerated manner of speaking with a lisp. This is solved by playing it at 1.1 or 1.2 speed, she sounds far more natural and like her other recordings at those speeds.
I loved this story, I enjoyed the characters and their development. I was engaged in what was happening up through the satisfying ending. I will buy anything I see by this author, I just enjoy their take each and every time.

Great story, very different attitudes of character

I really enjoyed the story, but oh so hard to get over the mediocre narration. It was so hard to tell which character was speaking. I had to really get over it, but the story was worth it.

Excellent JAFF!!

This story is SO GOOD!! The narrator definitely takes getting used to, but she actually does an excellent job with voices and emotions. I disliked her a lot at first when I started listening to the books she narrated, but she has become one of my favorites!

This story is low angst, clean and very exciting. It will make you cry! Give it a chance! This authors variations are excellent, this is by far one of my favorites.