Brook Street: Rogues

By: Ava March

Narrated by: B. Townsend

London, 1822

Two of London's most notorious rakehells, Linus Radcliffe and Robert Anderson, are the best of friends. They share almost everything - clothes, servants, their homes, and even each other's bed on occasion. The one thing they don't share: lovers. For while Linus prefers men, Robert prefers women... except when it comes to Linus.

As another Season nears its end, Robert can't ignore his growing jealousy. He hates watching Linus disappear from balls to dally with other men. Women are lovely, but Linus rouses feelings he's never felt with another. Unwilling to share his gorgeous friend another night, Robert has a proposition for Linus. It's a proposition Linus flatly refuses - but not for the reasons Robert thinks. Still, Robert won't take no for an answer. He sets out to prove a thing or two to his best friend - yet will learn something about the heart himself.

©2012 Ava March (P)2012 Audible, Inc.

Worst Narration EVER!

Would you listen to Brook Street: Rogues again? Why?

No! The narrator killed this entire story for me. I only got through it the first time because of it being the third part of a trilogy.

How did the narrator detract from the book?

He makes the characters sound like they are in their 60's and not their 20's. He also makes it very difficult to tell who is speaking and really just put me to sleep.

Any additional comments?

I will never buy a book, no matter the author, narrated by B. Townsend again. Lesson learned.

light hearted,Romantic with a story

I loved the performance, the smooth relaxed tone not lazy, just seductively sultry. goose bumps

Slow to get started, but it gets there in the end

I’m not sure why the change in narrator, but I suppose there must have been a reason. Disconcerting in a series, though, although not as much as it might have been if there were a big overlap in characters.

I got to about….maybe, a third of the way in, and I thought “I don’t think I can do this book”. I was having trouble with the two characters. First of all, I was mixing them up because their “voices” weren’t very different, and I couldn’t figure out what their problem was. And they each had a problem – I just didn’t get what it was, or why.

And then it suddenly started to get better. The conflict actually cleared up some things. And as it turns out, the problems are major themes in gay life. Good one! Once things started to become clearer, I really liked the story. Very touching in fact.

I’m not sure how other readers felt about the narrator (I haven’t read the reviews), but although there is some work to be done, I hope he continues. He has a lovely voice – just needs to work on the inflections a bit.

Storyteller

Would you try another book from Ava March and/or B. Townsend?

I would most defenitly purchase another book by Ava March. This series is one of my favorites that I have listened to in a while. I will only purchase to book however if it is NOT read by B. Townsend. The inflection in his voice is all wrong for this book. You can hear so much of his breathing while telling the story and it so distracting. Belmont that read the first two books in this series is probably my favorite reader that I have found on Audible and adds so much to the stories that he is telling.

Story is good

I liked the story a lot, as I always do with an Ava March story.
This narrator though I had a hard time enjoying his performance. Pauses at rather awkward times in a sentence. Too many audible breaths. I just wasn't a fan. No mispronounced words. But the awkward pauses were frustrating to listen to.

Sweet simple story, bad narrator

The story is short and sweet. The premise of two rakish friends finally realizing/admitting they love each other is thoroughly enjoyable. The romantic scenes are heartwarming, and the steamy scenes are top tier. Really, the biggest story issue is that things wrapped up too quickly. The core conflict of the story could have offered a lot more, but the story sort of zips past all that potential. Also, I would have liked to have seen more action rather than words prove their love (no matter how pretty the words are, and they are very pretty).

The narrator is very bad and seems untrained. The rhythm of his narration is completely unnatural and distracting; everything is said with just a hint of force and confusion, like it's the first time he's reading the words in his life. The tone is horribly mismatched with the text the entire way through. He never actually reads anything right. He also breathes loudly and the mic captures it, which is such a gross error. Even the audio quality is poor, with volume seeming muffled like he's underwater for the entire duration and the pitch changing at random a few times. The story is short, so I made it through, but it was jarring the entire time. Some of the worst narration I've heard.

An OK experience

Like its predecessors this book has a good concept but keeps a simplicity that prevents it from being anything other than an 'OK experience'. Anderson and Radcliffe have been fuck buddies for a decade. Both are notorious man-whores. But Anderson decides he wants to be exclusive with Radcliffe. A lot of non-conversation happens. They finally have a conversation and then HEA. Pretty simple plot. Yeah, I see now why this series was free on Audible Escapes

So sexy

So sweet. Perfect little love story, with plenty of sultry sex! Very hot. Friends to lovers. Historical M/M romance.

I'll just read it myself

I honestly can't appreciate the narrator's voice. The performance really killed it for me & I couldn't make myself finish.

It's all about the narrator

Maybe the book itself was worth an additional star, but the narrator killed it for me. The fluctuations were there, but the different voices were not. The narrator for the first two books was superb. I listened to to all three books back to back. The change was just not a positive one for me.