Stranger at the Dower House

Strangers, Book 1

De: Mary Kingswood

Narrado por: Joanna Stephens

A widow moves into the long disused Dower House and makes a horrible discovery in the wine cellar.

Thirty-year-old widow Louisa Middlehope is determined to escape from her late husband’s family and live life for herself for the first time. The tiny village of Great Maeswood offers her the peace and quiet her heart craves, and perhaps, it might provide a little entertainment, too. But the house she has leased has been empty for a quarter of a century and who knows what secrets it holds?

Laurence Gage is still mourning his beloved wife, while raising his two children, and at 40, declining gently into a rather dull middle age. Until, that is, the intriguing Mrs. Middlehope arrives in the village and upends his placid life. She’s nothing at all like his perfect wife, but he’s oddly drawn to her anyway and to his surprise, she seems to like him, too.

Whoever would have thought it? But what exactly is she looking for? Friendship, marriage - or something else entirely?

This is a complete story with a happy ever after. Book one of a six-book series. A traditional Regency romance, drawing room rather than bedroom.

©2020 Mary Kingswood (P)2021 Mary Kingswood

I always enjoy Mary Kingswood books

I love the subtle humor that often takes me by surprise, like why the maid speaks mostly French, the quirky pony, and so on. This author is excellent at character development, dialog, humor, and relationships between them all. And I love that she doesn’t weigh us down with hours of internal thoughts or repetitive angst as so many other romance authors do. Her story lines are very unique and paced smoothly. Though in this one, the celebration early in the book of alcohol wasn’t entertaining because of its sad prevalence in my own family. I hope it doesn’t play a large role in future books of this series. Regardless, as with all of her books, this is worth listening to. I simply focused on the mysteries, the characters, and the scene gems that were the true and bigger parts of the story and enjoyed it. A note on the narration: it was excellent as always, though Louisa's voice took on some higher notes than usual in the last couple of chapters.

Entertaining reading!

I love Mary Kingswood's books! Joanna Stephens' narration is always excellent! I buy all that I can find!

Disappointing?

I “liked” the protagonists and there were some good moments, but while the story held some interest, many aspects of the dialogue and plot seemed contrived and unbelievable. I found the reader more authentic at 1.2.

Narration unbearable

I found the story interesting, but the narration was unbearable and I couldn’t even get through 1 hour. A wasted credit.

Did not finish listening

This author was suggested as someone similar to Georgette Heyer. Not even close! Disappointing. The main character is a woman of about 30. But the narrator could have fooled me. The narrator is a much older woman. How hard is it to find an appropriately aged narrator. And she emotes! Over the top. I do not know how the story progresses or ends because I abandoned the Audio.