Unnatural (Enlightenment)

De: Joanna Chambers

Narrado por: Simon Goldhill

Captain Iain Sinclair has looks, charm, military honours—even the favour of the king himself. He has everything—everything, that is, except the friendship of the one man whose good opinion he has ever cared for, scientist, James Hart.

James has loved Iain all his life, but after the last disastrous encounter between them, he vowed to accept no more crumbs from Iain’s table. If Iain cannot be the lover James wants, then James will have no more to do with him.

Disenchanted with his career, and miserable without James in his life, Iain decides to leave military service and embark upon a new career in India. Before he leaves England behind, though, he is determined to try one last time to reconcile with his dearest friend.

An invitation to a country house party from James’s sister provides the perfect opportunity to pin James down and force him to finally listen to Iain’s apology. But when Iain discovers that an apology is not enough—that James is not willing settle for less than a lover—he is forced to reconsider everything: his life, his future career, and most of all, his feelings for James.

©2015, 2018 Joanna Chambers (P)2024 Joanna Chambers

Regency, m/m, second chances, friends-to-lovers .

I loved the alternation between past and present; it’s well done, always preceeded by the “then” and “now” and by the bate when a certain scene happens, so there’s no margin for confusion, and I loved that it doesn’t immediately introduce everything that’s happened between James and Iain before, but you learn it as you go on with the story.
I loved James, but I really wanted to throttle Iain, as it sometimes seemed he was stringing Jamie along, instead he was probably only oblivious.
The story is a really slow burn, the two MCs don’t get together until the very end, though the tension and pull between them is there from the beginning.
That being said, listening to this book made me want to go back and listen to the first three books in the series.

Historical Friends to Lovers

Now, this really shouldn't be compared to the epic three-part love story of David and Murdo, but because it is a related story in the same world, it also can't surpass their tale. It's a bit unfair, but there it is.

However, this is a lovely historical romance, elevated by an even lovelier narration by Simon Goldhill. Book is a solid 3.75, narration is 5 stars. I will likely revisit this audiobook when I need a soothing voice to tell me a hopeful tale.

Iain is a bit frustrating, James is a literal angel cinnamon roll, and I could have used an epilogue that gave us a glimpse of them in the future, but was still very enjoyable. Champing at the bit for the next book to be released on audio soon!

Fantastic addition to the series

Fantastic. Loved the story. Loved the narration. So excited to follow a different character from earlier in the series (one of my fav characters). It was great getting to hear his inner thoughts and motives, and the story between the two protagonists was *chef's kiss*.

A good performance of a pretty good book

This is a fairly enjoyable story, though I kind of ran out of patience with the older character. As I listened, I kept wondering whether the story would have been more effective if told in chronological order rather than going back and forth between "then" and "now." Still, it was pleasant to listen to, and the narrator did a good job with the content.

My thanks to Gay Romance Reviews for a complimentary copy of this audiobook.

Then and Now!

I actually read this a while back and I have to say the narration definitely enhanced the flow of the story. Simon's accents and the way he expressed all the different emotions was a bit breathtaking I must say! This story does a fantastic job of giving us the back story of Iain and James. I felt like this was easier to following with the narration. Lovely romance in a time when this type of romance was not accepted.

amazing story, performance

This is really a 4.5*, and I want to be clear the only reason I’d dock it at all is that because the narrative jumps back and forth in time, it may not be the best format for an audiobook. At least for me, keeping track of when the story was happening became increasingly distracting as it went on. That may be a me thing, because I get hung up on how old the characters are if there are dates involved, but also events that are referred to in the present are crept up on until we finally get there in the past segment – and by the time I was about 6 hours in, the timeline was a little muddled for me. As I say though, I can imagine for many folks this would not be an issue, especially if you are able to listen to the book straight through instead of doing little bits here and there (on commute, making dinner, doing yardwork).

Overall though, I love this story of two gentlemen who’ve been close friends since they were boys, and who really love each other if they can only be brave enough to admit it. James has had the benefit of a loving family, and because of this feels entitled to do what he wants. Not overtly, exactly, but he does not live in fear and can’t fathom that Ian, outwardly the more brave and “manly”, lives in a great deal of fear due to his much harder history. He is drawn to James, but terrified of the consequences of being together. Their story follows the building of the barrier between them and ultimately, the hard choices both men have to make. I also love that Kit Redford makes a small but significant appearance.

Simon Goldhill is brilliant, not only in his vocal characterizations but in his overall performance. Even his pronunciations lend a period air to the production, and put me right in 1824 with Ian and James. I’ve enjoyed some of Simon’s contemporary performances, but this book showcases his amazing talent.

So Glad To See More of This Series on Audio!

I loved the audios of the first three books in this series, so I was thrilled to see an audio for book four! I loved this narrator (Simon Goldhill) just as much Hamish Mckinlay, so that was great too.

This book is about a side character from books one through three, Captain Iain Sinclair, and the man he's loved since he was a boy. Iain has to learn how to decide to choose happiness for himself and he has a lot to work through to be able to get to that point. The book switches between the past and the present as the story progresses and has a wonderful ending!

I'm really hoping we'll get an audio for Kit's story (Restored, book five) soon!

Interesting Story, Good Narration

I enjoyed this book very much. Friends to lovers is not my favorite trope, but here it was written so well that I was not able to put it down. I loved Ian and Jaime together, such a chemistry and connection they shared. Narrator did a great job. Overall this was a perfect listening experience.

A lovely story of friendship, love, and truth

Unnatural is a companion novel to Joanna Chambers' Enlightenment series, which is one of my personal favorites to both read and listen to, and and it's a book that's been on my to-be-read list for far longer than it should have (so many TBR books, so little time!). But when I learned that the audiobook for Unnatural had recently been released, it was the nudge that I needed because I realized it was time to check it off my TBR list. A quick side note: This book is part of the Enlightenment series, but it is also a standalone, particularly because the main characters here are different from the ones in the original trilogy, although I still highly recommend listeners venture forth and check out Murdo Balfour and David Lauriston's epic romance that plays out in Provoked, Beguiled, and Enlightened, all masterfully narrated by Hamish McKinlay.

Joanna Chambers has a way with words, as proven time and again in the books I've read. Iain SInclair and James Hart's story of more than a decade and a half of friendship, love seemingly unrequited, and wants and needs deemed unnatural was told so beautifully with Chambers' words, and Simon Goldhill, whose vocal stylings I was introduced to via Chambers' co-authored Total Creative Control contemporary romance, did it justice. The longing and quiet desperation Iain and James experienced as adults had my heart breaking, just as much as I held out hope for them when the flashbacks highlighted how important they were too each other as they grew up and their lives changed over the years. All in all, Unnatural does the other Enlightenment audiobooks proud, which is why I have no hesitation in giving it five out of five stars.

Great story

I really enjoyed listening to this book. The narrator did a fantastic job with the voices and emotions. There’s also a good delineation between past and present so you get to know what drama these characters have that’s affecting the present. Though you don’t get the entire history in one moment. I really liked James and Iain but I did want to smack a certain person a few times for some of his actions. Overall it’s a very enjoyable story. It can be read alone but I liked that it was in the same world as the previous books. Definitely well worth the listen especially if you enjoy historical romances.