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.

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.

More historical emotional turmoil!

Simon Goldhill had big shoes to fill trying to keep up with Hamish McKinlay's past narration of books 1-3 in this series, but did a great job!

This romance, fell a bit flat for me in comparison to Murdo & David, and the amount of angst and lack of communication outweighed any groveling or realizations. Iain's an idiot, but not in an endearing way.

Things I enjoyed:
- James is a nerdy scientist who loves talking about bugs and nature and he would go on tangents in a very endearing way
- The flashback scenes sprinkled throughout the story helped paint a better picture of their childhoods, relationship growing up together, and what events happened that causes such tension during present time.
-Narration of new-to-me narrator

Things that didn't work for me:
- Iain's small amount of groveling and 'i've changed! i love you' moment was lackluster in comparison of 90% of the plotline being James pining, waiting for crumbs, hoping wishing dreaming to be treated with respect and putting up with an emotionally constipated older boy from childhood with intense daddy issues. James' deserves so much better!
- The boathouse flashback scene of James watching Iain have s3x with some other guy and have his s3xual awakening happen. I get it was there for the self discovery and adding to his mega crush on Iain, but voyeurism when the other people don't know/don't consent to being watched just isn't my thing.
- Internalized h0mophobic MC x free and open with his s3xuality MC's make such an anxiety ridden dynamic. One always stressing about being seen or getting caught, the other just enjoying existing and maybe being a little to open about it in a repressed world.
- Miscommunication trope when it could literally be solved with one big kid conversation. This whole plot just needed the two to communicate their feelings, and all would have been well.

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.

Not as good as the first 3 books in the series

Much less steamy/sexy than the first 3 books of the series. Barely any sex scenes. It takes forever for the characters to finally get together, but they finally get their HEA in the last 30 minutes of the novel. The author executed the alternating chapters between present and past quite well, which illustrated the history and evolution of the MCs romance. Well written and well narrated.

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.

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.

Wonderful narration!!!

"I have something new I want to say."

This is the 4th book In the series Enlightenment by Joanna Chambers. This is also the first book that I've ever read or listened to by this author. The narration by Simon Goldhill was amazing. This is also the first book I've listened to by this narrator. I'm so glad I took a chance on this and I truly enjoyed it.

This book started out in 1808 and spanned a period of 16 years. It bounced between years so the reader could better understand how the characters got to where they were, in the present of 1824. The narration truly brought this book to life. I'm not sure I would have enjoyed it as much if I'd read it, bouncing between years is sometimes distracting so the narration truly helped.

Childhood friends to lovers, a boy trying to earn a father's love, opposites attract (worldly versus naive), slow burn, mild angst