Gladly Beyond

Brothers Maledetti, Book 1

By: Nichole Van

Narrated by: Alan Carlson, Kimberly M. Wetherell

Length: 11 hrs and 48 mins

Publisher's summary

Claire Raythorn arrives in Florence, Italy, shattered, alone, and anxious to rebuild her life - preferably without men. But she soon finds herself hunted and haunted - literally - when a mysterious stalker dressed like Mr. Darcy from BBC central casting appears in her photos...and only her photos. Who is this man? And what does his ghostly presence mean?

Dante D’Angelo simply wants to safeguard his brothers, despite the family curse that hounds his vision. But then Claire Raythorn walks into his life, untouched somehow by his curse. Soon, everything Dante thought he knew about himself starts to unravel, dragging Claire down with him.

Set against the lush backdrop of Florence - both past and present - Claire and Dante fight for a future together. But, first, they must uncover their shared past...

©2016 Nichole Van (P)2020 Dreamscape Media, LLC

Story was great and Narration was good

4 stars for narration because the male narrator gave Claire a voice that... took some getting used to. That said, I did get used to it, and his voice for Dante was perfect. Loved the female narrator. She did well with both male and female voices.

I've reviewed the book elsewhere, so I'll suffice to say that this series remains one of my favorites.

Another winner!

WHAT IT'S ABOUT
An ancient curse, fractured at the birth of three brothers.
Two strangers helplessly drawn to each other.
A love story two hundred years in the making.

Claire Raythorn arrives in Florence, Italy, shattered, alone, and anxious to rebuild her life—preferably one without men. But she soon finds herself hunted and haunted— literally—when a mysterious stalker dressed like Mr. Darcy from BBC central casting appears in her photos. And only her photos. Who is this man? And what does his ghostly presence mean?

Dante D’Angelo simply wants to safeguard his brothers, despite the family curse that hounds his vision. But then Claire Raythorn walks into his life, untouched somehow by his curse. Soon, everything Dante thought he knew about himself starts to unravel, dragging Claire down with him.

Set against the lush backdrop of Florence, Italy—both past and present—Claire and Dante fight for a future together. But, first, they must uncover their shared past . . .

MY TAKE
I read Book 2 in this series first, and now I want to go back and read it again. Van is so creative, and she has a gift immersing you in the location while wringing out all the feels! The characters feel like real people. My heart just ached for Claire and Dante when they realized just what they were up against. I won't say more because I don't want to spoil anything. Wonderful ending. I totally thought I had it figured out. Nope!

Well played, Nichole!

I listened to the audiobook and the narrators Alan Carlson and Kimberly M. Wetherell did a great job.

I love the actual book but...

I cannot stand these narrators. Dante who is half Italian and half American (raised in Portland) sounds like he’s from Chicago! The voices given to the opposite sexes are horrible. Neither narrator can even closely pull of either a British accent or a Scottish brogue. These were the distracting parts of the book.

Great story, AWFUL narration

I really enjoyed the story, but the narration made it SO HARD to get through.

When I say the female narrator’s vocal fry was excruciating to listen to, please know that I have heard the arguments about vocal fry complaints being sexist, and I can see the point that’s being made….but for the main protagonist, it really makes her sound like a complete snob. Like she should be saying “Hmmm, yes, I quite agree old chap” while swirling ridiculously expensive alcohol around in her brandy glass before downing it in one gulp as she rises from her wingback chair to grab her top hat and cane…have I drawn a clear enough picture of just how obnoxiously snobbish she sounds?

Also her accents are absolutely terrible.

Maybe not as terrible as the male narrator’s accents, though. Ugh. It made me think back to when Leonardo DiCaprio starred in The Man in the Iron Mask and I was annoyed that he didn’t even attempt a French accent. This book made me realize that if you can’t do an accent you just shouldn’t try it.

The other thing that rocked me back on my heels was the number of times the male narrator badly mispronounced fairly common words. Twice, in the case of “biddable,” which he pronounced “bideable”

I enjoyed the story, but I did stop it at one point to see if the same narrators read the other books in the series, because while I thought I could probably finish this book, I knew I couldn’t listen to these two through an entire series. They don’t narrate the other books, thank goodness. The story had an interesting premise and I’d like to learn more about the supporting characters in the sequels.