A Modest Independence

By: Mimi Matthews

Narrated by: Alex Wyndham

Length: 12 hrs and 22 mins

Publisher's Summary

"Fans of the series will enjoy exploring secondary characters' lives and the truly heroic compromises Tom makes to be with the woman he loves." (Library Journal) 

He needed peace....

Solicitor Tom Finchley has spent his life using his devious intellect to solve the problems of others. As for his own problems, they're nothing that a bit of calculated vengeance can't remedy. But that's all over now. He's finally ready to put the past behind him and settle down to a quiet, uncomplicated life. If only he could find an equally uncomplicated woman. 

She wanted adventure....

Former lady's companion Jenny Holloway has just been given a modest independence. Now, all she wants is a bit of adventure. A chance to see the world and experience life far outside the restrictive limits of Victorian England. If she can discover the fate of the missing Earl of Castleton while she's at it, so much the better. 

From the gaslit streets of London to the lush tea gardens of colonial India, Jenny and Tom embark on an epic quest - and an equally epic romance. But even at the farthest edges of the British Empire, the past has a way of catching up with you....

©2019 Mimi Matthews (P)2019 Audible, Inc.

Train travel heaven & such beautiful narration

I'm a sucker for stories set on epic train journeys in exotic climes. And such wonderful, subtle character building too. Perfect. Plus the narration is some of the best I've heard. Alex Wyndham gives so much to the story. Looooove!

Beautifully written and narrated!

I am thoroughly enjoying this series. The second book was even better than the first! Alex Wyndham does a wonderful job with the narration making it all the more enjoyable. Highly recommend!

Wonderful journey for my journey! Thank you!

Listened to this non stop on a cross country trip and arrived when it finished. Great atmosphere and narrator.

worst voice

so so bad. loved the first book in the series but couldn't even finish chapter 1 with this reader.

Not as good as first in the series

Story plot okay but the angst and longing between Tom and Jenny was too much, like a filler to make the book longer. It was repetitious to the point of being annoying. I hope the third in the series is more like the first, which was very enjoyable.

Gets Redundant

I like Matthews' books, but this one droned on for too long. The story became tedious and repetitive. Narration was fine, but I was ready for the story to end about 50 pages before it finally did.

slow

a good story but very repetitive with all the whispered conversations between these two sounding remarkably the same after 12 hours. happy ending, but I'm even happier to move on from them.

Modest indeed

Even the amazing Alex Wyndham couldn’t turn this plot and these characters around. Book was way too long -unless you like endless travelogues- and Jenny Holloway is one of the least engaging characters I’ve ever encountered. By the end, was rooting for the charming hero to drop her and move on. Very disappointing sequel to the lovely first book.

I typically enjoy Mimi M's books, but this one !

This book dragged on needlessly (in my humble opinion). I enjoyed the first in the series very much, but in this book I found the characters and angst between them tiresome and repetitive. I am keeping the first in my library but I'll not be listening to this again and so out it goes!
Alex W was, as always , very good.

Awkward performance

I could not rate the story itself because I was unable to listen to the awkward reading of it. The reader does well enough with the character lines, but the narrative lines are read as if each sentence was the conclusion to a suspenseful plot. The inflection at the end of each sentence was very annoying. I was going to push through it, and had every intention to....but I couldn't bear the performance. I wish Audible kept the narrator of the first book for the whole of tge series.

This was brilliant

I don’t know why I put off listening to this book in the series for so long. I had read early on many complaints about Jenny and Tom’s story.... which I heeded. Now though, I have to say those reviews are all silly. Jenny is such a well built character in that she is progressive and ‘modern’ while still being true to the time Matthews writes in. Tom is her perfect counterpart and probably my favorite of the Parish Orphan men now (I’ve listened to the rest of the series through). I loved how long it was and how emotionally fraught Matthews made it too. And the ending was perfection. I highly recommend the the series and this book in particular.

Brilliant story and characters

I loved this book! The characters are introduced in the first of the series and I was looking forward to reading their story. They complement each other’s characters so well and their relationship has time to develop. I wasn’t sure how well the journey to India would work but in fact it really makes the story. Mimi Matthews is an auto-buy for me.

Optional heading?

Awful narration, other than that I loved it.
Why is there a minimum word requirement?

Nice Book...........😀

You really need to listen to this series in order as I got this one straight after I had finished the first book of this series!!

The Saga of shall we marry.

The Saga is about whether the heroine and hero despite loving each other, can overcome their reluctance to marry. This is the over riding theme, putting everything else into the background.
We travel through many continents with "The Sword of Damocles" hanging over their head and plenty of risk taking.
They spend chapter's denning any future, yet uncontrollable attraction, it becomes boring and tedious. He is jealous of every thing, she has to keep reiterating her independence.
They find the missing brother, her so called first love, so more jealous, despite her denials. I lost patience, so gave up
Had potential, but got bogged down in the Saga. A pity as the good parts, like the journey and people, got side tracked.

Mixed book but good overall

There were aspects of this book which were dragging and slow, like all the descriptions of the trip to India. In some ways the history was fascinating, but it cost the story. My rating for those aspects of the the book was 2.5/3 stars. However, the relationship swept me up and by the end my rating for that aspect was 5 stars, and I really felt their connection. So I figured 4 stars balanced that out. This author’s other books, including Gentleman Jim and The Work of Art, I really enjoyed and gave 5 stars to, so I recommend listening to those even if this particular series doesn’t work for you.