Masked Ball at Broxley Manor

A Royal Spyness Novella

De: Rhys Bowen

Narrado por: Katherine Kellgren

A delectable prequel to the national best-selling Royal Spyness mysteries featuring Lady Georgiana Rannoch - 34th in line to the throne, and England’s poorest heiress. At the end of her first unsuccessful season out in society, Lady Georgiana has all but given up on attracting a suitable man - until she receives an invitation to a masked Halloween ball at Broxley Manor. Georgie is uncertain why she was invited, until she learns that the royal family intends to marry her off to a foreign prince, one reputed to be mad. When the prince, dressed as the devil, rescues her from an embarrassing situation at the ball, Georgie is surprised to find her unwanted suitor to be a dashing, charming man - especially when he pulls her aside and gives her the kiss of a lifetime. But as the time comes for the unmasking, Georgie’s rescuer vanishes and the party is thrown into chaos, making it clear that everything at Broxley Manor is not as it appears…

©2012 Janet Quin-Harkin (P)2014 Audible Inc.

Last 30min are preview of "Her Royals Spyness"

This is a short describing a particular ball of Georgie's season, with a touch of all the usual elements--Georgie's accomplishments from finishing school (or lack thereof), Binky & Fig, Georgie's virginity, Queen Mary's scheming, a house party, cameo by Mrs. Simpson, and something bigger going on in the background.

The series is not particularly consistent overall and this short is no exception. While she meets a couple of the series staples here for the first time, in later books her thoughts/reactions imply that she has no memory of this meeting. There are also a few more general inconsistencies--for instance, she receives what should probably be called a very acceptable proposal in this short, when a consistent refrain through the first few books is that no one acceptable to the family made her an offer.

So the good news is this story is not forced into a prequel situation where nothing interesting is allowed to happen. The bad news is that almost everyone in universe apparently suffers collective amnesia about what did happen. It also has some pacing issues as the usual introductory build up made up a good portion of the first 30min, and a preview of "Her Royal Spyness" made up the last 30min, leaving little room for a plot or interesting mystery.

I had fun listening, but I do wish I had known it was effectively a 1hr book instead of what appears to be almost 2hrs. If you are new to the series, I would recommend skipping over this until you have finished at least the second book.

Spy mystery

I loved it...I love all her royal spyness mysteries. The narrator was amazing and really plays THE part on audible books.

I really think there should be more short stories!

A lot of my complaints about the series has been repetition and the fact I would like it stripped down. I think Rhys Bowen should do more short stories for Georgie!
Performance from Katherine Kellgren is outstanding as always - I mean could we really have expected any less.

Happy with the story

Yes its certainly not a long recording but I still enjoyed listening to it. I've only listened to books 1 and 2 of "her royal spyness" and then this one. I enjoyed knowing about the characters and a bit more about Georgiana. I'm pleased overall.

Fun story, great narration, inconsistencies

I have recently gone deep into this series and found it to be largly entertaining with some minor irritations. So, I thought I would check out this prequel novella and the author has yet again delivered on the entertainment and the irritation.

How in the world can she write an origin story that is not consistent with the developed charactes established in books written prior to the prequel?
The characters are quite lovable and fun, although the narrative is repetitive throughout the series: e.g. "slash of red" for lip stick application on lips, the constant reference to Queen Victoria when Georgie gets on her high horse, etc.. And then you also have the inconsistencies in the characters' behaviors and descriptions from book to book and no one ever seems to recall or reminisce about truly hair-raising adventures they had in the past. It defies belief.
And here we are to believe that Georgie meets Wallis, I'd nearly killed, has an amazing meeting with a mystery man she later discovers has the initials of DOM and she forgets it all?
C'mon! Pull my other one.

Cute

For Her Royal Spyness fans, a nice little short story treat. Nothing elaborate but very enjoyable.

Newly found author

I just joined audible books, and tried out Rhys Bowen's "Her Royal Spyness" as a commuting book, having just purchased a car that wiki slow me to link to my phone. I was curious to see if listening to a book while driving would distract me or not. Therefore I was looking for something light and humorous.i found it in this series and have already placed all oh them on my wisdom list. My hour-long commute just became fun and relaxing!

I look forward to hearing more of her work.

I am always delighted when I discovery a new author.

Nice treat for Royal Spyness fans!

Although this recording is shorter than the regular length books, it was quite enjoyable. Great background for the two main characters.

Way too short

Just as I was getting interested, it was finished! Love this series and the narrator.

Fun story for fans!

The Royal Spyness series is my favorite and I quite enjoyed this short story that takes place before the first book.

The performance was distracting. I appreciated the different voices for different characters and the attention to detail regarding what accent to use, but it was really over the top. I did not like the inflection and interpretation of how things were said. It didn’t sound like these characters were real regarding intonation.