Penmort Castle

By: Kristen Ashley

Narrated by: Abby Craden

Length: 16 hrs and 52 mins

Publisher's Summary

Cash Fraser is planning revenge, and to get it he needs the perfect woman. So he hires her. Abigail Butler has lost nearly everything in her life and she's about to lose the home she loves.

Cash meets Abby, who is posing as a paid escort, and the minute he does he knows he's willing to pay for more than Abby being his pretend girlfriend. A lot more. Abby needs the money or the last thing that links her to her dead family and husband will be gone. The deal is struck, but both Cash and Abby get more than they bargained for.

Cash realizes very quickly that Abby isn't what she seems, and while he changes strategies, Abby discovers that Cash's legacy, Penmort Castle, is like all the tales say - very, very haunted. Making matters worse, the ghost in residence wants her dead.

Abby's found herself in the battle of her life, so she enlists Mrs. Truman, her nosy neighbor; Jenny, her no-nonsense friend; Cassandra McNabb, white witch and clairvoyant with a penchant for wearing scarves (and lots of them); and Angus McPherson, dyed-in-the-wool Scot (which means he hunts ghosts in a kilt) to fight the vicious ghost who has vowed that she will rest at nothing to kill the true, abiding love of the master of Penmort.

©2016 Kristen Ashley (P)2016 Audible, Inc.

Oh, those accents!

Would you say that listening to this book was time well-spent? Why or why not?

Probably no. I had enjoyed the story when I read it but it was very difficult to listen to. The accents that were not American were terrible! I couldn't work out where Jenny was even from until I was told! Her accent was some sort of bad cross between Australian, New Zealander, South African and English. The accents for everybody but our heroine kept taking me out of the story.

What didn’t you like about Abby Craden’s performance?

See above.

Great book nearly ruined by poor narration

If you could sum up Penmort Castle in three words, what would they be?

Romance plus ghosts. FYI - the haunting in this story takes a while to get to. It's not really creepy or spine-tingling, so if you're looking for something like that, this might not be for you. The ghosts operate a bit more like actual characters.

Would you be willing to try another one of Abby Craden’s performances?

I actively avoid Abby Craden. She cannot do accents to save her life. There were times when Jenny (Abby's friend) sounded Australian or South African, Mrs. Truman was incredibly annoying, and I have no idea what kind of accent Cash had but it wasn't Scottish (or even a hint of it). Unfortunately, Ms. Craden has narrated additional books in this series so I am unable to completely avoid her. This is incredibly disappointing. A good narrator should add to the story being told, not distract me from it.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

It's Kristen Ashley. Of course I wanted to listen to it all in one sitting - even with a bad narrator.

Any additional comments?

Penmort Castle, and the rest of the books in this series, are a lot of fun. If you're familiar with Kristen Ashley, you know what to expect. Just sprinkle in some ghosts.

Not KA'S best efforts

KA is one of my top three favorite authors and I admire the way that she she writes in a variety of settings; instead of sticking to a cookie cutter storyline. However, this story seemed forced. The story could have been complete without the "ghost element ", at all. As a matter of fact, the climax of the ghost encounter came across as silly. This down graded the novel from good to passable. That being said, this won't keep me from downloading the next book of the series because KA'S fair is better than many authors' best effort. This novel also wasn't as emotionally deep as most of her other novels, either. Sometimes, that isn't a bad thing. If a novel is so deep that the reader/listener spends the entire experience shedding tears, the "great escape", isn't an escape, at all but, rather an emotional beating.

I know that this review is a list of contradictions but, this is how the novel left me feeling. is it worth a credit? It's KA, so yeah, you likley won't feel like this novel was a complete waste of your time.
-V from Kansas

Book was good but narrator was not.

The narrator was not very good. The accent she did was bad. Almost ruined the whole story.

sorry, but no.... bad narration and slow story.

i usually love kristen ashley's stories. but this one, no. i am fed up with the narration and silly accents from this narrator. she can't be serious!
the story is so slow and boring. i'm just in the middle but i won't finish this one. sad, as i was looking forward to listening to this new series...

Narrator comment.

Narrator couldn't do an Irish brogue, very distracting, would have preferred not even trying, became annoying after awhile.

Great book

As a long time fan this book has the intrigue, action and of course romance. The last series I wasn't so hot on. This one has the Rock Chick genius that I know Ms Ashley has in her.

How could you?

KA is one of the best writers in her genre. So why ruin a new series with this narrator? So disappointing. The story's fun and quirky.

Who you gonna call?? 👻

Abby's narration, was hands down the best thing about this book. With the ambiance of crimson peak, even it's ghostly story line wasn't scary. The writing was good, but it did seem to drag on at times. The intimacy between Cash and Abby was a little bland without all the heated details. And the ending felt like Ghostbusters should have been called 😄. I did find this entertaining, but I'm just not sure if I'll be buying the next one.

Great story made me laugh and cry

I love the story and the narrator. Kristen Ashley is a great writer she pulls you into the story and the characters lives. Thank you for writing

Awful Narration

Never got to the end of the book as couldn’t stand the narration. Terrible accents - I never knew you could make Scottish sound Russian.

Great story, horrifically narrated accents.

I’m saddened that such a great series of books have been ruined by a narrator that can not do accents and should be stopped from attempting them and also can someone please tell her that when attempting an English accent you should pronounce the words in English not American. Really irritating how books do loved when read can be ruined by a poor choice of narrator.
I sincerely hope that Kristen has some of the worst offenders re-recorded.

Great romance/paranormal mix, poor narration

I had read this book twice on kindle and was, admittedly, a little worried about all the negative reviews on Amazon concerning the narration. It’s not that bad. The voice of the H is a bit weird – sort of Scottish crossed with Russian, but it’s also deep enough and sexy enough not to really matter. The worst narration is for Jenny, the best friend of the h. She is in the book a lot so this is fairly annoying. Her accent is a weird illogical mix of countries, but the biggest issue is that sometimes her accent is so strong that it’s difficult to understand, and other times her accent is barely noticeable. Some of the side characters have really silly voices that are almost a parody. However I have to sympathise with a narrator who had to put voice to one character who “screeches” most of the time!

Apart from the narration issues, however, I enjoyed this book on audio as much as on kindle. It’s a lovely mix of romance and a bit of paranormal, it had me in tears in the final chapters and it has a wonderful, classic, epilogue for which this author is so skilled at producing.

Absolutely Terrible Narration

What could have made this a 4 or 5-star listening experience for you?

A narrator that could actually carry off an English, Scots and Australian accent. When I first started listening to the book I thought Cash was a Russian, I had no idea what Jenny was supposed to be when I first heard her but, then thought she was South African...if the Writer had not mentioned that Cash was a Scotsman and Jenny an Australian I would never have guessed! Americans should not try to portray other Countries accents, they are absolutely useless at them. I have had several books ruined now by an American narrator that cannot carry off any sort of accent, very frustrating and annoying.

What was your reaction to the ending? (No spoilers please!)

Never got to the end! I struggled with the atrocious accents for as long as I could but in the end gave up after about six chapters. A shame because I hate not getting to the end of a book.

Would you be willing to try another one of Abby Craden’s performances?

No, not at all, if she has to portray an accent of any sort.....she hasn't got a clue!!

What character would you cut from Penmort Castle?

From the little I listened to, before my ears started to bleed with the terrible rendition of the Scots and Australian accents, most of the characters seemed plausible and necessary so I would not have cut any of them.

Any additional comments?

I don't know who or how narrators are selected for each book but I would beg whoever is in on the selection process to be far more aware of how a narrator can ruin a book just by the simple fact of not being able to portray a credible accent. I cannot make it anymore plain just how grating on the ear a bad English, Scots or Irish accent is when listened to by someone from any of those Countries. I thought Dick Van Dyke had done enough damage to the English accent when he portrayed a Cockney in Mary Poppins but, by golly, this woman knocks him into a cocked hat!!!

Great story shame about the accents

While I love a trier I am not sure that the narrator has every listened to real Scots or Australian speakers. The English accents are okay, not great, but okay. Unfortunately this totally detracts from the story. I had to stop listening and read.

WONDERFUL NARRATION, STORY AND PERFORMANCE

Can NOT understand for the life of me why or HOW you can criticize the performance in this narration. Abby Craden the narrator absolutely makes all the difference. The accent (which by the way is Scottish) is spot on... being a British national, I can assure you it is very realistic. It is one thing to dislike the Scottish accent (which I personally really enjoy) and it is a different think altogether to criticize the outstanding professional deliverance.
KA has once again proven her amazing ability to write superb stories with over the top alpha possessive males. She is the Queen of writing that genre!!! My advice to you is.... if you love overly possessive alpha males heros, don't hesitate even if supernatural is not your thing... KA makes it your thing... :-)

Wow ❤️

KA does it again, read this book years ago on Kindle, loved it then, even better on Audible. Great Narration