The Daughters of Allamont Hall Collection

By: Mary Kingswood

Narrated by: Joanna Stephens

Length: 19 hrs and 39 mins

Publisher's Summary

Hours of listening in one collection - books 1-3 of The Daughters of Allamont Hall, a series of traditional Regency romances, drawing room rather than bedroom.

Amy is a shy, timid soul, browbeaten by her domineering father until she’s terrified to do or say anything without his approval. When he dies suddenly, his will leaves large dowries for his six daughters, but only if they marry in the proper order, the eldest first. Amy must now find herself a husband, and soon, so her younger sisters can marry in their turn. There are several possible suitors, but will any of them come up to scratch? And how will Amy choose without her father to guide her?

Belle is the plain one of the six Allamont sisters, happy with her books. With Amy betrothed, now Belle must find a husband. Reluctant to parade herself at balls and card parties, she intends to accept the offer of her cousin, James, a pragmatic but loveless choice on both sides. But fate and poetry and the gentle tendrils of friendship combine to overturn her careful plans.

Connie’s older sisters have managed to find husbands, but now it’s her turn and she’s not sure she wants to marry at all. Having only just escaped her late father’s restrictive regime, she’s reluctant to surrender her freedom to another man just yet. If only she could find one who would fall so adoringly in love that he would do anything for her.

Books 1-3 of the six-book series The Daughters of Allamont Hall. Each book is a complete story with a HEA, but listen to them all to find out all the secrets of Allamont Hall!

©2017 Mary Kingswood (P)2018 Mary Kingswood

So glad this entire series is over!

I think if the Daughters of Allamont Hall had been the first Mary Kingswood series that I had listened to, I would not have listened to any others of hers. While I really enjoyed understanding more about the Regency period, her characters, most specifically the six main characters in the series, were hard to stick with. For each character, I had to get through their "whine and pine" period before they became bearable to follow in the plot. I had to keep reminding myself that the main characters were all in their 20s and not the 12- to 16-year-olds that they acted and sounded like. I do wonder if a good part of the issue came from Joanna Stephens' choice of voices that she used with them; if I had just read the books instead, they might have been more likable.

I stuck with the books because their stories were referenced so often in the Sons of the Marquess series that I had just finished and enjoyed much more, and I was interested in the back stories that the Daughters series would provide. The first Kingswood series that I listened to, Silver Linings Mysteries, I like the best and would highly recommend it. Joanna Stephens narrates all three series, but the characters in SLM were much stronger and so the whiny, teary voices were not as distracting. I might try reading, instead of listening to, any other Kingswood books and see if that makes a difference.

Mart Kingswood

I have read many of the books written by this author; but, this is the first time I’ve listened to an audio version of one. I have thoroughly enjoyed both versions. She is n excellent author.

Wonderful Daughters In Spite of Their Parents

I must admit that I did not enjoy this collection quite as much as the Sons of the Marquess series, but it’s probably only because I read them out of order and that series was wonderful. The stories of the first three daughters, Amy, Belle, and Connie, are in this collection. I have yet to read the stories of the remaining three daughters but plan to right away. Mary Kingswood weaves a story of girls that on the face could not help but be insipid, but they each are far from it in their own way. And this is in spite of having despicable parents. And the father’s character only gets worse as will be seen in future stories of the Sons of the Marquess. If you like Georgette Heyer, then you will enjoy both these series which, although they lack some of the humor normally found in Ms. Heyer’s stories, come pretty close to her style. And the Narrator, Joanna Stephens, does a fabulous job in all the stories.

Weak, clingy and insipid women

I did not like this at all. It was so difficult to listen to that I did not finish the third book. The women in these novels are characterless little fools who do nothing to improve themselves.

Love these clean stories

This is a fantastic narrator who helps bring these easy stories to life. There is some repetition between the first three in the series regarding one sister pitted against another when it comes to whom a man is interested in or not. The mystery about where the money for the dowry's came from needs to be solved. I would definitely read more in this series. This third book about Connie is weaker and less interesting than the first two but still entertaining enough.

5 stars

Amy (The Daughters of Allamont Hall #1)

I liked this book. It was in the spirit of Jane Austen.
At first, Amy was upsetting me. She was naïve and very obedient. I wanted to shake her. Fortunately, after getting to know Harriet and the truth about her father, she took on a bit of character.
At first, Mr Ambleside appeared as a great manipulator, similar to Amy's father. At the end he went to his senses, admitted that he acted badly, he apologized.

Belle (The Daughters of Allamont Hall #2)

Both characters are bookworms :D

Connie (The Daughters of Allamont Hall #3)

I enjoyed it.


Overall, the writing is so well done.
I really liked the narrator's interpretation. Each person had their own voice, so they could be distinguished in the crowd.

Narrator has perfect Regency voice

The narrator for these stories has the perfect Regency voice, and she kept all seven sister's voice's throughout all three stories; even when she changed to the next sister in line. I loved Amy's story, even though she is a bit of a mouse and a typical debutante airhead. Mr Ambleside was perfect for her, because he wanted to do everything for her. Of all the sisters, I like Belle the best. She is sensible, mature and knows what she wants. What she doesn't expect is to fall in love with her prettiest sister beau. Belle is perfect for Mr. Burfurd, because the only sister he can hold an intelligent conversation with is Belle. I thought Connie to be very selfish, and they may have to do with Dulcie her sister. In Connie's story, Connie does a lot of growing up and maturing. Going to London opened up Connie's eyes to the way the Ton really works and nobility's machinations. The Marquess's pride and stupidity should have lost him Connie.

Nice Collection of Quality Regencies

I would give Connie's and Belle's stories the highest marks, but Amy's is good too. I just find her a little too self-effacing - even in her own mind. It's all well and good, and historically appropriate, for an unmarried female of that time to be rather passive, but I think she takes it a little too far - disturbingly so, and I'm rather fanatic about historical authenticity... But then I also love Elizabeth Bennet and Emma Woodhouse and the inimitable Grand Sophy - if I'm going for passive, than I prefer someone like Anne Elliot, who is truly perfect and quite above my personal aspirations. What bothered me most about Amy was not her actions so much as her thought process. But her mental and emotional processing was very likely due to her unusual upbringing and extremely strict father... Anyways, I enjoyed Belle's and Connie's characters and stories much more. Connie wasn't terribly likeable in the first book, but I think she became my favorite in the third. Belle was consistently the most likeable. I really liked her character and her hero. I'm not as into the love stealing archs and melodramatic hurts between the sisters, finding them rather unrealistic - but then I only have brothers... :)

Overall though, the writing is so well done! The author does a great job of capturing the style of syntax at the time - very Austen and Heyer like - and the narrator does a good job of bringing that to life. It sounds even better being read to me than when I read it to myself. :) I find that the author's writing improved significantly between this series and her current series (which I read before coming across this), but I highly recommend this series too! If you love quality, reasonably accurate Regencies, you'll be glad you read or listened to anything by Kingswood. I'm excited for the new series to come out on audiobook. :)

easy listening

great value for money I have read it over and over will be buying the other books in the series

If in doubt go for the Sons collection

This collection was not as good as the sons collection but still good value for one credit.

There are more books in the series, but not yet? available as audiobooks, I think I will finish the sons series but might not finish this one.

The first two books in the collection had a too similar plot.