The Westerby Inheritance

Changing Fortunes, Book 1

By: M. C. Beaton

Narrated by: Kate Reading

Length: 8 hrs and 36 mins

Publisher's Summary

A lady of quality would not wager her honor to restore her family's fortunes - or would she?

Lady Jane Lovelace has conceived the idea of approaching the most notorious man-about-town, Lord Charles Welbourne, with a most unique proposition. When he counters her offer with a condition that he thinks will halt her impudence, much to the surprise of both, she accepts.

A novel of passion and intrigue, The Westerby Inheritance is a thrilling installment in an emotionally charged romantic saga, all played out against a backdrop of elegant 18th-century society.

©2014 M. C. Beaton (P)2014 Blackstone Audio, Inc.

NOT like Marion Chesney's other romances!

This book left me wondering if it really WAS written by the same Marion Chesney who had written all of the other wonderful historical romances I enjoy so much. These are the specific reasons:

1. While there are the usual conflicts of character/personality, there are entirely too many characters who are blindly selfish at best or outright evil at worst. From my perspective, there was only one truly likeable character whose actions I always supported, and it wasn't even the main character.
2. The ending is VERY dark.
3. Unlike the other Marion Chesney books that feature a mystery-of-sorts, this one does not have any kind of resolution or clear-cut happy ending (see again item 2).
4. Also as opposed to her other books, which leave me happy with the outcome and looking forward to re-listening to the story many times, I will NOT be re-listening to this one. I am glad I listened to it, but once was certainly enough.

It says that this book is part of two separate series, which I believe are just collections of loosely related stand-alone novels rather than a true sequential series of interrelated stories about a consistent set of characters. Honestly, even if there were a direct sequel, I don't think I would listen to it or read it - this book left me feeling too unsettled and unsatisfied for me to want to invest more time in another book like it.

There are good things about this book, though. As always, I enjoyed Chesney's creation of her main characters and how their relationships (especially the one between Jane and her stepmother) matured.

Unlike another reviewer, I have always preferred Chesney's elaborately detailed descriptions of the day-to-day details of historic life. If I didn't want that sort of thing, I would not read historical novels. I would suggest that anyone who doesn't want historical details either not read historical novels OR read BAD historical novels by authors who do not do thorough research and, thus, end up writing about 21st century characters and settings with the occasional use of "ye olde English" to give it a bit of period flavor. Additionally - any references by the publishers to this being a "regency" romance are incorrect. The story takes place in 1751, and George III hadn't even taken over as king, let alone sired the son who would eventually assume the regency.

And I absolutely adored Kate Reading's narration! She does such a wonderful job of creating the characters' voices, especially the male characters. She is definitely among my short list of favorite narrators now (this was the first I've heard her), and I will be looking for more books narrated by her in the future.

To be honest, if the ending wasn't so horrendously dark and not at all what I had been expecting from a Marion Chesney historical romance novel, I probably wouldn't have felt the need to write this review. But I wanted other Chesney readers to know that this is NOT her typical romance fare.

cliffhanger! not just a first in a series....

but a book that ends BEFORE resolving anything.... it's only PART of a book. and I really dislike that!!!

Just treat it as a dark comedy and enjoy

Yes this is not the usual type of book by this author but as one character states “I feel like I’m living in a farce”.
If you see the crazy turns of events as humorous then you’ll be fine. There actually is a second part to this book to help give some closure to the abrupt ending. It’s called “The Westerby Sisters” and it picks up with the daughters of the main characters years later.

Good story but no ending!

I expected a proper ending but the chapter just fell off in a way that did not make sense given the characters personalities. Shame.

Enjoyable Read... until

I was surprised how much I loved this story. It worked so well and the characters are well developed. But there wasn’t a proper ending. It left you hanging and “NO”, you don’t get an ending on Book 2 since that’s a completely different story. I’m so disappointed. I’m going to have to write the ending to this book so I can put it to rest. Sooooo annoyed.

DON'T WASTE YOUR TIME -- THE END IS MISSING!

Just when you are about to find out all the answers to the mysteries that have been building throughout the story, THE BOOK ENDS ‼️❗️No answer as to why someone wanted certain people, including the main characters, dead, who wanted them dead, what happened to them and the the one who was trying to kill them? Did they die? Why had so many wanted that land --buried treasure? Who impersonated the dead man? What was the terrible sin? Who tuned a nice guy into a highwayman and why? Why was Jayne spending so much to redo the old manner? What happened to Anthony?
It was like the last chapters were torn out of the book and Amazon didn't even read it before having it recorded.
I slogged though this book because I was far enough into it that I wanted to get some answers. I even thought that it was a way to get you to buy the next book, but there was no mention of these characters again.
I'm through with this author, but it's not the narrater's fault. She did a fine job.
SHAME ON YOU, AMAZON.

It’s a Cliffhanger:(

The story continues in another book...not good 8hours and no conclusion...so we’re expected to continue this story for another 8 hours or maybe more??? The story is not that complex and parts were simply boring. Anyway I expected a complete story with a conclusion but you get what you pay for.

And now for something different.

This is an interesting book in that the heroine is not a beauty that takes the ton by storm. It does rattle along to the usual conclusion, then decides to keep on going. As the happy couple are suddenly pronounced as being very afraid of their circumstances... the book ends.

how does it end

Happily listening to an intriguing story when it just stopped. forever to wonder how it ends.

To be continued?

I'm not very familiar with this author's regency works. However, this story left me confused. The plot was somewhat convoluted and the ending was really just a fade-out cliffhanger. I almost expected to see (hear) a "to be continued." But, IS the story continued in another book? Are the issues with the villains and antagonists resolved? Very strange. I'm glad it was a Plus catalog option, otherwise, I would be returning it.