The Secret Lives of Country Gentlemen cover art

The Secret Lives of Country Gentlemen

The Doomsday Books, Book 1

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The Secret Lives of Country Gentlemen

By: KJ Charles
Narrated by: Martyn Swain
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About this listen

Abandoned by his father, Gareth Inglis grew up lonely, prickly, and used to disappointment. Still, he longs for a connection. When he meets a charming stranger, he falls head over heels—until everything goes wrong and he's left alone again.

Then Gareth's father dies, turning the shabby London clerk into Sir Gareth, with a grand house on the remote Romney Marsh and a family he doesn't know. The Marsh is another world, a strange, empty place notorious for its ruthless gangs of smugglers. And one of them is dangerously familiar…

Joss Doomsday has run the Doomsday smuggling clan since he was a boy. When the new baronet—his old lover—agrees to testify against Joss's sister, Joss acts fast to stop him. Their reunion is anything but happy, yet after the dust settles, neither can stay away. Soon, all Joss and Gareth want is the chance to be together. But the bleak, bare Marsh holds deadly secrets. And when Gareth finds himself threatened from every side, the gentleman and the smuggler must trust one another not just with their hearts but also with their lives.

©2023 KJ Charles (P)2023 Dreamscape Media Historical Mystery Regency Regency Romance Romance Heartfelt Fiction Stranger

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The first book I have ever returned to Audible unfinished. I would give the performance no stars if I could! I love KJ Charles and her writing never fails to impress but I'm afraid the narration completely ruined it for me. If this had been my introduction to KJ's work I would probably never have read or listened to another of her titles but fortunately I am already a fan.
Do yourself a favour and buy the book, either in digital or physical form and leave this awful version to wallow in the depths of the forgotten where it belongs.

Good story let down by terrible narration

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Why would you even consider another narrator than Cornell Collins? Unfortunately, it seems there is a new publishing house involved..

I started with the audiobook but had to switch to the ebook after a couple of minutes as the performance was chipping away the fun (and my nerves).

The sorry is amazing (as always) with a fair bit of mystery, wild goose chases across the moor and complex entanglements. KJ Charles writes realistic, relatable, and unpredictable stories, and I can heartily recommend her novels to anyone who loves a good story, including the naughty bits (:

Great story, awful performance

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The story is brilliant, usual solid, well written (inc the spice) stuff from Charles, great characters and an engaging mystery to solve. As per usual it’s character driven and they are human, flawed, fabulous and shades of grey.

The narrator is confusing. Better faster and does great accents and often reads very well, but then does a strange staccato delivery which you have to work hard not to really resent. Second book is the same, but worth it for the story and writing but I’d recommend reading this series unless like me you don’t have a choice due to disability!!

Fab story, worth persevering with narrator

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I love KJ Charles’s stories and the Magpie Lord series is just brilliant. The story is great but audible narration is just so odd. Full of pauses and strange inflections. It just doesn’t feel natural. I ended up playing it at 1.3 speed which made it a lot more tolerable. I will say the accents are great and it is usually easy to distinguish each character. Not sure I will listen to it more than once.

Great story, but really strange narration

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A fantastic story of two men from different sides of the track. Wonderful writing with amazing story building, character development and descriptions. The audio narrator was outstanding! Warmly recommend!

Wonderful

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As ever with K J Charles the story-telling and characters are fabulous. Wonderful researched, with a hawk-like eye for detail and historical accuracy, the characters are rounded and interesting.

The performance is poor. Martyn Swain does a good accent, I’ll give him that, but the delivery of the prose is weirdly stilted, with odd pauses, bizarre cadences and a strange pace - to the extent that it sounds like Alexa or Google on a really bad day or someone trying to overcome a dreadful stutter. Such a shame.

Fabulous story telling; mediocre narration

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I enjoyed the story as I live where it was set, and it bought the marsh alive.

But seriously, the narration was aweful! no natural rythem of speech, confusing at times. It was at times painful and almost made me stop listening. Now I see they have used the same one for the next book I am probably not going to purchase it here.

Who chose the narrator?

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First of all I like to point out that THE NARRATOR #MartynSwain is doing a great job

I truly don’t understand this vendetta some seem to have started agains him! He is doing a great job!

The story - the book is intriguing as it is a gay love story with a twist.
In view of the time when the story plays I doubt that it could have been as open and provocative as told by #KJCharles .

I have noticed that most gay stories nowadays are told by women - and it makes one wonder.
I can see a female author writing about two women - but about two men?
Often far fetched !!

BUT THIS BOOK HAS A GREAT PLOT and worth listening to!!

I thoroughly enjoyed this book …

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Not for nothing is KJ Charles my favourite living writer, and this is another banger - engaging characters, meticulously researched world building, thrilling plotty shenanigans and a satisfying denouement. I’m already champing at the bit for the sequel.

Martyn Swain’s narration is confident and well-judged throughout, with good work on the character voices (…okay, with maybe a slight quibble on his vocalisation for Cecelia, but male narrators very rarely do a great job with voicing women, let alone teenage girls: with most men that tends to be the point where their capacity for empathy collapses). However, the rest of the characters are grand, and Cecelia isn’t jarring.

A thoroughly enjoyable listen, all in all!

Another absolute gem from Charles

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K J Charles once again does not disappoint with fabulous historical world building, amazing characterization of both the leads and the supporting cast. Gareth at first seems a little obstinate and irrational but even then he grows on you significantly from the start. The atmosphere of the marsh is both gloomy and vibrant and the adventures are as usual well thought out and exciting. Not my absolute favourite of her works but Charles is such an amazing writer that it is literally picking best of the best here.
On the other hand the narration is bizzare. The narrator speaks very slowly with awkward pauses that make no sense in the sentence or to emphasise anything. I got used to it and managed to listen all the way through at 1.15 speed and it wasn't too bad. But I am surprised Charles got this narrator as her usual choices are immaculate. But don't let you miss out on the story! get this book via text if you must but it's fabulous!

Amazing story as always but weird narration

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