I received a copy of this audiobook in exchange for an honest review. I’ve got to start by saying I have never read anything by this author and had no prior knowledge of the series. I started listening to the book with Joel Leslie’s narration and immediately I thought “what’s going on here?”. Being used to listen to books narrated in an American accent and also having previously listened to Joel narrating a book from one of my favourite authors I thought I knew what to expect. Well I never!
To give some context, I am a Portuguese national that has lived in the U.K. for 15 years so I’m as fluent in English as Portuguese. I am also quite tunned in to the different regional accents we get in the uk. Mr Leslie did such a great job with this book that I had to stop listening to do a bit of google stalking and find out how does he manage to capture so well not just the general middle and upper class accent but also that of the working class. I mean, I can pick them out and distinguish but I couldn’t attempt to try them out myself. Having found my answer to this little puzzle (you can do your own googling if you want to find out) I started forgetting about what I expected to hear and concentrate on the story. I found myself really invested in all the characters and following the stories of the different couples. I particularly loved this book because you get so many happy endings, although now I am very curious to find out how it all started and I may have to read the series from the beginning.
I thought I had my favourite male narrator all picked out but Joel just came in and dethroned the previous. I have a feeling he will stay up there for a long time because what I listened to isn’t just narration, it’s pure high class acting.