Length: 14 hrs and 21 mins
Genre: Adult Fiction (18+)
Category: Historical Mystery
Publisher: Michelle Cox
Audio Book Release Date: February 4, 2020
Content Rating: R: Books 3-5 have explicit sex scenes (tasteful). There is periodic swearing and violence, but not a lot. There are some dark themes (though not graphic examples) of suicide, prostitution, mob involvement, rape, drinking, homosexuality.
Audible ~ Amazon.com
Chirp ~ Apple ~ Kobo ~ Google Store
Book Review:
HALL WAYS REVIEW: AUDIO BOOK
/ PRINT COMBO REVIEW. I am whipping through author Michelle
Cox’s Henrietta and Inspector Howard series and having so much fun in the
process. Every time I start a new book in the series, a door is opened into a
different world -- that of the 1930s -- and I am fully immersed and lost there until the final page.
“How strange it was that the
future mistress of Highbury received her first real, and only, actually,
wedding-night advice from a lesbian cocktail waitress, formerly employed as an
usherette at a burlesque theater.”
A Promise Given is
the third book, and romance lovers will be thrilled with it. Much of the first
half is dedicated to the build-up to Henrietta and Clive’s wedding. Of course,
there’s plenty of drama on the way to the altar, and the descriptions of the
clothing, food, and decorum were wonderful reminders of the era. And at last:
there’s the wedding night. Readers who’ve been along from the start of
the series have witnessed the electricity and tension between the main two
characters as they’ve struggled to contain their passion for each other. Now
that the couple is legally wed, there’s a steamy new aspect to their relationship.
Happily, the author handles this tastefully, but there’s enough to make this
audio listener’s ears turn red.
For readers like me, who are
less interested in the romance aspect, the heavy emphasis on the romance made
this my least favorite of the four books I’ve read so far. Not that I disliked
the book, but I was glad that this was out of the way so we could get back to
the other elements that Michelle Cox writes so well: superb character development,
excellent world-building, and intriguing mysteries!
In A Promise Given, some
new themes are introduced and explored, providing fascinating insight into some
characters who have been thus far hard to understand. The question of how one
reconciles loving feelings for someone whose true colors are shown to be vile
is a timeless question and still applicable in modern times of #MeToo. And
there’s the accompanying question of how to forgive what seems unforgivable. Several
of the characters are dealing with working through complicated emotional issues,
and through their points-of-view, Cox gives readers a deeper understanding that
helps explain words and actions.
For a delightful change of
pace, the second half of the book takes us to England, where we meet Lord and
Lady Lindley, Clive’s aunt and uncle. Narrator Jayne Entwistle shines in her voicing
of them, and as with the other books in the series, she provides an
across-the-board wonderful performance nailing: male and female, young and old,
American and British, refined and unrefined. I listened at 1.2x speed on the
Authors Direct platform, which was glitch-free and easy. (Just wish I could
post reviews there.)
It is while Clive and Henrietta
are on their honeymoon in England that we finally get some mysterious
goings-on, though there isn’t the danger and tension that’s been present in the
prior books. There’s an ongoing, unresolved, dangerous issue that’s been
present since the first book, A
Girl Like You, and I expected and looked forward to it carrying over
into this book. However, it’s put on the back burner, which was a little
disappointing, but which also raises the stakes and anticipation for book four,
A Veil Removed, which is already downloaded and ready for me to push “play”
for another reading-with-my-ears experience.
Though I purchased a print copy of this book, I thank the author and iRead Book Tours for providing me an audio download in exchange for my honest opinion—the only kind I give.
A Girl Like You
Click to read the Hall Ways Blog Audio Book Review!
Book Description: Henrietta Von Harmon works as a 26 girl at a corner bar on Chicago’s northwest side. It’s 1935, but things still aren’t looking up since the big crash and her father’s subsequent suicide, leaving Henrietta to care for her antagonistic mother and younger siblings. Henrietta is eventually persuaded to take a job as a taxi dancer at a local dance hall—and just when she’s beginning to enjoy herself, the floor matron turns up dead. When aloof Inspector Clive Howard appears on the scene, Henrietta agrees to go undercover for him—and is plunged into Chicago’s grittier underworld. Meanwhile, she’s still busy playing mother hen to her younger siblings, as well as to pesky neighborhood boy Stanley, who believes himself in love with her and keeps popping up in the most unlikely places, determined to keep Henrietta safe—even from the Inspector, if need be. Despite his efforts, however, and his penchant for messing up the Inspector’s investigation, the lovely Henrietta and the impenetrable Inspector find themselves drawn to each other in most
Audible ~Amazon.com
Chirp ~ Apple ~ Kobo ~ Google Store
Audible ~Amazon.com
Chirp ~ Apple ~ Kobo ~ Google Store
A Veil Removed
Instagram Goodreads
Aug 31 - Bookish Paradise – series spotlight / guest post / giveaway
Aug 31 – Hall Ways Blog – audiobook review of A Girl Like You / giveaway
Aug 31 - Rockin' Book Reviews – audiobook review of A Girl Like You / guest post / giveaway
Sep 1 – Lamon Reviews – audiobook review of A Girl Like You / giveaway
Sep 1 - Rebecca Graf on Medium - audiobook review of A Girl Like You
Sep 2 – Bookriot – audiobook review for A Child Lost / author interview / giveaway
Sep 2 - Rajiv's Reviews - audiobook review of A Girl Like You / giveaway
Sep 2 - Library of Clean Reads - audiobook review of A Girl Like You / giveaway
Sep 3 – Locks, Hooks and Books – audiobook review of A Girl Like You / giveaway
Sep 3 - Amy's Booket List - audiobook review of A Girl Like You
Sep 4 - Rebecca Graf on Medium - audiobook review of A Ring of Truth Sep 4 - Rajiv's Reviews - audiobook review of A Ring of Truth / giveaway
Sep 7 – Rockin' Book Reviews – audiobook review of A Ring of Truth / giveaway
Sep 7 – Books for Books – audiobook review of A Girl Like You
Sep 7 - Rajiv's Reviews - audiobook review of A Promise Given / giveaway
Sep 8 – Sefina Hawke's Books – series spotlight
Sep 8 - Rebecca Graf on Medium - audiobook review of A Promise Given
Sep 9 – Jazzy Book Reviews – series spotlight / guest post / giveaway
Sep 9 - Rajiv's Reviews - audiobook review of A Veil Removed / giveaway
Sep 9 - Library of Clean Reads - audiobook review of A Ring of Truth / giveaway
Sep 10 - Amy's Booket List - audiobook review of A Ring of Truth
Sep 10 - Rosepoint Publishing - audiobook review of A Girl Like You
Sep 11 – Books for Books – audiobook review of A Ring of Truth
Sep 11- Rebecca Graf on Medium - audiobook review of A Veil Removed
Sep 14 – Hall Ways Blog – audiobook review of A Ring of Truth / giveaway
Sep 14 – Rockin' Book Reviews – audiobook review of A Promise Given / giveaway
Sep 14 - Rajiv's Reviews - audiobook review of A Child Lost / giveaway
Sep 15 – Olio By Marilyn – audiobook review of A Girl Like You / giveaway
Sep 15 - Rebecca Graf on Medium - audiobook review of A Child Lost
Sep 16 – Rockin' Book Reviews – audiobook review of A Veil Removed / giveaway
Sep 16 - Library of Clean Reads - audiobook review of A Promise Given / giveaway
Sep 17 – Locks, Hooks and Books – audiobook review of A Ring of Truth / giveaway
Sep 17 - Amy's Booket List - audiobook review of A Promise Given
Sep 18 - Books for Books – audiobook review of A Promise Given
Sep 18 - From the TBR Pile - audiobook review of A Girl Like You
Sep 21 - Books for Books – audiobook review of A Veil Removed
Sep 21 – Hall Ways Blog – audiobook review of A Promise Given / giveaway
Sep 22 - Rockin' Book Reviews – audiobook review of A Child Lost / giveaway
Sep 22 – Olio By Marilyn – audiobook review of A Ring of Truth / giveaway
Sep 23 – Book Corner News and Reviews – audiobook review of A Veil Removed / giveaway
Sep 23 - Library of Clean Reads - audiobook review of A Veil Removed / giveaway
Sep 24 – Locks, Hooks and Books – audiobook review of A Promise Given / giveaway
Sep 24 - Amy's Booket List - audiobook review of A Veil Removed
Sep 25 – Books for Books – audiobook review of A Child Lost
Sep 25 - From the TBR Pile - audiobook review of A Ring of Truth
Sep 28 – Hall Ways Blog – audiobook review of A Veil Removed / giveaway
Sep 28 - From the TBR Pile - audiobook review of A Promise Given
Sep 29 - Locks, Hooks and Books – audiobook review of A Veil Removed / giveaway
Sep 30 – Olio By Marilyn – audiobook review of A Promise Given / giveaway
Sep 30 - Library of Clean Reads - audiobook review of A Child Lost / giveawaySep 30 - From the TBR Pile - audiobook review of A Veil Removed
Oct 1 – Olio By Marilyn – audiobook review of A Veil Removed / giveaway
Oct 1 - History from a Woman’s Perspective - audiobook review of A Girl Like You
Oct 1 - Amy's Booket List - audiobook review of A Child Lost
Oct 2 – Locks, Hooks and Books – audiobook review of A Child Lost / giveaway
Oct 2 - From the TBR Pile - audiobook review of A Child Lost
Thank you for sharing this fabulous series!
ReplyDeleteIt has been a blast reading & reviewing these books, one after another.
Delete💜🧡💛
DeleteThanks once again, Kristine, for this amazing review!! You really know how to write them!
ReplyDeleteYou are most welcome. It's much easier to write a review when a book is fabulous. You know how to write fabulous, that's for sure.
Delete💜🧡💛
Delete