Narrated by Alison Larkin
Publisher’s Blurb: A woman compelled. A man obsessed. A love that defies king and country. In the glittering world of Regency England, Anne Wilder plays a dangerous game. A widowed lady by day, by night she becomes a masked thief preying on society’s elite. She roves high above London’s black rooftops, compelled by phantoms from her past to take ever greater risks. Until her restless spirit led her into Colonel Jack Seward’s trap…where seduction may be her only way out.
She’d played him for a fool, taking advantage of his hungry response to escape from his clutches. But as Jack hunts for the thief, his heart falls captive to a self-possessed widow. Torn between illicit passion and tender love, Jack is duty-bound to capture the audacious criminal, even if it means ripping society apart to do so. Now, he stalked her through the ton, never realizing the lovely widow who captured his heart was the same woman who roused his most violent passions.
My Take on the Story: One of my childhood fantasies was fueled by James Bond movies, no doubt – I wanted to be the cat burglar, dressed all in black, stealthily gaining entrance to lavish apartments, stealing jewels while people slept. (Or maybe an assassin, or a ninja.) So the plot of All Through the Night was right up my alley – Anne Wilder, respectable widow by day, Wrexhall’s Wraith by night, in a Robin-Hood-esque gesture to right the wrongs perpetrated by society. It has the elements of a modern thriller, with a stolen letter, whispers of treason, and a man whose finely tuned skills make him a cold blooded weapon. While Anne and Jack are the focus of the story, the intrigues play a major part. Skillfully done, as only Brockway can do it, and yet so different from her other stories.
My take on the narration: Alison Larkin has all the right narration skills. She uses a number of class and regional accents, and she differentiates well between characters. Her reading is dramatic and forceful. I can’t pinpoint exactly why it wasn’t an A listen for me. One of the traits that took away from my enjoyment was her tendency to read as if there were constantly run-on sentences – she pushed through, paying no attention to obvious breaks around semi-colons and commas and even periods, not every time, but often enough to be jarring. I also wasn’t satisfied with her interpretation of Jack, whose throat had been damaged in a hanging attempt; I felt it was too raspy and hoarse, unpleasant to listen to, although she was consistent. That was an acting and directing choice which others may find a perfect fit. She was good – really good – about 90% of the time and the other 10% pushed my own personal buttons. It was a thoroughly professional narration, just not my favorite style for romance, even romantic suspense.
Melinda
Narration: B
Book Content: A
Steam Factor: Glad I had my earbuds in
Violence: Fighting
Genre: Historical Romance
Publisher: Brilliance Audio
All Through the Night was provided to AudioGals for review by Brilliance Audio.
Alison Larkin has all the right narration skills … I can’t pinpoint exactly why it wasn’t an A listen for me.
You know, I think we must share a few brain cells, because I’ve just said something similar in a recent review. Taken individually, Ms Larkin does indeed have the right skills. She portrays females well and is Goid at “character” parts; she’s good at light comedy, and I’ve noticed that she’s taking more notice of full stops! But there’s something that doesn’t quite gel, isn’t there? Her narrations overall aren’t quite as good as the sun of their parts.
I had read everyone’s Larkin-narrated reviews (just did a re-read to be sure) but my memory is such that every day is a new world for me! I see Kaetrin’s reference “… the sentences just ran together because the full stops were omitted completely making it difficult for me to understand. It was annoying.” That pretty much sums it up! When the pacing isn’t natural, even the best range of British accents and pleasant sounding voice doesn’t make up for it.
And in this one, the hero had a special vocal problem that she portrayed as hoarse, so I can’t really compare, but both you and Kaetrin were disappointed in her heroes, and not just because of pitch, so I think Ms Larkin might need to work on her heroes’ delivery. She’s this close… but no cigar yet.
Oops “good at” Don’t know what happened there!
I’ve listened to a few of her recordings now, and I certainly get what you say about the pacing and running together of sentences. Actually, I find it works sometimes, but not all the time, and I definitely think she’s starting to do that less.
I’ve reviewed this title for AAR, and you were kinder than I was about the hero’s voice. I don’t think it’s necessarily AL’s fault, as she’s followed the “stage-directions” fairly faithfully, but it’s certainly pretty unattractive.
I do think there’s a problem with her male voices – although I’ve just listened to a more recent recording of hers which shows a definite improvement.