The Loves of Lord Granton

Series: Changing Fortunes, Book 2; The Royal Series, Book 18

By: Marion Chesney / Narrated By: Lindy Nettleton

Length: 5 hrs and 13 mins

Light feel-good Listening, amongst the better ones when Beaton was writing as Marion Chesney

Since I have Audible’s Escape romance package, I’ve been able to do a lot, and I mean A LOT, of MC Beaton writing as Marion Chesney. All of the Chesney romances are available to be checked out, so I've been able to see that, while I’ve looooved many of her series, she can be pretty hit or miss on some of her other works. What I’m talking about is that in many of her audiobooks, her characters come off as flat, or her men come of as unbearably cruel and controlling, or her heroines are silly or rude, and if Charlotte Anne Dore is narrating? Oh forGET about it; she’s AWful!!!

Fortunately, a goodly amount of the Chesney audiobooks are narrated by Regency Romance pro, Lindy Nettleton, and I never ever have to worry about what hot mess I get with her cuz she’s just so gosh darned capable! Here in The Loves of Lord Granton, part of a series of books but actually a standalone in its own right, she handles our heroine, plain and intelligent Frederica. And she does the mightily bored and (He starts off) snooty Lord Granton. Nettleton manages each character with just the right amount of drama, whether they’re in snits, or whether they’re on their knees begging a hand in matrimony (And it doesn’t go well…!).

Lord Granton is in the country with his chubby friend to seek marriage from the beautiful belle of the town. He’s firm and determined… and then he meets her… and after hearing her play the harp YET AGAIN… he runs like the wind to find solace in the outlying countryside. By a lake, he meets young Frederica, the plainest of four daughters who’s perpetually shoved to the back. She sews for the poor, reads from the library, and it’s generally known that, with her lack of looks and with her disturbing habit of speaking her mind, she shan’t be wed but shall stay in the country to wait on her parents when they get old. She’s doomed to die in the place where she’s lived her entire life.

This boredom, Lord Granton’s and Frederica’s, bonds the two of them, and that each is from such disparate backgrounds has them in no fear of an entanglement, and they can speak openly and as friends would. They meet each other by the lake many times, always in secret, and their friendship grows. Unlike what the Publisher’s Summary says, Lord Granton does NOT find Frederica’s suddenly becoming a stunner; throughout the whole book, it’s a story of a growing friendship never a romantic liaison. It’s only when she realizes that she herself might be falling in love that Frederica starts getting worried about the situation. Even then, she’s totally cognizant of the fact that a good deal of her attraction just maaaaay be because she’s not had much experience.

This is a slowly, methodically paced story, and plenty of time is given for the development of attachments. The characters aren’t flat, and only a few are stereotypical. There are the usual amount of miscommunications, misunderstandings, and things that go fatally awry. But for the most part, this is a charming little listen that will while away the time with a Hero who’s not a jerk, and an earnest and clever young heroine who’s not a silly goose (Hey, she can even joke about plagues; what’s not to like?).

And like I said? If you’ve Audible’s Escape? It comes freeeeeeee with your subscription! What better way to spend some freeeeeee time?!?