To Hold a Hidden Pearl cover art

To Hold a Hidden Pearl

Rossingley, Book 1

 Preview

Get 30 days of Standard free

£5.99/mo after trial. Cancel monthly.
Try for £0.00
More purchase options

To Hold a Hidden Pearl

By: Fearne Hill
Narrated by: Richard Stranks
Try for £0.00

£5.99 a month after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Buy Now for £13.05

Buy Now for £13.05

Summary

Dr. Jay Sorrentino is getting married in 10 days’ time to the girl of his dreams, so what the hell is he doing in a gay London club with a stupidly handsome stranger? As if calling off the wedding and alienating his friends and family isn’t enough, Jay also has to contend with starting a new job at a new hospital. So the last thing he needs is for the bloke from the club to be his prickly supervisor.

Dr. Lucien Avery is a difficult colleague. He’s also the unexpected and reluctant heir to the vast Rossingley estate. Reclusive and miserable, he hates most of his colleagues, people who eat packed lunches, and supervising junior doctors. That is, until the delectable Dr. Sorrentino turns up on his doorstep.

A light-hearted M/M contemporary romance, Rossingley takes place in Southern England and is centered around a fictional country house and estate by the same name. The first in the series, it can be enjoyed as a stand-alone.

©2020 Fearne Hill (P)2022 NineStar Press, LLC Contemporary Contemporary Romance Romance England Heartfelt Feel-Good Tear-jerking
adbl_web_anon_alc_button_suppression_c

Continue the series
To Catch a Fallen Leaf cover art
To Catch a Fallen Leaf By: Fearne Hill
All stars
Most relevant
I absolutely loved this light hearted contemporary novel!

The chemistry between Jay and Dr Lucien was electricity.

This was my first book by this author and I'm in love with their writing style

The narrator performed an amazing audio delivery and narration.

Definitely recommend

Light and sweet

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
To Hold a Hidden Pearl is a quintessentially English story, reminiscent of Downton Abbey. Lucien Avery, aka Dr Avery, aka Lady Louisa, aka the Earl of Rossingley meets working class boy, Dr Jay Sorrentino, and each falls very quickly under the spell of the other. However, both men have serious personal issues to work through before they eventually get their well deserved hea; the journey is well worth the time it takes to read, or listen to in this case.

What I really love about this book is Fearne Hill’s wisdom; her innate and deep understanding of the human psyche is obvious throughout this lovely story. A practising hospital doctor herself, her observations of hospital life are all the more moving as they have most likely been fed by her own experiences. It made the story very real to me and I’ll admit that I had a tear in my eye on more than one occasion.

Witnessing the fragile and utterly beautiful Lucien coming back from the brink after the loss of his beloved family was moving and at times quite difficult. It does make one think about that possibility; almost everyone one loves… gone in one fell swoop. Incomprehensible. With the growing love and help of Jay, Lucien begins to feel that life is worth living again, and the fact that he too helps Jay come to terms with his sexuality and feelings of guilt is no small thing. A wonderful love story of how two polar opposite men meet and find a deep, inclusive and non judgemental love. So heartwarming.

Richard Stranks is a new to me narrator. I’ll admit to feeling quite unsure about him to begin with as his voice didn’t immediately resonate with me. As an avid audio book listener I have my go-to favourite narrators, and also some whose name on a book means I will never download but I decided to give this narrator a chance. To be fair, he grew on me the more I listened, and I can see why Fearne Hill chose him to narrate her book. His ‘Jay’ voice especially, was very pleasant. Jay *mostly* came over as described; a working class boy with a toned down Midlands accent - although he didn’t exactly sound like anyone I’ve ever known with a Wolverhampton accent - he was, nevertheless, easy on the ear and consistent throughout and I enjoyed the portrayal immensely; the character’s boyish exuberance and innate kindness coming over clearly.

The narrator’s rather over-the-top, ‘posh’ aristocratic accent for Lucien was a little harder to enjoy, a little reedy and harsh to my ear to begin with, but the more I listened, the more I settled in and accepted that this was the fragile, beautiful Lucien. Plus his accent softened when he was in a private moment with Jay so perhaps this was Richard Stranks’s aim: the autocratic Consultant Anaesthetist Dr Avery as opposed to his other alter egos. He differentiated clearly between the two men, and there was certainly never any doubt as to who was talking at any given time. One word kept grating on me though, but that’s down to the author, not the narrator; “gosh”. It was said so frequently throughout the book by Lucien that it put my teeth on edge and I found myself waiting for it. But that’s just me and I doubt anyone else has even noticed.

All in all a beautiful love story that I have no hesitation in recommending and with enjoyable narration by an up and coming young voice actor. I’m sure we’ll see a lot more of Richard Stranks in the future.

A beautiful story of love after loss

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
I read this book with my eyes back in September; it was my first book by Fearne Hill and it blew me away. I was so happy to receive a review copy of the audiobook; it’s the first one I’ve listened to narrated by Richard Stranks and I think he did a good job. I must admit that I’m glad I’d previously read this story as it took me a few chapters to become accustomed to Richard Stranks voice. However, by the end of the audio my eyes were leaking just like when I read the book. If he narrates the next book in this series I will undoubtedly get into it right from the beginning.

Below are some comments I made when I reviewed the ebook:
I absolutely adored this book! It’s delightfully British, it has quirky characters and the combination of a medical setting and an Earl’s estate made it even more interesting to me. This book had me LOL’ing more times than I can count while at the same time tugging at my heart and being sad for the doctor who lost his whole family.

While I wouldn’t consider this story a romcom – most of my laughter came near the beginning – it certainly has a good mix of serious stuff and witty banter. It got a bit more somber for me after the half-way point. Lucien has to deal with a former lover and Jay has to decide how he’s going to deal with the mess he left when he called off his wedding at nearly the last minute.

A complimentary copy of this audiobook was provided to me at my request but my review was voluntary and not influenced by the author and/or narrator.

I love this book so much!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
To Hold a Hidden Pearl is the first book I've read by Fearne Hill, but I'll keep that name in mind.
I totally enjoyed the writing style. Fearne Hill writes emotionally, you feel right along with the protagonists. But it never gets cheesy and the protagonists talk like normal adult people, which is a plus. Because the themes are not always light, it's about loss, healing and hope, which is wonderfully woven into the romance.
Lucien lost his family in a terrible accident and is slow to recover from it. He is a lovable, wonderful character with depth that you can't help but take to your heart. Jay called off his wedding at the last minute because he admits to being gay. When the two meet, a great friendship develops that soon becomes more.
This is a romantic book that I thoroughly enjoyed. It was entertaining with great characters and there were laughs in between.

The audiobook was narrated by Richard Stranks and it took me a little while to get used to him. But after that, it fit because his voice and performance became more and more likeable the more I listened to him. He spoke the two characters in distinctly different voices, so as a reader you have no trouble distinguishing between them.
I'm already looking forward to the next volume!

I requested a free copy of the audiobook and this is my honest opinion that I am volunteering

A beautiful story

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
I enjoyed this listen a lot more than I thought I would. I want sure at the beginning, but I’m had I stuck it out. They are a lot of complexities. It felt both rushed and slow burn at the same time. There was a tad bit more push/pull than I generally like. Overall, I think it was a good listen, and I’d check out more by the author. The narration was good, especially once I settled in - I did speed it up a little.

To Hold a Hidden Pearl

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
See more reviews