Wow, Perfection! Amazing Performance by R Stranks!

Holy Hotness!!! I think my Kindle just melted my earbuds.

A gorgeous, confident, androgynous peer, who is grieving the horrendous loss of his family, Dr. Lucien Avery doesn't make it easy to like him.

Rugged, masculine, and dependable, Dr. Jay Sorrentino has a life filled with friends and family who love him. He's ready to start his new life with a new job. However, the pressure of the rapidly approaching date of his wedding has him re-evaluating... and pulling the plug. Questioning his sexuality simply isn't fair to his fiancée. And he just can't the thought of the future of his life as it stands.

To Hold a Hidden Pearl took me through all ranges of emotion. Hurt/comfort, a fascinating slice of English life, charming and sweet, super erotic. And, oh, the stories of the patients they lose just broke my heart. Faerne Hill writes is all beautifully.

Simply a spectacular story, To Hold a Hidden Pearl is ecliped only by the stunning performance by Richard Stranks! Mr. Stranks infuses emotion into each the characters, and comes up with a unique and suitable voice for everyone in this varied cast.

I'm thrilled to find out this is the first book in a series... is it too much to hope that Richard Stranks perfoms them all!

an audiobook copy of To Hold a Hidden Pearl was provided to me for the purpose of my honest reivew, all opinions are my own

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A beautiful story of love after loss

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.

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enjoyed

this was a new to me author and narrator. I took a chance and wasn't disappointed.

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loved it

great story, excellent characters, a fun read and re read, as are the rest of the series

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Lovely

To Hold a Hidden Pearl is the first book in the Rossingley series. It is also the first book I’ve read by Fearne Hill, but it will definitely not be the last.

The quality of the writing and storytelling was impressive due to how the author was able to write an intensely emotional and dramatic plot without letting it stray into the cheesy or over-the-top territory. There was a few times Fearne Hill had me close to tears, but the reader was never left long with heavy angst. I felt the balance between angst, hope, and healing was well done and it really enhanced the romance. Lucien was just a wonderfully written character with so much depth and personality. His cool snark and biting sass was a perfect combination and fit perfectly with Jay.

The audiobook was narrated by Richard Stranks who was just wonderful. Richard perfectly voiced each character and made listening to the audiobook a joy.

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I love this book so much!

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.

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Great start

A great start to a series that promises good entertainment by Fearne Hill. Jay and Lucien where unique and interesting characters to follow with a super story. Richard Stranks did a fantastic job with the voices.
This book was given to me for free at my request and I provided this voluntary review.

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Languidly sweet exploration of healing

I have been looking forward to audio version of this series and the first instalment does not disappoint! I was wary after author Fearne Hll announced the narrator was not one of the usual go-to ones, I feared my reading experience would have been spoiled by facile descent to camp characterisation. However, Richard Stranks proves to be a marvel and his languidly exquisite portrayal of Dr. Lucien brought the fey character perfectly alive. Same for the other protagonist Jay, the younger, eager to please man Dr. Lucien falls for. Stranks was equally talented in narrating rest of characters, be it female or male. I'm very much looking forward to rest of the series in audio format and hope Richard Stranks will deservedly become more frequently heard narrator.

The story is one of healing for Dr. Lucien on slow recovery from losing his family in a devastating accident; and coming to terms for Dr. Jay Sorrentino who admits to himself he is gay just days before his wedding. While the subjects are heavy and could be wrought with overbearing angst, Fearne Hill's lyrical prose weaves even the painful parts in beautiful language that evokes the soothing beauty of an English stately home park. To my delight this story is one of the rarer adult versions of handling a romantic relationship and I am not referring to the undeniably hot intimate moments, but that characters are not made to recede to the levels of teenagers in a hissy fit, they actually talk like grown up, intelligent people.
The book has a perfect ending for the main characters, but it has opened the door to a secret garden you want to keep on exploring further without hurry and sit down on a bench for a while, watching the kites flying above.

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To Hold a Hidden Pearl

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.

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Light and sweet

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

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2 people found this helpful