To Hold a Hidden Pearl cover art

To Hold a Hidden Pearl

Rossingley, Book 1

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About this listen

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
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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

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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

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I knew I was going to love this from three aspects in the blurb - man realizes he's making a mistake just before the wedding, the grumpy/sunshine trope and the surprise "day after" meeting. The story and its audible performance met and exceeded my expectations in all these areas and added extra depth to the characterizations so we weren't just listening to a story with these three boxes being checked off in stereotypical fashion. Jay and Lucien were fully developed men who had backstories that explained their behavior and their relationship, while hot from the start, deepened and grew over the course of the book. Richard Stranks "got" these characters, especially the early Lucien who is miserable and takes that out on everyone he meets. Listening to him change after meeting Jay was such fun. Very excited that this is a series.

Excellent use of tropes and performance

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

loved it

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

enjoyed

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