Five Stars Plus!

Burke has been approached by Rose's husband to seduce her. Yes! You are reading this correctly.
He decided not to but as he gets to know her socially, finds that he has in fact fallen in love with her and so as the story of attempted murders unfolds, he becomes her protector and lover.
This is a love story with a difference and not only is it well written, exciting and very entertaining with all its twists and turns, but is had been beautifully narrated by Melanie Fraser with her amazing voice acting ability. She has really put the finishing touches to this lovely story and I highly recommend it to you.
I requested and voluntarily listened to a copy of the audiobook version and this is my unbiased review.

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historical romance with a mystery

This type of book is not the sort of thing I usually read. I love historical romance just without the sex and that is what I thought it would be based on the book cover. Yes I know the title and description might say other wise but I have read other books similar to this but they did not have any sex scenes. This book does have two, however, I did find it different to others that I have read, in that there was a gay couple which I was not expecting and a mystery which I did not see coming.
I also have to hand it out to the author because I did not figure out who did it until I was told who committed the crime. I usually guess early on but not so in this case and looking back all the clues were there but the author wrote it in such a way that I guessed completely wrong!
The narrator I thought suited this type of audiobook and I had no problems listening to her.

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A very good historical romance.

I thoroughly enjoyed listening to this book. I love it when there is a mystery involved in a historical romance as it makes the story that bit more suspenseful and exciting.
I had great sympathy for Rose right from the beginning and so I couldn't wait to find out how she would manage to find true love whilst married to her good friend Lord Ashton. Lord Darington was a charming character and I enjoyed following the pair as he and Rose became friends and then more.
The mystery was well written and the twists kept me guessing.
The quality of the narration made the story even more engrossing. Melanie Fraser gives an excellent performance. It's so easy to live in the story when she's narrating.
I look forward to reading the rest of the series.

I voluntarily reviewed an advance reading audio copy.

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Very sweet and traditional, a bit Mills and Boon

I have to begin by saying that I have very conflicting feelings about this book. There are parts I really enjoyed, but it has also broken the record for the number of times I have spoken back to, and occasionally shouted at, an audiobook.

A Scandalous Request is shamelessly sweet, with a sing-song, fairy-tale expression, and the writing style is very flowery. I am not one who practices any economy with words, as anyone who has read my previous blogs can attest. Yet it felt at times as though the author’s main editing process involved combing back through her manuscript with a thesaurus, swapping perfectly serviceable words with their more grandiloquent counterparts to make each sentence as ‘pretty’ as possible. The florid style gave this Regency romance a very old-fashioned feel which had nothing to do with the historical setting. It reminded me of the 70s/80s Mills & Boon paperbacks which lined shelf upon shelf of every charity shop I visited as a child. Whilst I have never read a book by Dame Barbara Cartland, this audiobook feels the way I always imagined her novels might whenever I saw her dressed head-to-toe in shades of pink, which managed to clash rather violently with the varying candyfloss hues of her home décor.

The plot itself is not a bad one, and I felt an instant affinity to several of the characters. Burke Darington, in particular, is a fine rake and I would have enjoyed having his perspective and development explored in more detail. He was, without question, my favourite character in the book, but I do have a marked fondness for confirmed bachelors who come undone at the feet of women who appear, at first, not quite exotic enough to tempt them. (Thank you, Mr Darcy.)

I was also pleased to see a healthy M/M relationship portrayed with tolerance by those close to the couple, despite the period setting and the dangers of conducting such a love-affair at the time. It was a little unfortunate that so many stereotypes came into play here, with the main clues to this ‘plot twist’ coming in the form of a gentleman’s inimitable taste in interior design and numerous platonic female friendships. It was refreshing to see the men’s relationship depicted as happy and loving, because the inclusion of M/Ml relationships in historical romances is often blighted by torturous self-flagellation or unyielding tragedy. I was, therefore, rather disappointed in the conclusion of this storyline, as it fell into the trap of a rather unfortunate trope.

The character with whom I felt the least connection, and the greatest frustration, was the protagonist, Rose. From almost the first moment of her introduction it was clear that she was a Mary Sue of such flawless perfection that she’d make Mary Poppins appear delinquent. Her innocence drives men wild with longing, she is beloved by all but one of her servants, and near the beginning of the book the youthful, blonde, kind-natured, ingenue is literally described as being adored by orphaned children and stray puppies alike. Not a chapter passes without her doing something “adorable” or the sun pitching on her in just the right way to emphasise her angelic beauty. Much of Rose’s spirit appears as an uncanny ability to wield an amber pig with devastating accuracy, an element of the story which I actually thought was great fun and made me wish the author had embraced a little more humour.

A Scandalous Request is a mainly sweet romance with a little intimacy, mainly detailed from Rose’s perspective without delving into her lover’s experience, but it was not explored very explicitly.

I feel as though I am being unfairly critical because there was certainly a compelling story buried under the sacchariferous styling. (For example, a character becoming wrongly imprisoned in Newgate was an engaging turn of events, but the lady in question ended the worst day of her life dreaming of “fairy lands, and family, and love”. Which was one of the moments when I shouted at it for ruining the first occasions where she begins to develop some dimension beyond that of a Disney princess.)

The narrator, Melanie Fraser, did an excellent job of infusing the story with life and performs each of the parts very well. She does read it a little like it is a bedtime story, so I mainly listened to it in the evening when winding down. I think that this particular audiobook would have been better with a male narrator, as it may have helped alleviate some of the cloying sweetness, especially given the prominence of the male characters. Fraser’s voice for Rose made her sound incredibly young but was very expressive. I would love to listen to Melanie Fraser narrating children’s books, as I think she would be wonderful reading something like Enid Blyton. She has a storyteller’s style, and whilst in this case it exacerbated the fairy-tale feeling of the book, I think that it would be perfect in a book for a younger audience.

I wasn’t keen on the echoey sound effects used during the scenes at Newgate Prison. No sound effects were used anywhere else – not even the thwack of amber upon chauvinist – so it seemed very out of place. Had it been part of a dramatised recording with other atmospheric sounds then it would have been fine, but in their absence it felt like a gimmick. This is personal preference, however, as I can imagine others finding it immersive.

Overall, A Scandalous Request is a sweet Regency romance with its heart in the right place, and if you are happy to lose yourself in the period and experience it alongside a young woman with similarly benevolent intentions then you may well enjoy this audiobook. However, if you prefer your historical heroines to feel a little more rounded in places other than merely the bosom, then you would do better to consider the ‘clean’ Regency romances by Georgette Heyer, Sophia Holloway, or Lynn Messina.


*I received this audiobook free of charge in exchange for an honest, unbiased review

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