Minerva
The Six Sisters, Book 1
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Narrated by:
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Charlotte Anne Dore
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By:
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M. C. Beaton
About this listen
Minerva marks the delightful debut of The Six Sisters, a family saga in six volumes that will recount the romantic adventures of the six marriageable daughters of a country vicar, the Reverend Charles Armitage, in Regency England. The eldest, Minerva, is enchantingly beautiful - but a prude. She lives in the country looking after her siblings while her mother reclines on a chaise longue happily inventing new malaises. Her father, a vicar of decidedly secular inclinations, indulges a hearty passion for hunting instead of worrying about the girls' dowries. But when he wants to send his boys to Eton, the money must be found - and how better than by marrying Minerva off to a man of fortune?
Dispatched to Town, Minerva experiences her first season under the wing of an elderly relative. But age, it seems, is no guarantee of respectability, and Lady Godolphin's plan for a good time scandalize her young charge. Finally Minerva's moralizing ways make her the subject of a shocking wager among the rakes and dandies of Regency London.
Meanwhile, the handsome Lord Sylvester Comfrey is observing her progress in the marriage market. For such a virtuous girl, Minerva unaccountably finds herself in some extremely compromising situations with this gentleman, who alas professes not to be the marrying kind.
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With One Night in London, the sensational Caroline Linden kicks off a wonderful new historical romance series about three brothers trying to protect their good names and their fortunes while finding true love. Fans of Elizabeth Boyle and Liz Carlyle will not be able to resist this tantalizing tale that has the middle son of a recently deceased English duke hoping to avoid scandal and ruin as he searches for the young wife his late father never divorced…and encounters instead a desperate beauty who needs his help to rescue an endangered child.
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Beware!!
- By ParkerCD on 02-11-24
By: Caroline Linden
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The Trouble with Honor
- By: Julia London
- Narrated by: Rosalyn Landor
- Length: 10 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
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Desperate times call for daring measures as Honor Cabot, the eldest stepdaughter of the wealthy Earl of Beckington, awaits her family's ruin. Upon the earl's death she and her sisters stand to lose the luxury of their grand home - and their place on the pedestal of society - to their stepbrother and his social-climbing fiancée. Forced to act quickly, Honor makes a devil's bargain with the only rogue in London who can seduce her stepbrother's fiancée out of the Cabots' lives for good.
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What happened??
- By AmazonCustomer on 09-30-14
By: Julia London
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The Princess Plan
- By: Julia London
- Length: 11 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
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Nothing gets the tongues of London’s high society wagging like a good scandal. And when the personal secretary of the visiting Prince Sebastian of Alucia is found murdered, it’s all anyone can talk about, including Eliza Tricklebank. Her unapologetic gossip gazette has benefited from an anonymous tip about the crime, prompting Sebastian to take an interest in playing detective - and an even greater interest in Eliza.
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Hero’s voice bleh, BUT…
- By Robyn on 05-16-23
By: Julia London
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The Secret Countess
- By: Eva Ibbotson
- Narrated by: Sian Thomas
- Length: 3 hrs and 26 mins
- Abridged
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Anna, a young countess, has lived in the glittering city of St Petersburg all her life in an ice-blue palace overlooking the River Neva. But when revolution tears Russia apart, her now-penniless family is forced to flee to England. Armed with an out-of-date book on housekeeping, Anna determines to become a housemaid and she finds work at the Earl of Westerholme's crumbling but magnificent mansion.
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Heavily edited
- By Melissa Keating on 06-21-16
By: Eva Ibbotson
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A Beastly Kind of Earl
- Longhope Abbey, Book .5
- By: Mia Vincy
- Narrated by: Kate Reading
- Length: 11 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
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Thea Knight loves a spot of mischief. She especially loves her current mischief: masquerading as her sister, while finalizing her scheme to expose the dastardly knaves whose lies ruined her life. Then big, bad-tempered Lord Luxborough upends her game by maneuvering her into marriage. But it's her sister’s name on the license, so the marriage won’t be valid. Thea’s idea? Keep pretending to be her sister until she can run away.
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A slow burn romance
- By Kika on 06-11-20
By: Mia Vincy
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That Scandalous Evening
- The Governess Brides, Book 1
- By: Christina Dodd
- Narrated by: Karen Cass
- Length: 8 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
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New York Times bestselling author Christina Dodd spins the captivating tale of a nobleman whose path crosses again with the one woman he absolutely cannot resist....
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Heroine's a pathetic doormat
- By karen on 03-26-21
By: Christina Dodd
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My Last Duchess
- A Novel
- By: Eloisa James
- Narrated by: Susan Duerden
- Length: 5 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
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Hugo Wilde, the duke of Lindow, has a drafty castle, eight naughty children - and no wife. Ophelia, Lady Astley, has a fine house, one well-behaved daughter - and no husband. Hugo takes one look at Ophelia and loses his heart, but she doesn’t want more children or a castle. She takes one look at him and heads for her carriage. Desperate to find a duchess, Hugo identifies an appropriate lady to woo. Yet when he meets Ophelia again, the duke realizes that he will marry her, or no one.
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Delightful!
- By Beckymmoe on 11-02-20
By: Eloisa James
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Something About Emmaline
- Bachelor Chronicles Series 1
- By: Elizabeth Boyle
- Narrated by: Susan Duerden
- Length: 10 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
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Alexander Denford, Baron Sedgwick, is a gentleman to be envied. He lives a rakish life of well-celebrated ease and contentment and has one person to thank for his perfectly ordered existence - his dearest wife, Emmaline. She never complains about his mistresses or his penchant for late nights out. His friends are envious, but they don't know the truth - Emmaline doesn't exist. But when he starts receiving bills from London for clothes, shoes, hats, and a staggering amount of other female accouterments, he realizes something is decidedly amiss.
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Emmaline, the perfect wife, until.......
- By bebe on 07-07-20
By: Elizabeth Boyle
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The Heiress
- The Revelations of Anne de Bourgh
- By: Molly Greeley
- Narrated by: Ell Potter
- Length: 11 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
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As a fussy baby, Anne de Bourgh was prescribed laudanum to quiet her, and now the young woman must take the opium-heavy tincture every day. Growing up sheltered and confined, removed from sunshine and fresh air, the pale and overly slender Anne grew up with few companions except her cousins, including Fitzwilliam Darcy. Throughout their childhoods, it was understood that Darcy and Anne would marry and combine their vast estates of Pemberley and Rosings. But Darcy does not love Anne or want her.
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A beautiful work of historical fiction
- By Alex M on 02-21-21
By: Molly Greeley
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Tangled Reins
- By: Stephanie Laurens
- Narrated by: Gayle Hendrix
- Length: 10 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
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Miss Dorothea Darent has no intention of ever getting married, certainly not to a rogue such as the Marquis of Hazelmere. A disreputable scoundrel, he is captivated when they meet by chance and is determined to win her heart, even while she's busy dazzling the rest of London society. Now Dorothea has a choice to make: stick with her plan to remain a respectable spinster, or run into the arms of her dashing stranger.
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Could not listen to this narration
- By DesignerBee on 11-16-11
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Marry in Haste
- Marriage of Convenience Series, Book 1
- By: Anne Gracie
- Narrated by: Charlotte Anne Dore
- Length: 12 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
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Major Calborne Rutherford returns to England on the trail of an assassin, only to find he's become Lord Ashendon, with the responsibility for vast estates and dependent relatives. Cal can command the toughest of men, but his wild half-sisters are quite another matter. They might just be his undoing. When he discovers that Miss Emmaline Westwood, the girls' former teacher, guides them with ease, Cal offers her a marriage of convenience.
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Ruined by the robotic narrator.
- By Cate F. on 05-29-17
By: Anne Gracie
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What listeners say about Minerva
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- MMRudy
- 12-19-12
For those who haven't read Georgette Heyer
This is a typical regency romance. A good way to wile away a rainy day, or a workout on the treadmill.
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8 people found this helpful
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- Blue
- 11-13-21
Entertaining light romance written in 1980s about the 19th century
Voicing various characters in challenging, so I disagree that the narrator was not up to the job..
While there were a few seconds where a listener might not be clear who was speaking, subsequent text by the AUTHOR’s WRITTEN word clarifies. This would be the same if I were reading a page in a book.
The author tries to show some awareness racism, imperialism, and sexism in a story she wrote mainly to be escapist entertainment. I winced at the scenes of affection as they reflected the perspective of a different time. I liked it overall because i just wanted something light to listen to ad I washed the car.
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- Kim
- 11-29-12
If you like Emma, you'll like this one
I do really like a good comedy of Victorian Manners story and I loved this one. I'm looking forward to reading the whole series. M.C. Beaton put a good effort into this one!
I liked the narrator too, especially when she was doing the men's voices.
And I love finding a new narrator that I like!
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10 people found this helpful
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- Lady Wesley
- 08-03-18
Unlistenable
I have enjoyed other Beaton books and audios but this narrator led me to abandon the effort.
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7 people found this helpful
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- Elbee
- 01-06-22
Hard to believe
It’s hard to believe that Davina Porter is a celebrated narrator based on this performance. The story was just ok. Characters were unlikeable and coupled with the stilted narration was hard pressed to finish.
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- A.G. Lindsay
- 06-07-21
Okay story, Bad reader.
I don't expect much from Beaton's regency romances, at their best, they are lighthearted distractions from real life, but this is NOT one of her best. The main characters are not particularly likable or compelling and you get almost no insight into the love interest's thoughts making his actions unfathomable, especially if you are not acquainted with the tropes of this genre.
The reader is bad. It's as if she is just sitting down to read the book out loud for the first time with no prep work. Not only does she mispronounce words, but she is inconsistent in those mispronunciations. Her stilted delivery adds to nothing to the froth of a story, and pretty much eliminates the humor of elements clearly added to lighten the mood.
I'd skip this one unless you are determined to hear everything by this author. She's written better books which are read by better performers.
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- Mauma Tea
- 03-10-21
Predictable cheesy romance
This would be right at home as a Harlequin romance. Totally predictable plot and 2 dimensional characters. I won't be listening to the other 5 in this series. Not my cup of tea at all.
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- Heather
- 01-19-22
Traditional Regency Romance
The heroine had a lot of growing up to do, and ultimately did so. The narrator did well with the voices of characters, but paused in odd places at times, making it harder to follow the meaning.
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- Mari
- 10-21-22
I really enjoyed this book.
I loved it. Definitely going to the next book in the series. The family is just adorably annoying and funny. I would absolutely recommend to friends.
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- Penelopatty
- 09-10-13
Rengency tale not up to scratch.
Is there anything you would change about this book?
As for the book itself, if you are looking for Georgette Heyer, well, this is not the worst. But it's not great, either. Beaton uses the requisite amount of Regency vocabulary, imitates many of the features of Heyer's heros and heroines and surrounding characters, but the book just never quite feels genuine. Minerva isn't really all that sympathetic (most of the plot turns upon the fact that she is a prig, which makes her the target of the malevolent machinations of a pack of evil dandies), and Sylvester borrows the pallid, distant charm of one of Heyer's aristocratic heroes but lacks the humor and warmth that might redeem him, in spite of an overbaked sex scene that seemed really out of place for the period. Finally, seeming to have run out of options, Beaton paints herself in to a corner by nonsensically separating her lovers but then has to resort to a plot trick to get them back together.
But the writing was workmanlike, at least, and I might have found it amusing had not the reading been marred, at least initially, by peculiarities in the reading by Charlotte Anne Dore. Making use of a nice, throaty voice and a pleasant, almost intimate tone, Dore does a very nice job of creating different voices for her characters (and is particularly adept whenever a child speaks in the story), but I do so wish that she had better breath control and had done a spot more homework on the correct pronunciation of words with which she seems to have been unfamiliar.
Dore often put annoying pauses in between words in illogical places, breathing sometimes several times in one sentence, rather than with the punctuation, so that the sense of what she was saying was often interrupted, a habit that became really grating. Many times, she pronounced "a" as "ay" rather than "uh" before common nouns ( in, for example, "there was ay cook, ay housekeeper..."), put a "k" on the end of "anything" and "something" ( and not when a lower class person was speaking, which would perhaps make sense, but when the narrator was speaking, who presumably ought to know better), and didn't know how to pronounce many words at all, for example (among many): curricle (cuh-ricle as in curry, NOT kyoo-ricle as in curate or cuticle); marquess (markwess NOT markess); parental (pah-rental NOT pair-ental); portrait NOT portrayt; and more egregiously, parsiMONIous NOT parSIMonous (I suppose Dore just read this one wrong, skipping over a syllable, but that begs the question, where were her editors? Was there no one in the sound booth listening in?)
A little more planning, dictionary work, and practice before the recording would be well worth the time of this otherwise very appealing and often charming performer. As it was, I really don't think I could do it again and would avoid her readings in the future. Just too distracting!
Alas, taken altogether, not quite worth the price of admission, and I doubt I will spring for the rest of series.
Would you ever listen to anything by M. C. Beaton again?
Not in this series.
What three words best describe Charlotte Anne Dore’s voice?
Throaty and sympathetic, but under-rehearsed.
Did Minerva inspire you to do anything?
Nope. Not to be a prig?
Any additional comments?
I think I've said more than enough.
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