Please open https://hotaudiobook.com ONLY on your standard browser Safari, Chrome, Microsoft or Firefox to download full audiobooks of your choice for free.

Title: Minerva

Subtitle: The Six Sisters, Book 1

Author: M. C. Beaton

Narrator: Charlotte Anne Dore

Format: Unabridged

Length: 6 hrs and 25 mins

Language: English

Release date: 11-01-12

Publisher: Blackstone Audio, Inc.

Ratings: 3.5 of 5 out of 167 votes

Genres: Fiction, Historical

Publisher's Summary:

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.

Members Reviews:

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!

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.

An M. C. Beaton book to miss.

This book wasnt for you, but who do you think might enjoy it more?

I always enjoy M. C. Beaton books but listening to this one was torture. The reader was inexperienced and halting. Her horsey voice did not resonate with the gentle, sweet timber of the main character, Minerva. Perhaps if it was redone by a softer, sweeter voice the book would read better. Now, it is just off-putting.

Has Minerva turned you off from other books in this genre?

The book in itself is fine for what it is. The reader was awful.

Who would you have cast as narrator instead of Charlotte Anne Dore?

Emilia Fox would have been a wonderful narrator.

What character would you cut from Minerva?

None, really.

Any additional comments?

Read the book instead of listening to it. The narrator was so bad that I just wanted the book to end.

Oh, so very romantic!

Any additional comments?

This is one of my favorite Regency romances by M.C. Beaton. I was a bit impatient with Minerva in the beginning, but the author does need to create and for a while maintain a tension between the would-be lovers. I especially liked Minerva's father, the good vicar and also his pal the squire. Old matchmakers to be sure! Lord Sylvester was all that was good and generous: a truly romantic hero. There are some funny scenes, too.Highly recommended.

Charmless story.