Audiobook Review: His Consort by Mary Calmes

A new life in New Orleans is all Jason Thorpe had hoped: his quaint little store attracts a devoted staff and his warm, loving heart grants him a loyal circle of friends. He's perfectly content, having left behind the chill of a confusing and danger-filled night in Washington, until he discovers something unbelievable lurking in the steamy darkness of the shadowy streets of the Vieux Carré, something that turns out to be terrifying... and utterly mesmerizing.

The prince of the vampyrs, Varic Maedoc, is visiting New Orleans when he finds out the man who once helped his counselor is there in the Quarter. He thinks to simply meet and thank Jason—until he lays eyes on him. Varic’s devoted himself to protect the honor of his race, and he's never wanted a mate before... but he immediately knows he must have this man, and no one else will do.

Varic may want to bring Jason safely into his world, but someone who doesn’t like the human's soothing influence on vampyrs has deadly plans that would disrupt Varic's dreams. Now, unable to tell friend from foe, Jason finds himself wondering how to hold on to the prince’s heart when he’s fighting for his life.

Narrator: Scott R. Smith
Listening Length: 8 hours and 36 minutes

Reviewer: Shee Reviewer

First let me just say I love Mary Calmes. All her books bring me joy and I was slavering to get my hands on this one, but it sort of left me a little, I don’t know, blah?

The wiring is as lovely as I have come to expect, the characters are so warm and charming, but it wasn’t quite what I was hoping for. I did find Jason a bit annoying or even one-dimensional at first, and It almost felt like the start of the book had nothing to do with anything. Then Jason is in NOLA and things can start happening. I loved the shop idea, but it was all so very perfect. From his meeting his assistant, to the appearance of Vampyres in his shop.

There seemed a lot of not much going on until Varic arrives and all hell breaks loose. There was a lot of interesting characters along the way, but for some reason, a lot of it felt incomplete. The ending in particular felt like there was another movement missing from the play.

Maybe I’m just being grumpy, and don’t get me wrong, I did enjoy the book lots, but it wasn’t life-changing for me like many of Mary’s shifter books have been in the past (compared to say, Control or The Change of Heart series) I just felt like I needed more. Maybe there will be more in the series, and we’ll see the development of other characters and more of the arrival of Varic and Jason at court and so on. I really hope so!

As for the narration, it was wonderful! Very nicely done with brilliant characterisation and added dimensions to the written word. Scott was well cast and gave a super performance.

I’ll listen and read again to see if it settles better with me with another go-around. I expect it will.

I was given a free copy of the audiobook in exchange for an honest review.