A Not So Convenient Marriage

By: Sandra Merville Hart

Narrated by: Virtual Voice

A spinster teacher...a grieving widower...a marriage of convenience and a second chance with the man she's always loved.

When Samuel Walker proposes a marriage of convenience to Rose Hatfieldso soon after the death of his wife, she knows he doesn't love her. She's loved him since their school days. Those long-suppressed feelings spring to life as she marries him. She must sell her childhood home, quit her teaching job, and move to a new city.

Marrying Rose is harder than Samuel expected, especially with the shadow of his deceased wife everywhere in his life. And he has two young children to consider. Peter and Emma need a mother's love, but they also need to hold close the memories of their real mother as they grieve her loss.

Life as Samuel's wife is nothing like Rose hoped, and even the townspeople, who loved his first wife, make Rose feel like an outsider. The work of the farm draws the two of them closer, giving hope that they might one day become a happy family. Until the dream shatters, and the life Rose craves tumbles down around them. Only God can put these pieces back together, but the outcome may not look anything like she planned.

Real people read with inflection

This was a great story. I always enjoy stories from this author, but I will not likely listen to another AI-read book. There is no inflection or incorrect inflection in the voice and you can scarcely tell what character is speaking. It really detracted from the story so I have no interest in listening unless it's a real person reading it. This is a disservice to the author, who's books I otherwise always enjoy.

Great story

Did not like the artificial voice on the book I like the inflection of a ree er al person narrating the story

I'm shocked

Until this book I've been totally against the ai narration. The fake narrations usually lack the emotion, voice highs & lows, character voice changes, etc. This narration lacked very little. the voices were great. The story itself was so sweet. Good read.

Narration

The computer narration was sometimes difficult as the intonation of voices was absent and some sentences seemed to run together.

Amazing story.

It takes a minute for the Christian storyline to kick in, but when it does, it is so amazing! This is exactly how the hand of God moves. I would’ve loved an epilogue to the story. There are several characters in the story that I would want to, their own tail. So many opportunities for the father to show up and do miraculous things in the lives of these characters. I have a new favorite book and author.

Nice story

I enjoyed the story and though the voice is a soothing one, repeatedly (near every chapter) the mechanical cadence and voice inflection’s were hard to bear. I will not willingly listen to another such book regardless of the story.

Keep me mad

I like this book. Some of the time, I was so upset with male character and wish that the female character will run away and see how his life would be without her. Shed a few tears. Yelled at the book a few times, as well as couldn’t understand some of the things that happened but in the end I was happy. Still can’t get used to the virtual voice but on this one, I slowed it down because sometimes I will get confused on who was speaking.

Outstanding character development

Yes, this is a romance novel, but it’s not really a romance novel. The author does a fantastic job of drawing the audience into the emotions of the characters. The discontentment and anxiety and insecurity and general emotional suppression of the main character Rose are so well presented that they’re palpable. She definitely needed some therapy about boundaries and clear communication; nevertheless I’m certain that was not available to her, but I digress. The point is, regardless of the virtual voice, I became completely emotionally involved with the characters because the author’s writing is superb. She created a steady build up of tension that made the book hard to put down. I love that she didn’t rush a resolution and allowed the characters to process and grow in a realistic way. So this book had no steamy scenes, no mysteries to solve, no greedy villains, no overt preachiness. Just a great story about people trying to work through their relationship problems and coming to terms with the acknowledgment and expression of their needs.

Review

This has been a great, feel gods, wholesome story. Glad it was included for free in the membership!

Just okay

Cute story if you have nothing better to listen to.

The AI was not that great. There is no voice change or inflation to show character change.

Gets very Godly towards the end. "We must pray on this." "Leave it in God's hands." and so on.