House of Shadows

By: Nicola Cornick

Narrated by: Heather Wilds, Fiona Hardingham, Beverley A Crick

The wooded hills of Oxfordshire conceal the remains of the aptly named Ashdown House - a wasted pile of cinders and regret. Once home to the daughter of a king, Ashdown and its secrets will unite three women across four centuries in a tangle of romance, deceit, and destiny....

In the winter of 1662, Elizabeth Stuart, the Winter Queen, is on her deathbed. She entrusts an ancient pearl, rumored to have magic power, to her faithful cavalier, William Craven, for safekeeping. In his grief, William orders the construction of Ashdown Estate in her memory and places the pearl at its center.

One hundred and fifty years later, notorious courtesan Lavinia Flyte hears the maids at Ashdown House whisper of a hidden treasure and bears witness as her protector, Lord Evershot - desperate to find it - burns the building to the ground.

Now, a battered mirror and the diary of a Regency courtesan are the only clues Holly Ansell has to finding her brother, who has gone missing researching the mystery of Elizabeth Stuart and her alleged affair with Lord Craven. As she retraces his footsteps, Holly's quest will soon reveal the truth about Lavinia and compel her to confront the stunning revelation about the legacy of the Winter Queen.

©2015 Nicola Cornick (P)2017 Harlequin Enterprises, Limited.

Critic reviews

"Fans of Kate Morton will enjoy this thrilling tale." ( Candis)

Author should be LIVID!

This was a pretty decent book. I don’t require War and Peace quality or the narration of vocal angels, but honestly, the narration from Heather Wilds (the Winter Queen) ruined the audiobook experience for me. Awful awful awful! If I was Nicola Clark, I’d be pissed, because I’m sure the narration turned people away from purchasing this book. Why do they choose such horrible narrators? Don’t the editors or production companies or somebody look at the reviews or listen to these actors themselves? Come on!
Now that I’m done ranting, House of Shadows was a pretty good story and I loved the part read by Fiona Hardingham. I’m looking forward to listening to the third book in the Timeslip series. (No Heather Wilds, I checked😊)

I loved this book!

This was an excellent story! I look forward to the other books in the series!

Good story but the narration...

I enjoyed the overall story but listening the performance of the narrator performing the Winter Queen made me want to scream! Whoever allowed that person be recorded and published should have to listen her over and over for all eternity. The other narrators were great which what made that one stand out even more. Sheesh! Audible, please don’t publish anymore books with that narrator!

Frustrating but good

The historical parts of the story that drive the plot are fascinating and surprising. Apparently the story of the white queen and her commoner is known to many but not to many but not to me. If you don’t know it don’t look it up until after you have you have read the story. I found the absence of activity by police and his wife over Hope’s brother’s disappearance to be annoying but overall it was essential to the plot and only annoying

Strange Book!

I guess I'm alone in that I love Heather Wilds as a narrator. Her segment of the book, however was rather creepy and confusing. The book was too much of a fantasy for my taste.

House of Shadows

This book had me on a roller coaster. I thoroughly enjoyed the mystery and the idea of legacy items that were passed down through family lines (however loose). I also enjoyed the narrator for the current time story lines, and Lavinna’s time line. However, and this echoes almost every other review I’ve read, I could not STAND the narrator for Elizabeth’s time line. No one talks like that, and anyone in charge of listening and directing the narrators should’ve instantly known better. I groaned every single time one of her chapters started, and I was so distracted by the sing-song noises that I didn’t often pay attention to the story, but didn’t want to go back and listen again.
Ultimately, the book was good, but wasn’t great. I doubt I would go back to listen again for multiple reasons, but the parts I could stand to listen to were interesting enough. I do not recommend listening to it though, this is one to pick up in book form if you like historical mysteries and have some time to kill.

Enjoyed the story

Enjoyed the story but almost couldn’t finish it due to the narration. One of the narrators is irritating to listen to. She reads as if it’s a list and not a conversation. Really made it hard to listen and follow.

Disappointing

This book was pretty disappointing. The plot was very slow and frustrating at times, and not a lot actually happens. There are three eras but not much ties them all together. One of the narrators had the most irritating way of speaking I have ever heard in an audiobook.

wonderful!

A wonderful trip of stories woven together perfectly, creating historical fiction with love and characters you'll love to get lost in.

Narrator

Liked the story and two of the narrators, Fiona and Beverly. I’ve listened to samples of Heather’s other work, and her voice and cadence weren’t as annoying to me as in this book. If the other two weren’t breaking up her parts, I never would have finished.