In the Garden of Disgrace

The Garden Series, Book 3

By: Cynthia Wicklund

Narrated by: Tanya S. Bartlett

When 17-year-old Lady Jillian Fitzgerald sneaks out to spy on a duel, she believes she is merely guilty of an indiscretion. But when the duel takes a deadly turn and Jillian becomes an unwilling passenger in the fleeing carriage of the infamous "Lord Wicked", she knows what began as a lark has become a disaster. One night of bad judgment and her life is changed forever.

©2010 Cynthia Wicklund (P)2012 Cynthia Wicklund

Good story devastating narration

The story is well written and the plot fresh. The love seens are sexy sweet. The characters are rounded and believable.
The narration destroyed it. The mispronouncation of words and the rhythm and cadence are so off that I started to loose track of the story in frustration. The only way I could finish it was by turning up the speed to 1:5 . I would ask the author to have the story re-narrated as I think overall it would be worth the trouble.

The Narrator Ruined The Book

This is not quite a four star, but more than a three star effort. Wicklund crafts her plot so that the characters and story development are well paced. In the Garden of Disgrace infatuation is not seen as love and love is not a result of sex. Characters admit to emotional confusion and fear and a man falls in love with a woman and fights for her.

Jillian is a feisty heroine, whose need for self preservation makes her a strong willed woman who seems unwilling to accept that she has fears and unwilling to admit that having the ton turn its back on her cuts her deeply. But Wicklund sets her up that way so that during the latter part of the novel readers could truly understand her desire for independence and her need to be strong and to be accepted as she is.

Adrian is a hero you have to love. He simply does not give up on Jillian. His pursuit of her is admirable and well written. Each encounter with Jillian, even if it is frustrating, leaves him feeling more admiration for her. It becomes clear why he loves her and why she loves him. My greatest displeasure comes from the overly stubborn heroine who thankfully manages to win me over with her emotional honesty.

Tanya S. Bartlett was terrible and ruined the book. I can't believe that this performance passed the the editor.

Narration

Would you try another book from Cynthia Wicklund and/or Tanya S. Bartlett?

The Narrator is terrible I feel like she is just reading the book. She doesn't get into each character and the room that she is narrating in sounds hallow. I have the first two and was very disappointed by Tanya Bartlett narration.

Would you be willing to try another book from Cynthia Wicklund? Why or why not?

Yes as long as it isn't narrated by Tanya S. Bartlett!

Good book, bad narration.

What disappointed you about In the Garden of Disgrace?

I was not disappointed in te story, but in having to read it at the same time as I listened to it

What didn’t you like about Tanya S. Bartlett’s performance?

Ms Bartlett needs to learn how to read. She repeatedly made huge mistakes in words, which changed the meaning of a sentence. She pauses when there is no punctuation justifying it, and Fails to do so when there is. The only difference between characters voices is shrill to ear piercing shrill. The reading is stiff, and ncomfortable at times. I ultimately ended my torture and just read the book. I would be really upset if I had paid more than $1.99 for ths audio. I must assume there are directors, or at least someone who actually listens to the audio before releasing it, they did not do their jobs.

If you could play editor, what scene or scenes would you have cut from In the Garden of Disgrace?

I would not have cut anything, as I believe an unabridged recording should be jut that. I do think they should have been a little more concerned about the integrity of the story though.

Any additional comments?

A few classes on public reading. Maybe some poetry reading....

Absolutely Horrendous Narration

This could have been a fairly decent story had it not been for the narration. The narrator stops and starts with wild abandon. She must have English as a second language because the number of times and ways she mangles words is phenomenal. Numerous times I found myself pulled from the story and yelling the correct pronunciation at the narrator. There is humor in this story but it is lost due to the narration. Also the story is marred by the presence of background noises throughout. I was tremendously disappointed.

Narrator ruins book

What disappointed you about In the Garden of Disgrace?

The narrator sounds like Eliza Doolittle at the Ascot races. her stacatto word by word delivery was so distracting that it took a conscious effort to realize the meaning of the passage. Her mispronunciation of words also made it necessary for the listener to translate to the proper word. What a shame that the story was so diminished by the performance that it was ruined instead of enhanced.

Would you recommend In the Garden of Disgrace to your friends? Why or why not?

No. It was almost tortuous to continue listening to the narrator's lack of comprehensible fluency.

Who would you have cast as narrator instead of Tanya S. Bartlett?

Justine Eyre, Barbara Rosenblat, Davina Porter, etc.

What character would you cut from In the Garden of Disgrace?

The plot and characters were fine.

Any additional comments?

I am shocked that no one seems to be editing or directing the performance.

A lot may enjoy the books, narration was a trip!

I’ve now read the first 3 books and they were fairly interesting although the love scenes could use work. My other complaint is the heroines, in all 3 books, took stubborn past the point of believability, it got to be very tiresome. It seems heroines in a lot of romance books these days, all seem to have the “stubbornness” trait in their personality. They say and do such stupid crap I find I don’t have much sympathy for them and wish the hero would tell them to f@ck off once in awhile. But just in time for the HEA, the pain the ass heroines become enlightened, discover common sense, an all’s well that ends well, oh, and of course they’re beautiful, all’s forgiven. I won’t be reading or listening to book 4, I’m tired of these books.

The narrator, where to begin. Everything previous customers have said is true and then some. You hate to be cruel but whoever was in charge of hiring narrators should have been fired due to incompetence. Ms. Bartlett mangled the pronunciation of so many words, I actually laughed out loud at some of the worst ones. She was either uneducated or doing the narration while high, it is that bad. And the worst part, the idiot(s) in charge let her narrate the next book also. The women who narrated the first two books were very good, too bad one of them wasn’t chosen for books 3 and 4.

Terrible performer & echo sound.

Would you say that listening to this book was time well-spent? Why or why not?

Did not finish so annoying.

Would you be willing to try another book from Cynthia Wicklund? Why or why not?

Depends on performer. This one may discourage trying another Wicklund book

How could the performance have been better?

Since it. Is clear she has a speech/diction problem & no acting skill I don't believe it is possible!

Do you think In the Garden of Disgrace needs a follow-up book? Why or why not?

Did not finish so can't say.

Any additional comments?

I can't understand how this audio was even distributed & the performer was chosen by the producer. It always makes me think a relative needed a job!!

This narrator is absolutely horrible

What did you like best about In the Garden of Disgrace? What did you like least?

The story was good

Any additional comments?

To be incapable of correct pronunciation of common words is inexcusable. Did the producer even listen to this book. What a shame.

good story, lousy narration

narrator let the side down ... many mispronunciations and hesitations, ignored punctuation, came across as a not very astute schoolgirl ... but surprisingly good voices, and always clear. recommend using Google for word pronounciation before next project.