Tarnished Crown

A Novella (Royals)

By: Erin Watt

Narrated by: Aaron Shedlock, Jennifer Aquino

Two years ago, one mistake cost Gideon Royal the girl of his dreams. Since then he’s become jaded and stoic, caught in a spiral that has him dealing with blackmail, heartache, and loss. When he left for college, he hoped to start over. But fate has other ideas, placing Savannah Montgomery in his path again.

Savannah believes there’s no coming back from Gideon’s betrayal.

He thinks she’s wrong.

Forgiveness. Hope. Redemption. Gideon has vowed to win back the only girl who owns his heart. And when a Royal makes a promise, he’ll go to the ends of the earth to keep it.

©2018 Erin Watt (P)2021 Audible, Inc.

Female narrator just didn’t work for me.

The book was juvenile but given the characters, not surprising. The female narrator just didn’t seem to recite the story well. I basically finished the book because it was a short listen on a drive rather than because the story caught me. I dislike when the story has plot twists that you have to decipher from the previous books…just either give a quick summary of what major incident is being referenced or move on. I know I won’t seek out the remaining books in the series.

Just My Opinion...

I have thoroughly enjoyed all of these books thus far but this one rubs me the wrong way. I really didn't like much of anything about it besides Gideon and Savannah ending up back together. Maybe the best part was the truthfulness that bloomed into a make up that ended this novella. I just thought maybe we could do without this one or maybe make it longer with more detail. It left some things out and the dialogue was a bit cheesy and erratic. It was all over the place going back and fourth between 3 years ago and now which is fine but it jumps a bit too much for my taste. I definitely think I could have done without this and been fine with just knowing that Gideon finally came clean, told her, and got back together with her and they had their happily ever after. My satisfaction didn't necessarily require a half attempted 3.5. That being said, maybe someone else would like the little bit of sense made by the back and fourth cluster but I did not need it. Thankfully it was free so why not?
As far as the narrators go, I was not a fan of either one of them. I thought Aaron (Gideon) sounded perverted and old anytime he'd say anything. He dragged out the last syllable of each sentence and it was really weird. Jennifer (Savannah) sounded super childish and almost made me feel like I was listening to the banter of a group of 6 year old's instead of Sav and her friends. The whole vibe was thrown off by of these two. It was a very odd choice for Sav and Gid.

The story is not bad, but the female narrator is

The female narrator was terrible for this role. She sounds like a grandma narrating an eighteen-year-old girl.

Narration

AWFUL NARRATION! The author should have used better narrators. I will never listen to these two again.

Liked the story but the performance…

Liked the story, it was good to see Gideon get a win after his situation. However, I felt like this book read was performed by Batman and a tiny female with a lollipop in her mouth.

Was the narrator not vetted?

I rarely write reviews, but this narrator is so hard to listen to, and I’m not exactly picky. Mispronounced names, choppy reading, monotonous…. There’s just so much going on. I don’t blame the narrator, I blame whomever let this get published this way.

Had to make myself finish listening

I loved the Royals series and thought it would be great to hear Gideon and Sav’s story. I liked how Watt wrote the past and present. I despised the narration by Jennifer Aquino. It was like nails on a chalkboard. Shedlock should have done the whole novella. Never again please Erin Watt!!! She tarnished this audiobook.

Comically bad lol

Oh my god, the narration is comically horrible, I’m honestly laughing out loud. 😂 it’s painful to listen to.

Bummer, I love this series and the first 3 books were narrated perfectly.

Dragged on

The narrators were awful. The story felt like it dragged on. I almost stopped listening. Just pushed through to get the full story

The female reader is awful

The story is okay, cheesy, but it’s fine if you’re doing other things and need some noise. The male reader is fine, actually pretty good. The female reading is awful. She sounds robotic, pauses in awkward spots and if I wasn’t in Ned of something to listen to while I clean, she’s enough to make me turn the whole thing off.