AUDIO REVIEW: Misdirected by Lucy Parker, narrated by Nicola Coughlan & Gwilym Lee

KaetrinAudiobooks / B+ Reviews / Recommended ReadsActing / Audible / audiobook / Contemporary / England / Gwilym Lee / Nicola Coughlan / tv show2 Comments

Any fan of Bridgerton is likely also a fan of Nicola Coughlan and so it was an extra treat to find she was narrating, along with new-to-me performer, Gwilym Lee. (He’s a very experienced actor. I expect people from the UK, particularly, will be far more familiar with him than I was.)

Hattie Merton and Anthony Rafe are stars of the fictional TV show “Leicester Square”. It brought to mind a combination of Bridgerton and a non-paranormal version of something like Lady Jane – an historical period drama, extra raunchy, very soapy. It’s not Bridgerton but there is a vague similarity, which is added to by the appearance of Nicola Coughlan of course.

Hattie plays Lady Iris, a woman cast out of society and who has resorted to thievery to survive. Anthony plays Victor – the main villain of the show. The show has been airing already for multiple seasons. Anthony holds himself aloof from his cast mates at the best of times and Hattie’s best friend on the show, Jake Welch, dislikes Anthony intensely (the feeling being entirely mutual).  So, while Hattie and Anthony are not exactly, enemies, she does think he’s an arrogant jerk (she’s not really wrong, for the most part) and they’re certainly not friends. But then, the scriptwriters add in  a new storyline; their characters fall in love, which brings the pair into much closer proximity.

As it turns out, Anthony had developed feelings for Hattie prior to this. Feelings were not things Anthony enjoyed having. He’s found his life in somewhat of an upheaval because of them. But spending additional time with Hattie only makes those feelings grow. Hattie, for her part, finds that Anthony is not the total jerk she thought he was; with those he cares about, he will protect, care for and put them first unfailingly. If Hattie is cold in his apartment, he will turn the heat up until she is comfortable – even if he is sweating buckets. Many of the gestures he makes are very sweet and very amusing as well, particularly as Anthony is very new at this feelings business. As Hattie gets to know more about the man behind the mystery, she falls for him too, while not letting him off the hook for any less-than-stellar behaviour and holding her own in their verbal sparring. All of this occurs as the fictional storyline is also developing.

There was one scene in the listen I was anticipating with something like dread. I found myself having a visceral reaction to the idea that the first sex scene between the TV characters Victor and Iris would somehow be real as between Anthony and Hattie. That is, would the actors be having real pants-feelings when they were filming the scene? The thought of it, particularly in the current climate, gave me the ick. I had some reason for my concern; the first kissing scene between the characters revealed unexpected horniness in Hattie and Anthony. Fortunately, in that scene, their real feelings were known only to them and to the camera it looked badly choreographed and lacking in chemistry so they had to film it again and the take which was ultimately accepted was completely, or almost completely, professional. And, Hattie was worried as well. She was pretty desperate not to have sexy feelings for Anthony while she was working and in front of people when she was in such a vulnerable position (ie nearly naked) already. There was clearly significant chemistry between Anthony and Hattie – how would this be handled in the audiobook? I approached the scene with about as much trepidation as Hattie. I think I was meant to. I think the author led me there.

It turned out to be some clever misdirection, with the reality so much better than anything I could have hoped. Anthony proposes a wager and, for the most part, with only a tiny bit of breakthrough feelings, the actors were focusing on the (extraordinarily acrobatic) choreography of the scene and the distraction of the wager (mainly they were trying to make each other laugh) rather than their mutual attraction. It showed Anthony’s tenderness, care and respect for Hattie. It showed me that Anthony had thought about how to break the tension, keep things professional and address the risk with humour, which, as a result advanced their romance significantly. I was both relieved and charmed. I think that was the author’s aim.

The narration by both performers was very good. I admit, at first, I was a little nervous about Nicola Coughlan. When she’s speaking in her normal Irish-accented voice – Hattie’s voice –  her pacing was just a little too quick and there were times she skipped through a word or two, making the diction a bit less than clear. Had she slowed down just a tiny fraction, it would have only enhanced her depiction. However, this was more than made up for by her character voices. She was able to deepen her voice convincingly for Anthony and Jake, giving them both different tones (something not every female narrator can do) and, when using an English accent, her speech was slightly slower and the diction much clearer. Plus, as the audiobook progressed, I got more used to her style and found it easier to understand and relax into. Perhaps her clarity improved too the more time she had with the story. Additionally, she delivered on the emotion – the humour, the developing attraction and affection, as well as the laughter and the ears of the piece. Gwilym Lee was a wonderful surprise for me. I enjoyed his performance just slightly better than Ms Coughlan’s – only because he always kept a good pace and his voice was always clear, no matter which accent he was using or which character he was voicing at the time. It seems Mr Lee has very few narrating credits to his name. I sincerely hope Misdirected is the beginning of many more, particularly within the romance genre.

Lucy Parker has a certain style. Readers who have enjoyed her other books will likely enjoy this one just as much. She delivers signature humour and snappy banter and she does the grumpy hero exceptionally well. I enjoyed Misdirected very much. Recommend.

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