Autumn Glory and Other Stories
By: Barbara Metzger / Narrated By: Stevie Zimmerman
Length: 5 hrs and 58 mins
A triiiiiifle lusty at the end, but all in all a set of good old fashioned Regencies
It’s like this see: When I discovered Barbara Metzger’s Regencies, I started with the audiobooks that had simple drawings gracing their covers. These were all squeaky clean, so my toes didn’t do any untoward curling as I listened to them. Naturally I hit every danged audiobook of hers available via the Audible Escape romance package, and… oh nooooo…! Not everything she writes is like that (The covers that have photo models are quite… well, uhm… toes curling now! toes curling!!!).
This audiobook, Autumn Glory, has a drawing on its cover, but it’s more colorful, more ornate, so believe me: I was kinda leery about giving it a listen. But what the hey! It’s Autumn for cripes sake, and I’m wearing leggings and flannel, so there’s that. I’m giving it a try!
And I was NOT disappointed, for the most part.
“Autumn Glory” has young Irmagard (Once again: For cripes sake, what a name!), overhearing her dear mama’s plans to wed her sisters and her off, and none of the men posited will be to ANY of their liking. Fortunately, Irmagard (Or Glory as she’s dubbed by a gentleman initially unknown to her) is a cunning rascal, and she has plots to foil these plans. I did enjoy how she starts the ball rolling and is later assisted most mightily by the stranger, our Hero. This story has Metzger’s usual wit, tho’ it doesn’t really go deep into character development. Indeed, at not quite 6 hours, there’s not too much time to get into development of any characters in any of these three stories. Still, I liked this one just fine as there are hijinks galore, and when papa has had enough of Glory (She doped the dogs up right before THE fox hunt of the house party), I soooo loved how the Hero comes to the rescue, and how she’s blinded by tears. Predictable? You bet, and I was quite satisfied!
Onto “The Management Requests” where injured war hero Arthur switches rooms at a hotel so he doesn’t have to limp up flights of stairs. Our heroine Hope sees him behind the desk and assumes he’s hotel staff. She’s not really paying attention as she’s looking for her not-quite fiancé who sorta disappeared on her. The story’s sections each begin with Hotel Rules of the era, and it was very entertaining listening to Arthur bending over backward as “staff” to meet her needs and as she begins being taken by this man who isn’t what he seems. And dare she say it: Could she be falling for a man who is basically “in trade”?
The final story is where Ms. Metzger throws in the heat and throws out the lusty references. Plus, “A Match Made in Heaven—or Hell” has something I’ve become familiar with: An individual near death becomes a bone of contention between masters of Heaven and of Hell, each of whom wish to claim said person’s soul (See: An Angel for the Earl—Terrific terrific story!!!) Here, it’s Hugh, a rake extraordinaire who juuuuuust before being grievously wounded, actually does something heroic with his life by rallying troops to action. He coulda just delivered a message to the front lines and left, but he stayed to do battle and was thus pretty near mortally wounded. He recuperates slowly and is told that if he wants to get back home to England, and if he wants to NOT be disowned, he’s going to have to marry the only eligible female and get back home to start on producing an heir. I can’t remember her name: Marian? Miriam? And I think that shows that the story had my toes curling enough that I repressed that bit of knowledge. This is by noooo means a steamy romance, but their growing affection for each other induces many lust-ridden thoughts. The dog Imp (Who really IS an imp, sent by Hell to throw monkey wrenches into the works lest Hugh and Marian? Miriam? discover true and pure love) steals the show, and it was HIS Happily Ever After that had me cheering.
This was performed by Stevie Zimmerman, and while I do think she does an AWEsome job in whatever she does, this has the usual glitches in it: Dunno what it is, but every audiobook I’ve heard her do has her repeating lines here and there as tho’ she’d goofed the line but then went on to say it properly, like someone would be by shortly to edit it out. Uhm, they are NOT edited out, so be prepared to be all immersed in the story only to startle outta the flow with the repeats. Still, she’s great, and I have no complaints, esPECially when she does dialogue, carrying different accents, differentiating between characters with ease.
Not my favorite B. Metzger, but an enjoyable listen overall, the first story in particular with its sass and wit and humor.
If you’re out of Georgette Heyer’s audiobooks, have done the lot of hers that are available, Metzger is a grand option.
Hmmm… come to think of it? Neither author was 100% perfection. But when they’re on? They’re are oh so deliciously ON!
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