Sunday, November 30, 2014

Audiobook: The Hidden Gallery (The Incorrible Children of Ashton Place) by Maryrose Wood


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Read by Katherine Kellgren

Of especially naughty children, it is sometimes said, "They must have been raised by wolves." The Incorrigible children actually were.

Thanks to the efforts of Miss Penelope Lumley, their plucky governess, Alexander, Beowulf, and Cassiopeia are much more like children than wolf pups now. They are accustomed to wearing clothes. They hardly ever howl at the moon. And for the most part, they resist the urge to chase squirrels up trees.

Despite Penelope's civilizing influence, the Incorrigibles still managed to ruin Lady Constance's Christmas ball, nearly destroying the grand house. So while Ashton Place is being restored, Penelope, the Ashtons, and the children take up residence in London. Penelope is thrilled, as London offers so many opportunities to further the education of her unique students.

But the city presents challenges, too, in the form of the palace guards' bearskin hats, which drive the children wild not to mention the abundance of pigeons the Incorrigibles love to hunt. As they explore London, however, they discover more about themselves as clues about the children's and Penelope's mysterious past crop up in the most unexpected ways.


My Thoughts: What a delight it was to hear about Penelope and the three Incorrigible children again. I very much enjoyed the first audiobook in the series and I could not wait to continue listening to their adventures in this one. This second book was not perfect but it too was a wonderful joy ride.

The story continued on from where it left off from the first book. Miss Penelope Lumley (Lumaloo) and the three children were relocated to London. While listening to their move to the big city, I began to imagine all these wild occurrences that were going to happen because the children were not as "civilized" since they still acted like wolves. I found myself smiling at all the troublesome things that Alexander, Beowulf, and Cassiopeia got themselves into. At the same time, I found it very adorable on how much they learned about manners and how educated they were becoming with the help of their governess, Miss Penelope. It was wonderful to see how much Penelope had influence the children.

As enjoyable as this book was, my complaint about it was that it all felt confusing and the ending was not as satisfactory. There was so much going on in this book that I felt that all the events began to jumble together and not make much sense. A few times I found myself wondering what the problem in the story was because I kept forgetting what the point was. Also, with all the things that were happening it seemed that it was building up to a grand finale. However, the ending fell short. If anything, it only peaked my interest to some unanswered questions and new twists. 
 
The audio presentation was again superb! Katherine Kellgren continued being the narrator in this audio and like the first one, she did an excellent job! I loved her enthusiasm and her portrayal of all the characters. I especially loved how she pronounced the words that the children said because it made it much easier to vividly imagine how these children were. Ms. Kellgren is a very talented narrator.

As a whole, this was a wonderful audiobook. The story was not as polished as the first one but it was highly enjoyable. I am looking forward to listening to the third book. I rate it:

 

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