Review copy was received from Publisher. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
The River Knows by Amanda Quirk Narrator: Ashford MacNab
Published by Tantor Audio on February 21, 2023
Genres: Historical Romance, Romantic Suspense
Length: 10 hours, 18 minutes
Format: Audiobook
Source: Publisher
Goodreads
Amazon, Audible, Libro.fm, Barnes & Noble, Apple
Miss Gwendolyn Brinley accepted a temporary paid companion position for the Newport summer season, believing it would be a lark to spend the summer in America's most exclusive town. She suddenly finds her summer turning anything but amusing when her employer expects her to take over responsibilities as an assistant matchmaker. Tasked with the daunting prospect of attaining advantageous matches for her clients, Gwendolyn soon finds herself in the company of Mr. Walter Townsend, the catch of the Season, but a gentleman Gwendolyn finds beyond annoying.
Walter is reluctantly in search of a wife for his unruly motherless children. What he wasn't expecting was Miss Brinley, who turns his quest for a new wife into a complete and utter debacle.
The more time they spend together throughout the Newport Season, the harder it is for Gwendolyn to find Walter a wife when she realizes his perfect match might be . . . her.
The River Knows is a standalone written years ago but just come to audiobook. Amanda Quick is a well known author whose Historical Romances I’ve enjoyed reading from time to time over the years and The River Knows is another good addition to that list.
Louisa is hiding in society; she has changed her name and occupation and with help of one of the ton she is able to get into places she wouldn’t normally go in order to run down stories on the upper crust. Anthony lost his fiancé to suicide the year before. Convinced she didn’t kill herself, he is looking for who could have possibly faked her suicide and bring them to justice. Two different pursuits put them in the same hallway one evening to share an illicit kiss as they pretended to be lost looking for privacy at a party. That is where it started but where it went from there Louisa wasn’t expecting.
Anthony and Louisa, it ends up, have some common goals and as they pretend to be having an illicit love affair they go about trying to discover who murdered Anthony’s fiancé and get a great story for Louisa. I enjoyed their banter and the chemistry between them. Louisa was a fun character even though I felt like I’d read her before from this same author. Still the story was interesting and the pacing was spot on. I did guess a few of the plot twists so it was a bit predictable for me but still enjoyable.
Anthony’s family were one of my favorite things about the book. They were all unconventional and a breath of fresh air really from some of the upper crust I’ve read in the past. Louisa fit in with them beautifully. Overall a fun story with some intrigue and a mystery solved by the end.
Narration:
Ashford MacNab is a well known narrator to me and always does a fantastic job with the pacing and emotion in the story. All the characters seem like real separate people when he narrates and he brings a great performance once again to The River Knows. I was able to read this at my usual 1.5x speed.
Listen to a clip: HEREÂ Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â
About Amanda Quirk
The author of over 50 consecutive New York Times bestsellers, JAYNE ANN KRENTZ writes romantic-suspense in three different worlds: Contemporary (as Jayne Ann Krentz), historical (as Amanda Quick) and futuristic (as Jayne Castle). There are over 30 million copies of her books in print.
She earned a B.A. in History from the University of California at Santa Cruz and went on to obtain a Masters degree in Library Science from San Jose State University in California. Before she began writing full time she worked as a librarian in both academic and corporate libraries.
Ms. Krentz is married and lives with her husband, Frank, in Seattle, Washington.
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I didn’t know about this one but it looks good. I want to read about his family now
I’ve enjoyed some of the Historical Paranormal Romance she has written. Her characters are usually a little on the quirky side.
Love a fun family like that!
Sometimes the side characters make the book
This sounds fun! I love Amanda Quick’s books but haven’t read one of her more standard romances in awhile since she seems to have switched mostly to romantic suspense.
I’ve read more of her paranormal stuff, but this was fun too.
This sounds like fun! I like how Amanda Quick writes such likable characters. And funny banter is always a plus. 😀
Smart fun banter is always good to be sure and she brings it in this one.
I haven’t read an Amanda Quick in years. Nice review, Robin
I went through a some of her arcana series years ago. It has been awhile, but solid writing always wins me over.
Oh, this sounds like fun! I don’t think that I have had the chance tor read Amanda Quick yet.
I think I’ve mentioned before that Amanda Quick was probably one of my first historical romances I read as a 12 year old, lol. I haven’t read her or much historical romance in a while, but with Bridgerton and the SmartyPants Romance historical stories recently, I might be ready to start again. Great review!