Author: Mary Connealy
Narrator: Barbara McCulloh
Series: Wild at Heart, Book 1
Print Publisher: Bethany House
Audio Publisher: Recorded Books
Published: September 2014
About the Book (from the publisher’s web site):
Saddle up for a wildly fun ride with the Wilde sisters!
Kylie Wilde is the youngest sister–and the most civilized. Her older sisters might be happy dressing in trousers and posing as men, but Kylie has grown her hair long and wears skirts every chance she gets. It’s a risk–they are homesteading using the special exemptions they earned serving in the Civil War as “boys”–but Kylie plans to make the most of the years before she can sell her property and return to the luxuries of life back East.
Local land agent Aaron Masterson is fascinated with Kylie from the moment her long hair falls from her cap. But now that he knows her secret, can he in good conscience defraud the U.S. government? And when someone tries to force Kylie off her land, does he have any hope of convincing her that marrying him and settling on the frontier is the better option for her future?
My Thoughts on the Book:
Tried and True is a fun and lighthearted romp of a story. If you enjoy inspirational romantic comedy, then you’re going to love this first book in the Wild at Heart series by Mary Connealy. Our lovely heroine Kylie may have taken up arms to serve her country in the Civil War and then claimed her own homestead out West, all under the pretext of being a boy, but she’s counting down the days until she can leave all that behind for the life she really wants. One that includes feminine attire, tea parties, and the comforts of “civilized” life back east.
Over the course of the book, Kylie and her “brothers” (read: sisters) wind up in one outrageous situation after another, each described in just the right manner to bring out the humor inherent in the situation. The opening scene does a great job setting the tone for the book. We meet Kylie as she attempts to patch a loose shingle on her roof, under threat of an approaching rainstorm, using an improvised “ladder” assembled from a hodgepodge of furniture including a rocking chair.
Throughout the book, there’s a touch of suspense, a healthy dose of sweet romantic moments, and some obstacles and lessons to be learned on the path toward happily ever after for the hero and heroine, but it’s definitely the humor that takes center stage in this book. And I have to say, the humor is very well done. I found myself chuckling time and again at something somebody did or said, or the droll way a situation was described. (Which made for a lovely change of pace from a few much more serious books I read shortly before this one.) Highly recommended for when you’re in the mood for something fun!
Specific to the Audiobook:
Barbara McCulloh was an excellent choice as narrator for Tried and True. You can just tell she’s got a real sense of comedic timing that was perfectly in sync with the text of the book. She paced her delivery wonderfully, speeding up or slowing down certain bits to give maximum impact to the witty asides sprinkled throughout the text, before returning to the casually comfortable reading pace of the majority of the narration. Male, female, and female-pretending-to-be-male voices were rendered well, each character having his or her own distinct vocal qualities. All-in-all, a stellar performance by a skilled narrator.
Thank you to Recorded Books for providing a complimentary copy of this audiobook for review purposes.