His Consort

By: Mary Calmes

Narrated by: Scott Smith

A new life in New Orleans is all Jason Thorpe had hoped: His quaint little store attracts a devoted staff, and his warm, loving heart grants him a loyal circle of friends. He's perfectly content, having left behind the chill of a confusing and danger-filled night in Washington, until he discovers something unbelievable lurking in the steamy darkness of the shadowy streets of the Vieux Carré, something that turns out to be terrifying...and utterly mesmerizing.

The prince of the vampires, Varic Maedoc, is visiting New Orleans when he finds out the man who once helped his counselor is there in the Quarter. He thinks to simply meet and thank Jason - until he lays eyes on him. Varic’s devoted himself to protect the honor of his race, and he's never wanted a mate before...but he immediately knows he must have this man, and no one else will do.

Varic may want to bring Jason safely into his world, but someone who doesn’t like the human's soothing influence on vampires has deadly plans that would disrupt Varic's dreams. Now, unable to tell friend from foe, Jason finds himself wondering how to hold on to the prince’s heart when he’s fighting for his life.

©2018 Dreamspinner Press (P)2018 Dreamspinner Press

A Refreshing New Redefinition

His Consort is a refreshing new redefinition of the tried and true Vampire genre, in the model of Dracula, to one of co-evolution with humans of a different species called Vampyrs. Gown is the sleeping in coffins, bursting into flames in sunlight, garlic aversion, wood stakes, and the mindless blood lust to dink only human blood. Blood drinking remains but only as a civilized consensual act. Humans are genially off the menu by order of the Vampyr monarchy centered in Malta. The other tip of the hat to traditional vampire lore is the need for humans to give consent for a Vampyr to enter their home. Finally silver has been modified so it no longer burns Vampyr flesh but will weaken their powers so they may be bound.

With the above flexibility Mary Calmes has fashioned an action packed story that forms the background to a romance between the Prince of the Vampyrs and a human, ex-special forces military, with a recessive gene, bridging the gap between the human race and the Vampyr race; making them ideal mates. All this occurs in the middle of factions, conspiracies, and betrayals by Vampyrs motivated by greed and lust for power. This action makes a good read and a great listen.

This story is narrated well by Scott Smith. Mr. Smith provides multiple voices and accents for the different characters all with a pleasant tambour to the ear.

Stunning!

Wow, what an amazing new Story! Magnifico! I loved this. This has been exciting, romantic and absolutely absorbing. I simply wanted this to continue on and there is definitely more story to write, that a second novel is a chance. I hope Mary will produce a second story,

loved the story

I have listened to this several times over the years and I have the same reaction. Story great, narrator good but I have to say Jason is the most annoying character ever. A toddler doesn't question/argue as much as he does.

i love it

you will not be disappointed it is so worth it you will love it too I don't want it to end if she makes another book that goes to this one I would really love it

Iffy narrator

The story was as typically instalove and bonkers as any Mary Calmes story ever is and I thought the narration was sub-par, so this one ranks between two and three stars for me. The narrator doesn't have much range in voice characterizations, and inexplicably chose to have most of the characters sound like they were from New York. The one character who is definitely from NOLA had a southeastern-southern accent, Tiago, a vampire born during the French revolution, had a whiny California surfer dude accent, and Hadrian, a vampire born in ancient Rome, had an American accent that was barely different in timber from the one used to voice Varic and later Doro, so good luck telling those characters apart. All in all, I would say the narrator ruins what is otherwise an entertaining though slightly weird story.

Good storyline but way too much fluff

This story has the potential to be five stars. However, there is so much fluff in there that the storyline has moments where it falls by the wayside. Mostly because it gets so far off of the storyline with useless nonsense that by the time it comes back to the storyline one can find themselves bored. However if you keep on reading the storyline itself very good.

Not what I hoped for.....

I had high hopes for this book but was sadly disappointed, especially after her Timing series. So much talking and unnecessary filler. You are almost half way through the book before the main characters even meet. Some portions of the book are just to ridiculous to enjoy. I can only hope there was so much info and back story because Mary Calmes is planning a second book. Otherwise the book was only okay and not worth the 8 hours I invested in listening to it.

UPDATED—Okay, here goes...

**Update**
So I listened to this book again. Clearly this is going to be the start of a new series as many things were mentioned that were never followed through with. That aside, I still feel torn on how I really feel about this. I never really felt a connection to Varic. The more I listened, the more Jason annoyed me (such a weak character) and I had a hard time finding a true connection between him and Varic. There was just so much information given all throughout the book and it became apparent on the second listen that it wasn’t just the tedious first half but the entire length. I also had a hard time following the “mate/consort” subject. Parts of the story made it seem like a “true mate” trope with only one match for every person and other parts elude to the fact that it’s a choice. I wasn’t sure where Jason fell in that. My final rating—3.5 stars. It was not good enough to give a full 4 stars and not crappy enough to give 3. But the only thing that probably matters is that I have no interest in continuing the series if/when more books come out. It just wasn’t that alluring.

**Original Review**
This book was interesting. The premise sounded good enough that I pre-ordered the book when it came out, but never got around to reading it. I was desperate for a new audible and bought this one. Now, I’ve listened to a lot of Mary Calmes. She’s not a particular favorite of mine, but she’s not bad and I do find myself reaching for some of her audiobooks to listen to again and again (re: The Guardian, Marshalls series Book 1, Timing series Book 1). However, I have to be in a “mood” to be able to stomach her protagonists, as they are all written the same: completely unaware.

So, narration: Perhaps I’m used to listening to the Sean Crisden/Tristan James books and that’s why I struggled with Scott Smith’s narration. He is a great narrator and I would listen to him again in a different context, but I don’t feel he really captured “The Calmes Effect” as much as the two above would have. Maybe as I listen to this again (because I will), he will grow on me more, I just don’t know.

The story: This was...different. The first half of the book was all set-up and it was tedious to get through. The way that vampyr was revealed to Jason was very anti-climactic and downright boring. There were flashbacks during the first half that made it hard to follow where the storyline was going and I think that was in part due to the narration. My biggest gripe was the fact that the characters all had to start out their lines with “Jason.” Nobody talks like that (sorry) and it got old really quickly. There were a TON of characters with unusual names and that was hard to follow as well. There wasn’t a huge range of differences in voices, so that could be the reason. The whole book just didn’t flow right, in my opinion. I plan on listening to it again because there are just so many things that I feel I didn’t have a good understanding of that I’d like to. And I will try to not think the entire time that Tristan James would have done it better, ha.

action and tenderness

kept me listening and loving it all - great vampyr love story - I would love to hear a sequel

Great story with just a little conflict

Wasn't a fan of the first book I listened to narrated by Scott Smith but decided to try another a year later because Mary Calmes is one of my favorite authors.
Very glad I did. I was getting tired of the intense conflicts and violence in this genre (I don't like strictly romance novels). This was a great change and very good story.
I loved how Jason was always asking questions, the same questions I would have in his circumstances. The questions and answers gave a depth to the story and did a good job of explaining this unique universe without being boring.
It had just enough conflict and mystery along with the unusual, rapid love story.
It's a vampyre book so it's not supposed to be realistic! I think she did a great job with the depth characters and not-so-typical plot.
AND Scott Smith did a fantastic job narrating all the accents and emotions of the story. I loved the way he actually sighed and gulped when characters did. More than just reading, he entertained you and brought the characters to life.