South to Forget

Mary Rose had been born and raised in Canada, but when love called her to her fiancé’s Far East, she packed up her bags, flew to Singapore three days early — and walked in on him with another woman. Unwilling to turn around and go back home, she stayed on and proved her value as a nurse at a big Singapore hospital, but after three months of being the target of well-meaning pity, she was ready to look for some other place in which to make her way in life. And to her surprise, she got one — when one of her patients, a handsome Kiwi war hero, who through an unfortunate series of misunderstandings was convinced she was a heartless gold-digger but a brilliant actress, hired her to pose as his fiancée long enough to smooth over a delicate situation at his home beneath New Zealand’s Mount Cook. After all, when a man is presumed dead in the jungles of Malaya, and his fiancée consoles herself by getting engaged to his brother, and then just before the wedding he is discovered alive though severely wounded . . . well, ‘delicate’ would seem an apt description of the situation he faces as he prepares for his homecoming!

The deception was well-meant, and leaving Singapore to emigrate to New Zealand served Mary’s purposes admirably. But then, how could she have expected to find herself falling in love not only with Ninian Macandrew, but with his entire family as well? How could she have foreseen that her prospective in-laws would take her so utterly into their hearts that she could not face disillusioning them by walking away? But, equally, how could she face binding herself for a lifetime to a man who secretly despised her?

South to Forget was published in North America under the title Nurse Mary’s Engagement.

Classic Esse Summer

Virtual voice is not great, mistakes and no inflections. Much prefer a real person always.

Virtual Voice Needs Improvement!

The story is great. A beautiful look into a different country and different era. Makes me want to visit New Zealand. The voice is mediocre with frequent annoyances that take you out of the story. One of the main characters name is Ninian. In conversations in the book his name is frequently shortened to Nin. Every time this happens the virtual voice says Nine Inch Nails. It really ruins the narration.

Good story Terrible narration

The story is a typical Essie Summers, and very enjoyable. But the automated narration is so terrible that it detracts from the experience. I don’t suppose anyone with any editorial authority reads these reviews, but if so, I beg you to redo this novel with a real life narrator! Or even just a more up-to-date robot narrator?
I want to note how very interesting I found the Afterword, extremely thought-provoking!