Author: Tara Lain
Narrator: Kale Williams
Publisher: Dreamspinner Press
Run Time: 4 hours and 52 minutes
Category: Fairy Tale, Fantasy
At a Glance: Kale Williams is a new-to-me narrator; his voice characterizations fit the image I had of the characters while meeting my expectations of a well-done performance.
Reviewed By: Kim
Blurb: Housekeeper Mark Sintorella (Sinders) works diligently at a resort hotel while designing clothes anonymously, hoping to get into fashion school. Then his carefully planned life is upended with the arrival of Ashton Armitage, son of the fifth richest man in America – and the most beautiful guy Mark has ever seen. Ash must find a wife or he’ll lose his grandfather’s inheritance, and he settles on Bitsy Fanderel. But secretly Ash is gay, and the guy who cleans the fireplaces sets his heart ablaze.
Further stirring the pot is the little elf of a man, Carstairs Pennymaker, who has Mark wearing his own designs and masquerading as a girl to impress the fashion investors in the hotel. When the clock strikes 12, two beautiful princesses line up for the wedding – but one isn’t a woman. Will the slipper fit?
Only Mr. Pennymaker knows for sure.
Review: When Mark’s mother died, his family kicked him out because he was gay. Living on the streets, he eventually gets a job working in housekeeping at a luxury hotel. The hotel staff has nicknamed him Sinders because he works so hard at his job, saving his money to attend fashion design school. When a guest of the hotel notices Mark wearing a shirt that he designed, that guest, Mr. Pennymaker, insists that Mark wear more of his designs in front of his fashion investor friends. One problem—the only available design is a dress.
Ashford Armitage, known to most as a rich playboy, arrives at the hotel in order to find a wife before he turns twenty-five; otherwise, according to his grandfather’s will, he stands to lose an inheritance worth millions of dollars. Unbeknownst to most, including his parents, Ash is secretly gay. He kind of figures that Bitsy (one of the daughters of the hotel manager) is the one for him, but when he proposes a business arrangement between the two of them, well, Bitsy balks because she’s not sure that she wants to give up her life for a life of luxury—and Bitsy has her own little secret. But, the amount of the money involved is tempting…
Mark and Ash finally meet when Ash saves Mark from a near sexual assault by one of the hotel workers, and Mark is so overcome by Ash’s good looks that he kisses him—then runs away.
I found that I enjoyed this fairytale audio version of Sinders and Ash. Even though I expected, when I first read the story, that Ash would be chasing Mark when he was dressed up as a woman; the story had a bit of a twist that I liked. It’s cute how Ash was attracted to Mr. Pennymaker’s niece when women weren’t his thing, while also being attracted to the cute cleaning staff member, Sinders.
Kale Williams is a new-to-me narrator; his voice characterizations fit the image I had of the characters while meeting my expectations of a well-done performance. It’s different but this version still had me laughing out loud at some of the antics of what male parts could be made to do. Some of Sinders and Ash is gooey fluffy, but I still enjoyed going the audio route and look forward to listening to more of Kale Williams’ narration of the Pennymaker Tales series.
You can buy Sinders and Ash here:
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