The Watchmaker's Daughter

Glass and Steele, Book 1

By: C. J. Archer

Narrated by: Emma Powell

Length: 9 hrs and 21 mins

Publisher's summary

India Steele is desperate. Her father is dead, her fiancé took her inheritance, and no one will employ her, despite years working for her watchmaker father. Indeed, the other London watchmakers seem frightened of her. Alone, poor, and at the end of her tether, India takes employment with the only person who'll accept her - an enigmatic and mysterious man from America, a man who possesses a strange watch that rejuvenates him when he's ill. Matthew Glass must find a particular watchmaker, but he won't tell India why any old one won't do. Nor will he tell her what he does back home, and how he can afford to stay in a house in one of London's best streets. So when she reads about an American outlaw known as the Dark Rider arriving in England, she suspects Mr. Glass is the fugitive. When danger comes to their door, she's certain of it. But if she notifies the authorities, she'll find herself unemployed and homeless again - and she will have betrayed the man who saved her life. With a cast of quirky characters, an intriguing mystery, and a dash of romance, The Watchmaker's Daughter is the start of a thrilling new historical fantasy series from the author of the best-selling Ministry of Curiosities, Freak House, and the Emily Chambers Spirit Medium books.

©2016 C.J. Archer (P)2016 C.J. Archer

reader does terrible accents but still good read

good read terrible accents threaten to reck enjoyment but I still managed to enjoy. the English accent is spot on but when she tries to do several different American ones, it's awful

Fun way to spend a lazy Saturday

Fun story, I had picked up The Watchmaker's Daughter about a year ago and didn't get pass the first few pages. However, I decided to pick it up again and I couldn't put it down this time around. It seems I wasn't in the right headspace to read it when I first picked it up.

This is a mystery series with magical elements, though the magical elements are very minimal, barely noticeable. It takes place in Victorian times and follows the exploits of American (I won't give you his profession because it's part of thce first books mystery) Matthew Glass and his crew of merry men and woman and the daughter of said watchmaker -now deceased - India Steele. The story begins with India arriving at what use to be her father's watchmaking shop, which was swindled away from her by her former fiancé Eddie Hardacre. While she's there to give Eddie a piece of her mind she comes across Matthew Glass who is searching for a particular watchmaker. India, who grew up in the industry, and knows almost everyone, agrees to assist him in his search. Thus, the adventure begins.

It was a good mystery, though not particularly intricate and I should warn not wholly resolves because it's book 1 of a series. The characters were engaging and colorful though at times frustrating, especially India, with the indecision (why to authors make heroines so indecisive?). The story is told from India's perspective but I wish we got Matt's perspective because even though he's a main character, we don't get to really know him as well as we should, IMO.

I listened to the audiobook which was narrated by Emma Powell. I think this is the first time I listen to a book narrated by Powell, who has a great voice and did a good job, for the most part. There were a few missteps, especially with the American accents. Note to non-American narrators, people from California don't speak with southern accents and southern accents are actually quite varied. The Southern accent from Georgia, is very different from the Southern accent from Tennessee, or Mississippi, or Texas. Furthermore, not everyone who lives in the South speaks with a Southern accent. Best bet is to stick with a standard American accent (Pacific Northwest) you can't go wrong with that.

Additional note: the rest of the series is narrated by Marian Hussey who is an acquired taste. I love her narration of the Manners and Monsters series but I haven't been too crazy about some of her other narrations. Additionally, I've listened to most of book 2 and the accents for the American characters are painful. Southern accents, again, and not very good ones.

Overall, despite some of the issues I had I enjoyed the story, it was a fun way to spend a lazy Saturday.

I hate never ending series

The story was good, and I didn’t mind the narrator at all. But I looked ahead and there are eleventy-billion books in the series, so the constant holding of the carrot that the hero and heroine maybe, wait, no, not this time, okay maybe next time, will ever be together, drives me nuts. I like books that allow a happy ending sometimes, not drag it out forever and ever. That’s tiresome to me. I won’t continue the series. Got partway through the second one and got antsy. But they are good, and I thought the narrator was fine, not better or worse than the one in the second book.

Good story, great narrator

What does Emma Powell bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

I loved Emma Powell's reading. The story was great and Emma was fantastic. Book 2 of this series changes the narrator and it's really disappointing. This book is not a standalone--it doesn't finish the story it started, so you have to buy the rest of the series to find out what happens and I find the new narrator as of book 2 awful (her interpretation really changes the main character's personalities in a way I really, really don't like. so whiny and whimpy!). This book was wonderful but I had to abandon the audible versions to finish the series.

I loved Emma’s voice interpretations

I loved listening to this book and Emma’s voice interpretations. The “bad” American accents didn’t bother me and I thought they were charming similar to how I would have portrayed them in my head. Overall I found the story very intriguing and for those who thought it was boring, my advice is to find another author or genre that suits you better. If 98 percent of reviewers give good reviews then perhaps that speaks for itself.

*****Historical Fantasy--Great start to a series

setting--Victoria England

India Steele, a strong-willed woman in her mid- twenty’s, was working with her father, a well-known clockmaker. Her father's store and building were swindled out of her dyeing father’s hands, by India’s betrothed. This thief then cancels the marriage, just after the store is his, leaving India alone, without means or the home she knew.

Being that India was educated to be a clockmaker, by her father, she pursued a job with the other clockmakers, only to be turned away because she is a woman. With only a little money and no place to live, things get bad quickly. By chance, she then meets Mathew Glass. Mathew needs help, and India needs work, and from there the story takes off.

The writing is excellent. All of the characters are colorful. As this Victorian era novel develops, you find yourself in a mystery, filled with secrets, surprises and magic.

Excellent Book—I’ve purchase the next 3 books in the series and can’t wait to listen/read them.

Emma Powell did an excellent job narrating/acting.

Great start to a series

Any additional comments?

Well written and creative. Overall very entertaining, engaging and enjoyable story.

Mystery, suspense, intrigue, a bit of magic and a hint of romance to come.

It took a bit for me to get into the story. While the story is constantly moving forward, it's at a very slow pace, it gives you pieces to the mystery a little bit at a time, just when you think you've figured something out the story takes a turn and has you guessing once again. It takes quite a while for the story to unfold, in fact you don't really understand everything that is going on until almost the end. At times this was frustrating, but at the same time it was fantastic because it kept you guessing and trying to figure out what exactly was going on.

If you like fast-paced, answers now stories this is probably not the book for you. If you like stories that build slowly, keep you guessing and still manage to surprise you in the end, this one is worth it.

Now that the story has been setup and parts of the big secret have been reveled I'm really looking forward to the next book to see where the story goes from here.

Great cast of unusual characters. Cyclops, Willie, India, Matthew Glass and the rest of the gang, were all great well rounded characters.

Emma Powell did a great job with the narration. Pleasant voice. Easy to listen to for long periods of time. Clearly spoken with a nice even pace. Really good character voices and accents. Great tone and delivery. She was able to make all the characters and the story come to life. Very enjoyable

I was voluntarily provided this free review copy audiobook by the author, narrator or publisher.

So many unanswered questions!

My biggest complaint with the book, was that the most important aspect of the book remained unanswered. I re-listened to the last half hour of the book to see if I had missed something, because it ended without resolving the problem. Spoiler alert:
They didn't fix the thing, and if he had gone down hill so fast in 4 months ... I was disappointed with that. I did think she should have given more story time and details to the other characters. The book would have been so much stronger.

Sweet Story

A little simple but very sweet. I'm willing to listen to more from this author to see how some of the seeds planted in this story grow.

Loved it!!

This author is a master of creating sexual tension without going into hard core sex scenes. This book has a little something for everyone- historical romance, detective novel, supernatural tale-telling all woven together and mixed with the real struggles of women in the past trying to survive in a man's world, I absolutely loved it!!