Roman Holiday
The Chronicles of St. Mary's
By: Jodi Taylor
Narrated by: Zara Ramm
Series: The Chronicles of St Mary's, Book 3.5
Length: 1 hr and 12 mins
Unabridged Audiobook
Release date: 04-07-15
Language: English
Publisher: Audible Studios
Genre: Adventure, Humor, Fantasy, Time Travel
My Rating: 4.25 of 5.0 Overall; Story 4.25; Narration 4.25.
Publisher's Summary
Another rollicking short story from the Chronicles of St Mary’s author Jodi Taylor.
Question: What sort of idiot installs his mistress in his wife’s house? Especially when that mistress is Cleopatra VII Thea Philopator, queen of Egypt and the most notorious woman of her time? Answer: Julius Caesar - poised to become king of Rome. Or as good as.
Question: At this potentially sensitive point in your political manoeuvrings, who are the last people you’d want crashing through the door, observing, recording, documenting...? I think we all know the answer to that one.
Roman Holiday - an epic, standalone tale set in Ancient Rome, 44 BC, featuring, in no particular order: an attempted murder; stampeding bullocks; Cleopatra, queen of the Nile; a bowl of poisonous snakes; a smallish riot; Julius Caesar; and Mr Markham’s wayward bosoms.
Jodi Taylor is and always has been a history nut. Her disinclination to get out of bed for anything after 1485 can only be overcome by massive amounts of chocolate and sometimes, if it's raining, not even then. She wanted to write a book about time travel that was a little different and, not having a clue how difficult this would make her book to classify, went ahead and slung in elements of history, adventure, comedy, romance, tragedy, and anything else she could think of. Her advice to booksellers is to buy huge numbers of her books and just put one on every shelf.
©2014 Jodi Taylor (P)2015 Audible, Ltd
Review:
Max (Madeleine Maxwell) and four of her historian comrades (Peterson, Van Owen, Guthrie and Markham) visit Caesar and Cleopatra. They were there, as always, to observe, NOT to go in the house or get involved. But, as usual, they stumble into trouble and hope that their actions don’t change history! As noted in the blurb: this quick adventure includes “in no particular order: an attempted murder; stampeding bullocks; Cleopatra, queen of the Nile; a bowl of poisonous snakes; a smallish riot; Julius Caesar; and Mr Markham’s wayward bosoms.”
This series has wonderful humor, interesting technology (time traveling pods) and always include fascinating tidbits of history. The characters always stumble into trouble and have to use their knowledge of history and quick witted insight of human nature to escape capture --- or sometimes they just have to run fast. These novellas can be read out of order but it is best to at least read the first novella, The Very First Da**ed Thing or the first full book, Just One Da**ed Thing After Another, so you get to know the primary characters. I recommend this for readers who like history, adventure, time travel and zany fun.
Audio Notes: Zara Ramm does a great job narrating this series. She captures the voices and personalities and delivers the story with on point pacing and energy. I will continue to listen to more in this series.
Source: November 2015 Audible Free title. This qualifies for 2019TBR and 2019Audiobook goals.
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