Decent enough Story, Okay narration

This was a decent story. I liked the heroine Lillian, she had some spunk. I liked Alec too, he was a big sexy brute. LOL These two had some good chemistry together. There is a nicely written sex scene so it's not rated G.

The story line and plot was good. Except I didn't care too much for Alec's insecurities. I kind of thought that was lame. And the so called "secret" was pretty lame. Glad it was not the focus of the story. Just his excuse for not being good enough. That story has been told a thousand times. So that part was a bit annoying.

There was lots of dialogue through out the entire book which was great. I love a couple of the secondary characters like Celeste, I am looking forward to her book. There was a couple of characters that popped up from the Rules of Scoundrels series so that was fun.

As for the narration. Hmmm not a favorite of Justine Eyre for sure. I didn't care for the scottish accent she used for Alec at all. Not good. Also the breathy reading sometimes bugs.. The female characters are done well though. Just not a big big fan of JE voice.

9 people found this helpful

I wanted to love it...but I don't.

I am a serious Sarah MacLean fan, enjoying all of her historicals. Unfortunately, the narrator is so painful it is hard to get through. I was hoping the new series would have a new voice but alas, the scratchy, overly breathless, faux British accent, and PAINFUL Scottish accent overshadowed a decent story. I felt that the female character was brash and impertinent to an unrealistic level to the person who has been financing her life for the better part of a decade sight unseen. I feel the male lead, referred to as a brute so often one could form a drinking game around the moniker, was too easily pushed over by a total brat who he has known less than a week.

To imagine this Scot would go from his rugged lifestyle of hounds and Highlands to a distinguished, patient and empathetic guardian in less than 2 chapters is just not plausible.

I pray she moves to a new narrator soon, and will continue to try new books. Just not my favorite.

7 people found this helpful

Oh for goodness sake! 💔

:::CONTAINS SPOILERS!:::

This was ok. Until we found out what “terrible secret” Alec had. Good frikken grief. REALLY!?!?!? Thats what we were waiting for? That this big brave burly man who's feeling get hurt when people call him names (Scottish brute) because of his size, who has this big secret that when is found out will make others flee... that makes him unworthy.... was because he was a man whore!?!?!?!? Seriously!?!? It could have at least been because when he was at school and the boys were all sooooo mean to him that his huge size and brute strength had caused him to accidentally kill one of the boys.... or... something, ANYthing other thsn that he was a man whore! For petes sake... that was 10 hours (a little less actually since I sped the book up to 1:15 speed) that I can never get back!

::::END SPOILER:::

This book could have, should have, been so much better! The storyline had promise, but just never hit the mark. And the fact that its entire time span was that of 10 days. Just kind of a stupid story to be honest. Waste of a point, waste of time. Thank goodness its over!

The narrator wasn't great. She would have been more tolerable if the story had been better.

5 people found this helpful

Terrible Narration

I did read the review before I purchased this audiobook, but thought "how bad could it be" as there were several comments about the accents & "breathy-ness" of the narrator - well it was BAD

The narration was terrible, there is just no other way to describe it. This author does not use the same narrator within a series so the crossover characters had different "voices" & that took a bit to get used to but, this book was completely ruined by the "Scottish" accent that Ms. Eyre used. I can usually overlook some of these issues while listening, but I finally just gave up & switched over the reading. I also took issue with the use of the phrase "full stop". I really don't think that was in use in the 1800's, but who knows.

I guess I have been spoiled by the "Outlander" & "In to the Wilderness" series where the same Narrator is used for all of the books and both do excellent Scottish & British accents. I think I will start taking advantage of the "preview" of the narration before purchasing.

3 people found this helpful

Insipid, teen-age drama

Technically, the writing is good; grammar, syntax, all that is as it should be. The narrator does her normal good job, although for me, the pacing is a bit slow. Characters are well-delineated and elocution is good.

As to the plot -- to me, it is a teen girl's angst-y fantasy; the forgotten and ruined ward and the poor, misunderstood 'brute' of a Scotsman who 'save' each other. Not my thing, and I see no reason to put myself through another 9 plus hours of it.

Your mileage may vary, as always, and if you like woe-is-me drama with your romance, you might like this one. Thank heavens that people like different plots, and thank you to the authors who write them differently.

6 people found this helpful

Stupid

I realise you need to suspend belief in reading a romance novel. But 17 people Dying with no issue so that the main guy can be a duke is absurd. A little too absurd. Sara Maclean has started to fall too much in love with what she imagines is her own cleverness.

4 people found this helpful

NOT a Scot in the Dark...

Oh dear... I really wanted to like this book. I read The Rogue Not Taken and enjoyed it and thought I'd use an audible credit to listen to the next one.

Mistake. I could not listen to more than a couple hours. I'm not a great fan of Justine Eyre, I find her faux British accent and her breathy gravelly affectation annoying but I can usually grow to appreciate her narrations somewhat, and stick with a story when its something I really want to listen to.

BUT her Scottish accent here is deplorable. It's way closer to Northern Irish than Scottish! The hero is Scottish not Irish... I might have been able to get over her failure to produce a believable Scottish accent if she had been able to make him sound somewhat attractive. She couldn't.

I switched to the print version and was able to enjoy the rest of the story.

1 person found this helpful

Full stop.

The story was okay. I prefer my heroes to be confident. I don't want to escape into a book where I spend my time stroking a man's ego so he can feel good about himself.
Also extreme overuse of the phrase full stop.

2 people found this helpful

Repetitive

I usually enjoy Sarah MacLean’s writing and this was ok but a bit repetitive. The hero is unworthy again and again and again ! The first in the series was better, and I will give the third a try but stayed tuned!

Enjoyed it, but…

I enjoyed the story and the interwoven science of the Fallen Angels! But, the narration by Justine Eyre is lacking. More MJW, PLEASE!