Fun Book. Okay Narration

This was a fun book. After the first 14% struggle I pushed on an am glad I did.

I really liked Sophie and Alex together. Sophie especially, she was strong, smart, witty, and didn't take any crap. Alex was handsome and strong. They made a good match.

The story line and plot was good. I liked the spy plot and the little bit of mystery going on. There was a lot of dialogue throughout the entire book. I really liked a lot of the secondary characters like Evie and Mirabelle.

As for the narration, it was good. Carmen Rose is growing on me. She does a decent job with the men's voices and the cockney accents of the servants. She could work on the emotion part and her reading voice is a bit flat. She is much better than some narrators.

9 people found this helpful

Good book, ok narration..

To start with, I love books about spies in historical novels and when there are two of them and they don’t know about the other it makes it twice as much fun. I was just hoping when the book started that it wouldn’t drag out until the end of the story before they found out about each other. And it didn’t but it was so surprising when the final story came out about the spying that it was too funny for words.

Alex and Sophie were simply awesome together but she sure had some strange ideas near the end of the book. Sophie loved Alex but when he told her he loved her she ran to their room and locked him out. When she tried to explain to him why that was wrong it didn’t make a bit of sense. I mean it all worked out but I could have done without the author writing something so silly and nonsensical.

There was quite a bit of sexual tension in this book, which was nice, and one sex scene at about 75% of the story. And no swearing.

As to the narration: Carmen Rose is usually a miss with me but I keep trying. Her men’s voices could be better and when she does do a decent job it’s like she forgets when she’s doing a man’s voice, and there he goes sounding like a woman. She does have a nice reading voice and she does read with emotions sometimes but she still needs to practice and listen to some of the better narrators to learn a few things, like Amy McFadden, Ashford McNab, Kate Rudd, Mary Jane Wells, Sophie Eastlake, just to name a few. Ms. Rose could be excellent but she’s not yet.

6 people found this helpful

Good but....

I got this book because it was only rated 'flirty' so I didn't think it would be overly sexual. For the most part I did really enjoy this book, the narrator was a delight to listen to, I really liked how she had a British accent since this book had an aristocrat bent to it. However, the one sex scene it did have was very graphic, I just wanted to leave this review in case anyone thought like I did and is sensitive to graphic love scenes.

3 people found this helpful

Enjoyable!

So.... I've given some thought into how to describe this book and I think I can .... it is as if someone (the author) had a incredible tale to tell but there was so much to it that the task was often overwhelming. It wasn't a matter of choosing words to create a story but rather trying to choose which of the stories many words to sort of sum it up. Some details got lost or temporarily misplaced, and some where just jumbled out of order. In the end it all made sense and coalesced into a solid story. I guess it was like listening to a story where the details were being pulled in from a storm and quickly relayed in the best assemblage possible.

If that made sense then you'll enjoy this book. It's a regency romance with a little confusion but a lot of fun.

Carmen Rose did an excellent job narrating. I highly recommend you listen to a snippet or two as the way she delivers is unique in its cadence but I've never minded it at all. For this book it's a perfect fit.

Heat Factor, lots of chemistry and steam but only a single real sex scene and it was tasteful.

Creditworthy? I say yes.

3 people found this helpful

don't waste your time

What could have made this a 4 or 5-star listening experience for you?

It was not well written. The dialogue was silly and there were a lot of details that didn't go anywhere. Half way through it is revealed that the heroine's twin sister was killed in an accident. I am not sure what the need for the death of a twin is, as it does not seem to have any effect on the heroine, or at least nothing that is identified.
There is just no character development, so everything the h/h do seems to come out of nowhere.

What could Alissa Johnson have done to make this a more enjoyable book for you?

This book is like a high school creative writing exercise. A lot of disjointed scenes. Why does the heroine need to have knives strapped to her legs? why is she training in martial arts? How can the heroine just go around picking locks and searching rooms all the time without anyone finding her? The hero wants to marry the heroine,but does not bother to discuss it or ask her, even though they are always alone together ( still not sure how this is happening so often in a regency era novel). It is just a series of slapstick.

How could the performance have been better?

If the book was better then the performance would have been worthy. It was stupid dialogue, so the narrator had nothing to work with.

You didn’t love this book... but did it have any redeeming qualities?

No . Everything in the book has been done and much better. If you want good dialogue, read Garwood or kleypas. If you want a funny story with odd characters, then it's Elizabeth hoyt and if you want something with spies, then Elizabeth cole's zodiac series.
This was a waste of time and money.

Any additional comments?

no pointNothing more to add

1 person found this helpful

Lovely romance

This is a lovely light hearted romance with a bit of action on the side .. over all good and with a superb narrator

An entertaining, well-done regency romp!

I loved this story! Independent-minded, quick-witted, and thoroughly likeable world traveler, Sophie, meets her match. Of English birth, Sophie has spent the majority of her life away from her homeland, traveling with her father and her governess-turned-companion. She returns to England for her first Season in London, where she is immediately recruited for a spying mission on behalf of the Prince regent, due to her possession of some unique skills, which include lock picking and knife throwing. The Duke of Rockforte, Alex, is an established agent of the crown. With a reputation as a rake and having publicly declared that he has no intention of marrying for several more years, he knows that despite his attraction the beautiful and outspoken Sophie, he cannot think of her as anything other than an assignment. He has been instructed to get close to her in order to investigate Sophie's dishonest, scheming cousin, who is suspected of being a traitor to the Crown.

Sophie has no idea that her cousin is being investigated for treason, but has instead uncovered that her cousin has been slowly divesting her and her father of their fortune and properties. She discovers a document in her cousin's study that states that Sophie will lose the family's country home if she does not marry by the age of 25, an age that is quickly approaching. Despite Sophie's developing feelings for Alex, she knows she must look for a man she can marry quickly, and therefore should distance herself from the Duke, who appears to want nothing more than a dalliance with her. With the help of her friends, she sets to work playing the role of a flirty, simpering debutante in order to secure a proper husband as soon as possible, all the while also using the social events she attends to investigate men on her list of suspected traitors. However, Alex will do whatever it takes to drive away Sophie's flock of admirers as he finds himself falling for her. As Sophie's 25th birthday approaches, she and Alex find themselves in a dangerous situation that reveals their roles for the Crown, threatens their reputations and their lives, and will ultimately uncover unexpected secrets that bring Sophie and Alex together.

This entertaining and enjoyable story had likable characters, believable romance, and many laugh out loud moments. I enjoyed the witty banter between both the main characters, Sophie and Alex, as well as the supporting characters, especially Alex's friend Whit and Sophie's friend Mirabelle. The performance was well-done and the story was paced perfectly. This was a story that could have been quite predictable, but the author threw in some twists that I never would have anticipated and which also sets the premise for additional books in this series.

dull reading. story goes around the block.

Said it in the title; little heat to add interest. I think it may be time for me to read some good literature. This did not appeal, even with a decent story set up.

1 person found this helpful