Anonymous

Silly and depressing

Reviewed: 12-28-18

I had high hopes for Audrey Harrison after listening to The Captains Wall Flower, but the last two stories have been complete let downs. This book started out well , but towards the middle became overly dramatic and soap operaesk ridiculous. This is not a light hearted humorous book. It is sad, dark, and with a hint of sexual assault. Things never go well for the couple in society. They are continually ridiculed, people are just mean spirited, and they possibly lose everything in the end. However, it is left unanswered, I'm sure so you will read the second book to find out. I would not recommend this book to a friend.

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My favorite part was when the story was over

Reviewed: 05-05-18

I do not like stories where the man is so captivated by a woman's beauty, that he thinks of nothing else. He really had nothing else to admire about her, such as, she was well read, or that she enjoyed visiting museums, or that she did charitable works, or she was a strong and independent woman, or anything other than she was, "beautiful and vibrant and had a pleasant form" . It really made him seem shallow to me.

She, on the hand, could not get over how handsome he was not. He was not handsome enough for her, and she thought he was boring, probably because he didn't falter her enough, at first. It wasn't until he started telling her how beautiful she was, that she started to have a little positive feeling towards him. She couldn't see the good man that he truly was, because she couldn't get past his lack of a handsome face, which goes on through most of the book. Her ideals of a good marriage, are to have a handsome and exciting husband, who adores her. How childish.

There was very little depth to her character. There were a few glimpses, but that's it, glimpses. Sure she thought the baby was cute, what woman doesn't love a baby. And true, she felt bad for her cousin, but what normal person wouldn't feel sorrow for a couple who experienced that kind of loss.

All in all, the book lacked depth, to me. There wasn't enough to make the Duke love her as deeply as he did, other than, he thought she was hot. There wasn't anything to admire about Charlotte through most of the book, she was shallow, immature, had nothing of her own, no strength, no intelligent inner voice, just a flat character.

The narrator did a horrible job in Charlotte 's voice. She sounded like a five year old in a child's audio book, which I'm sure only made her childishness stand out even more . Like I said my favorite part, is when the story ended.

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3 people found this helpful

Not my favorite of this series

Reviewed: 03-27-18

I found Harriett to be very annoying. She was hateful from the start to Mr. Jamison, which caused me to wonder what he saw in her, other than her beauty. She disliked everything about the man, and everything he did annoyed her. She came off as a whiny, immature, high school girl, who wanted this man to worship her, and be perfect and romantic toward her, even though she treated him horribly. In stories like these, where the characters hate each other, are annoyed by the other, and don't like who the other person is in general, it makes me wonder where the real love, emotions, and attraction is, other than physical appearance. If a man isn't who you want him to be, then just move on to someone who is. Quit whining and feeling so sorry for yourself, especially when you haven't given him any reason to treat you in a romantic way.

I was very disappointed, because I wanted Harriett to be a strong Elizabeth Bennet type of character. I enjoyed the glimpses of her in the previous books, but this was a huge let down for me. I found little to admire in her. She had so much self-pitty, it was just obnoxious. I felt sorry for Mr. Jamison, and I found myself wanting to warn him to run away as fast as he could. She seemed so self absorbed, as if she would be very hard to keep happy, and that he would be walking on eggshells for the rest of his life. She was so worried about her happiness and what she wanted, and gave little regard to who he was, or what would make him happy.

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2 people found this helpful

Not my favorite

Reviewed: 01-16-18

I was really hoping this would be a good listen, but it just fell flat for me. I had a hard time getting into the story the first 8 or 9 chapters. I had to keep going over and relistening to it again. However, I think this is due to the narrator, not the story. The narrator sounded as if she was deliberately trying to lower her voice, which made it sound straind, especially at the end of a sentence and when saying her h's and r's. It made the story fall flat. I think she could have put more inflection, and there for, more life to the story, if she wasn't straining her voice. I think I would have liked it better had I read it myself.

The story itself was good. I liked the back-and-forth banter between the hero and heroine. There was a little bit of mystery and danger for our hero, but it didn't go to far over to the darkside, and didn't take away from the romance of the story. Overall it was a good, lighthearted, humorous at times, typical Mr. Darcy and Elizabeth stubborness, type romace. I would have rather heard it read by Liz Pearce or Sarah Zimmerman. I recommend buying the book and reading it yourself, as opposed to paying more money for the audio book

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An enjoyable and amusing story with great narration

Reviewed: 10-04-17

This is one of the best audio books I've listened to. Lucy Paterson's narration is perfect! The story is charming, with bits of humor throughout. Many times I found myself laughing out lound! This is my favorite book in the fair child series, and I've listened to it at least 10 times. Sophie is a sweet girl who doesn't really have a place in high society, because she is born out of wedlock. Tom is a strong and stubborn man of trade, and refuses to fit into the uppity social class. When Sophie unexpectedly shows up on Tom's door step, he tries to evade her and his feelings for her. However, Sophie needs to win Tom over so he won't divulge her societal faux pas. So, in true romance fashion, Tom reluctantly finds himself falling for Sophie, and she with him. Their sarcastic humors and quick wits pair perfectly with each other. Jasper, the brother, is hilarious, and I enjoyed his story in, "Courting Scandal". I recommend the whole series. The stories never drag, and Lucy Paterson gives the right amount of inflection to keep a listener absorbed in the story.

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This book was okay

Reviewed: 10-04-17

I liked the story until the last few chapters. I liked the interaction of the hero and heroine in the beginning, but towards the end of the book the story started to drag and almost became ridiculous. I found myself just wanting to skip to the end just to get it over with. It was disappointing, because the story started out so well.

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Too much death and violence

Reviewed: 08-07-17

I liked the book, "A Name Unknown" so much that I wanted to try another book by this author. Unfortunately I DID NOT like this story. It was very dark, with no real surprises on who the villains are. I thought there might be a twist, which is the only reason I finished the book, but there was not. I don't feel that the book ended well for anyone other than the hero and heroine. There was room for other characters to find happiness or love, but no. One character in particular I was hopping would see the misguided way he was trying to help, but at the end she turned him into such an evil horrible person, I couldn't root for him any longer. Also, why did there have to be so much death? And shouldn't people turn good? I mean, it's a fantasy. There may be true evil people of the world in reality, but I think we read stories to escape the dark and evil of the world. I wish this would have been more inspirational, like, "A Name Unknown" . I wish that those who had pain and suffering in their lives could have found God and faith and been freed of their suffering and turned out to do good and be good. That's what I want in a novel, for people to be freed from evil, turn to God, and find happiness. I want to walk away from a book feeling lifted, inspired, not sad over so much loss for the characters. If I want violence, death, and cruel, evil people, I'll just watch the news.

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1 person found this helpful

Sweet and charming stories

Reviewed: 08-03-17

I really enjoyed the last two stories. They were very sweet. The first story , "A Happy Accident" ,felt a little rushed, but it is a novella. I am wondering if a novel will follow the first story, though. It felt as if it was being left open to further the story. I would be happy to read more detail of Maryann and Jonathan's story, if a novel comes out for Archie and Maryann's sister 💜

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Great narration and a wonderful story

Reviewed: 07-31-17

I loved this book, so much so, I preordered the second book in the series as soon as I finished this one. This is a lovely, inspirational story of faith, love, and forgiveness. Not only forgiving others, but also being able to forgive yourself, and accept a greater future than what you feel you deserve. I loved the heroine and the hero of the story. The chemistry between them was a perfect balance of humor and love. I laughed out loud several times when listening to their interactions with each other. Even though it is a long story, I never felt as if it draged, or that I wanted to skip through any of it. The supporting characters are funny, and add real life depth to the main characters and their struggles. This book immediately became one of my favorites, and I've listened to it several times already. I really liked the narrator's take on the story. I feel she gave the right mix of emotions in her voice and added humor where humor was needed. I don't normally give a review on narrators, but so often i find they can make a book sound dry and flat. This narrator, however, did a great job, and I'd like to hear her in other books. I highly recommend this book to anyone.

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3 people found this helpful