A Game of Hearts

By: Joanna Barker

Narrated by: Janna Fox

Length: 11 hrs and 16 mins

Publisher's summary

If you can't join them, beat them.

Marigold Cartwell has only one goal: to defeat her long-time rival on the archery field. She knows she can outshoot irritating, cynical Tristan Gates, but the local bowmen’s society—the one he belongs to—refuses to allow women to compete. Spurred on by their rejection, Marigold decides to start a new society. Naturally, it has only one rule: no men.

Tristan Gates is used to Marigold Cartwell always getting her way, so he is far from surprised when she forms her own society. He knows how relentless she can be. It's something he learned firsthand facing her at the targets. But Tristan has enough worries of his own what with his bachelor uncle falling in love with a fortune hunter. He has no time to entertain Marigold’s ambitions.

However, after a visit to the seashore ends in disaster—and scandal—Marigold and Tristan soon realize how little they know about each other. The strained tension between them quickly turns to simmering attraction, but an important archery competition looms ahead. Lines are drawn all around them with Marigold and Tristan on opposite sides and neither can afford to lose. Yet winning might be the very thing to tear them apart.

©2022 Joanna Barker (P)2023 Joanna Barker

Very enjoyable.

The narrator did a good job with all voices. The author did a good job of bringing the characters to life.

Absolutely wonderful!!!!!! A must read and a must listen to!

This book! Such an incredible enemies/rivals to more story! It is an all time favorite that I’m completely head over heels in love with! This is a book that I wanted to start all over again right after I finished reading it!

When the audiobook came out I knew that I needed to listen to it!!! I enjoyed it so much! The narrator is fantastic and I was swept away into the regency era right along with Tristan and Marigold! The story really came alive for me and I loved hearing it read in a British accent! The narrator also did all of the voices so well. I was very impressed with the male voices! Sometimes they’re hard to get right, but Janna Fox did a fantastic job!

This is the most amazing story full of competition, witty banter, character growth, attraction, chemistry, the swooniest kisses that’ll melt you into a puddle, and the sweetest relationship that grows and changes through out the story which was a joy to watch! I love the family, the archery, the most wonderful MC’s that you will fall in love with, the romance, the gorgeous setting, the beautiful writing, and the dual point of view!

This is a must read and a must listen to for anyone who wants to be swept away into a sweet slow burn regency romance that you won’t be able to put down!

Thank you so much to the author for a gifted copy. All opinions are my own.

Amazing Clean Regency Era Romance Must listen/read

I loved this story so much. It had a lot of different aspects that kept it interesting. It is not your typical Regency romance by an means. I'd read it a while ago, and it became one of my top 3 favorites. When the audio version was made available, I knew I had to have it. I prefer to listen to books. Since I knew I loved this one after reading it, I had to listen as well!

The narrator is fantastic. I will admit that sometimes I thought her voice got a bit high and whiny. Then I paid closer attention and realized that was just for certain characters. This is a dual point of view story with a single narrator. But she doesn't amazing jo and with all of the characters, and there are quite a few that speak.

I cannot give the book and the audio narration enough stars! Please give it a try!

Joanna Barker books are dynamite 🧨

Fantastic book!
A true enemies to lovers book full of the tensions I love, and banter I desire.
Great performance from the narrator as well.
Will never miss a Joanna Barker book.
That’s it.
The end.

Loved!

I loved this story! Swoony kisses, and a great enemies to lovers trope. I will definitely be listening again!

I adored this!

I loved this fun story and the narration was enjoyable as well! The characters were great, the story was entertaining and engaging, and. The romance was perfect!

Loved this story

This was such a wonderful and engaging novel. I thoroughly enjoyed it and look forward to listening to another book by this author

Should be an automatic listen

If you like clean, well-written regency romance, this should be an automatic listen.


Romance- 10/10 Tristan and Marigold are such a good couple. Top 5 in the genre in my opinion. Their journey toward falling in love is unpredictable, heart-racing, and toe-curling. Every scene they share feels electric. It's enemies to lovers- not done right- done perfectly.

Characters- 10/10 Not just the main characters are interesting, but most of the side characters are as well. Some will surprise you, some will reassure you in their steadiness, and others will grow throughout the book. All are well-developed characters who feel like real people.

Plot- 9/10 Moves at a good pace. Archery is a big part of it, but in a good way. It never overpowered the story, rather it enhanced it. It wasn't predictable as I expected. It actually quite surprised me in a few places. I won't say more than that. Just that they're good surprises.

Narration- 9/10 Really good narration. Really good variety of voices, and very believable male voices. Added enough feeling to the narration without being too much. The audio quality was superb. I'd listen to another book of hers, based solely on my good impression from this one.

Other random thoughts- I actually read this book on Kindle when it came out, and was impatiently waiting for the audible so I could experience it again, and had the lovely pleasure of enjoying it even more with the stellar narration. The story itself is so good I couldn't wait to listen to the audio! The main couple has such good chemistry it's insane. But they truly start out disliking one another and for good reason. It's not one of those books where they just bicker and argue for no reason. But it makes it even more satisfying when they start seeing each other differently. And their first kiss... WOW. It's the kind of first kiss you don't easily forget.

Honestly, I'm rambling now, I just really really really like this book, and I hope many others find it and enjoy it as much as I have. I could probably write more but this review is probably too long already. Is anyone still reading? Hahaha. Well stop wondering, and get it already!!! You won't regret it, trust me!

It's so good!

I enjoyed every minute of this book! Finished listening in less than a day! I love Tristan and Marigold so much!

One of my favorite regency romances!

I absolutely LOVED this book!! Each character felt REAL and it was so enjoyable. Narrator did a great job as well with the dual POV :)