At the King's Command: A Novel

Tudor Rose, Book 1

By: Susan Wiggs

Narrated by: Alex Wyndham

Length: 9 hrs and 54 mins

Publisher's summary

Frustrated by his own failures at matrimony, King Henry VIII punishes an insolent nobleman by commanding him to marry the vagabond woman caught stealing his horse. Stephen de Lacey is a cold and bitter widower, long accustomed to the sovereign's capricious and malicious whims. He regards his new bride as utterly inconvenient...though undeniably fetching.

But Juliana Romanov is no ordinary thief - she is a Russian princess forced into hiding by the traitorous cabal who slaughtered her family. One day she hopes to return to Muscovy to seek vengeance.

What begins as a mockery of a marriage ultimately blossoms into deepest love.

©1994 Susan Wiggs (P)2020 HarperCollins Publishers

Excellent narrator

Bought this because of superb narrator Alex Wyndham, who brings alive this dramatic romance set in 1500s England. Intriguing story has unusual elements, including Russians, Gypsies, mechanical inventions, and asthma. Also has the more expected elements of love, loyalty, infidelity, betrayal, and murder.

struggled

I had a hard time finishing it. The story was a little predictable. Had a very hard time with the female voice.

A 10 star read.

What a wonderful author this is. If you're not looking for your generic, predictable boy meets girl story, then this is amazing. I fell in love with the characters who really came alive with the deep, beautiful rich ALEX WYNDHAM narrator . Check out LUCINDA BRANT'S ROXTON BOOKS TOO. Also read by Alex Wyndham. Her stories are also topnotch 5 star reads. Both these author's stories have everything you could want in them. Very original storylines, beautifully written, ahhh. books with wonderfully woven tapestries of words and descriptions. I felt like I was living in the story and listened all night with earphones. However I plodded about the next day mindlessly like the walking dead, even putting the teabags in the fridge.

Definitely a keeper. A good few giggles too, with the gypsies and the dog!

Enjoyed the story line

This is the first story from this author that i listened to. i like the story line and romance parts a lot. However, I find it sexually very descriptive, which is a reason for be not to read another one of the series.
The reader delievers the stories wonderfully as always.

Needing Your Alex Wyndham Fix?...

Alex Wyndham is my favorite narrator. His voice has such a lyrical, and even magical, quality to it that he (along with a few other narrators such as Nicholas Boulton and Richard Armitage) is an auto buy for me. I hardly care about the story if I can just listen to his voice.

As a result, I bought “At the King’s Command” without knowing much about it other than the plot description. A Russian princess and all the rest sounded promising, plus Alex...what’s not to like?

Unfortunately, what’s not to like is the hero, who is supposed to be tortured, but is really just a jerk. The princess is endlessly self sacrificing to the point where she became too good be to true. A hero who treats the heroine terribly, but she is still always throwing herself at him, is a let down for me. Charm and wit and nuanced period details such as you find in truly 5 star books are missing here. Content wise, the story is disappointing.

If you need your Alex Wyndham fix, this book is acceptable. He does a lovely job as always. “At the King’s Command” is better written than many historical romances, but sadly, not nearly as good as one would hope.

Good Historical Romance Fiction

I Loved Alex Wyndham's narration. His voice is sensual. This is the best book in the series.