Breathless

House of Rohan Series, Book 3

By: Anne Stuart

Narrated by: Susan Ericksen

Length: 11 hrs and 28 mins

Publisher's summary

Ruined beyond repair and shunned by London society, lovely Miranda Rohan rebelliously embraces the freedom that comes from having nothing left to lose. However, this dangerous course throws her under the power of the darkly enigmatic Lucien de Malheur - known to many as the Scorpion. Seeking to destroy the Rohans, Lucien traps Miranda in a marriage she thinks is based on friendship but instead is rooted in vengeance. Yet even when she realizes the truth, their enmity fuels a shocking passion---and perhaps even more. Such a man might drive anyone to murder.

Pay another visit to the House of Rohan.

©2010 Anne Kristine Stuart Ohlrogge (P)2011 Tantor

Unbalanced...the book ...and the hero

I gotta start by saying that I love romances where the hero does something villainous or as*holish and then gets the retribution from the heroine at the end. This book is 90% there, the hero is truly terribly villainous and does horrendous things to the heroine, which makes for a very delicious romance novel drama, and Anne Stuart is soo good at that.... but then at the end it's like Anne Stuart got tired and decided to let a fraternity dude finish the book (right after the orgy scene when the heroine went to sleep, I think so did Anne Stuart). The ending is rushed and botched and makes the whole book so disappointing. I mean the hero does criminal and disgusting things to the heroine and what's his retribution: he gets a bump on the head and grudgingly admits he loves her! Is that it????? He paid a man to KIDNAP AND RAPE her and all he has to do is say I love you and all is forgiven???!!WTF? His penance definitely doesn't fit his crimes (most of them actual legal crimes btw) and that makes the book lopsided and frustrating. After the emotional and so dramatically written orgy scene, she admits how deeply she feels hurt and betrayed by him and then 2 minutes later forgives him and gives him a blow job, I nearly fell of my chair in anger...
Of course if you think about what happens in this book in term of real life, Lucien belongs in an institution for the criminally insane, he's 1. a serious danger to others 2. has committed terrible crimes (didn't anyone notice that little tidbit how as a boy he killed a man for stomping on his pet scorpion...insane much?) and 3. he could really benefit from some intense mental therapy for dealing with terrible trauma that happened to him as a boy.

Overall I would say to Anne Stuart: "please rewrite the ending and give our heroine some real retribution and emotional penance to the hero to make the book well balanced and this will be a great dramatic emotional romance novel! And what else can we ask for?!"

Also, if you are seriously sensitive to rape scenes, this book is not for you...there's a lot of that here.... I mean Anne S. tries really hard to present the sexual experience of h and h as seduction ...but in real life that would be rape... I mean after being forced into abduction and consistently threatening her that she WILL have sex with him, which she herself admits on numerous occassion she doesnt like or want, he says "open the buttons of your clothes or I will do it for you" ... I would say yeah, she was coerced!!

Love

On of my all time favs. Story and narrator! You can never go wrong with this combination.
Three more words :)

Good but not the Best

I did really enjoy listening to this installment of the House of Rohan. However, I found it hard to relate to the two main characters. The main male character didn't seem as sensual as in the ones in the previous books. Also, the leading female character didn't seem to have much personality. It was somewhat entertaining but not as good as the others.

Great journey, abrupt end

I loved the Lucien as the devilish 'Scorpion' and Miranda as a feisty little Rohan challenging him every step if the way. Both were great characters and I would've loved to see more of them. But it just ended. Sort of ...abruptly. It didn't really feel purposeful. More like an online manga ran out of chapters so you look up the next release date and find out the series got discontinued. I mean the journey was fun, but a dissatisfying ending like that just leaves a bad taste.
I've come to accept that Anne Stuart will always have a secondary romance in her books that depend on insta-love to happen. I was kinda disappointed Jane didn't show more backbone in the end, but I suppose that's what happens when you squeeze in a random romance. No time for proper character development.
I'm still highly addicted to these torrid Gothic romances with feisty heroines meeting handsome, wicked lords. But I am beginning to see less and less magic as I progress thru the series.

Grandpa, son and granddaughter Rohan....

I have liked this series, this is the third and the fourth is in the wish list. The Rohans have a wild streak that has continued down the family line, loved the narration but I hear Eve Dallas if I listen closely.

Good Story….

Yes he treats her bad for revenge - but, she tortured him just as much! I don’t get the bad reviews - ITS MAKE BELIEVE GUYS 🙄

Take the Summary Seriously!

I’m still trying to process this one. I was probably more addicted to this one even slightly more than I was with the preceding two books in the series. The banter and back and forth between the two characters playing off one another and trying to thwart the other was pretty darn great! On the other hand, I couldn’t condone most of Lucien’s morals and motivations and I had to work to keep reminding myself to suspend my belief that Miranda could still love someone who didn’t bat an eye at potentially murdering someone from her family and who actively and intentionally worked to make her miserable (at least intermittently). I define love as wanting to do good for others. But Lucien frequently did not seem to want good things for Miranda and I was torn between hoping for them to come together, or wanting her to move on and run away. Mainly I just wanted Lucien to wake up and snap out of his maliciousness. He has a near-FATAL case of denial. As far as love-hate stories go, this one is pretty extreme, and yet, for the most part was also entertaining. The last scene in this book was so surprising… and I’m still not quite sure how I feel about it. Essentially it’s a happy ending. (In reality I think this couple would need a lot of counseling – but the next book lets us know they get on well.)

However, I really enjoyed the book from beginning until almost the end, and I laughed multiple times. This might be the funniest of the four books because of some of the ridiculous things that Miranda says when she’s attempting to taunt Lucien! I still recommend this one. It is an interesting and overall fun story once I shrugged off my minor qualms. Additionally, one of those qualms is the messages about/definitions of rape presented in the story. I’m pretty sure Miranda’s experience qualifies as rape. Also, it can be rape even if the victim climaxes.

Just know, that when the summary says that Lucien is out for vengeance, they ain’t jokin’! Holy moly, he holds on to that motive (frustratingly) for the WHOLE book. We as readers/listeners can tell well before Lucien can, that he cares about Miranda, but the author’s dedication to making Lucien’s character cling to these revenge motives ultimately impedes and hampers both his character’s development and that of the main relationship. However, it also creates some memorable and pretty amazing situations and dialogue, so… It sort of pays off? But I can’t help but wish that at 2/3 of the way through he would’ve had his personal breakthrough and there would’ve been a little less emotional manipulation in favor of his embracing the joy of being in love.

Susan Ericksen is wonderful and I almost didn’t want it to end so that I could keep listening to her. Her voice/accents for the sexy thief were my favorite!! Incidentally, I was very intrigued by the secondary love story between Miranda’s friend and the king of thieves, and while it was a happy ending, I was disappointed that their story wasn’t more fleshed out.

Overall I can recommend this one with some hesitance about the main character being both rather fascinating and sarcastically awesome… but also warped.

Reformed villian

Would you consider the audio edition of Breathless to be better than the print version?

Definitely. Narrator was awesome.

Who was your favorite character and why?

Miranda

What about Susan Ericksen’s performance did you like?

Excellent in every way

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

Yes

Any additional comments?

If you're the type that expects a knight in shining armor hero this is not for you. But for those of us that like a very dark hero, or every now and then wish the villian and heroine would fall in love, this book is perfect. It's a roller coaster ride, that will have you laughing your head off, chearing Miranda on, crying for her, hating Lucien, then loving him, and throughout wanting to shake some sense into them both. At some points I hit rock bottom thinking there is no way this is going to turn out well b/c Lucien is truly a creep, but in the end, wow. Anne Stuart nailed it. Loved Reckless but Breathless is something else entirely! (Oh and the narrator made it that much better!)

Best So Far But...

This book is something else. AS books are very well written. The character of Lucien is beyond jaded, he is almost unredeemable. Miranda, I love her strong determined character, but to me she is too forgiving. Either way, I think you will enjoy this book.

Susan Ericksen, what can I say, FANTASTIC.

Unredeemable awful hero

Anne Stuart can write fantastic books but unfortunately, none of them are on my keepers shelf. As good as they are, there are always some elements that don’t work for me. In this series, in particular, it’s her liking for ugly heroines and gorgeous heroes, poor ladies are very aware of their plain looks and can’t believe their luck when gentlemen notice them...ugly ducklings with low self esteem is not my favourite romantic theme.
And of course, there is a hero, in this case, cold, emotionally unavailable and highly manipulative villain. His only redeeming quality is ability to sweet talk the heroine into bed and keep her there with his amazing love making skills. He has done a lot of awful things to her but the final straw was the orgy.....with all that cruelty how could they have a happy end?

All in all, it was ok read but I am glad I didn’t have to use the credit as I will never listen to this book again.