Duke of Midnight

Maiden Lane

By: Elizabeth Hoyt

Narrated by: Claudia Harris

Length: 11 hrs and 17 mins

Publisher's summary

Nominated, RT Book Reviews, Best Historical Romance, 2012

When a masked man…

Twenty years ago Maximus Batten witnessed the brutal murders of his parents. Now the autocratic Duke of Wakefield, he spends his days ruling Parliament. But by night, disguised as the Ghost of St. Giles, he prowls the grim alleys of St. Giles, ever on the hunt for the murderer. One night he finds a fiery woman who meets him toe-to-toe-and won't back down…

Meets his match…

Artemis Greaves toils as a lady's companion, but hiding beneath the plain brown serge of her dress is the heart of a huntress. When the ghost of St. Giles rescues her from footpads, she recognizes a kindred spirit-and is intrigued. She's even more intrigued when she realizes who exactly the notorious ghost is by day…

Desire ignites a dangerous passion.

Artemis makes a bold move: she demands that Maximus use his influence to free her imprisoned brother—or she will expose him as the ghost. But blackmailing a powerful duke isn't without risks. Now that she has the tiger by the tail, can she withstand his ire—or the temptation of his embrace?

©2013 Elizabeth Hoyt (P)2013 Hachette Audio

Critic reviews

"Beautifully written . . . a truly fine piece of storytelling and a novel that deserves to be read and enjoyed."—TheBookBinge.com

A retelling of . . . Batman?

Read from October 19 to 25, 2013

3.75 stars (book)
4 stars (narrator)

Claudia Harris is a better narrator than the one who read the previous book, but she's no Ashford McNab.

I liked this book . . . and I didn't like this book. I loved both of the main characters, Maximus and Artemis, from their appearances in other books in the series; and, while, in the beginning of the book (and in the previous book) I could sense chemistry and romantic tension between them, it very quickly dissipated and became a story about two people who shouldn't have been together.

Or maybe they should---but not because there was a deep sense of true love between them. That's just how ambivalent I feel about the relationship between them.

I've read plenty of historical romance novels that are retellings of fairy tales, but I've never read one that's a retelling of a superhero story---and this lacked only someone comparing Maximus to a bat out loud. It wasn't even thinly veiled--he even had a "bat cave" workout room in the cellar of his town house.

When he was 14, his parents were murdered in front of him in the "bad part of town" after the opera and he's now spent the rest of his (very privileged, wealth-filled) life seeking revenge on the person who murdered his parents---to the point at which he finds someone who takes him in and trains him to become the Ghost of St. Giles---a man who "haunts" the bad part of town (St. Giles) and protects the innocent while trying to clean up the crime, which he sees as fueled mainly by gin. Why gin? Because he hid behind a barrel of it when watching his parents being murdered and associates the smell of gin with that memory, so, obviously gin must have been the reason why they were murdered, right?

No. They were murdered because his mother had figured out the identity of Old Scratch, a "highwayman" (is he really a highwayman if he hunts in an urban area?) who robbed and murdered in St. Giles because he needed the money and because he enjoyed it. Didn't have anything to do with gin.

Artemis is the longsuffering companion of Lady Penelope, whom we've seen and been annoyed by throughout the Maiden Lane series, allowing us to have plenty of sympathy for Artemis before we even knew anything about her. She's had plenty of bad stuff happen to her in her life, which would have broken many weaker-willed women, but it's made her stronger and, surprisingly independent. She's a strong woman, but with vulnerabilities, and I did like that about her.

So there are these two characters that I really like. And I love stories when the woman who's been kept or pushed down through no fault of her own gets a Cinderella-style happy ending. So why didn't this one work for me?

Well . . . I felt like she could have done better than Maximus---at least in the way that Maximus treats her when she finally gives herself to him. He tells her that even if he sleeps with her, he will not offer her marriage---he still plans to marry Artemis's twit of a cousin, Lady Penelope. He even uses that against her when she makes him mad at one point, talking about how his mother's emeralds will look beautiful on Penelope when she becomes the duchess. Throughout the story, he continues to deny her hope that they might end up together. It's not until the end of the book, when Artemis almost dies--because of him and his vendetta--that he decides to marry her because he can't live without her.

And the way his vendetta is resolved . . . that was just weak.

So, again, I'm a bit ambivalent about this book. I didn't dislike it as much as one of the other books in this series, but it's also not the best book in the series.

I can't wait for Apollo's book, which should be next, since he had viewpoint scenes in this book. My dream 'ship for him is with Phoebe, Maximus and Hero's little sister.

Superb series. Excellent narrator.

Excellent in every way. Characters have passion and personality

Narrator is very good at giving each character a distinctive voice making it easy to follow along with who is talking.

We have an actual Maiden!

Audio-book: Narrator - Claudia Harris

Not my favorite narration of the series by far, but much better than the last. I struggled with a few of the voices she did that seemed too over the top or just not right for the character as I portrayed them. And I realize there are a ton of characters each needing a distinctive voice but I’m rating based on my enjoyment of the voices and this one just didn’t quite do it.

I was not a fan of Maximus prior to this story and to be honest it took me quite a bit of time into this book before I even began to like him a tiny little bit. However, once I realized what he was hiding at the core of his being I totally got it. Then as I was exposed to his passion for Artemis I couldn’t help but fall even further in love with him. I actually think he might be one of my favorite heroes at this point.

My heart hurt for Artemis because at this time and era she didn’t have many options and I wanted her to find her happy ever after so badly. And guess what??? She was actually a maiden!!! Although, not really related to anything on Maiden Lane but I’m not going to nitpick it. I was just so freaking happy about it. Perhaps that’s why I enjoyed this one so much more.

The narrator is great but not Ashford McNab

I just want to put this bc I don't want people to skip this bc a lot of the reviews say the narrator is bad. She's really not. It's just Ashford McNab did books 1-4 then Emma Taylor narrated book 5. It's just jarring to have a different narrator in a series once you become used to one voice. Claudia Harris did a good job. The sex scenes were a little off for me bc there was some dirty talk that came off awkward. Really though just all audiobook producers should understand-Once you hire a narrator to do a series, make sure that narrator can do an entire long series if necessary. It is important. People get attached and the listening experienced is really compromised when it has to change.

Duke of Midnight Maiden Lane Book 6

It has been for an exciting and entertaining book having seen what a classical historical novel and it is also a standalone because apart from that it is continuation of another couples life and struggle. Lady who as lost her family and only for her only brother to be charged with murdering his friends. As time gone by she made to serve as companion for cousin. She fall for the Duke and she decided to used him to get her brother out. After all they came to grow from been one another enemy to lighting each other on fire. Their love was such that become a thing that made him see that money and titled is not all when the one he loved is no longer there for him. Seeing her death before his eyes made him to know that life is not worth living.

This one didn't work for me

Although I've loved just about everything else E. Hoyt has written, this novel seemed very different from the others. It didn't feel like it should be part of the Maiden Lane series. The way Maximus spoke to Artemis was so melodramatic it distracted me and took me out of the story. It might not be the narrator's fault since the writing called for it. My all-time Hoyt favorite is Scandalous Desires, with Mickey O'Connor and Silence Hollingbrook. BTW, I e-mailed Hatchette Audio to ask why Ashford MacNab isn't narrating these books anymore, and they said they couldn't comment on contractual issues. I ran across the fact that Ashford M. has a pseudonym, Polly Lee--just found 25 books on Audible!

WOW !!!! A MUST READ

What an amazing book. The book was suspenseful and full of twists as well as passion. I have enjoyed all of the books in the series, although they are not marked as such when doing a search. This book, however, is my favorite in the ghost of St. Giles series. I can not recommend this book enough. I wish I could have rated it a ten. The narration is also very good. Don’t hesitate in purchasing. A++++++++

Good Story..narrator not so much

Any additional comments?

I wish the publisher would stop changing the narrators...Ms McNab or if not her Ms Susan Duerden would have been the perfect narrator for this one, as it is, I couldn't concentrate on the story, my mind kept drifting off to something else. The reader can't capture some of the emotions that Ms Mcnab does or especially Ms. Duerden can. Plus sometimes characters in the story would sound the same. Ugh,,I wish they would re-do this it would be great to listen to it over again. I'll probably just get the book and read it myself.

Great Series- they are all my favorites.

I am really enjoying this series. Each book I read is my new favorite. I decided to review this one, because I especially liked Artemis and how she went after the man she wanted, consequences be damned. I enjoy Hoyt's stories and this series has been fun so far. The next two books in the series are a reread for me, but it has been awhile and I like to read them in order. Looking forward to seeing what other characters we have met that will have their own book as the series progresses. Definitely worth a credit!

Good Story with Just "Ok" Narration

This was definitely the weakest of the narrators in the series . . . too bad because the storyline is very good. I completely agree with the reviews that state the narrator sounds angry all the time. She practically barks every line the Duke utters. Certainly some situations called for it but mostly the narrator's attempts to make him stern just came across as inappropriately angry. The love story itself was heartfelt and I'm sure in the hands of Ashford McNab I would have enjoyed it more. Still, if you've listened to the series, you definitely don't want to miss this story.