Autumn Lover

By: Elizabeth Lowell

Narrated by: Laural Merlington

Length: 10 hrs and 59 mins

Publisher's summary

Returning to her Wyoming ranch at the Civil War's end, Elyssa Sutton finds it picked bare by scavengers and coveted by determined men. Yet the proud young woman vows never again to abandon her Ruby Mountain home - though it means enlisting the aid of a dark and dangerous stranger who lives for revenge alone.

Hunter Maxwell has suffered from the savagery of outlaws and the faithlessness of a woman. And he will trust no female - nor will he rest until the raiders who destroyed his family pay for their crimes.

A woman in need, a man in pain, in fury and fire they must now stand as one - to fight for something cherished, something lost...and for a passion neither dreamed could live.

©2007 Elizabeth Lowell (P)2007 Brilliance Audio, Inc.

Critic reviews

"Hunter and Elyssa's story draws to a satisfying finish that makes it a good bet for Lowell fans and western romance aficionados." ( Publishers Weekly)

My Thoughts

Loved it, easily got swept away by the characters and their story, felt left behind when it ended lol, like my friends were moving away.

It's a risk.

The characters are somewhat ambiguous sometimes, one can't be sure if the heroine is an easy floozy or an innocent young woman by some of the remarks made and behavior exhibited when the story begins. It was a little confusing at first, and it was difficult to like either the heroine or the hero. Eventually they redeem themselves and become somewhat entertaining, though it is not a great love story.

Very good

Loved the book, interesting story and place. liked the her iron the hero was less likeable, but he came around.

Another Poorly Narrated Mediocre Book

I seem to be on a self-imposed bad streak of selecting mediocre books with inappropriate/incompetent narrators that destroy what little merit the books had
to begin with. Such is the case with Autumn Lover. The female narrator trying to
do the main male character's voice in this book is plain terrible. I can't even
think of a way to describe how his voice sounds--it is not pleasant to listen to.
The romance storyline is almost funny; and would be if it weren't intended as
serious. In sum, I wouldn't give this audiobook as a gift , even to someone
I disliked.

All romance lost by the reader

The reader did a horrible man’s voice, very irritating. The story was ok but so frustrating.

When read by a man...

This book wasn’t for you, but who do you think might enjoy it more?

Less men being mean to women for exactly zero reason

What do you think your next listen will be?

Later work by Lowell to see if they are better. I seem to recall liking her at some point. Maybe it was when I was younger and more full of self loathing.

Did Laural Merlington do a good job differentiating all the characters? How?

Significantly better than R. Ferrone, who reads some of the others in the series. Also, she doesn't mispronounce "tarpaulin" every five seconds.

If you could play editor, what scene or scenes would you have cut from Autumn Lover?

The ones where the male character repeatedly verbally abuses a woman he does not know at all.

Any additional comments?

Well, there wasn't any actual rape... Redeemable.

Not really worth it

I generally like Elizabeth Lowell stories, so I don't understand what happened. I had no empathy for the hero, Hunter, who seemed to be a woman hater. He didn't change his mind even when he saw how the heroine, Elyssa, didn't fit his stereotyping, and up until the last minute was dead set against her. I don't even understand what it was that changed his mind about her.

I didn't understand why Elyssa put up with Hunter's verbal & emotional abuse. She seemed numb as a post - not brave - frequently going into "enemy territory" and risking her life on purpose.

I gave this story two stars because the reader was OK and because I chose to listen to the whole thing. If it was too much, I probably would have stopped before it was over. Maybe I just wanted to see if Lowell would turn it around.

Mixed Bag for Me

The story had so much promise! A few glaring issues for me that prevented me from thoroughly enjoying it. First, I though the narrator did a great job with the female characters but not so much with the hero and his brother. The Hero's voice sounded so reedy and old. It did not fit with the image of him presented by the story. Also, the hero (Hunter) was a total jerk. I held on hoping for some redemption but it never arrived. Hunter had a big chip on his shoulder and he took it out on women. The Heroine was brave when it came to defending her ranch but she was a total doormat for Hunter. It was frustrating to see her just moon over him despite the horrible way he talked to her and about her.