• Desired

  • By: Nicola Cornick
  • Narrated by: Polly Lee
  • Length: 10 hrs and 20 mins
  • 3.9 out of 5 stars (171 ratings)

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Desired  By  cover art

Desired

By: Nicola Cornick
Narrated by: Polly Lee
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Publisher's summary

Teresa, Dowager Marchioness of Darent, is rumored to have exhausted her four deceased husbands with her insatiable needs. So it’s no surprise that every rake in the ton wants to bed her. If they only knew… through clever marriages to men who would ask nothing of her physical self, Tessa has remained rather innocent in the ways of the bedroom. But now she’s on the verge of losing everything and wants to take care of the stepson she’s grown to adore.

Enter Captain Owen Purchase. The handsome American adventurer has come into the title of Viscount Rothbury. And the rumors surrounding his injuries at sea suggest that he could fit Tessa’s requirements. But little does Tessa realize that the gossipmongers are wrong. She just might lose her heart, and her desires, to the most unlikely of men….

©2011 Nicola Cornick (P)2011 Audible, Inc.

What listeners say about Desired

Average customer ratings
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  • 4 out of 5 stars
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Story
  • 4 out of 5 stars
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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

On par with Lisa Kleypas

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

Lisa Kleypas is one of my favorite historical romance authors, but having read all of her books, I have been looking for someone with similar stories/style for years--well here she is! And--manna from heaven--she has a trove of books already written, although only two available on Audible. Would love to see more by Nicola Cornick on Audible.

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4 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Entertaining and educational

What did you like best about this story?

Really liked the H and H. Good character development.

Have you listened to any of Polly Lee’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

Thought the narrator was excellent. She sounded like Ashford MacNab who is one of my favorite narrators.

Any additional comments?

Freedom of speech. We have always had it, so it was shocking to really realize how one could actually be hanged for having the audicicasity to draw political cartoons.
Very good story and well done.

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3 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

Unrealistic!

"Desired" has an interesting beginning as Taresa (Tess) Darent, the Dowager Marchioness of Darent, attempts to elude raiding redcoats searching for radical reformers, by tying a sheet around her waist and slipping out the window of The Temple of Venus Brothel-- into the waiting hands of Owen Purchase, the Viscount Rothbury, who has been sent by the Home Secretary to arrest the reformers.

I began losing interest when Lady Tess's personality did not stay consistent with the bravado of the woman who eluded the Redcoats and tricked Vicount Rothbury to escape. Having the intellect to be the brains behind the reformers, she "didn't think" too many times, when making foolish decisions. Tess acts in ways that don’t make sense. She endangers herself and Owen.

The story does not flow smoothly--sometimes too many unneeded details, other times events seem to be thrown in with no foundation. Although alluded to, I thought more details about Tess’s and Tom Bradshaw’s past would have made the story more interesting.

Polly Lee has a nice voice, but she does not do male voices well. She's a good reader, but not a performer. The narrator did not have the ability to draw me into the story.

Although there were parts of "Desired" I found interesting, the story is not cohesive, so could not hold my interest.

I do not consider it credit worthy.





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2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    2 out of 5 stars

Heroine stupidity. Unsupported illogical events.

The first half was pretty good. But the second half had me wishing it were over. I wanted to skim but I couldn’t because it was an audiobook. Too much heroine stupidity. Too many stupid events were not well supported. For example, parents are mad at daughter D and don’t want son to visit D. Son could have visited D by saying he was going to a club or elsewhere. Instead Tess pretends to be having an affair with son, and this is done openly in public, so people would think son was going out with Tess, when really he was going to visit D. Tess continued doing this after she was engaged to Owen? Making Owen look like a fool? Is this heroine stupidity or just stupid plotting? I don’t know what to call it. A number of things similar to this occurred which made me dislike the book.

Too many things were told, not shown - a lot of past events, but some current as well. We are missing dialogue from those. The plot and events are interesting but since they are told, we don’t feel it. Examples are Tessa’s past and Tom Bradshaw’s past.

I wanted more development of Tom’s actions at the end. It felt like a convenient thrown-in ending.

I’m willing to accept weak characters and characters with problems, but I didn’t like Tessa’s actions. For the first half of the book she lies to Owen which was ok. It’s supposed to be a cat and mouse game. He’s trying to catch a criminal who happens to be Tess. But later as they fall in love, she continues to lie and do stupid things. One of these: Tess specifically promised something to Owen. Then she broke her promise which caused the worst crisis in the book. Her reason was stupid. I was mad at her. I didn’t like her. I liked Owen. He was such a nice guy - caring, patient, understanding. I wished Owen loved someone else.

Tess fears intimacy due to sexual abuse in the past. When she eventually has sex with Owen it’s not believable. There had been some touching but no sex. All of a sudden she decides she wants to seduce him. It didn’t feel right.

NARRATOR:
I was unhappy with the narrator Polly Lee. Several times a voice should have sounded demanding, fearful, or wailing, but the narrator used a calm quiet voice. Her voices for some of the men sounded weird - a pinched high nasal voice, or a hold-your-breath voice for the butler. She didn’t show the right emotion for Owen. His sentences should have been stronger. Instead he sounded like a calm, soft, female, with a how-do-you-feel concern. It didn’t sound like a man.

Genre: historical romance.

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2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Pure romance

What did you love best about Desired?

I haven't read a historical romance in quite some time. This one was a perfect change from my usual fare. Light and romantic with humorous quirks sprinkled in. I really enjoyed it.

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2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Good Story!

This is my second book by Nicola Cornick and I will definitely be reading and listening to more. I like that she has a sub-story playing out in addition to the main story line and this book definitely leaves the sub-story hanging. I can't wait to see how it plays out in the next book --- I sure hope it plays out in the next book.

I like Nicola's characters and the plot. I think she is a very talented story-teller and I wish that more of her books were available through Audible.

Polly Lee did not bring the male voices to life in this particular book. I've listened to her narrate other books and she has done a much better job male voices. I think that since the main male character had an American accent instead of a British accent it through her off a bit. I'll definitely continue to listen to other books narrated by Polly Lee.

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2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    1 out of 5 stars

Narrator was very bad at male voices

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

The story itself may have been good, but I could not finish due to the narration. It was very hard to keep up with who was speaking when there was very little change in voice deflection

Who would you have cast as narrator instead of Polly Lee?

Rosalyn Landor or Bianca Amato

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2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

Kept me listening but needs a rewrite.

This one was a mixed bag for me. I liked the sweet interplay between the characters, and the romance. But the plot was unnecessarily complicated. The h's back story was compelling and deserved a better plot that didn't include her involvement in politics, and a weird side story of a disgraced friend, etc. There was too much attention taken away from the romance that didn't need to be there, or was just badly handled.

It didn't help that the H's voice, as portrayed by Polly Lee, made him sound a too feminine and sweet, but the dialogue between the H and h was well written. There is a better book in here, but only with some rewritting.

Other than that, I enjoyed it, and I'd give Nicola Cornick another read.

It deserves 3-1/2 stars, but not 4.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

I've "Desired" better

Would you listen to Desired again? Why?

I don't think I would. The narrator wasn't the best. I like animation in my readers, but this one was less so than others.

Who was your favorite character and why?

I LOVED Tess. I love that she was strong, stubborn, and willful. She didn't allow society to dictate her actions. She did what she needed to in order to survive. However, I love that she softened and let Owen into her life and into her past to help her out!

Would you listen to another book narrated by Polly Lee?

I might give her another chance. The book wasn't totally ruined by Lee. I just feel she needs to up her enthusiasm. Especially for her male characters

Any additional comments?

The storyline and plot were pretty good. I imagine if this book had been read by some of audio's best, this book would have had better reviews from me!

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

wrong narrator for the "Yankee" what a shame

I can't understand why on earth the publisher didn't either train or get another narrator for the American male voice of Owen. Very distracting ... lovely voice for the women who speak British English, and fun voices for secondary characters , but an awful un-masculine and flat voice for Owen, the Yankee. It truly distracted from the enjoyment of a fun story, which was really very entertaining with its twists and turns. Well written. I'm just sorry about the voice for Owen.

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