The Countess

By: Lynsay Sands

Narrated by: Sarah Coomes

Length: 9 hrs and 45 mins

Publisher's summary

The fairy tale courtship did not turn into a happily-ever-after....

Not until her husband dropped dead, that is. He had been horrible enough to Christiana during their short marriage, and she was not going to allow the traditional period of mourning to ruin her sisters' debuts as well. So she decides to put him on ice and go on as if nothing's happened....

Until the real earl appears. Richard Fairgrave had every intention of confronting his villainous twin who had robbed him of his name and title - only to discover that he had died. Quietly assuming his identity, Richard must now deal with a maddening desire for his ravishing inherited "wife" - certainly a gold digger and possibly a murderess. And Christiana must deal with an unwanted new "husband"... and they both must figure out what to do before the ice melts!

©2011 Lynsay Sands (P)2011 HarperCollins Publishers

Loved the story but the narrator not so much

I did like this book when I first read it in print.
I think Sarah Coomes was trying to hard. To much exclamations and to much emphasis on certain words that in my view didn't really did any.
Her character voices were very lacking, they all sounded alike, she even had a female tone for Daniel one of the males. The love/sex scenes were over done.

Great book!

I loved this book and so funny I laughed out loud and I never do that! You will not be disappointed!

Fun frolic!

This book reminded of Arsenic and Old Lace. One nasty bad guy, three desperate sisters and two good guys.

Screwball comedy will make you laugh out loud!

What other book might you compare The Countess to and why?

So far, The Countess has no comparison. I did not expect a historical romance to be so laugh-out-loud funny. I have never had that experience before. I hope to find other books like it.

What about Sarah Coomes’s performance did you like?

Sarah Coomes is like the William Shatner of historical romance narration. Her pacing tends to the over-dramatic, with oddly-timed, suspenseful pauses in her phrasing. She was perfect for this book! So much of the humor was in the delivery, and Sarah Coomes was spot on.

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

I laughed so many times, which was wholly unexpected. Even laughed on a second listen. I snorted and guffawed enough that my husband couldn't believe I was actually listening to a historical romance. He thought I must have chosen a new genre. Now he wants to listen to this book too!

Any additional comments?

I never expected a screwball comedy in a historical romance novel. It was such a pleasant surprise! No matter how the characters were described, in my mind all I could see was Cary Grant and Claudette Colbert. This was a delightfully funny, farcical romp that was well worth the credit. Excellent work, Lynsay Sands!

Great Read

This was a great story, very funny, and at times, had stop b/c i was laughing so much. all in all its a great story.

I just...

this book....it had the horrible stuff first, a murder, a personality change and then the real hero comes back and the murderer is one least expected...and so was the blackmailer...angel rolled into one great listen...I would of read it had I the book...
M.W.

Absolutely fun to listen to.

I enjoyed the narrator and story plot. Sometimes, you just want to be entertained. If you'd like to listen to a fun, romantic novel, this is it!

The Countess

This is my first Lynsay Sands book and I loved it. Loved the story and the characters. Sarah Coomes did a great job narrating the story. Looking forward to my next L Sands book.

Light hearted read

I have enjoyed Lynsay Sand's books especially since the humor mixed in is very clever and funny. I read 3 books by her in a row and by the time I made it to the last book, I realized the stories are becoming similar with a villain whom is eradicated in a minute and easily. This book was also not quite as interesting as the others or perhaps it was because the storyline was too similar to the others and that made it not as interesting.

Loved it!

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

The narrator added and the characters were easy to follow in Audio. Preferred the Audio.

Who was your favorite character and why?

Richard, not to be confused with Dickie

If you were to make a film of this book, what would the tag line be?

The counterfeit husband

Any additional comments?

I laughed out loud a few times and this had a refreshing story line. It was a light read that I thoroughly enjoyed.