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

A light hearted romance LOL

I had a few laugh out loud moments. it's so silly ... hahhah but funny and cute! Im not sure if I would recommend this but if you want to listen to something silly and fun. Do it ♥️♥️♥️

Good but could have been better

This book was just an ok read for me. It was very intriguing at the beginning with a suspenseful crime, a disheartened heroine with good supporting characters and a plot that would seem promising. However as the reading progressed the plot became a bit farfetched. The story had some funny episodes to it, but then the comedy became a bit more ridiculous by the minute; parading a dead corpse wrapped in a rug and then hidden in a trunk to then almost having intimacies above said dead corpse is a bit disturbing and bit too low calloused for me. The hero seemed a bit "wishy-washy" when he didn't seem to make any obvious decisions on his own and relies a bit too heavily on his supporting characters. The secondary and plot villains were obvious and nothing was left to the imagination; just another "the servants blackmailing their masters and the butler did it story." Finally, the heroine found herself being married off due to her father's alleged gambling losses and towards the end of the book we have the heroine's father showing up to come to the rescue with an uncaring attitude to the consequences. Well, if only said father felt that way in the first place, then the daughter wouldn't have had to marry the evil twin and that would be the end of it. With all out fairness, I did not fathom why the author would bring about this sudden change and impact of courage onto the heroine's father so late into the book; it really was totally unnecessary to even bring him into the list of characters and should have left him in the background of the story. With this being said, the premise of the plot was completely shot resulting in a total demising ending to the story.

Although the hero and heroine didn't seem to match much, other than in the bedroom, their relationship came out as being a very respectful one that would lead you to conclude that it could succeed in the end. But the hero does come out as being too complacent in everything with his "wife" and the wife is caught comparing her hero too much to his evil twin brother. As usual, the "I Love You's" come out a bit late in the storyline and somehow authors use it as the basis for their prelude to a successful and winning romance.

Other than a catchy first couple of chapters and good romping, this book is just average. I hope that the sequel to this novel (The Heiress) redeems the first one and that its storyline can stand out on its own. The first positive that I can give the sequel is that its heroine is my namesake.
Sarah Coombs was good with the delivery of the story

What a hoot!!!!!

I love the way Lyndsay Sands writes, she puts so much humor in it. This story is almost slapstick. I laughed the whole time. I love a good romantic comedy.
Keep on keepin' on, Lyndsay.
Laura Moats

Fun but

A fun read but for those people who are bothered by language, historical accuracy and realistic things it might be too much. You need to be able to ignore the too modern language usage and actions of the characters.
If you can, then some parts are laugh out loud funny and enjoyable. But I think I will stick to the Argeneau books which I love.

Good story - and funny too!

I enjoyed this book, laughing out loud many times! Sands is a clever author, can't wait for more!

Enjoyable

was the first audio book for me, and no disappointment. Story is well written as well as read, though i did regretted of not getting an actual book. I'd love to find more books like this one to enjoy

Not up to par

The Countess has some likeable characters, and an enjoyable plot. However, this read is sadly lacking in historical context. The dialog was too modern to be believable. Situations were plausible, but not carried out well. However, it did make for a low key light listen.

amazing who dunit

great hero and heroine. amazing story. loved lisa and Susie characters. surprising end to story.

Very enjoyable

Enjoyed it very much. It was quite funny in some parts.
The narrator was good but I can't understand why she pronounced the word dowry, dower, it is not the correct way., it should be pronounced dow-ree, and the word was mentioned quite a bit so it was quite annoying. Also she was a bit over dramatic in some parts especially the sex scenes.

Loved it

I guess humor like many things is all relative. I thought this book was hilarious, verging on slapstick. I could just imagine the shenanigans in my mind. It is farfetched and silly, but I thoroughly enjoyed it. If you take everything literally, maybe this isn???t your cup of tea, but if you want escapism and some laughs this is it.