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The Marriage Spell  By  cover art

The Marriage Spell

By: Mary Jo Putney
Narrated by: Simon Prebble
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Publisher's summary

Jack Langdon has always suppressed his talent for sorcery. But his marriage to Abigail, a skilled wizard, ignites his passion and opens doorways he never imagined.

The winner of two RITAs and four consecutive Golden Leaf Awards for Best Historical Romance, New York Times best-selling author Mary Jo Putney has enticed countless readers with her graceful storytelling.

©2006 Mary Jo Putney (P)2007 Recorded Books

Critic reviews

"Popular Putney's winning combination of well-crafted fantasy and romance will have broad appeal for readers of both genres." (Booklist)
"Mesmerizing in its emotional breadth, stunning in its backdrop, and spellbinding in its paranormal overtones...a marvelous, fast-paced tale." (Romantic Times)
"Putney [is] adept at atmosphere, pace, and eros." (Baltimore Sun)

What listeners say about The Marriage Spell

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 4 out of 5 stars
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  • 4 Stars
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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars

A Light Read

The Marriage Spell is a nice little fantasy romance that never gets too deep. It makes for a nice, light read to pass the time. The downside to that is the book has very little substance to it.

The story takes place in England in the 1800's. It's a bit of an alternative history, because in this England there is magic and magicians. Magicians are not accepted by everybody in society, and are sometimes derogatively called "wordlings"

Our male lead, Jack Langdon, has wizardly powers which have been suppressed from a young age. He is raised to hate magic and magicians, until one day he has an almost fatal hunting accident and is healed by the Abigail, a skilled magician healer. Romance ensues.

Almost without exception the adversity and challenges that the characters face are handled a little too easily and conveniently. It gets a little more interesting with the climax near the end, but only a little.

Almost all of the magic haters mentioned in this book are halfhearted bigots at best. With the exception of the headmaster, who we only see at the very beginning, they're all ridiculously easy to convince to either rethink their prejudices or to be more civil towards magicians.

Every challenging situation is handled in a remarkably straightforward manner. They figure out what's really going on (sometimes with extremely little information), they figure out how to deal with it, they do it, and it works.

Rarely does a wrench get thrown in, and even when things do go wrong they're handled with just a little too much ease. This means that theres no real adversity, and it results in only a token attempt at character development.

By the way, the lovebirds copulate like bunnies.

The narrator is very good with voices. I felt a little uncomfortable listening to an older British gentleman reading the sex scenes, but that may be just me.

Overall, this book is good for a light way to pass the time.

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17 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars

This is a great read!

I adore fantasy novels, and I love romance, this was a wonderful blend of both. I recommend this book to anyone who has ever wished that fantasy books had more romance.

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11 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars

Spelling bore

I always really want to like Mary Jo Putney's books but I never can. She has this oddly insatiable need to fill her books with chores and I get so tired of pulling weeds and dusting furniture for pages and pages that before I reach the end, I just can't take it anymore. She also has a fondness for impotent heros that worries me. You may think it hard to write a dull book about wizards, but in fact, all you need is housework and erectile disfunction and presto! Let the tedium begin.

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6 people found this helpful

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

Extremely Entertaining

I have enjoyed several of Ms. Putney's historical romances, and this one did not disappoint. It was rather a unique story line, but she made it work well with interesting and entertaining characters.

Simon Prebble as usual is a great narrator.

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5 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

Wonderful!

If you like wizardry and romance this will make for very interesting "reading". Have read is at least 6-7 times. The reader makes everyone become real and even after reading it so many times, I'm still enchanted with it. Set in the 1800s, where wizards are commonplace but not generally accepted, how the two main characters deal with the topic of magic. Would love to see more of Mary Jo Putney's books on this website.

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5 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars

really 3 1/2

the story was ok - did not love the premise of it, but it was very well written and I LOVE Simon Prebble, he makes the book worth listening to.
The story was a little too convenient in its unfolding and I would have preferred a bit more of a build up between the hero and heroine - it came a little too easy. other than that, very easy listen and I enjoyed it. managed expectations will be just fine here.

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4 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars

Mediocre Execution of Good Premise

The premise -- wizardry existing in Regency England and young boys having it beaten out of them so that they won't shame their families -- is really strong. Simon Prebble, as always, did a fantastic job as reader. However, I thought the execution of the story (the actual writing) was only so-so. I'm not sorry I listened to it, but I can't give it a strong recommendation.

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3 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars

Pleased as Punch

Loved it. Give me more. The characters were developed. The dialog was not redundant. I was sorry when it was finished. I enjoyed the mixture of magic and romance, with the historical setting.

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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

Marriage Spell

This is a wonderful fantasy romance with hero and heroine growing to love each other rather than fall madly in love at first sight.
There journey and triumph over evil bring them closely together and augment there love. I would have really liked to see a follow up focused on the hero’s friends though. The narrator was simply outstanding.

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1 person found this helpful

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

Great Story! The narrator makes is great!

I will listen to any historical romance that Simon Prebble narrates, which is why I picked this audiobook. I loved the story. Mary Jo Putney is a new author to me but now I'm ready to ready anything she's written.

I hope she has Simon narrate more of her stories.

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1 person found this helpful