The Prince of Midnight

By: Laura Kinsale

Narrated by: Nicholas Boulton

Length: 15 hrs and 17 mins

Publisher's summary

He was once a legendary highwayman. Now he's a recluse in a ruined French castle, with only a half-wild wolf for a companion. When Lady Leigh Strachan comes looking for a man to aid in her revenge, she's disillusioned to find that the famed Prince of Midnight couldn't help even if he cared to - which he doesn't. S. T. Maitland wants nothing to do with his legend, or with this fierce, beautiful, broken woman... until the old thrill of living on the cutting edge of danger begins to rise in his blood again.

Laura Kinsale personally chose the exceptional talent of Nicholas Boulton to narrate The Prince of Midnight as a fully voiced audiobook, creating a unique work that brings all the life and color of the original to audio.

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Entertaining.

I found the story, Prince of Midnight, refreshing!
Not too serious, an easy read/listen. Enjoyed and recommend.

Loved it!

The story, characters and narration were all very well done. The Prince is an intriguing personality.

Highwayman saves the lady

This is such a good book. It is very lengthy, 15.17 hours to be exact. Worth every second that you listen to it. Laura Kinsale does an excellent job of building her characters and their relationship to each other. A wolf plays a key role in this story as well. Our hero S. T. Maitland, better known as The Prince of Midnight when he was an aristocrat who also happened to be a highwayman, is complex and intelligent. The heroine Leigh, whom he calls Sunshine is a very deep character and sometimes hard to relate to for me. She is on a mission of revenge for actions that caused the loss of her family and in France to try and gain his help. What she does not know is that he has balance issues due to an ear problem that stopped him from being the highwayman.

Of course he does go back to England with Leigh as she has awakened some of the old feelings he had as to his life on the edge style of living before, and because he already cares for her. He has been alone a long time except for the wolf that has been his companion. The object of Leigh's hate is a maniacal preacher type who has most of the village under his control and naturally S. T. and Leigh will fall into his clutches. These two really are the focus of this book. No secondary characters that appear all the way through the story. Their coming to terms with each other and their situation are the story. The wolf is the closest thing to a secondary character.

S. T. has a real way with horses which shows up in the story too. Particularly at the end of the book. That scene will make you want to ride a horse with you loved one too. Break out the fans ladies. Sexy indeed. Speaking of that. Nicholas Boulton is one of the sexiest voices out there and he does an outstanding job here. He gives each man and woman's voice a distinction and the scene where he pretends to be drunk is truly great. Once you hear him you will be looking for anything he narrates. I would listen to a phone book read if he was doing the reading. Great, Great, Great voice.

They say a great book is one you have in your library to read and read again and I say the same is true of a great listen. I have listened to this book many times and it truly only gets better every time.

If you are looking for a fantastic listen. This is it. Just buy it.

Loved it!

Any additional comments?

Refreshing! The story was good and the narrator was wow! I loved him his reading and all the different voices for the different characters he did awesome cant wait for more from both author and narrator.

Not your conventional romance novel.

Would you listen to The Prince of Midnight again? Why?

Yes. I enjoyed the story and the performance was excellent. I wouldn't mind spending another weekend with S.T. and Leigh.

What did you like best about this story?

The characters were human. They made mistakes, did stupid things, said the wrong things, interpreted things incorrectly... but not in a farcical way. It was very realistic, an exploration of two people who just don't know how to cope with life through anything other than the hard, cold walls they've brought up around themselves for survival.

It's so maddeningly frustrating (in a good way) as a reader to see two characters who are so close to coming together, so close to making something work... only to have the smallest inability to compromise or misunderstanding or reliance on those walls get in the way and ruin the moment.

Both S.T. and Leigh are principled and selfish, and it's really not until they can get through those feelings that they can make real headway in their relationship. All of S.T.'s flirtations and gallant actions and grand gestures are a suit of armor against having his heart broken again, and Leigh's self-imposed coldness and anger and fear have the same effect.

Each character keeps making assumptions about what the other wants, about their own lack of self-worth and fatalistic ideals of how anything could ever work between them... without actually sitting down and talking about it truthfully and openly.

But once the shields come down and they finally decide to be honest with each other... it all comes together.

Which character – as performed by Nicholas Boulton – was your favorite?

Everything was beautiful, it's really difficult to say. I can't choose between S.T. and Leigh, really. And Nemo and Mistral--which he performed even if there was no speech.

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

There were a few small laughs out loud, lots of smiles or times when breath caught in my throat. I didn't cry, but there was one point in the last couple of hours when I nearly did.

Any additional comments?

I was so unbelievably thrilled to see more books narrated by Nicholas Boulton that I picked up these by Laura Kinsale even though I normally don't enjoy romance novels in general. I was not disappointed by either of them. She's a gorgeous writer and he's a magnificent narrator with a talent for actions and emotions, languages, accents, and an overall undeniably perfect talent for storytelling.

If any more of Kinsale's books are released here and narrated by the same, I'll definitely buy every single one.

what a wonderful voice expertly used

good story that is well developed with interesting characters and the gold star is Nicholas Boulton. First time I have listened to him narrate and it won't be the last. Now I want to see some of his performances.

Absolutely Stoked!!

Would you listen to The Prince of Midnight again? Why?

Soooo happy that Laura Kinsale finally released an audiobook! Would love to see more!! One of my favorite authors and her books break the romance genre apart to allow the characters to be flawed and unpredictable. You will love this book and look for more to come to audio. Two of my next favorites would be My Sweet Folly and Hidden Heart!

What did you like best about this story?

The characters are not perfect. He is partially deaf and suffers from vertigo. She suffers from PTSD.

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

N/A

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

Both!!

Any additional comments?

Thank you for bringing her to audiobooks!

Opposites Attract

Of all the Kinsale's books that I have read (so far), this is my favorite. The story is exciting, the characters are memorable, and the narrator is terrific. The hero of the story, S. T., is a charming, good natured rogue with a physical affliction (deaf in one ear) that leaves him with balance issues. The heroine, Leigh, is a beautiful strong-willed woman bent on revenge against the evil man who ruined her life and destroyed her family. She is as intense as he is easy-going. Theirs is a case of opposites attracting, but the differences in their natures also threaten to tear them apart. Although I loved S. T. and wanted to slap Leigh up the side of the head and tell her to "wake up" at times, I liked both characters and wanted them to be together.

Not her best, but engaging.

I recently discovered Ms. Kinsale, and have since read everything I could find about her. She is an excellent writer. The genre is totally diferent, but her writing style reminds me of Ruth Rendall. She has the same ability to show in-depth human nature, the good and the bad.

This book was not quite as good as "Flowers in Storm", but was very engaging. In some ways this is more of a love story than "flowers". I found I didn't particularly like either of the protagonist, but still wanted to know what happened! That is always the mark of a good book for me.

The narration was wonderful and I plan to do a search on Mr. Boulton to see what other books he narrated.

Good story.

The events and plot development of this story were great, but the romance did not make me swoon, and that’s what I need to five-star a story. In fact, the early portion of this romance’s “love scenes” made me uncomfortable. And the hero Prince of Midnight, let's be honest, had questionable morals for a large portion of the story. Yet I was compelled to keep on listening. The story had wonderful characters and their development, particularly the Prince of Midnight, were a joy to witness. and that’s the reason for the 3 stars which are still a good rating.

I loved Nicholas Boulton’s narration. His was a fresh voice compared to who I usually listen to, and he’s perfectly suited for historical romance.