Thunder and Roses

Fallen Angels, Book 1

By: Mary Jo Putney

Narrated by: Peter Bishop

Length: 13 hrs and 21 mins

Publisher's summary

They called him the Demon Earl. They said he could do anything. Son of a rogue and a gypsy, Nicolas Davies was a notorious rake until a shattering betrayal left him alone and embittered in the Welsh countryside. Desperation drives quiet schoolmistress Clare Morgan to ask the Demon Earl to help save her village. Unwilling to involve himself in the problems of others, Nicholas sets an impossible price on his aid - only if Clare will live with him for three months, letting the world think the worst, will he intervene. Furiously, Clare accepts his outrageous challenge, and finds herself drawn into a glittering Regency world of danger and desire.

As allies, she and Nicholas fight to save her community. As adversaries, they explore the hazardous terrain of power and sensuality. And as lovers, they surrender to a passion that threatens the foundations of their lives.

Thunder and Roses was nominated for a RITA award and was a finalist for the RWA Golden Choice award for best audiobook of the year.

©2011 Mary Jo Putney, Inc. (P)2013 Mary Jo Putney, Inc

Beautiful love story

this story is well developed with characters and storyline. you'll enjoy the romance that is, although exciting and sexy, developed with meaning and content.

Good Book. Narration Just OK!

I`m usually not too fond of stories where the heroine is forced into relationships through blackmail by the hero. The premise of this book sounded as if this was what it was about. Luckily the hero wanted to ruin the heroines reputation (which is bad enough and would be a disaster back then) - he didn`t want to force her into any sexual relations apart from a kiss a day.

Nicholas, the hero, doesn`t trust women and for good reason. He doesn`t believe Clare and her good and honest motives because he doesn`t think women can have good and honest motives. After a while he starts trusting her motives but that makes him want her even more and he finds it hard to let her go. Luckily Clare doesn`t want to go either.

Nicholas is half Rom, which was an intriguing part of the story, but I felt there was made too much out of him being half "gypsy" - as if it makes him an entirely different person.

Clare was a perfect heroine. She wanted to do good and she wanted to be devout but struggled in silence with her faith. She still sacrificed herself for the safety of her fellow villagers and that endeared me so much to her. It was hard not to love her and wish her happiness.

The narrator Peter Bishop was just OK. At times it difficult to tell which character was speaking in the book because both lead characters sounded exactly the same
The book was bit confusing to listen to for this reason.

Intruiging Story, Poor Narrator Choice

Is there anything you would change about this book?

The narrator, while well spoken, nearly ruined this story for me. He failed to convey more than a modicum of emotion throughout the majority of the novel and made well written characters seem almost flat.

Who would you have cast as narrator instead of Peter Bishop?

Amanda Ronconi would be a hoot but I doubt this is her cup of tea. At least the story would have life and verve!

Could you see Thunder and Roses being made into a movie or a TV series? Who should the stars be?

No, but I enjoy reading steamy romances more than watching them.

Any additional comments?

Don't let the narrator put you off! Can't stand him? Read the Kindle version. Claire & Nicolas' story is worth the time.

Oh yeah, gotta read this one!

Any additional comments?

The set-up for this book is a really good one. It has all the factors that make a romance good - a hot and troubled earl, a smart and socially conscious woman, and a village that needs saving. Sparks fly early and often in this book. I found it to be entertaining and enjoyable. It's no wonder it is an award recipient!

One of Mary Jo Putney's best books, well narrated!

Would you consider the audio edition of Thunder and Roses to be better than the print version?

It's an enthralling way to re-experience a classic book by a gifted author. For an audiobook to work well, the book itself must be outstandingly enough written to not just survive but prosper under the microscopic exposure of being read out loud at a quarter of the speed of silent reading to oneself. Thunder and Roses passes that test with flying colors. In addition, the narrator must be a good performer, able to convincingly portray every kind of character, from old to young, male or female, and often different nationalities. Peter Bishop is a terrific vocal performer who delivers fully on all these counts.

Who was your favorite character and why?

Nicholas Davies, the half-Gypsy, "Demon" earl, is a wonderful hero. He's a classic, "dark and dangerous," wounded hero. The pairing of him with a Welsh village schoolteacher, the heroine, Clare Morgan, is absolutely wonderful. They are two very strong protagonists who are extremely well matched.

What about Peter Bishop’s performance did you like?

He has a rich, pleasing voice and, as I mentioned above, he does a great job portraying all types of character personalities.

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

A Welsh Methodist minister's daughter confronts a bitter, half-gypsy earl, who cares nothing for the responsibility he owes to the ancient title he's inherited, and demands that he rescue the local villagers from poverty.

Any additional comments?

I am a long-time, avid fan of Mary Jo Putney, and I was delighted to find such an outstanding audio recording of this book, which is one of my favorite historical romance novels by this brilliant author.

Poor narrator and too long

The story wasn’t bad, it had some very interesting elements such as the issues with Welsh mining, however, it was drawn out far beyond what it should have been. The dialogue sounded amateurish and frankly silly. It sounded unnatural, people don’t actually speak that way.

There were issues with anachronism for the period throughout the book. The premise of the story is completely unrealistic but it didn’t bother me most romance novels have unrealistic premises but other anachronistic elements such as language bothered me more.

The worst part was the narration. The narrators has a good voice but he was a terrible narrator his performance highlighted the worst aspects of the books.

The Narrator is horrible!!!

What could have made this a 4 or 5-star listening experience for you?

Different narrator. Narrator was monotone and effeminate.

What other book might you compare Thunder and Roses to and why?

An unlikely situation but both characters are interesting.

Who would you have cast as narrator instead of Peter Bishop?

Anyone would have been better.

I almost lost the will to live.

What disappointed you about Thunder and Roses?

A monotonous droning narrator made listening impossible.

What was most disappointing about Mary Jo Putney’s story?

I could not persevere with listening as the narrator made utter nonsense of the prose.

Who would you have cast as narrator instead of Peter Bishop?

Ross Pendleton, James Langton, Jeff Woodman.

If you could play editor, what scene or scenes would you have cut from Thunder and Roses?

Try again with a different reader and I'll let you know. Nobody could endure 20 hours of that noise and stay sane.

Any additional comments?

I couldn't even use this as a soporific on a sleepless night as the narrator crossed over from being simply boring into downright infuriating.

I just wasn't that into it

I found myself a little bored but I had to see where it went. Claire was hard to like. She's really annoying at some points. Seriously a tease and not in a good way....So wishy washy.
I kind of felt like when they finally got together it was a little bit anticlimactic and I don't mean that as a pun LOL. It just seemed unromantic. I was kind of disappointed.
The love scenes are not very descriptive... almost PG13.

I didn't love the narrator. He has a nice voice but he didn't distinguish between the voices and his own speaking voice very much. In fact, sometimes I felt like he used more of a female voice when he was talking as a male and more of a male voice when he was talking as a female. So..narration was a little bit inconsistent. But his voice was pleasant enough that it wasn't off-putting... he just didn't have as much feeling.

Worth a credit....sad to say no. But on sale - yeah maybe.

Really not very good

This is a silly juvenile story, poorly written for the most part. The plot is preposterous and totally unbelievable. An innocent godly woman agrees to stay with the half Romany Earle at his home for three months in order for him to agree to help with problems in the village. He wanted her to risk her good name but she did not think the villagers would believe she was immoral. They fell in love in about 12 seconds – really a preposterous and unbelievable plot with a bunch of silly inner thoughts, deep passion etc. A mystery is thrown in which seems to only serve the purpose of the story having a mystery. The plot was not only silly, but it was extremely rushed and the relationship between the male and female leads was particularly rushed without the characters being developed at all. I am more than half way through and I keep rolling my eyes and snorting. I don’t think I can finish, and I really don’t care what happens to these people.