The Knave of Hearts

Rhymes with Love, Book 5

By: Elizabeth Boyle

Narrated by: Susan Duerden

Length: 11 hrs and 8 mins

Publisher's summary

In the fifth novel of the captivating Rhymes with Love series from New York Times best-selling author Elizabeth Boyle, a young woman's hopes of a match encounter a wickedly handsome complication....

Lavinia Tempest has been eagerly anticipating a spectacular season. But one disastrous pile-up on the Almack's dance floor derails all her plans. Added to that, the very stunning revelations about her mother's scandalous past have become the ton's latest on dits. Lavinia's future has gone from shining bright to blackest night in one misstep.

Alaster "Tuck" Rowland admits he's partly to blame for Lavinia's disastrous debut. But it's not guilt that compels him to restore her reputation. Rather, he's placed a wager that he can make Lavinia into one of the most sought-after ladies in London. Who better than an unrepentant rake to set society astir?

Tuck's motives are hardly noble. But in teaching the lovely Lavinia how to win any man she wants, he suddenly finds himself tangled in the last place he ever imagined: in love.

©2016 Elizabeth Boyle (P)2016 HarperCollins Publishers

Pretty good story, good narration.

This was a decent story, not my favorite of the series, but still an enjoyable listen. I liked the heroine Lavinia she was fun, and not always so proper LOL. I liked Tuck too. They did have some good chemistry and attraction to each other. It was real an not forced. There is one sex scene at the end that was very mildly nicely written.

The story line seemed to drag a bit until about 50% then picked up a bit. It did take me a little longer to get through this but I am glad I finished it. There is a lot of dialogue throughout the entire book. I love lots of dialogue.

As for the narration, it was good. I do like Susan Duerden, she reads with a lot of emotion and the men sound like men, all the characters have their own voice. Some of the singsong reading can get on my nerves sometimes, but you can get past it.

delightfully delicious

Great narration, Great story filled with laughs and romance and a bit of adventure. Especially the bits of naughty scenes. I would recommend this story .

Love Tuck

What a lovey book and the audio is wonderful. I enjoy all the books in this series.

Excellent!!!

STORY: The only reason I gave this tale 4 stars (4.5 would have been more accurate ) is due to the retelling of Louisa's story... Granted they're twins and it's all happening at the same time but still.... it wasn't as good because we knew half the story. But still it was so good!!!

NARRATOR: As usual Susan Duerden did an excellent job. I like all her voices both male and female.

HEAT FACTOR: Mostly warm but for two very brief steamy moments!!!

cute and low stress

Cheerful and entertaining and fluffy. The characters are likeable, and although there are abundant grammatical mistakes, the story is cute enough to overlook them (mostly).

You've got to LOVE a KNAVE

Loved it! Susan is my favorite narrator and she had such a sweet love story to work with.

Great Story

Loved this book. The narration was awesome, but the characters are lovable and believable as well. EB created an amazing love story full of mystery…the only complaint is how quickly the villain was wrapped up, but I’m betting we might here more about him in the next story.

From a tumble at Almack's to ruination???

The basis of the story was super silly. A complete ruination based on an error that lead to a group tumble at Almack's during a dance was far fetched and unbelievable. There is one scene that frustrated me to no end and I could not stop rolling my eyes saying "are you kidding me?". The scene was about the heroin sending for the hero to help her find a way to stay in London since her family was determined to banish her after her supposed "disaster". Once there he stood under her window pleading with her to go down and talk to him for literally 10 minutes. Once she finally went down to the garden, she wanted nothing to do with him or his help while the ten minutes prior to him getting there, all she talked about was to get him to help her stay. Bipolar perhaps? The conversation and logic of that scene was good for a 3 year old. At that point not even Ms Duerden could save the book.

The rest of the book was filled with things that were simply ridiculous. She learns to pick pockets and act like a hoyden in half a day and can gamble with men who do it all the time and win without cheating and yet she can only dance with one man without making a mistake during the dance??? The best part is that at the end of the book the behavior that WOULD have cast her out of society for good was what got her so sought after??? Seriously??? I can finish a book in a day when I really get into it even if I have to work that day, but not so in this case. It took me almost 4 days to complete it. That should tell you enough.

Not bad; not great

This is not so much of a review as my thoughts on the book.

It was good. Adequate. Cute. Narration was very good. Not on my list of re-listens, though.