Beauty's Punishment: The Second of the Classic Erotic Trilogy of Sleeping Beauty

No one can argue with the power of this material and the excellent writing of Miss Rice, writing as A N Roquelaure. I've read all three novels in book form and found them a very enticing retelling of a familiar fairytale. But, somewhat like the main character, Beauty, this audio book varies between being good and being very, very bad. There are two narrators, one for the third person chapters dealing with Beauty and one for the first person chapters dealing with Prince Tristan. The female narrator is quite accomplished, and manages to give the steamy material the proper inflection and passion. The male narrator is just awful and I really wonder why on earth he was even asked to do the book, since this sort of reading is so painfully out of his range. If the woman had been reading the whole book I would have given this a 5 out of 5.

Why does audible still have abridged fiction books? I wouldn't buy a book from a store missing pages, so, why would I buy audiobooks missing parts of the story? This is a rip-off. I did waste a credit on this story because it had been a long time since I had read the actual book and wanted to hear it again and missed the abridged label. I want my credit back. The narrator for this book is terrible. This is a book of erotica, yet the narrator reads the book like she is rushing through a comedy. The beauty of the words were lost in the narrator's shrill, gasping, rushed voice. What a nightmare to listen to. I was particularly annoyed with her vocal pantomime of what she thought was a sexy voice which reminded me of a bad strip club radio commercial. This is a book of erotica. If you are uptight and prudish (and boring) skip this book, it's not for you. If you are sophisticated and want erotica at it's best read this trilogy. I would love to hear this audiobook re-released, unabridged with a great reader who will take the time to slowly weave the story so that we, the listeners have time to fully appreciate the exquisitenesss of Ann's writing.

I've read all of the Sleeping Beauty books over and over many times. I love the way there's something for every one. But....... It would be really darn nice to find them unabridge. That's why I can only give 4 stars.

I hate when they cut back on every other paragraph. It takes away the best pieces, it makes it impossible to follow along in a book and cuts out words that were placed there for a reason. I'm very disappointed and I'm only two chapters in. I'll read it on my own. I'd rather not miss a word of this amazing book.

It has one! :)

Well since this was a trilogy, I had to complete the entire thing. It was interesting—not like your traditional fairy tale but amusing and a good way to waste a few hours with mindless listening. The female narrator for the character Beauty isn’t that interesting but for the male roles, the narrator does a really good job.

I did not liked the introduction of the male voice character, the female character did better on the first book, and the plot is starting to spin over the same actions.

The story did not improved on this second part.

The performance was more interesting on the first book with just one voice describing it.

I had to invest more time and having doubts convince me that it was not worth it.

This book might improve with a single female narrator.

"These are abridged! WHY???"
Pulled up the Series page, big letters UNABRIDGED...bought the trio I already own in print version and 'guess what!' They are all ABRIDGED. This did not improve the books, SO DISAPPOINTED. The Printed books are MUCH better, these are kind of pathetic...

I loved the narration, especially that it had two narrators. I loved hearing this story from a very different prespective.

top very top

they are all very good... lol

if i knew, i would be a film producer..

more on audio please..

Couldn't wait to get into this one also. It was very hard to put down the audio book once it was started. I highly recommend it to any one who needs some romance and a little bit of "Naughty Time". This is one of those books that you don't want to listen to while you are needing to concentrate.