Beyond Seduction: A Bastion Club Novel

It's difficult to get past the narrator's amazingly bad female voices. I enjoyed reading the book, but listening to it has proved to be impossible.

This compares poorly to every other narration I've heard. All of Crossley's females sound like Monty Pythonish interpretations of women, and he has an irritating habit of raising his voice near the end of a sentence. His characters come across as priggish.

Anyone who can read female voice without making them sound whiny would be a big improvement.

I was not able to get through all of Part 1. It was too painful.

What a great addition to the tales of the Bastion Club members! Gervais will absolutely tear your heart out with his patience, determination, and understanding.

I really enjoy the Bastion series, and Steven Crossley's narration is a real plus. I hope he narrates more romances to come!

This was one of my favorite Bastion Club stories, it has more interaction with DL and their past as spies.

I waited years for an audio version and I can't believe the publishers settled on this narrator for the last of the Bastion Club stories. He can't act so he just gives a very boring reading of a great story. The female voices are screeches that are almost too painful to listen to.

My advice to male narrators, their is nothing you can do to sound like a woman, just soften your voice for the female roles. Trying to raise your voice just makes for a bad comedy and is painful on the ears.

What a waste.

Yes I always listen to Stephanie Laurens book more than once. I love her style and her stories

Any of the Bastion Club books but the hero in this book is very special and reasons problems out before acting unlike most of the other members when it comes to the ladies they are in love with.

To formal, dry

No because of the narrator I needed to break it up.

Stephanie Laurens never lets me down!

The narrators voice somehow didn't fit the story -- a bit too light/friendly -- something. And I really didn't like his portrayals of female voices. His voice continuously made me think of "The Grinch that stole Christmas" video or a Dr. Suess story, so I spent a few hours just trying to get with the story.

I love the Bastion Club series -- perhaps my favourite of Stephanie Laurens' novels! I highly recommend the books! But why the switch in narrators? After listening to Jill Tanner through the first 6 audiobooks, I had gotten used to her narration, so the switch to Steven Crossley is jarring! I do not mind the switch from female to male voice in general, but it is hard to differentiate Crossley's 'voice' for different characters. It's sometimes a little confusing when the 'voice' switches between hero and heroine. Also, Crossley pronounces some of the names differently than Tanner did. So while I highly recommend Laurens' novels, it's difficult to recommend this particular audiobook based on the narrator. Sorry to see that the remaining books are also done by Crossley. I will buy them because I'm one of those that wants a complete series, but hope the narration improves.

Madeline is my favourite Bastion club heroine. She actually IS a strong, independent woman and a lot of authors could learn how to write one from Stephanie Laurens!

Madeline runs the Gascoigne estate in lieu of her much younger brothers. She spends her days out riding, gives advice to local farmers and gentry alike, keeps up on their mining and investments, is a mother to her younger borthers and still finds time to be seduced by the hero Earl on the neighbouring estate when he returns from war. She comes off as intelligent and capable without being arrogant - a really likable leading lady.

Their love story is slow but passionate, and it was incredibly enjoyable to listen to Gervase decide Madeline was going to be his Countess then pursue her until she agreed.

The story is well-woven and the surrounding cast make the story even more enjoyable, the only let down is the characterisation of the female voices. The women all sound as though the narrator is mocking them, which I don't think he is.

That's not insurmountable - the story is so good I went back for a second listen.

The publisher should never have changed readers. I certainly would never have chosen this reader. Romance is not Crossley's

I would have deleted the Tin Mine scam, seeing that it never went anywhere anyway. I also would have had more of the Bastian Club involved and a much stronger story line dealing with them.

I like his reading of the Commissario Guido Brunetti Mystery series, but I would not try another romance. Looking at his list of books, he normally doesn't read romances.

I have purchased all the books in this series before this one, and this one was just too dull and boring. Not worth the money.

I have been waiting for the last three books of the Bastian Club to come out in audio. There is no way, though that I would purchase them because of the reader. I will pick up these books at the local library. I will read them rather than listen to them.

While I admit to missing the voice of Simon Prebble, I thought the narrator was okay. I did not find that his voice detracted from the story significantly. The story was a bit slow getting started, and while this was not my favorite of the series, I did enjoy it. Worth it? Yes.