Scandal

This was beautifully read and a captivating story. Amanda Quick showed true talent in bringing together the multiple parts to a wonderful conclusion.

but plot was weak. My mind kept wandering.

This author has written many books under the names Jayne Ann Krentz, Amanda Quick, and Jayne Castle. She has a wonderful writing style and can make almost anything entertaining. But I feel like she ran out of ideas - as if she pulled the words charming eccentric naive romantic female out of a hat and tried to do something with it, again. Then she added brilliant business financial mind. The positive was that I chuckled several times. But the plot took away from enjoyment. It consisted of two main ideas. Simon takes action to cover up Emily’s scandal from the past, and Simon plans vengeance on some men. The vengeance idea petered out. It was not intriguing.

Examples of things that made me chuckle. Frequently Emily says that she and Simon communicate on a metaphysical or transcendental plane/level/realm. She says sex will be a wondrous transcendental experience for people like them. She believed that. Simon did not. He just said what he thought she wanted to hear.

Another: Emily tells the footman to find a person from the criminal class to kidnap someone for her. When she meets with that person, she says “are you a professional villain for hire?”

The relationship between Simon and Emily happened too quickly - not enough story about that. He pretends to be interested in the same poetry and literature as she. That is why she thinks they communicate on a higher plane. But they meet and quickly marry. There is no interesting push-pull between them.

One odd thing about Emily. She was a financial genius in the stock and commodities markets, making money for others - think Warren Buffett. To do that she needed knowledge about the competence of managers in companies and projects. A little hard to believe she could have that knowledge, when she lived in the country and her only social interaction was a lady’s discussion group about romantic literature. I don’t mind suspending disbelief for a good story. But this didn’t work. A better story would be seeing how Emily learned things in the markets and how she outsmarted other investors. But that was not here.

The narrator Anne Flosnik was pretty good, but her voices for men sounded weird. I prefer Susan Duerden who is good with male voices.

Genre: regency romance

the forgiveness factors

the plot fits a lot of books

good but not excellent

Hate Diluted By Love

Good Read!

Normally, I LOVE Amanda Quick, but I can't decide which is worse - the book or the narration.
Every single non-main, male character seems to say "ain't" in every other sentence (what's THAT about?) and the storyline is just plain absurd.
The reader is excruciating to listen to - the accents are appalling and the pace is agonizing. I don't understand why "ain't" is in this story so much, but the reader just makes it WORSE with the way she says it.
This book and its reader are just plain PAINFUL.

The only reason I even gave it a 2 is because it IS Amanda Quick, after all...........

Oh the book and the narrator just drag on it was horrible to listen to this woman speak, it was a complete waste of money.

The story was good and the lead male was a bit or a creep at first, but turned out to be all right. The lead female was a bit irritating with her little escapades. Still gotta love that tough husband, though.

I love these stories by Amanda Quick. Too bad Anne Flosnik is the narrator. She is so horrible, I will never buy another audiobook on which she is the narrator. They need to fire her!

I love Amanda but this book was slow and boring. Disappointed. I ended up speeding through the book.