After the success of The Lady Most Likely, New York Times best-selling authors Julia Quinn, Eloisa James, and Connie Brockway have joined together once again, but this time to ask the question, 'Who is The Lady Most Willing?'
When Laird Taran Ferguson's nephews refuse to wed and secure his birthright, he takes matters into his own hands, raiding a ball and kidnapping four likely brides - a bonny lass, an heiress with a slight reputation problem, a rich English beauty, and a maiden without a name or a fortune. But which one is ready to fall in love with the Scottish lord?
Add a very angry duke, a decrepit castle, and a fierce Highland storm that is holding all of Taran's "guests" captive to the mix, and listeners will find themselves transported to a world of temptation, passion, and new and unexpected love. This historical romance novel in three parts - a single story with three compelling voices - is one that will not soon be forgotten.
©2012 Connie Brockway, Julia Quinn, and Eloisa James (P)2012 HarperCollins Publishers
bookworm
"HISTORICAL HILARIOUS HIGHLAND MAHEM"
A flawless compilation by three brilliant authors who together have written a continuous funny story that has 4 eligible Ladies kidnapped for marriage by an overbearing Scottish Laird for his bachelor kinsmen.
The fiasco takes place in his snowbound Castle where slowly each bachelor is helplessly drawn to one of the Ladies, succumbs to love and eventually proposals start flying around. It was light, thoroughly entertaining, funny and so seemlessly written that you would think it was done by just one author.
Worth a credit? Well what's not to like......... so it's a YES from me.
"Funny, Funny, Funny!"
Did I mention this was funny!? In short, a scottish uncle, who has no children to leave his "castle" to only two nephews, decides to take matters into his own hands and kidnap suitable scottish heiress for his nephews to marry. One nephew is "tainted" with English blood and the other "French" blood, but they are his only heirs. You can just guess how well the kidnapping scheme went over, but no one could do anything about it because they where stuck there in a storm. Yes, yes, it is a predicable story and outcome, but it is written so well that you don't mind.
The narrator, Susan Duerden, was EXCELLENT....a 5+ star performance!
"Hillarious"
Great accents
The book is hillarious, the kidnapping is amazing and the character development is fun
Historical romance junkie. Who doesn't love romance?
"Cute and sweet"
I'm not a big fan of books written by several authors, but I am a huge fan of all three of these ladies so I took a chance. The story is cute and predictable but sweet. It seems to read fast as each author is given a small time to tell a whole story. I prefer a more detailed story so I didn't really enjoy its much as I could have if it were just one story.
Susan Duerden did an incredible job with the narration and kept me listening even when I wanted to give up. All in all its a heart warming story that's just sweet.
Sheila
"Surprisingly delightful"
I have listened to this multiple times to recaputure the wit, laughter, and emotion of the piece. It is not a heavy philosophical treatise; it's FUN reading.
The combination of writers (Quinn, James, and Brockway) provides a "story within a story" which allows the reader to shift gears and focus on different charaters while staying true to the overall theme of the book. The psyches of the heroes and heroines are explored and all their characters are dynamic. The surprise ending was absolutely delightful.
I was particularly drawn to the plights of Fiona and Oakley. Their wounded spirits were cauterized and expanded. Love those HEAs.
The surprise at the end of the book sealed this as a favorite and repeat listen.
There are times that a bit of psychic relief can be a balm. I truly ascribe to Keane's "Dying is easy, comedy is hard."
Never trust anyone who doesn't enjoy reading.
"3 talented authors = 1 great book"
I don't normally "rank" a romance novel because there are so many of them that are similar to each other. But if I'm ranking it by a romance comedy I would say #1. These 3 authors never disappoint.
What do you get when a duke, an earl, and a French comte walk into a castle? A funny, sweet and well written story! It was everything I expected from these 3 talented authors.
No, I've never listened to her before but she did quite well. I enjoyed her narration.
My favorite match was Catriona and the Duke of Bretton, John. Both kidnapped by “mistake” yet found love with each other.
I loved to hate the young and spoiled Marilla.
Books? ... Yes Please
"Poor narration"
I believe I would have enjoyed the book a whole lot more, if not for the narration. I don't feel it is fair to say it was a poor book, just a poor narrator.
Book Nerd, Extraordinaire!
"not quite an anthology, but almost!"
If you think this is an anthology, since there are 3 authors, you would be wrong. If you think this reminds you of an anthology since there are 3 authors, you would be right. I applaud the unique way this book, (and its predecessor: The Lady Most Likely), is able to combine the 3 voices of 3 talented authors. No surprises, if you've read them before, they are true to form. Solid writing, a bit whimsical, light and entertaining.I recommend this book if you enjoy short stories, for while the novel is seamless, there isn't the depth or character development of a regular novel, so at the end you feel like when you've just eaten one half of the candy bar. It was sweet, it was enough, but you end up wanting more.I recommend this for any short story, anthology aficionados, but if you are looking for a long romance with all the twist, turns and plotting devices we have come to enjoy, you might be disappointed. But give it a try, it's a nice way to get your fix from Quinn, Brockway and James, while we wait for them to release a full length novel with all the gripping parts that keeps us hooked!
Graduated college, got a job, got married, traveled, had children. Breathing air and growing hair.
"Loved this trio of tales"
This book has such a great storyline. Not to spoil this for ya but the story begins with heiresses being kidnapped by this crazy Scottish Laird so one of his male relatives will marry and save his castle. I really enjoyed all three stories. I was a light read with fine character development and wonderful writing My only complaint is that the scottish lairds voice is either edited poorly or just narrated with too much harsh garbling for my taste. The other characters are well done. I listed to Lady Most Likely and liked that as well. Susan Duerden usually does a better than average job. Her narration of the Desperate Duchesses by Eloisa James is a much better display of this talented narrator.
"Cute and very funny!"
I love Susan Duerden! She did well with all the different characters. Her Scottish accent wasn't perfect but it wasn't so terrible either.
This book was really funny. At times it was a little predictable but it was mostly a light and fast paced listen, which was nice!