Smite Turner is renowned for his single-minded devotion to his duty as a magistrate. But behind his relentless focus lies not only a determination to do what is right, but the haunting secrets of his past - secrets that he is determined to hide, even if it means keeping everyone else at arm's length. Until the day an irresistible woman shows up as a witness in his courtroom.
Miranda Darling isn't in trouble - yet. But she's close enough that when Turner threatens her with imprisonment if she puts one foot wrong, she knows she should run in the other direction. And yet no matter how forbidding the man seems on the outside, she can't bring herself to leave. Instead, when he tries to push her away, she pushes right back - straight through his famous self-control, and into the heart of the passion that he has long hidden away.
©2011 Courtney Milan (P)2012 Courtney Milan
bookworm
"A GOOD BOOK TOTALLY RUINED BY THE NARRATOR"
I enjoyed the building romance between Smite who is a cold, emotionally challenged Judge and Miranda a penniless, down on her luck woman who has to impersonate witness's at his court but he finds her out with dire consequences. Thoroughly enjoyable romance with a good plot that has many twists and turns.
I have enjoyed all CM's books but this one was painful to listen to - I suggest the Publishing House NEVER EVER EVER uses this narrator again and re-records it otherwise I can't see it being downloaded by many people.
avid audio books listener
"Good story-narrator grew on me"
The narrator annoyed me the first time I started to listen to this audio - she sounded a little over the top for some of the lower class voices.
But a few weeks later I started over because the story was interesting - and the author sounded fine once I got used to all the different voices. Actually, I thought she sounded great half-way through the story. I would definitely listen to another book read by Nicole Quinn.
I'm an omnivore when it comes to books - I'll read anything, but I especially like mysteries and historical fiction - and I fall all over myself when the two genres combine! I also love sci-fi, high adventure, romance (sometimes), crime & detection, horror...well, like I said. Omnivore.
"Lovely Story, Wrong Narrator"
I so wanted to enjoy this. But the narrator was so slow...
it.
was.
like.
listening.
to.
some...one.
read.
something.
like.
this.
So...the time I spent trying to listen to this just made me feel a little crazy.
I like tortured heroes. This story has a great one. I like Courtney Milan and I like this series and this book...just had to read it with my eyes instead of my ears.
Distractingly odd, grating, and just flat-out unpleasant voices that would have been awesome for narrating the Munchkinland bit from "Oz" or something to do with Hobbits, but not so much for a romance novel.
Terribly long pauses between words, an odd pronunciation of the word "gaol," (a British spelling of "jail") which came up rather often. It's supposed to be a homophone of "jail," but the narrator kept saying something like "gowel" and it became conspicuous and quite irritating after a while.
ALL THAT BEING SAID: She had a very nice voice for the hero. But I won't buy anything with this narrator again.
It inspired me to regret purchasing this audiobook.
"Unraveled all defenses"
Yes! was so touched by Unraveled, the way the author dealt with the moral dilemma and compassion, she is a genius. I was all ready impressed with Unveiled in regards to personal pride and the subtlety of Jessica coming into her own, but Smite and Amanda's inner strength plus the difference between Justice and vengeance, wow!! thank you, thank you.
The last two chapters! But the whole book was necessary for such a delight
The narrator was excellent on all of them.
Cried in the final scene. The wedding present.
Sweet and beautiful with great passion.
"Narrator was awful!"
A better Narrator!
Yes. I have been waiting for this book, but I will have to read the written version (which is difficult for a dyslexic) because I could not stand to listen to Quinn.
She was unable to make believable characters, she had difficulties in keeping straight which voices were which character, and they all sounded horrible.
I will not buy any book where Ms. Quinn is the reader. It was a wasted credit for a book I've been waiting to hear. I just could not stand it. Sorry, I'm unable to say anything about the story line, but I'm sure it's good and that is why I will buy it and read it myself. Gave that portion a 3 just on the basis of her previous books.
"It was a struggle"
It was a real struggle but I forced my way through it. I feel like I need a medal. How sad for this author to have such a horrible narrator ruin her work. This needs a do over and I need a refund.
"Very poor narrator"
I would try another book from Courtney Milan as long as it was not narrated by Quinn
Not sure there is a comparison.
Definitely not, slow to the point of being boring
The book yes but hampered by the narrator.
"Good Story, poor narrator"
I greatly disliked the narrator. I have listened to the previous books in this series and enjoyed them, and got this one without looking at the reviews and listening to a sample. Bad, bad decision. The narrator made everyone sound like whiny old ladies, even the male characters.
No way.
Many times I have listened to a book that wasn't that great a story just because the narration would so good. In this case, I didn't get beyond the first chapter before I stopped. I'll have to get this in ebook form and read it now. A waste of a good credit.
"More than a Romance"
I thought that the level of story telling-both the writing and performance was particularly engaging. The characters were full, the love story was compelling and the sub-plot was actually intriguing and ultimately satisfying.
Nicole Quinn gave life to these characters. She told the story without getting in the way of it. She was able to heighten the impact of a very dramatic plot, while keeping it very simple and real. I thoroughly enjoyed her reading and think she is a very gifted narrator.
"Settle in for a wonderful story"
The narrators voice is a bit unique with a nice raspy tone that worked very well with the setting of this story. Since the story is set in the working class area of London, I really appreciated hearing a narration that fit. She did a wonderful job with all the different characters--I could always tell when Miranda or Smite was speaking and that is always important to me as I get distracted by my work sometimes and miss parts of the audio. At times, some characters were harder to understand, especially the ones in the courtroom, but that dialect can be hard for me to read sometimes as well. I will admit at first I was not sure if I was going to enjoy the narration, but after I settled in, I grew to enjoy the performance. I thought her accents, both male and female, worked well with the setting of this story. Overall, I thought this was a good fit for a favorite book of mine. The dialects, romance and action all were captured in a way that I found enjoyable.