Lord of Secrets

By: Alyssa Everett

Narrated by: Courtney Patterson

Somewhere on the North Atlantic, 1820...

Rosalie Whitwell has spent most of her life sailing the globe with her adventurous father, dreaming of the day she can settle in one place long enough to have a home and family of her own. When her father suffers a fatal heart attack in the middle of the North Atlantic, Rosalie turns in her panic to a fellow passenger - the cool, reclusive Lord Deal.

For years David Linney, Marquess of Deal, has avoided the society of others. Even so, he's drawn to his lovely shipmate, like him, the victim of family tragedy.

As the voyage nears its end, Lord Deal is compelled to propose. But on their wedding night, Rosalie gets an unwelcome surprise: Her handsome husband is strangely reluctant to consummate the marriage. Does she fall short of her groom's expectations? Or is he hiding a secret past that only she can unlock?

©2013 Alyssa Everett (P)2013 Audible, Inc.

Beautifully written; nicely performed

The audio book was just as good as the written version. Courtney Patterson is a new-to-me narrator, but I would gladly listen to her performance of other books. I suspect that she may be an American, as her English accent occasionally wandered away. That did not detract from my enjoyment of the audio, however.

This is a lovely story about a true marriage of convenience, where both the husband and the wife consider themselves unworthy of the other.

Rosalie believes herself to be unattractive, unsophisticated, and a poor match for her husband, the toplofty, dour and reclusive Lord Deal. Deal has cut himself off from society and considers himself to be "utterly depraved" and no fit mate for a sweet innocent like Rosalie. Deal has enough honor left that he has promised himself that he will not consummate the marriage until he has confessed all to Rosalie, at which point he expects her to flee in horror. She, on the other hand, has no idea why he shows no interest in making love to her in the days and weeks after their marriage.

Deal's secret, which goes back to his youth, is indeed shocking, yet when he finally confesses, Rosalie is horrified only by what he has had to endure. In return for Deal "rescuing" her aboard ship after her father's sudden death, she helps rescue him from his demons.

The story is beautifully written, without the intrusion of modern language or attitudes. Extreme patience is required,however, as the reader does not learn about Deal's secrets any sooner than Rosalie does, which is near the end of the book.

Definitely recommended.

Lord of Secrets

This is a very good book. Rarely do romance books especially historical show the hero as sexually abused. His torment and self loathing was very strong. The heroine was very sweet. The narrator also very good.

Great story - disappointing performance

Would you listen to Lord of Secrets again? Why?

Yes. I would listen again, despite my misgivings about the performance because it's such a good story.

What did you like best about this story?

The romance is well-developed and well-written. Rosalie is a very engaging heroine, and even though Deal is very reserved, it's clear that there's a lot more to him than meets the eye. I thought the storyline that dealt with his "secrets" was unusual for a historical romance, and that the author dealt with a difficult issue in a sensitive manner.It's one of those books in which there are no spies, no adventures or action scenes, or an overload of sex scenes - just a story about a man with twenty years worth of secrets and regrets learning to come to terms with them with the help of a woman who sees him as he really is.

What aspect of Courtney Patterson’s performance would you have changed?

Accent and pronunciation.Ms Patterson's voice is pleasant and her pacing and vocal inflections were generally very good. She managed to maintain her English accent reasonably well for about 80% of the performance, but there were several times when Deal suddenly developed an American accent and there were a number of seriously tortuous mispronunciations that really should have been picked up in the editing.For instance, in "What's the matter?" the word "matter" was pronounced "MAHTER"."Calm" was constantly pronounced as "COLM".The majority of historical romances are set in Britain or have British principals - therefore you need someone who can sustain the accent 100% or you have to use a Brit.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

Yes.

Any additional comments?

Ms Everett's other audiobook, "Ruined by Rumor", had the fabulous and ever-reliable Rosalyn Landor as narrator, and it's a shame she wasn't used for this one. The story was more intense, and it would have been so much more fitting for this audio to have had the benefit of her experience and talent.

the narration was great

the narration was great, the secret seemed to take forever to uncover, and then the story ended abruptly, leaving me with a feeling of indifference over the whole book.

It was okay

This was my first experience with Alyssa Everett's books. It was enjoyable but I can't say I loved it. It was a good listen.