A Lady's Powerful Duke

By: Matilda Hart, Historical Deluxe

Narrated by: Anneliese Rennie

Length: 2 hrs and 12 mins

Publisher's summary

Emilia MacNeil is an independent miss. Truth be told, she's a bit of a tomboy, and many's the proper lady who has called her a hussy for her sometimes less than ladylike behavior. But Emilia remains unrepentant. She's as good as any man, and better than some, and the last thing she wants is to be married to any of them. She'll happily be an aunt to her siblings' children, but she wants nothing to do with marriage.

Enter Lord Cedric Hanson, Duke of Roxburgh. According to her father the Marquess, the Duke is to be her husband, but Emilia refuses to comply. When she is brought back after her first attempt at escape is foiled, she vows to take the battle to the enemy, so to speak. But every attempt she makes to escape is hindered, first by the guards who accompany her and her father to the Duke's seat, and afterwards by the Duke himself. Their game of hide and seek eventually leads to more, as Emilia finds herself reluctantly admiring the man who would take her freedom. Admiration becomes arousal...becomes more. In the end, on her wedding day, Emilia must choose between the independence she has fought for all her life and the man she has come to love.

©2016 Historical Deluxe (P)2017 Historical Deluxe

Not Inspiring

What did you like best about A Lady's Powerful Duke? What did you like least?

All of the escape attempts.

Would you recommend A Lady's Powerful Duke to your friends? Why or why not?

No. This was not an inspiring story for me.

What three words best describe Anneliese Rennie’s performance?

Strange, stranger, and weird

What would have made this romance irresistible?

I am not sure.

Any additional comments?

This had to be an earlier copy of the story. the narrator made scenes run together and when she made mistakes in her narration they were not taken out. I got this book via audiobook boom.

A nice story. Narration not to my taste.

Is there anything you would change about this book?

I would change the narrator.

Would you recommend A Lady's Powerful Duke to your friends? Why or why not?

I would recommend buying the ebook rather than the audio version.

Who would you have cast as narrator instead of Anneliese Rennie?

I would have cast Elizabeth Klett or Melanie Fraser. Both are fantastic narrators and I love how they perform with a flawless English accent which adds an air of authenticity to historical romances set in England.
Unfortunately, I didn't enjoy the narration here.

I felt that the Anneliese Rennie's style of reading the story as opposed to performing it is more suited to non fiction. There were also a couple of mispronunciations, e.g. Michaelmas

Any additional comments?

I voluntarily received a review copy.

let down from what I was expecting

From the description this seemed like it was going to be a really great book, but sadly the description was the entire book. This all came across as a pouty child rather than a 20 year old woman. And the male came across as stiff and more of a rehearsed part. Don't get me wrong I did enjoy the story, but at the same time it was a let down. Honestly I probably won't listen to the story again because it's not one of those that I just have to hear again. The narration was ok. There were a few parts that you could hear the narrator clearing her throat and a line was repeated several times. I know that there are some books that this happen's but you can tell its part of the story and in the cases in this book it just didn't fit what was going on at all. There was also the music at the beginning of every chapter and what was played just didn't fit this story for me (it did fit the time period but that's not the point I'm trying to make). I know that other have different opinions than me I'm just trying to honestly express mine.

An ok story

I was enjoying the story, but the voice the narrator chose for the protagonist took away most of the enjoyment I could’ve gotten from the plot and characters. I do not think she’s a bad narrator, because it was only the protagonist, but since we’re always with her I got tired very fast. There were other details in the audio editing, like repetitions of sentences or phrases and, in once instance, a phrase was repeated three times because the narrator had to clear her throat the first two. Again, I’m not saying the narrator is bad, but bad editing and an annoying voice for the MC didn’t let me enjoy neither the story nor the narrator.

I was given a free copy of this audiobook and have voluntarily given this review. This didn’t influence my review in any way.

Clean Regency Romance

This is your basic Regency romance. Amelia is an independent and impulsive girl lacking the usual wiles of an aristocratic woman in those times. Apparently that works for the Duke who probably appreciates that she isn't tossing herself at his head.

That said, the story is clean (with no more than chaste kisses), quick and light but not unusual. Amelia repeatedly tries to escape and is brought back each time in a lacklustre sort of way. But then the story is mostly about how she discovers herself in the process.

This book was given to me for free at my request and I provided this voluntary review.

If you love something, set it free!

Ah, thank goodness, w don't still live in a time of arranged marriages, although, I believe this still some cultures practice.
I don't doubt, as in this story, many parents believe they are doing the best for the woman involved. However, not all suitors are like the Duke, as portrayed, and social and economic benefits are often taken precedent over the welfare of the young woman. Such, unfortunately, appears human nature.
The music between chapters, detracted from the overall experience, as well as one area, where editing should have occurred.

good

Any additional comments?

This audiobook was given to me for a honest unbiased review. This was a good short read. I love these regency books. This was a perfect size novella that had all the stops, between love historical details, and passionate characters. A very sweet good read.

Sweet and sassy young lady meets her match

What was your reaction to the ending? (No spoilers please!)

Talk about fulfilling a stereotype. Honestly the ending lost this book a star.

What about Anneliese Rennie’s performance did you like?

Anneliese did a great job with the voices, the were well done for both male and female characters and were in keeping with the period theme.

What would have made this romance irresistible?

I both liked and disliked the Cedric (the Duke); a fair bit of what he did and said came across as playing a game to me, and I didn't like that.

Any additional comments?

A few production issues in chapter 7 (of the recording) where the narration repeats several times and has a few odd sounds added. The music at the end is also messed up (I hope) or it's supposed to be discordant. The music that plays between chapters is just a bit too loud, makes me want to decrease the volume each time it plays.

Wow, what a harsh review so far. Honestly I didn't dislike the book at all, I just found the ending a bit unbelievable.

Emilia is a lovely strong character and well ahead of her times as far as her desire for independence goes. And the story itself is well crafted and quite amusing.

I'd try another book by Matilda Hart.

Note: This book was provided free by the author/narrator/publisher in exchange for an unbiased review.

A Lady's Powerful Duke

A Lady's Powerful Duke
: Matilda Hart

A short Regency Romance has female protagonist entered into an engagement she does not want. Not with The Duke.................not with any man. He must convince her before she reaches her majority in three months time, as she uses her wiles to escape.


The narration was ok, but some mispronunciations distracted (at least as I have always heard the words pronounced differently , and if I am wrong I apologize.) The characters were well portrayed. Anneliese Rennie is a new narrator to me. She has a pleasant voice and puts enthusiasm in the performance. The music was a nice touch.



"I was voluntarily provided this review copy audiobook at no charge by the author, publisher and/or narrator."

Not bad but has some issues

Any additional comments?

The story it’s self was a nice clean romance with interesting characters, you do not see much chemistry between the two main ones. I didn’t feel the pull between them until almost the end. It is a cute story about a lady who didn’t want to marry with a father that demands it. Cedric has a humorous way about his self that I liked. He learns fast to win his ladies heart he must wipe that smile off his face. I have mix feeling about him at first I liked him, than he was a little cold but at the end I really liked him when they could learn to pick and tease each other. Emilia was something else wild, wonderful and at times exciting. I didn’t understand at her first attempt why she didn’t just take a horse, walking was really silly and she is a much smarter lady than this. I have to admit she doesn’t give up easy, when most may not like it they go along with the plan. Not Emilia she spends half the book trying to outrun her father’s plans. She did have me laughing a time or two. She was honest and straight up telling it like it is but does have respect of others feelings.

Ms. Rennie’s narration for the most part was very good, her character voices are nice, and she puts feeling in to each character with wonderful voice emotions. The music has just got to go, it is too loud and over rides the words at the beginning of the audio. I didn’t care for the music between the characters I thought it took a lot away from the audio plus it was way too loud. I think it was chapter 7 where she repeats a few words twice and then I think she growled because she was up happy with the way it was done maybe? There is something weird going on there. After that there is one place where the volume changes that you can tell but doesn’t take away from the audio. My biggest issue was the music I didn’t like that even if it had been softer I wouldn’t have cared for it throughout the whole audio. I feel if music is going to be use it should be a softer lower sound that complements the audio and doesn’t take away from it. I don’t feel music should be used between chapters it just takes away from it, begin and end words well. I thought her voice was very pleasant, her characters very nice. You have no trouble knowing who is talking. It was easy to tell if it was male or female. My low rating is on the music and the repeat of words the rest of the audio I thought was good. I loved the emotion she brings to her characters as well as the feeling of helpless and not giving up that you can feel each character goes through. I would like to listen to something else of her work and get a better idea of it.

The story has a wonderful plot, the characters were nice it wasn’t one that that really grabbed me but was nice. The characters were nice I just didn’t feel any kind of attraction between them until the end. When you would have really got to have seen it was when she agreed to give their relationship a change as they got to know each other. That was not show in the book just touched on. I loved Emilia she was so full of emotion, life and passion about what she wants out of life. You could feel her angrier, her feeling of loss and her wild side. She really didn’t think out her plans very well and does seem to have a hard time making one work. She did seem to get into a lot of trouble which I enjoyed when the duke took her in hand. She was great. I would like to read more of this authors work to get more a handle on her writing style. All in all it wasn’t a bad story or audio just has a few issues.