Black Ice

By: Anne Stuart

Narrated by: Jennifer Van Dyck

Length: 8 hrs and 49 mins

Publisher's Summary

Living paycheck to paycheck in Paris, American book translator Chloe Underwood would give anything for some excitement and passion - even a little danger. So when she's offered a lucrative weekend gig translating at a business conference in a remote château, she jumps at the chance to shake things up.

Then by chance Chloe discovers her employers are anything but the entrepreneurs they appear, and suddenly she knows far too much. Her clients are illegal arms dealers, and one of them is ordered to kill her. But instead, Bastien Toussaint drags Chloe away, and the next thing she knows she's on the run with the most terrifying and seductive man she's ever met. What were his motives - and would she live long enough to find out?

©2005 Anne Stuart (P)2009 Audible, Inc.

Critic Reviews

"This taut romantic suspense novel from RITA Award-winner Stuart delivers deliciously evil baddies and the type of disturbing male protagonist that only she can transform into a convincing love interest....Brilliant characterizations and a suitably moody ambience drive this dark tale of unlikely love." (Publishers Weekly)

Great story, poor narration.

Where does Black Ice rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

Top 50

What did you like best about this story?

Interesting characters.

Would you be willing to try another one of Jennifer Van Dyck’s performances?

Not likely. She reads in 3 - 5 word bursts, not sentences. It drove me crazy. She also mispronounced the name Gilles.

Any additional comments?

This book is the first in the "Ice" series. All of them are great! I still would recommend this audiobook because the story is very good.

Awesome!

I am a big fan of Anne Stuart's "House of Rohan" series, so I was eager to give this "Ice" series a try. If the rest of the books are as good as this one, I will be estatic! Anne Stuart stories aren't your usual romantic "fluff." They are gritty, raw, and often a little dark. I think the previous reviewer hit the nail right on the head when she compared this to a 007 movie where James Bond actually falls for the woman he is protecting. And the female lead was no wilting violet, either. The storyline, character development and dialogue all came together to created a fantistic story, probably one of the few that I will actually listen to again!

Loved the book...hated the narrator.

What would have made Black Ice better?

A different reader. I couldn't even finish listening to the audio version. The narrator made the hero sound like a bad Dracula. Bought the actual book and it was great but the audio was a complete waste of money n

Who would you have cast as narrator instead of Jennifer Van Dyck?

Susan Ericksen. None better!!

Darkly Fantastic

I loved this. The story wasn't the usual romance I listen to and enjoy, it was more like 007's love life, if he totally fell for one of the innocent women standing at the craps tables with him. The story was well crafted, intriguing and capturing. I stayed up 'til the wee hours and found myself hoping for breaks at work to continue listening to find out what would happen next. Sebastian is not your typical hero, but he is oh so hot.

So good!

I've put off listening to these due to reviews about how 'dark' they are, afraid the men were just jerks... in which case I had no interest. But I LOVE a good action/adventure with an awesome male AND strong female lead. These books are incredible. And the love story is so sweet- this is the second one I teared up. The whole book is good... keeps you on your toes in addition to the developing relationship between the leads.
The narrator was good- but you could hear audible swallows she took as well as her breathing at times. But I don't think detracted from the story too much. And she did a good job with the different characters.

Black Ice

The narrator did a great with the French accent but there was very little difference between her French accent and her German or Greek ones. Other than that, she was fine.

The story however, left a lot to be desired. 1st of all, I didn’t feel any chemistry between the H/h. The Hero was 2 dimensional & the heroine was a stupid twit. I couldn’t finish listening.

I like Anne Stuarts Rohan - I liked this Who Knew

This was my first foray into the backlist of Anne Stuart. I truly enjoyed the listen. From the beginning of arriving at the estate to translate meetings for international businessmen to finding herself the object of manipulation and possibly execution was smooth and exciting. Well worth the credit. I see this is a series so I will definitely add them to my wish list. A fast paced, sexy, spy book

Worth the listen

Good story, likable characters. Reader was very good but thought the voice was a little to old sounding for the age of Chole. But she was still very good.

Pick An Accent & Stick With It

I own a copy of the physical book and have read it a few times. I like the book. I'm not much one for audiobooks and this reminded me why. The story is good, so are the inflections, but I wish the narrator was better. The book clearly states where the different characters are from but she'll put on a hideous French accent for most of them (when they're not French) or change to a Slavic sounding accent for the French characters. I think I was most annoyed at her giving most of the characters French accents when they shouldn't have had them and switching halfway through a sentence. It threw me off more than once.

Ugh.

What disappointed you about Black Ice?

Everything. I didn't like anything about this story.

What was most disappointing about Anne Stuart’s story?

The story was not very believable. Also, the main character was a wimp.