Charming the Shrew

By: Laurin Wittig

Narrated by: Ralph Lister

Length: 10 hrs and 44 mins

Publisher's Summary

Returning to the Scottish Highlands after a fierce battle with the English, Tayg Munro receives a hero’s welcome - and an ultimatum. To take his place as heir to the chiefdom, he must choose a wife or have one chosen for him. Furious and stalling for time, the brooding warrior volunteers for a mission that takes him deep into the Highlands, with no hint of the fateful encounter that awaits him....

Catriona MacLeod is known as the Shrew of Assynt, thanks to her razor-sharp tongue and her unwillingness to yield to her five brothers. When she learns that her eldest brother has promised her hand in marriage to a loathsome man, she flees into the Scottish wilderness, determined to seek the king’s intervention. There she reluctantly joins forces with a handsome traveler, unable to anticipate the treacherous plot that will soon embroil them - or the passion that will ignite between them.

©2012 Laurin Wittig (P)2012 Brilliance Audio, Inc.

Critic Reviews

"In this exhilarating Highlands adventure Wittig knows how to merge passion, wild adventure, history, and danger into a perfect tale that takes your breath away and tugs at the heart." ( Romantic Times)

good story,pity about the narrator

I love historical romances,especially set in Scottland. The story was good but was ruined by the narrator. He was not able to do any of the voices male or female. I also downloaded 'Daring the Highlander ' through which I will grit my teeth as I listen,
Please, please if there are any more books in this series get Davina Porter to narrate.

15 people found this helpful

Holds interest

Romance is not the best description of this work. It is a good story in the typical Scots setting of clan conspiracy, and holds interest. If you are looking for hot sex, look elsewhere.

23 people found this helpful

Could have used another Narrator

The Story is written well but the Narrator leaves much to be desired when it comes to doing Scottish accents. He's very adept with the British reading. But this is a book about the Scotts and there is much that needs to be read with a Scottish accent and he failed terribly with them. Or maybe it's just me being used to Davina Potter doing a beautiful Scottish Accent.

Other than that it was a lovely read.

11 people found this helpful

Surprising highland treat!!!

Laurie Wittig is a new author for me. I was pleasantly surprised by this great audiobook. A fantastic story, funny and charming characters and a very impressive narration by Ralph Lister.

Highly recommended!! :)

14 people found this helpful

Disappointing...

but to be fair i just finished the Outlander series by Diana Gabaldon, narrated by Davina Porter...so i wanted more of this type. that being said, i found this book to be poorly done by comparison.
there was no depth of character, the narration sounded like something out of a high school theater, and truthfully, i couldn't wait for it to be over. possibly this book would be more apt to appeal to young adults, but not anyone with any maturity.

2 people found this helpful

GREAT BANTER WITHIN THIS SCOTTISH ROMANCE!

I found this to be a light, but fun Scottish romp as the hero, Tayg Munro, and heroine, Catriona MacLeod become entangled with one another on an unexpected journey with different purposes to find the King of Scotland. As a future laird, Tayg temporarily takes on the role of a bard (not a very good one according to Cartoon), while Catriona is running away from her brother's grasp and a pending marriage to an unsuitable laird. This romance is not as steamy as I would have preferred, but it was fun, the banter hilarious (at times), and the reader is exposed to a budding romance between two very strong characters. Don't get me wrong when the two leads come together and finally give in to one another, it's hot and steamy, but this only happened one time. Otherwise, Catriona and Tayg shared a teasing and flirty kind of romance throughout their journey.

Catriona is known as the "Shrew of Assynt" and her sharp-tongue and short temper definitely warrants this term, but there are always reasons behind the shields people erect. I liked how Tayg was able to look beyond her defensiveness and understand the reasons. But, Tayg did something special for Catriona, he helped teach her new behaviors and reign in her temper. I liked how Catriona became aware of her jarring personality and found better strategies in dealing with people. The interaction between Catriona and Tayg was many times very funny. You could just picture Tayg rolling his eyes or really tripping out on Catriona's character. Females tended to worship him, not annoy, and verbally spar with him as Catriona did, especially at the onset. Even thought his was a decent read/listen, it definitely could have been much better. The action and adventure was great, but it needed more opportunities for the leads to enjoy the steam of their relationship.

The narrator, Ralph Lister, was good. He did a great job with the male voices and a decent job with the female voices. I bought this book on sale and it turned out to be a good experience for the price.

2 people found this helpful

Romance in Scottland

This was a 4.95 special. It was a cute love story. It was a light, easy listen. Enjoyable.

4 people found this helpful

Nice listen...simple and sweet

This was a much better book than the second. I'm not sure why I listened in reverse order...but I did. I can't NOT finish (or in this case start) a series just because one book isn't wonderful so I listened to Charming the Shrew and was glad I did. It was a good book, easy listening and didn't cause too much emotion one way or the other. Every once in a while I need a nice sweet book to pass the time.

I would say this is SALE worthy for sure, and maybe even credit worthy....its straddling the fence.

1 person found this helpful

Feisty & Spirited.

Where does Charming the Shrew rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

This story is one of my favorites. The banter between the two main characters is funny and quirky. A true love story.

What did you like best about this story?

Tayg is quite funny but isn't slow in accepting his hearts desire and moving toward it.

What three words best describe Ralph Lister’s performance?

I'm not a big fan of Ralph Lister's character voices, but it wasn't bad.

Any additional comments?

Fun listen.

1 person found this helpful

Made me happy!

An entertaining and romantic tale of the old days in Scotland. I enjoyed the story, not too sappy or predictable. A little bit steamy, but not stupidly so.

A nice light book when you need to believe in good things!

1 person found this helpful

1 listen only sort of book.

I found this book hard to take in, for the first chapter but a delight afterwards.
guy meets girl. adventure abound. the end.
as I have said I think I'll only be reading this book the once.