Christmas in the Duke's Embrace

Christmas Wishes, Book 4

By: Amanda Mariel

Narrated by: Martin Royal

Length: 2 hrs and 6 mins

Publisher's summary

Disgraced and betrayed by those she trusted most, Lady Marina Ellis finds herself near death and in desperate need of rescue. 

Evan Lockhart, never expected to find a woman buried in a snowbank outside of his ducal manor, but now that he has he cannot turn her away. 

As Christmas approaches the pair form a bond neither expected, but can they overcome the obstacles standing between them and embrace their chance at love?

©2018 Amanda Mariel (P)2018 Amanda mariel

Cozy lacks heat… or Christmas

If Christmas is in the title, it should feature prominently in the novella, don’t you think? But no, Christmas is the barest side note. This is a regency outline that does little to explain why the characters fall in love. There’s no clever dialogue, no action, and not so much as a kiss. The most energetic lines are uttered by the would be villain at the start of the novella, before the scene fades to black and our Duke arrives in time to simply carry her away and seamlessly move towards an unearned HEA. There’s nothing horrible here, but also nothing memorable.

Short and sweet

Quick short story that warms the heart. Circumstances brought them together, giving each a chance at a new life.

sweet quick story

It was a sweet clean romance with a very happy ending. A small amount of action in the beginning. The narrator was good at changing voices for each character.

Delightful!

In 1812 Lady Marina Ellis had fallen for Lord Banfield’s lies and now she found herself expecting a child. Her father was cruel and sent her to his equally cruel sister to have the child. On the way there her coach was attacked by highwaymen and she fought back so hard, they left her unconscious in a snow bank to freeze to death. Evan Lockhart was traveling home on his horse when he spied her. He rescued her and took her home with him. Then an adventure and the spirit of Christmas was in the air. Martin Royal did a smashing job bringing it to life with his narration of it!!

Sweet and clean

Lady Marina Ellis finds herself in need of help after being abandoned by her family. Evan Lockhart finds her unconscious on the snow, so he brings her to his house to help her. During her recovery, they learn the truths of each other and a bond between them is created.

It's a short, clean and sweet story. But beware of the triggers, as there is a rape attempt in the story that could upset some people. Otherwise, it's a nice story. even if there are some historical inaccuracies and insta-love (which is is not my thing and they fall in love in about three days) it was a nice read.

I didn't enjoy the narration at first, as I felt the diction was too slow and overdone at some points, but I increased the speed a little and it improved a lot I usually listen to my audiobooks at 1.0 speed and I increased it to 1.25).

I received a free copy of this audiobook in exchange for my honest opinion.

Sweet, Clean Love Story

Christmas in the Duke's Embrace is a short story about a young girl seduced by an unscrupulous lord who leaves her pregnant. As a result the girl's father throws her out of the house and sends her to live with an aunt far from town. En route, her carriage is beset by highwaymen and she is left on the side of road to die of cold. She is discovered by the local duke who has hidden away in the country due to a series of family tragedies. He takes the girl in and they fall in love.

Due to the nature of the short story format, the action progresses very quickly. The story is well-written and enjoyable and there is the predictable HEA. The romance is very clean and sweet. Although the title suggests a Christmas themed story, the Christmas season is only casually mentioned and not an important part of the plot line. It was unusual to have a male narrator for a romance but Martin Royal did a nice job and he was enjoyable to listen to.

Altogether a sweet, enjoyable, quick listen for a rainy afternoon.

**I received a copy of this audiobook in exchange for my own unbiased review.**

Cute story but bad narration..

Another cute Christmas story. I liked Evan and Marina but I don’t know how she could have been so forgiving to that father of hers. If I had been Marina I would have let Evan kick his rear or even call him out. What a piece of crap he was. It was pretty interesting for as short as it was.

As to the narration: I really, really do prefer a male narrator for any book because invariably a female is going to read a description of the big handsome hero and when that hero talks he sounds just like a girl. I can stand a deep voice on a heroine but when she has a horrible voice I cannot recommend that particular narrator. Martin Royal cannot do a woman’s voice at all so he should practice on that or not be a narrator.

Well-written, enjoyable listen

This sweet, romantic story starts out with a young heroine in despair, but upon her rescue by a handsome and kind Duke, the life she thought she had ahead of her becomes a dream come true.
I always love when an author can tell a richly detailed, imaginative story (and a good one) in a novella. This story is very well written, with wonderfully developed characters. I really enjoyed it and plan to read more by this author.

I listened to the audio version and narrator, Martin Royal, did a great job with this story.

Christmas in the Duke Embrace

Finding herself in a terrible situation & being left for dead in a snow drift. After being banished to her cruel Aunts home from her even crueler fathers home. Lady Marina finds herself having to trust a stranger. They just may be each others answer for a special Christmas gift. Nice job on the narration.

Sweet Christmas Romance

Lady Marina Ellis was betrayed by a man who seduced and then left her. Cast out of her parent's home, Marina runs afoul of some bandits and her situation goes from awful to worse. Evan Lockheart, the Duke of Rowley, finds Marina lying nearly dead in a snowbank by the side of the road. While nursing her back to health, he finds his own heart in danger.

I really liked this sweet romance! There's a lot packed into this novella, there's action, romance, betrayal, forgiveness, and hope. I liked both main characters and thought they were perfect together. The narration was well done. It always surprises me to hear a male narrator for a romance, but this was a good surprise, with different voices for each character and a voice that pulled me right into the story. I requested a copy of the audiobook, and I'm voluntarily leaving a review.

blessing to each

Lady Marina found herself disgraced and then disowned by her father. Despite her grim future she held onto hope of a future for them. A bad incident caused her to be in the care of a Duke.

This is a clean captivating love story between 2 unfortunate individuals, who found each other. it seems they saved each one from their grim future and found their lasting happiness.
I love the heroine, despite what could have happened , she fought and tried to keep them safe. Though he was only mentioned, I just wonder what happened to that first bad guy . And wonder if it is the same that hurt Evan's sister.

Recommend reading this enticing love story.

I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.

A Christmassy fairytale

Christmas in the Duke's Embrace is a sweet, clean seasonal Regency novella in which two wounded people are thrown together in the snow.

Following a brief musical introduction, we first meet our heroine as she braces herself to face her father's wrath. I did find it odd that Marina did not confess to feeling much shame, instead expressing anger at her father for not supporting her and admitting to some guilt for upsetting her mother. Even her bitterness towards the man who forsook her is rather tame, and does not have the impact upon her interactions with Evan that one would expect. Consequently, this did make the story feel as though it struggled to settle into its period setting.

It was similarly unusual for the hero and heroine to be so open with each other. Not only are their conversations striking in their candour so soon after meeting, but they are each prone to laying hands upon the other with an intimacy that would have been highly taboo at the time.

Christmas in the Duke's Embrace is a very sweet tale of redemption, wrapped up in a love-at-first-sight style romance. It is not in the least bit realistic or complex, but is a nice little story nonetheless, and ideal for playing in the background while wrapping presents.

This was my first audiobook narrated by Martin Royal and I enjoyed his performance. His reading was very expressive and the voices he gave the characters were good, with diverse accents helping give the story depth.

I would recommend this audiobook to anyone who is looking for a sweeping Christmas romance between a fallen Lady and a stricken Duke.

*I received this audiobook free of charge in the hope of an honest, unbiased review.