Delighted by the Duke

Fabled Love, Book 4

By: Amanda Mariel

Narrated by: Anne Marie Damman

Length: 1 hr and 39 mins

Publisher's summary

Miss Emma Baxter stowed away in a carriage in order to escape her uncle and the baron he's bent on forcing her to marry. The last thing she expected was to find herself with the Duke of Radcliffe, Aaron St. John, and his ten year old daughter, Lady Sophia. Now she faces an entirely different danger.

©2017 Amanda Siemen (P)2018 Amanda Siemen

Short and sweet

This is an extremely short book but it was pretty satisfying for what it was. Short and sweet. There wasn't really any depth or character development but I was still invested in the characters.

Delighted by the Duke

I enjoyed this short sweet tale.

Anne Marie Damman was the perfect narrator for this tale: her narration was full of passion and drama.

You could feel the events as they took place.

Emma and Aaron were great company and it was fun taking this journey with them.

Amanda Mariel's delightful tale was beautifully brought to life by Anne Marie Damman.

This book was easy too short

And because of its shortness, the story was not really developed well. The idea of the story was one that could easily have been great. But the climax was so rushed as to be unsatisfying.

Love short stories

This book moves along quite fast without detail descriptions of every little surrounding in the path.

Novella Hiccups, But Good Characters

This is a super-short quick read or listen, depending on your preferred book media. I've often said in reviews that I actually think short-form fiction is more challenging to write well than longer forms because you have to do so much in so little word real estate. It rarely allows much time for character growth, a satisfying romantic arc, or intriguing subplots. It can be done well, especially if the author constricts the story’s time frame. At other times, though, the short-form romantic story almost feels melodramatic because of how much story has to be shoehorned into its brief form. Unfortunately, I felt like this story had some of those flaws. Before the heroine meets the hero, and indeed, how she meets him, the story borders on melodrama, with her villainous male relation essentially bartering her in marriage to pay off his gambling debts. To escape their clutches, she literally stows herself away in the boot of what she later learns is a duke's carriage. I liked both the characters. But I didn't feel there was quite enough characterization done. I really love character-driven stories, especially romances. As it is so short, the plot develops rapidly, giving it little room to breathe. In terms of writing, the story has a lot of scenes (action) but not a lot of sequels (reactions or reflections on the preceding actions). That can give a book an almost breathless feel, as we lurch from event to event, because we don't realize until we don't have this organic rhythm how much we need that flow and ebb for a story to be wholly engrossing. That's not to say that this book didn't have some absolutely lovely scenes, and I particularly enjoyed the ones with the duke's young child and the ones toward the end where we see the couple embark on their new life and the villains get their due.

Lovely & Sweet

A well written, beautiful romance.
This is a story every woman can get lost in. A lady in need of rescue and a handsome duke as her hero. This author pens such a lovely and sweet story, I didn’t want it to end.
The narrator delivers a beautiful performance too. I highly recommend this audiobook.

Delighted by the Duke!

This is the fourth story in the "Fabled Love" series. It is a short and quick read or listen and stands alone. The story is fun with a little angst and drama. Aaron, his young daughter Sophia, and Emma. Emma is trying to escape a forced marriage and hides in a carriage. When she is discovered by Aaron he is shocked and wants to hear her story. Until then she will help care for his daughter. I thought the narrator did a good job with the characters and the story.

Delighted by the Duke

It really was a delightful audiobook. A clean listen but had a good story line. The heroine has someone to make her safe. Love rags to riches stories. Narrator did awesome job

Short but sweet

It wasn’t a long audio. I believe less than 2 hours, but it was a sweet love story with a very cute 7 year old girl in it. The heroine is trying to steal away from an unwanted marriage. The hero hires her as a governess. Attraction is almost immediate, then the uncle finds her. I did like the compassion she showed her uncle after she was safe from his clutches.

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

Overly sweet story

This story seems to be meant to be a fairytale but it just didn’t work for me. It’s just way too sappy and unrealistic and exemplifies all of what I don’t like in a historical romance. It’s unusual because I usually enjoy Ms. Mariel’s work. The only reason why I’m giving it three stars rather than two is because I listened to it and Anna Marie Damman does a good job of narrating it. If you like sweet then you might enjoy it.

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