For Love of the Duke

The Heart of a Duke, Book 1

By: Christi Caldwell

Narrated by: Morag Sims

Length: 8 hrs and 41 mins

Publisher's Summary

After the tragic death of his wife, Jasper, the 8th Duke of Bainbridge buried himself away in the dark cold walls of his home, Castle Blackwood. When he's coaxed out of his self-imposed exile to attend the amusements of the Frost Fair, his life is irrevocably changed by his fateful meeting with Lady Katherine Adamson. With her tight brown ringlets and silly white-ruffled gowns, Lady Katherine Adamson has found her dance card empty for two Seasons. After her father's passing, Katherine learned the unreliability of men, and is determined to depend on no one, except herself. Until she meets Jasper. In a desperate bid to avoid a match arranged by her family, Katherine makes the Duke of Bainbridge a shocking proposition; one that he accepts. Only, as Katherine begins to love Jasper, she finds the arrangement agreed upon is not enough. And Jasper is left to decide if protecting his heart is more important than fighting for Katherine's love.

©2014 Christi Caldwell (P)2014 Christi Caldwell

Minor SPOILERS, maybe..

Any additional comments?

I did like Jasper and really liked Katherine. Where he was so afraid and negative she was so positive and unafraid of anything when it came to them. That is, until she’d had enough sense to get tired of hearing about Lydia and left him, which I don’t blame her for. I know I was tired of hearing about her. I really am tired of so much angst in books, page after page, going on and on for 300 or 400 pages.
The book did have some nice sex in it but the book itself needs to have less angst. One reviewer said this, “The romance was overshadowed by the first wife,” and I couldn’t agree more. The story was dragged out way too long to make it a five star read. You can only read how much he loved Lydia, how guilty he feels about Lydia, how he misses Lydia, how beautiful Lydia was, before you’ve had enough.
A good read, but I'm not so sure I'd read this author again because of the incredible amount of angst she puts in her books. Doubt I could go through it again with Anne.

As to the narrator: She did an excellent job on the voices. I would definitely listen to her again. Not much emotion in her reading but I can overlook that as long as the men sound like men.

"You made me to feel and dream and love again"

I love the above quote from the book. I could NOT stop listening. Had to finish the book at all cost and yet did not want it to end. A truly heartfelt story. Funny and heartbreaking and heartwarming and maddening all together. A hero to love and a heroine to adore. This book really did make me feel and dream and love. The epitome of a great love story. sigh

I laughed, I cried and I loved every second of it.

This story was surprisingly good! Jasper suffered a traumatic loss of his wife and son that has left him empty. After years alone he meets Katherine by chance and everything changes. This story feels like a twist of the Beauty and the Beast. I felt so many different emotions while listen to it. The narration is very good too. I'm so disappointed that the second book has a different narrator.

If you enjoy historical romances and fairytale stories like Beauty and the Beast you will love this story.

Interesting characters!

At first, I was not so impressed with this book but I trundled on and was rewarded by a wonderful story!!!!!!

Very enjoyable!!!!

AWESOME READ!!!!!!!! Can not wait to read her next book!!!! Fresh new writer to enjoy!!!

loved loved Loved IT

what a fun book! this is one of those books you just wish was longer the narration was perfect i liked it so much i went to buy another book just cos it had the same narrator, cant wait for next book on the series, jasper and katherine were the perfect hero and heroine for this story****the only thing i would change is *************little spoiler********** i feel poor katherine is always feeling like second best to her sister to her husband and it bugs me jasper never really tells her how special she is to him i would likw to think he does on the period of time before the epilogue***********

Wow! What a great story and narration!

I absolutely loved this story! The hero, Jasper was devastated at his loss and then comes the heroine, Katherine, she was fantastic! Loved her. She was strong, funny, witty and just perfect for our broken hero. They made a perfect couple. There was a couple of very nicely written sex scenes.

The story line was truly a wonderful love story and flowed very nicely. There was not as much dialogue as I normally like but there was still enough and it was great!

I totally recommend this book for sure!

As for the narration, one of the very best I have listened to in a long time. She made a fantastic story even better with her wonderful narration. Everyone had their own distinct voice and she read with emotion as called for. Her reading voice was beautiful. Loved it! I do hope Morag Sims narrates many many more books. I will be looking for her narrations!

I certainly hope that the next book in this series More Than a Duke is released on audible very soon and narrated by Morag Sims! I will be watching for it! Fingers crossed.

A lot of head talk

this story could have been shorter if the H/H had actually spoken their thoughts aloud to one another. it was a bit frustrating at times.

I would have to enjoyed this story...

I would have to enjoyed this story so much more if the author had not drag out every conversation with copious and copious amounts of internal dialogue. Some internal dialogue is expected, but this just takes the life out of the conversations. I frequently forwarded through them.

Narrator really did a splendid job here!

She made the story so much better and I fell in love with the two main characters interaction though I wish the story wasn't so sad.

Self flagellation

He had a lonely and cruel childhood, but learnt to love. Married and wife dies in childbirth, son a few days later. So decides to become a total recluse, hating everything and everyone. Keeps only one friend, who he abuses for his persistence. She is the ugly twin sister, whose life he saves. They marry on a flimsy excuse, then dispite his feelings continues to abuse her. Having made a vow never to love or marry again. She naturally is upset and shocked, then understanding, when she realises the state of her marriage. She finally leave him and goes to London, makes friend's with a rake. He gets jealous, and decides to fight for his marriage. Alot of Self Flagellation on both sides. I don't know if this is the Author's usual style, but it is too much self pity for me.

Nice story

Enjoyed the easy listening was a good story, will be purchasing the next in the series. Will recommend to my sister as she has the same taste as me