London's Last True Scoundrel

The Westruthers, Book 1

By: Christina Brooke

Narrated by: Elizabeth Wiley

Length: 11 hrs and 6 mins

Publisher's summary

Physically reckless, irrepressibly roguish, and poised on the brink of ruin, Jonathon Westruther, Earl of Davenport, returns from the dead only to throw himself into dissipation. Until he meets his worst nightmare: a straitlaced former schoolteacher he can't get out of his head. He resolves to seduce the delightful Miss Hilary deVere by fair means or foul. But when his past returns to endanger Hilary, he must protect her at all costs.

Dismissed from her post at a ladies' academy because of prejudice against her uncouth family, Hilary will do anything to avoid going back to live with her loutish brothers. She longs for a London season to show the world a deVere can behave with utmost decorum and to find a respectable husband. Everything about Lord Davenport appalls her but desperation makes strange bedfellows. To get to London, Hilary strikes a bargain with the devilish Davenport, confident that she's immune to his charm. But as she discovers surprising depths beneath his rakish surface, this infamous scoundrel becomes more temptation than even the most proper lady can withstand.

©2013 Christina Brooke (P)2014 Tantor

Critic reviews

"Smart, funny, engaging and simply a joy to read, the latest in the series will have readers turning the pages until the wonderful deep-sigh ending. Brooke's innovative and fresh voice is quickly turning her into a star of the genre." ( RT Book Reviews)

Humor, Sexy Romance, Great Story

What a delightful listen this was. Jonathan, Earl of Davenport, is a gorgeous man but determined to destroy his reputation after returning from his feigned death. His cousins decide he needs some time in the country and dump him in the middle of nowhere, with nothing but his clothes, which is where he runs into Hilary DeVere who is a disheveled waif waking away from the job she just lost. Jonathan decides she must be "saved" because she's heading into a storm, and so begins their humorous and delightful courtship. Hilary is also running away from her scandalous brothers, and a comedy of errors ensues whereby rakish Jonathan manages to ruin her one chance to gain entrance to the "Season" of the Ton's courtship rituals. The humorous banter and irritation with each other lead, of course, to great sex and love, but not before a mystery plot develops out of Jonathan's strange history. How these spicy lovers come together is a delicious read that does not disappoint.

I liked the book...

I enjoyed the book overall, but not the narration. I believe that EW would do very well with narrating books in the self-help line or others that don’t require male voices. I think I would’ve enjoyed it a lot more with a stronger male voice. I almost didn’t complete the book because of the bad male voices in a book that has a lot of male voices. But I will try one more now that I’ve somewhat adjusted and gotten past my disappointment in the narration.

I’m not sure who hires narrators, but they really should make sure that those narrating can do decent voices for that particular book before hiring. I find too many narrators that would be great in certain genres just not romance.

Oh what a scoundrel!

Cute book. I felt like there was a whole lot of backstory I didn't know, but most of it was eventually revealed. It had the feeling of being the big to do over what happened and the awful impact of what happened and the life altering affects of what happened but with out WHAT happened. But I enjoyed it even tho the sense of feeling I had missed something never really went away. As book one in a trilogy I didn't think there had been anything to miss.

I'd call it a sweet but sexy and quite entertaining regency romance and confidently know that it fits that phrase.

The sex was not crude or rude. Nicely written but quite frank with the descriptive words. Lots of heat!

It was worth the credit for me!

Good but typical.

Narrator was good. I enjoyed this but there was nothing new nor exciting. The ever typical angst of all romances is there, he doesn't love me and the heros aversion to commitment, blah blah blah. it's extremely tedious and predictable as are 90% of books out there. With that said, the sexual tension and sensuality was delicious, imaginative and well executed, so that was very much refreshing.

A LIBERTINE OR MAYBE A FOREVER LOVER

What an enjoyable and witty listen this was as Jonathon the handsome, charming and charismatic Earl of Davenport finds himself dumped by family members somewhere in the country because of his never ending scandalous ways. But he isn't bothered.... that is until he meets straight laced, strong, capable and virginal Hilary who's trying to overcome her scandalous deVere family name. Jonathon becomes entranced and enticed to bed her and so happily tries everything in his Scoundrel's mind to tempt her but promises never to wed her.

The great thing that worked so well in this listen was the humor, witty dialogue and the fact that he was just such a loveable rogue. Hilary is strong, determined and very capable but she's got two brothers who are wastrels and is the Ward of a brutish thoughtless relation. So when she meets Jonathon she's instantly attracted to him (well who wouldn't be) but will he become her Knight in Shining Armour and rescue her or remain a true scoundrel and seduce and ruin her.

There's passion, sizzling chemistry, sex and a touching romance within the hours of this listen which is mainly character driven but it does have a slight sub plot running through it which develops in the last few chapters in danger, threats, murder, kidnapping and revenge. Then, after much heartache, we finally get to see the man hiding behind a Scoundrel's mask.

Worth a credit? There was nothing I didn't like and nothing I'd change - a very creditworthy light listen that left a smile on my face.

Interesting plot and characters

Setting: Lincolnshire and London, England
Genre: Regency Romance

The performance of this book is average at best. Ms Wiley's range isn't exceptional. My biggest problem was that Hilary often sounded like Glinda the Good Witch from The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. After listening to about 1/3rd of the book, I bought the Kindle.

This is the first in the Westruthers series, but I think it is a branch off from something else. Secondary characters were introduced in such a way that I felt I should have known their stories.

The book could have been improved by the deletion of some scenes, and the subplot could have been more fully developed. And then there's the sex. Don't get me wrong! I like sex scenes as much as the next person, but there wasn't much variety, so I slid through some, since I knew how they did it. I enjoyed getting to know the characters. There's more to Jonathon Westruther, Earl of Davenport than is readily apparent. He has a three dimensional quality. Hilary deVere is beautiful, as well as having strengths to balance her insecurities. Both characters grow over the course of the novel.

This book is worth the credit if you like Elizabeth Wiley's narrative style.

Nice story

Liked the story, but the narrator's voice made me hurry and want to finish it. All of the women she does sound the same. Very breathy and whimsical. It's also hard to tell the difference between the male characters. She does do old women well. I probably will not pick another book that she narrates.