Lord of Secrets

By: Alyssa Everett

Narrated by: Courtney Patterson

Length: 9 hrs and 31 mins

Publisher's Summary

Somewhere on the North Atlantic, 1820...

Rosalie Whitwell has spent most of her life sailing the globe with her adventurous father, dreaming of the day she can settle in one place long enough to have a home and family of her own. When her father suffers a fatal heart attack in the middle of the North Atlantic, Rosalie turns in her panic to a fellow passenger - the cool, reclusive Lord Deal.

For years David Linney, Marquess of Deal, has avoided the society of others. Even so, he's drawn to his lovely shipmate, like him, the victim of family tragedy.

As the voyage nears its end, Lord Deal is compelled to propose. But on their wedding night, Rosalie gets an unwelcome surprise: Her handsome husband is strangely reluctant to consummate the marriage. Does she fall short of her groom's expectations? Or is he hiding a secret past that only she can unlock?

©2013 Alyssa Everett (P)2013 Audible, Inc.

Beautifully written; nicely performed

The audio book was just as good as the written version. Courtney Patterson is a new-to-me narrator, but I would gladly listen to her performance of other books. I suspect that she may be an American, as her English accent occasionally wandered away. That did not detract from my enjoyment of the audio, however.

This is a lovely story about a true marriage of convenience, where both the husband and the wife consider themselves unworthy of the other.

Rosalie believes herself to be unattractive, unsophisticated, and a poor match for her husband, the toplofty, dour and reclusive Lord Deal. Deal has cut himself off from society and considers himself to be "utterly depraved" and no fit mate for a sweet innocent like Rosalie. Deal has enough honor left that he has promised himself that he will not consummate the marriage until he has confessed all to Rosalie, at which point he expects her to flee in horror. She, on the other hand, has no idea why he shows no interest in making love to her in the days and weeks after their marriage.

Deal's secret, which goes back to his youth, is indeed shocking, yet when he finally confesses, Rosalie is horrified only by what he has had to endure. In return for Deal "rescuing" her aboard ship after her father's sudden death, she helps rescue him from his demons.

The story is beautifully written, without the intrusion of modern language or attitudes. Extreme patience is required,however, as the reader does not learn about Deal's secrets any sooner than Rosalie does, which is near the end of the book.

Definitely recommended.

Much like Lord Deal, I couldn't finish it

Lord of Secrets is a book that manages to be simultaneously boring and frustrating. The plot feels like it was lifted from the stories I read as a teenager when I had an ill-advised predilection for fan fiction. From about the fourth chapter, the story hinges entirely around the fact that the hero (Lord Deal) can't get over his past misdeeds and therefore refuses to consummate his marriage(!) Allegedly, his reluctance is due to a fear of hurting his wife... somehow. I never found out what, exactly, is so scandalous about Deal's past that he can't bring himself to do the deed, but I'd don't much care. My boredom was only compounded by the repetitive "gauche" thoughts of the cardboard cutout of a heroine (Rosalie), who would probably forgive the hero for murdering an entire village without batting an eyelash. Midway through the book, after listening to what seemed like the 1000th utterance of "something something broad shoulders" and having subsequently suppressed approximately 999 exasperated groans, I turned it off.

The plot of this novel is contrived and one-note, and the performance not much better (why, oh why, do they get Americans to narrate British characters?) It's not worth listening to, not unless you're already asleep, or you want to give yourself a concussion from shaking your head at the hero's ridiculous thought process.

the narration was great

the narration was great, the secret seemed to take forever to uncover, and then the story ended abruptly, leaving me with a feeling of indifference over the whole book.

I really, really, really, wanted to like this...

I enjoyed the previous title from Alyssa Everett and downloaded this one with the same expectation of a lovely romance. Yeah,...not so much. I liked the premise of the story and enjoyed the narrator, but the plot....seemed.....to.....drag...on....and....on. There was no real resolution until the bitter end and I just felt like I was left wanting...all that build up then, plop. Not worth a credit, maybe a revision of the story is a good idea.

Lord of Secrets

This is a very good book. Rarely do romance books especially historical show the hero as sexually abused. His torment and self loathing was very strong. The heroine was very sweet. The narrator also very good.

It was okay

This was my first experience with Alyssa Everett's books. It was enjoyable but I can't say I loved it. It was a good listen.

Great story - disappointing performance

Would you listen to Lord of Secrets again? Why?

Yes. I would listen again, despite my misgivings about the performance because it's such a good story.

What did you like best about this story?

The romance is well-developed and well-written. Rosalie is a very engaging heroine, and even though Deal is very reserved, it's clear that there's a lot more to him than meets the eye. I thought the storyline that dealt with his "secrets" was unusual for a historical romance, and that the author dealt with a difficult issue in a sensitive manner.It's one of those books in which there are no spies, no adventures or action scenes, or an overload of sex scenes - just a story about a man with twenty years worth of secrets and regrets learning to come to terms with them with the help of a woman who sees him as he really is.

What aspect of Courtney Patterson’s performance would you have changed?

Accent and pronunciation.Ms Patterson's voice is pleasant and her pacing and vocal inflections were generally very good. She managed to maintain her English accent reasonably well for about 80% of the performance, but there were several times when Deal suddenly developed an American accent and there were a number of seriously tortuous mispronunciations that really should have been picked up in the editing.For instance, in "What's the matter?" the word "matter" was pronounced "MAHTER"."Calm" was constantly pronounced as "COLM".The majority of historical romances are set in Britain or have British principals - therefore you need someone who can sustain the accent 100% or you have to use a Brit.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

Yes.

Any additional comments?

Ms Everett's other audiobook, "Ruined by Rumor", had the fabulous and ever-reliable Rosalyn Landor as narrator, and it's a shame she wasn't used for this one. The story was more intense, and it would have been so much more fitting for this audio to have had the benefit of her experience and talent.

Such Promise

The "secret" is too easily dealt with when we finally learn what it is.--not quite believable. Nicely drawn characters. Narrator does well. A good little listen, but probably not worth a credit. Wait until it's on sale.

What just happened?

I found the whole 9 plus hours of this book engaging. The plot was a little drawn out, but the resolution between the MC's was sweet and worth the wait. The narrator is new to me, but I thought she did a great job and would definitely buy more books read by her. So why 3 stars?

What shocked me was the sudden full stop ending when there was still so much more to the story! I can't give away what I mean specifically, not without major spoilers, but for those who've read it, here's what I mean:

The BIG villein of the piece waits in the shadows, writing letters. The biggest mystery -- why the father killed himself has been brought up again and again, leading me to expect a resolution with punch! The MC's have overcome their conflict and are finally happy, and have announced they're about to give a ball, (where I expect the appearance of the villein and the big reveal about the father), when all of a sudden . . .

it's over. The book just ends with them being happy. What? What did I miss?

After all the build-up to the mysteries in the plot, it was a decided let down. Too many things left unresolved left me staring at my ipod as the credits rolled.

This one is NOT going in my relisten pile, (I couldn't stand the aggravation), but what a shame! There's a pretty good book here, if not for the bizarre omission of a resolution to 40% of the plot!

Sigh. I've been hit or miss with Alyssa Everett. I think she has a great deal of talent but is in desperate need of people who can read her stuff before it's published. Yes, I know they are usually called "editors," but they are not editing for content, else there would have been at least two more chapters -- or even three, with an epilogue.

Dammit.

A story with heart that is well read

This tale suffers from some of the flaws common to the genre, a sometimes slightly silly heroine and an inevitably drop dead gorgeous hero. Yet it rises high above them. In away the heroes outward strength, polish and urbane manners actually make the revelation of his demons all the more shocking. even the heroine's occasional silliness makes more sense than it usually does in these books. Her unconventional childhood and life as her father's young carer have made her at once more motherly and less sophisticated than most young women her age. It has imbued her with greater goodness and depth, yet also left her unconscious of her charms and somewhat naive.
There are some truly touching moments in the narrative and some genuinely sweet and funny conversations between characters.

Interesting twist.

What made the experience of listening to Lord of Secrets the most enjoyable?

I thought I knew what was going to happen and maybe I had an inkling but I didn't really believe it would be the case. The only thing that really disappointed me was the resolution came too quickly with out really dealing with the heroes feelings and the road he would have to travel. That said, it was a good story.