Much Ado About You

Essex Sisters, Book 1

By: Eloisa James

Narrated by: Susan Duerden

Length: 11 hrs and 15 mins

Publisher's Summary

When you're the oldest daughter, you don't get to have any fun!

Witty, orphaned Tess Essex faces her duty: marry well and marry quickly, so she can arrange matches for her three sisters - beautiful Annabel, romantic Imogen, and practical Josie. After all, right now they're under the rather awkward guardianship of the perpetually tipsy Duke of Holbrook. But just when she begins to think that all might end well, one of her sisters bolts with a horse-mad young lord, and her own fiancé just plain runs away.

Which leaves Tess contemplating marriage to the sort of man she wishes to avoid - one of London's most infamous rakes. Lucius Felton is a rogue whose own mother considers him irredeemable! He's delicious, Annabel points out. And he's rich, Josie notes. But although Tess finally consents to marry him, it may be for the worst reason of all. Absurd as she knows it to be, she may have fallen utterly in love....

©2005 Eloisa James (P)2013 HarperCollinsPublishers

A LITTLE DISAPPOINTED

Any additional comments?

I found this book to drag somewhat. There were so many characters and sisters and suitors and their mothers that I could not tell who was with who. With all of these people involved in this story, you would think there would be some romance a little steamier than a stolen kiss... maybe it's just me but I like my romance novels a little steamier than this one...sorry!

Little Women Meets Much Ado and Mustang Wild

Superb narration. Flawless. Decent story -- the first of a series, each featuring one of four orphaned Scottish sisters and riffing a Shakespearean play. This one, alluding to Much Ado About Nothing, is witty, sweet, funny, and explicitly smexy, but the pace is slow at times. Starts getting good after the half-way point. Totally loved the hero, Lucius, and his horse-whispering wife, Tess. Not crazy about the moonstruck sister, Imogen. Wish the author had reduced her role in the story.

Loved it!

Susan (narrator) did a wonderful job of expressing the characters emotions and voices. I have not liked all of Susan's narrations finding her singsong in the past annoying. However she has improved and her dramatization of the dialogue is superb.
The character development in this book was excellent. Each character had a personality that was recognizable and had depth. The story was creative, with sensuous and romantic love scenes that were not gratuitous but effective in developing the romance. The dialogue was natural and witty and one scene particularly poignant and realistic. Thank you Eloisa for a wonderful novel!

Loving the Essex sisters

The author brings the story to life. This talented narrator brings each character to life.

Too much misery..not enough romance

What disappointed you about Much Ado About You?

The plot and too many characters were confusing. It took me a while to figure out who the hero/heroine were. Their story was jumbled into all the other plot strings.

Would you ever listen to anything by Eloisa James again?

No. I give up on Ms. James. I went to my wish list and removed all of her titles. My first read of her's was "3 weeks with lady X", but nothing I have read has come close to that book. I actually re-read that novel and enjoyed it more ( after about the 10th time), more than this book

What about Susan Duerden’s performance did you like?

She is excellent. Even though I disliked the most sad/miserable scenes , her performance was so fantastic I started to cry. That is why this book was bittersweet for me. I did not want so much sadness in a romance, but Ms Duerdan's performances of these tragic characters is wonderful.
Whenever I listen to a book and their is a bad narrator, I always think " Susan Duerdan could have made the book so much better"

What character would you cut from Much Ado About You?

Imigen & Drayvan . There was very little about them I liked until their last scene together. They were both too selfish and focussed on only one thing. All they had that made them acceptable in the story was that they were beautiful...not enough when you can't see the character, just listen to their self-indulgent behaviour.

Any additional comments?

I wish Ms James would write as if her audience were adults. In the story she uses the phrase " and again" to infer that the h/h had sex. If she is not going to describe the scene, then don't bother to mention it. Another phrase " and an hour later" allows her to skip over scenes. Why refer to something you don't plan to describe?!?
Also I thought the scene where the parrot ( yes, a parrot in regency England) urinates on the heroine was stupid/nasty. The hero undresses the heroine afterwards to allow her to have a bath. They end up having sex instead of her cleaning herself. The thought of not taking steps to clean off the parrot urine, but go into a sex scene ( which ms. james does not describe..again) was awful. She took more time describing the parrot urinating on the heroine, than the love scene between the h/h. Not sure why, but someone really loves parrots!

Great narration, but the story…

I wouldn’t have guessed this is an Eloisa James novel! It’s ok, but not her usual standard. The characters are scattered at times, took me a good portion of the book to figure out which were the main characters. Even then, there is a lack of buildup to their relationship and I never saw any sparks. Too much of the secondary characters for at least the first half of the book.

Not my favorite

Not great, a bit tedious at times, slow going, not one of her best books. I did love the narrator though.

Don’t Love the Narrator

The narrator pitches up at the end of every sentence & it drives me insane. I know that’s more of a “me” problem…

The narrator made it hard to listen. Her voice is pleasing, but I don’t like the tempo, pitch, etc.

LOVED IT!!

EJ does it again! This book was excellent! You will feel all the feels! Never has a HR moved me to literal tears. The bond between the Essex sisters is beautiful. The narration was a little odd in the beginning, the whispery male characters in particular, but as the story starts to move along it all makes more sense. I cannot wait to listen to the rest of the series.!!

The Essex Sisters

This is my favorite Eloisa James book! I have read it and NOW have listened to it.