• A Lady Awakened

  • Blackshear Family Series # 1
  • By: Cecilia Grant
  • Narrated by: Susan Ericksen
  • Length: 12 hrs and 40 mins
  • 3.9 out of 5 stars (575 ratings)

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A Lady Awakened

By: Cecilia Grant
Narrated by: Susan Ericksen
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Publisher's summary

Newly widowed and desperate to protect her estate and beloved servants from her malevolent brother-in-law, Martha Russell conceives a daring plan. Or rather, a daring plan to conceive. After all, if she has an heir on the way, her future will be secured. Forsaking all she knows of propriety, Martha approaches her neighbor, a London exile with a wicked reputation, and offers a strictly business proposition: a month of illicit interludes... for a fee.

Theophilus Mirkwood ought to be insulted. Should be appalled. But how can he resist this siren in widow's weeds, whose offer is simply too outrageously tempting to decline? Determined she'll get her money's worth, Theo endeavors to awaken this shamefully neglected beauty to the pleasures of the flesh-only to find her dead set against taking any enjoyment in the scandalous bargain. Surely she can't resist him forever. But could a lady's sweet surrender open their hearts to the most unexpected arrival of all... love?

©2011 Cecilia Grant (P)2012 Tantor

Critic reviews

"Tantalizingly sexy, heartwarming, and oh-so funny, this romance is unforgettable; a stunning debut." ( Library Journal)

What listeners say about A Lady Awakened

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 4 out of 5 stars
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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Excellent Debut Novel. Perfect Narration.

What a stroke of luck! I gave this book a chance because of Susan Ericksen, and what a shockingly wicked treat I received!

This is such a funny, meaningful, passionate, and unique story. I think it's much better as an audiobook, as Susan Ericksen is flawless in her performance. I stongly recommend this book. I have already purchased the next one and will keep my eye out for Cecilia Grant. She is an amazing new author with a new perspective. I listened to this in one sitting, stayed up till 5am.

This is probably my favorite historical this year!

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29 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Unpredictable Story

Susan Erickson's performance was perfect for this "adult only" story.
"A Lady Awakened" is not your usual Historical Romance, and inspires all the emotions you expect in a good book.
Cecilia Grant was unknown to me, but I look forward to hearing/reading more from this author...I like her style of writing, and Susan Erickson is a wonderful narrator.


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21 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Great story telling and narration

I bought this audio after listening to the second in the series, A Gentleman Undone. The author has that rare talent for showing the progression of a relationship between a worldly happy-go-lucky young man and his opposite, a prim widow; the sexy bits are part of their characters' development and didn't feel gratuitous. I loved the story, the characters, and the narrator. The second book didn't let me down and continued to show a lot of insight into what brings people together and makes them want to stick around. I can always tell when I've read a good story - it raises the bar for the next audio I listen to, and I've had trouble starting another one since these two are so good.

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15 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Really Good Listen

This is such a funny, meaningful, passionate, and unique story. I think it's much better as an audiobook, as Susan Ericksen is flawless in her performance. I stongly recommend this book. I have already purchased the next one and will keep my eye out for Cecilia Grant. She is an amazing new author with a new perspective. I listened to this in one sitting, stayed up till 5am.

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11 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

I liked it!!

No one reads historical romances for the plot. So this author turned the tables and made the basis of the storyline sex. I liked the characters and I adore Susan Ericksen so this was a great choice for me.

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9 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Very hot

Thought it would be boring... But turn out very sexy enjoy the story and how they developed Susan Ericksen is very good at that one of the reason I purchased it, would not haven't gotten book 2 if I knew it would start off with other characters

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8 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Great Book - just buy it now!

This was a 6 out of 5 stars for me which means I want to remind myself that it's worth listening to again, a different storyline then the usual romance so that made it interesting, and it was steamy in the way that you feel and experience the attraction growing between the two main characters throught the book and just can't put it down until it runs its course.

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8 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Who knew regency undressing could sound sexy?

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

Yes, because it is a satisfying story the characters are not your usual hero and heroine.

What other book might you compare A Lady Awakened to and why?

Nothing I've ever read.

Which character – as performed by Susan Ericksen – was your favorite?

Theo Mirkwood - such a loveable rogue

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

Parts were sad and parts were funny. Parts were very very hot!

Any additional comments?

Do yourself a favour and buy it

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7 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Kd
  • 07-13-14

Wonderful tale of developing love & changing

What a wonderful tale of widowed, prudish Mrs. Russell being loosened by the rake-ish Mr. Mirkwood as their “business arrangement” takes an unexpected turn, including the endearing development of a friendship. As a result, both of them were changed in surprising and, at times, unwanted ways.

The story had a strong h. It was paced well. It had engaging characters, including but not limited to the h and H. And everything was plausible, including all of the dialogue and how people engaged with another. There was little internal dialogue, so the focus was on seeing not telling the story, which was great.

The story does not have any explicit sex scenes though it’s full of sex scenes due to the story’s basis. But they are not explicit. They are, however, sensual and revealing without any rawness or, what I would consider, detail. The only possible concerning term for some listeners—though not me—was cock. And for some people, it might not have enough heat. The heat level is barely a simmer. And I, a person who enjoys heat in a book, still find the book so enjoyable. The level of heat worked appropriately in this telling.

And there’s an undercurrent of mild humor; not in a “ha ha” way but constantly smile-worthy. Sorta cute. It was so delightful to watch them push each other’s buttons. Mrs. Russell’s buttons were generally related to sex and bedroom action, and Mr. Mirkwood’s buttons were generally related to his moral development and business astuteness.

And supplementary pleasure was watching their neighborhood, their tenants and farmers also change, improve as they were given opportunities for a fairer more just life. The story flowed. I looked forward to listening to it and didn’t want it to end. The narrator doesn’t have a big repertoire of voices, but the differences were adequate enough to keep up with who was talking and when. Though, this was due, in large part, to the author’s story structure. I can’t speak to the author’s ability historical accuracy, and that type of detail matters little to me overall. So I will look for more from this author.

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5 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Good - Hard to like Heroine

Widowed after only ten months of marriage, Martha Russell was hearing from the lawyer that unless she had some reason (pregnancy) she would have to vacate her estate and leave her beloved servants to the mercy at the hands of her malevolent brother-in-law. Only if an heir were on the way could she forestall him from taking over the estate and thrusting all the female servants into his despicable hands. Gathering all her strength and determination to not let that happen, Martha approaches her neighbor, the rakish exiled son of a baron from London. The strictly business proposition; one month of sexual attention to which she would pay him a hefty fee!

*** Theophilus Mirkwood couldn’t decide if he should have been insulted or flattered by Martha’s proposition. Knowing he should be on his best behavior if he ever wanted to return to London, Theo thought long and hard but seeing as how she was so very lovely decided to succumb. However, when push came to shove so to speak when Theo arrived to do the “deed” he was the one that felt quite outraged. Martha really was going to treat this as a total ‘business’ pursuit and there was no such thing as making ‘love’ to a woman who simply submitted while she most probably thought of other things than what was happening to her body.

The author created Martha as a woman who never experienced any type of loving relationship from her deceased husband; she knew no better and expected all men to behave the same. However, cold she acted towards Theo, she was caring and loving towards the people she felt were her responsibility, otherwise she never would have considered faking a pregnancy simply to feather her own nest, so to speak. Martha convinced herself she was truly doing this to save her female staff from a man whose despicable behavior simply could not and should not be brought down on the female staff she now cared for.

What was really very well done though was the change that came over both leads. Martha learned to feel for the man who did his best to befriend her and Theo was taught crucial points of not just land management from his land steward, but to realize that the people whose lives he ultimately controlled were under his care as well. In fact, Theo came to enjoy the challenge of what he could accomplish once he put his mind to it; as well as having Martha’s good opinion.

Bottom line: I found it hard to like Martha because of her rigidity in how she was going about getting herself pregnant, even though, I always knew she was doing this for the greater good. I loved the slow build-up of the love that developed between the two. This was definitely an interesting read and as I listened to this as an audio, the performance by Susan Erickson was well done. Martha was a tough heroine to like but in the end - I was very happy in how all turned out!

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5 people found this helpful