Desperate Duchesses

By: Eloisa James

Narrated by: Rosalyn Landor

Length: 10 hrs and 4 mins

Publisher's summary

Welcome to a world of reckless sensuality and glittering sophistication, of dangerously handsome gentlemen and young ladies longing to gain a title, of games played for high stakes, including - on occasion - a lady's virtue.

A marquess's sheltered only daughter, Lady Roberta St. Giles, falls in love with a man she glimpses across a crowded ballroom: a duke, a game player of consummate skill, a notorious rakehell who shows no interest in marriage, until he lays eyes on Roberta.

Yet the Earl of Gryffyn knows too well that the price required to gain a coronet is often too high. Damon Reeve, the earl, is determined to protect the exquisite Roberta from chasing after the wrong destiny. Can Damon entice her into a high-stakes game of his own, even if his heart is likely to be lost in the venture?

©2007 Eloisa James (P)2010 HarperCollins Publishers

Critic reviews

"The first in a sparkling new series set in the scandalously fun Georgian era by best-selling and award-winning James, this is a gracefully written, lusciously sensual, delectably witty, and exquisitely romantic historical romance." ( Booklist)

"If Shakespeare had written an 18th-century romantic comedy, it might look something like this novel." ( Publishers Weekly)

Slow start, builds well.

When I first started I thought I was going to be disappointed, but Ms. James engaged my interest after the first couple of chapters, and I actually found myself laughing out loud sometimes. My only complaint is I felt all of the story lines were not tidely closed out, just that of the main character. I was left wondering if some of the other characters were able to resolve their problems.

5 Stars!

Where does Desperate Duchesses rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

Rank in top 10. I will read the next in the series!

What other book might you compare Desperate Duchesses to and why?

Historical romance.

Which character – as performed by Rosalyn Landor – was your favorite?

Rosalyn Landor does a great job. I will listen to more books from Rosalyn Landor.

Any additional comments?

Great listen.

Moves along but a bit tefious

........ Descriptive of the vacant ways of living of the times, desire for ultimate power professionally and personally (somewhat similar to today.

Loved the story, hated the narration

I love all of Eloisa James's novels but the narrator was terrible. She made every character sound like a pompess ass. I muscled through it because the story was interesting. Glad I did because the next novel I listened to was This Dutchess is Mine and the narrator was good. Whew!

Fun!

A Fun book! Highly recommended. And Always Rosalyn Landor engage us in the story and the characters with such a wonderful voice and an excellent performance. She is the best hostoric narrator I have ever listen to so far

desperate Duchesses

Roslyn Landor's brilliant performance kept me listening. The Story was heart warming. Author should be thankful , Roslyn Landor performed.

Very Mixed

Is there anything you would change about this book?

Too much to.... The whole book was how everyone was sleeping with everyone but there were boundaries by class. That sums up the story and the intensity. It was a farce. It made me think if this gets published maybe I should write. This is my 30th book and I have never been so harsh.

If you’ve listened to books by Eloisa James before, how does this one compare?

I listened to another, it was better.

What three words best describe Rosalyn Landor’s performance?

Okay, not great. It was hard to distinguish the voices, characters. It really detracted from the story.

Did Desperate Duchesses inspire you to do anything?

No. It was hard to get through the entire book. The very last bit, less than a chapter was good when she was with her love. I would not recommend it.

Not the Best Eloisa James

The story centered too much around the game of chess. Liked the two main characters but others were weird and their story lines not really relevant to the main story. The last third was the most interesting.

Slow start but then it's amazing!

The first few chapters of this book are slow and include many references to chess play and marital problems between Jemma and her husband. I was actually even confused about who were the main characters of the story because they are barely mentioned in the first few chapters. I started getting impatient and considered stopping the story but I am so glad I stuck with it. About a third of the book in it starts to pick up wonderfully. It's a beautiful love story and very enjoyable. Damon was a great hero and the supporting characters such as Roberta's dad, Damon's son and Jemma make the story even better because it's not simply based on the main romance. Defenitely worth a credit.
Narration: Rosalyn Landor is my favorite historical romance narrator. She is consistently good in all her performance. She makes perfect male voices and adds emotion and depth to the stories she narrates.

Grab your fishing pole

You have to fish the interesting parts out of this book, so much talk of chess strategies got boring after a while. The author could have enhanced the relationship between Roberts and Teddy a bit more, and we never did find out what became of Gemma and her husband. Roslyn Landor was excellent, as always.