• Fool for Love

  • By: Eloisa James
  • Narrated by: Justine Eyre
  • Length: 11 hrs and 19 mins
  • 4.3 out of 5 stars (320 ratings)

Prime logo Prime members: New to Audible?
Get 2 free audiobooks during trial.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
Premium Plus auto-renews for $14.95/mo after 30 days. Cancel anytime.
Fool for Love  By  cover art

Fool for Love

By: Eloisa James
Narrated by: Justine Eyre
Try for $0.00

$14.95/month after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Buy for $25.19

Buy for $25.19

Pay using card ending in
By confirming your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and Amazon's Privacy Notice. Taxes where applicable.

Publisher's summary

The Woman:

Lady Henrietta Maclellan longs for the romantic swirl of a London season. But as a rusticating country maiden, she has always kept her sensuous nature firmly under wraps -- until she meets Simon Darby. Simon makes her want to whisper promises late at night, exchange kisses on a balcony, receive illicit love notes. So Henrietta lets her imagination soar and writes...

The Letter:

A very steamy love letter that becomes shockingly public. Everyone supposes that he has written it to her, but the truth hardly matters in the face of the scandal to come if they don't marry at once. But nothing has quite prepared Henrietta for the pure sensuality of...

The Man

Simon has vowed he will never turn himself into a fool over a woman. So, while debutantes swoon as he disdainfully strides past the lovely ladies of the ton, he ignores them all...until Henrietta. Could it be possible that he has been the foolish one all along?

©2003 Eloisa James (P)2012 HarperCollinsPublishers

What listeners say about Fool for Love

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    173
  • 4 Stars
    91
  • 3 Stars
    42
  • 2 Stars
    11
  • 1 Stars
    3
Performance
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    176
  • 4 Stars
    72
  • 3 Stars
    33
  • 2 Stars
    5
  • 1 Stars
    3
Story
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    159
  • 4 Stars
    76
  • 3 Stars
    43
  • 2 Stars
    9
  • 1 Stars
    4

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

Sort by:
Filter by:
  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

My favorite Eloisa James! Yes, I've read them all.

This is an extremely humorous but still quite romantic book. James has a gift for sly humor and the careful observation of the not-always-so-delightful way in which children enliven our lives. I read this book a few years ago and liked it so much I wanted to hear it performed. Of course, the reader couldn't outperform the voices in my head but she came very close. Wonderful! There is an order to these books. Cam and Gina's story comes before this - Duchess in Love. Esme's story runs through these books -Duchess Quartet series. Although there is no Duchess at the heart of this story

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

6 people found this helpful

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

Too much time on side characters, boring

If you are going to write a story and spend a lot of time on the side characters at least make them interesting or finish their story. Unless I missed something which it's possible I did because listening to this was almost torture at points, the major side characters story was not finished.

Again I might have been asleep during her last chapter so please feel free to ignore this above comment if that is the case. Or you can not ignore it and know that the side character was so bloody uninteresting that I was put to sleep by it...

I didn't really care for the Heroine either, she seemed to be different characters every time she was actually a main focus for the author. She confused me as a lead character. When you are first introduced you think she is this strong independent woman that could take care of herself, then she seems to morph into a shy insecure woman and the morphing isn't smooth enough to make much sense. The character was not well developed, either that or the author was just as confused by what to make of the character as the reader is.

The hero is a bit of a fop. I get the point but he seemed more like a woman in many cases and while I don't mind more sensitive men he just seemed like he was originally written as a woman and then the author decided to make him a man.

There was also so little time spent on the two main characters, that I didn't ever get engaged by their love story. It seemed forced. Perhaps if there was more focus on them I could have enjoyed this much more, but as it stands...

I found myself wanting to skip most of the book, I have read a few of Eloise James's books and so far only loved one, sort of liked the other. This book might have been the seal on the coffin as I really have no desire to listen to another and that's too bad as the one book I liked by her I absolutely loved.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

5 people found this helpful

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

I'M A FOOL FOR E.J.'S BOOKS

Because of a hip problem Henrietta is unable to have children as her mother had the same condition and died in childbirth so this takes her off the 'marriage mart' but she dreams of motherhood. However, she doesn't plan on meeting Simon, a devout bachelor and longs for a love that just cannot be - but she writes herself a love letter which has dire consequences for them both.

Enjoyable and fun romance with likeable main characters and a good supporting cast of other characters. It also catches up with Esme and Sebastian's story from book 1 but it could be a stand alone book.

Worth a credit? It's all you want from a Regency romance and it's written by E.J. so it's a definite YES from me.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

3 people found this helpful

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

pity party with unlikable children

What would have made Fool for Love better?

The characters were so dumb. The heroine just assumes that she can't have children, even though you hear how miserable this makes her. She does not want to go to an experienced doctor to have this confirmed.
The children are miserable and don't really add anything to the storyline, so why have them just making you have the thought " why is the heroine so upset not to have these brats?"
The baby keeps vomiting. This just gives the author an opportunity to describe the awful smell.
How any of these points create the setting for romance, I will never know.

Would you ever listen to anything by Eloisa James again?

I think her stories are very "slapstick". After you read authors like mary Balogh or courtney milan, Ms James seems very sophmoric.
There isn't even the witty dialogue that is found in an Elizabeth Hoyt or Loretta Chase novel.
This is just candy floss.

How could the performance have been better?

I don't like this narrator and should not have bought the book. Every time she has to pronounce anything that starts with "H" or ends in "R", there is such a stress on the sound it is annoying. She also reads the dialogue in an quavering and over-wrought manner. It makes everything seem a little over the top and extremely dramatic.
I have come to terms with the fact that R landor can't read every book, but I still don't like it!!!

If you could play editor, what scene or scenes would you have cut from Fool for Love?

I would remove all the Esme / Sebastian scenes. Either give them their own book or don't bother adding them into this one. I can see some minor scenes, but there romance at times, is more interesting than the main couple...that's never good!
These two just make the over dramatic quality of the book more into the relm of unbelievable. If two people who love each other and want to be together can't find happiness it hjust makes the other events in the book pale by comparison.
These two extremely beautiful people ( and yes, I wish that this was not always the case) put road blocks in their own path and I just can't feel sorry for them

Any additional comments?

I had this in my wish list for over a year and was hesitant to buy it. I should have known that anything that took me so long to purchase was not going to be a good read...and it was not. I will follow my instincts in the future and just remove anything sitting on my list for that long.
This was not a very joyful book until the last few chapters for the main characters and even the secondary characters.
It is also very bad for the term "happily married". Not many of the couples have happy marriages and this is a little disturbing for a "romance.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful

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

Two plots randomly thrown together

Read from June 11 to July 14, 2012

Started audiobook 6/11/12. Switched to ebook 7/11/12. I switched to the printed version of this book because there was a secondary storyline that had nothing to do with the main romance and which I was not interested in at all. For some reason, James's usually tight POV is absent here, with scenes (and backstory) from random minor characters--including a newborn baby in the last chapter! I'm now 1 for 4 with James's full-length novels.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful

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

Love it! But then again I love this Author

Where does Fool for Love rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

I loved the first book so I am trying to read these in order. I would rate this book near the top. It's an easy book to listen too and not get lost if you like to work and listen. While this book is definitely about Henrietta and Simon It also builds on the relationship of Esme and Sebastian. I was ready to read the next book in this series.

What did you like best about this story?

I liked the heroine. Henrietta was a strong character. I had a little problem with Simon being into so much lace but the reason came out and made sense. I tend to like the darker characters but this was a great romance story in the middle of a series.

Have you listened to any of Justine Eyre’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

I love Justine Eyre and often look for a good book through her.

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

Yes, I can listen to her books while I work and loved it.

Any additional comments?

Looking for more stories by this author. I own them all!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful

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

started so extremely promisingly and then went bad

I am a huge fan of Eloisa James, but this is one of her worst stories. The beginning was so great, and then the premise suddenly turned so dumb and unlikeable, and the two romantic leads also suddenly became so dumb and unlikeable, that I had to stop listening halfway through and delete it. I just started to hate both the dishonest and dimwitted heroine and the selfish and fickle hero so much. The secondary story of Esme and Sebastian is absolutely excellent, but it is insufficient to make up for having to endure the primary two morons.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

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

Loved the story

Great story of overcoming so many obstacles. What a strong heroin knows what she wanted and FOUGHT FOR IT!! Narration was perfect 👏👏❤️

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

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

review

Not her best, I had to struggle to get through it. To drawn out. I usually enjoy her books. Hoping the rest of the series is better since I already purchased.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

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

Good enough story, annoying narrator.

I like this book. It’s predictable as they almost all are but the characters are interesting. The narrator has an annoyingly blasé sound to her voice and expresses male passion with a strange waver.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!