Kissed by a Rogue

By: Tanya Anne Crosby

Narrated by: Laurel Schroeder

Length: 8 hrs and 51 mins

Publisher's Summary

Swept from the aristocracy of England to the Colonies on the eve of war, Jessamine Stone vows to wed no man but her one time fiance Christian Haukinge. She sets out to win back Christian's affections, unaware that her brother has already offered him a bribe to break her heart.

Driven by something dark, Christian agrees to the devil's bargain, but soon finds Jessie's innocent passion, trust, and faith undermine his resolve for vengeance. Now only the woman he has betrayed can heal his deep and scarring wounds. But these are dangerous times and love alone cannot mend all wounds.

©1995 Tanya Anne Crosby (P)2014 Tanya Anne Crosby

Narration by Laurel Schroeder made this AudioBook

AudioBook Review:
Stars: Overall 4 Narration 5 Story 3

A Georgian era romance that starts in England and ends up in Charleston that focuses on the on again—off again betrothal between third son Christian and Jessamyn Stone pawn of the brother who holds the title and determines her future. Christian is the third son and far out of the succession. Not independently wealthy, his future fortunes laid in his mother’s bequest, and when that didn’t happen, Jessamyn’s brother, who has arranged a more fortuitous match.

These two are bound to cross purposes almost from the start, and their lack of communication or basic honesty and the anger Christian holds for Jessamyn, even KNOWING that her life and choices are not her own were just over the top. Too often his anger or their inability to pass two honest sentences between them was an oft repeated and far too overplayed element of the story. BOTH of them need to be blind and stupid to not see the attraction between them, or to realize that they are in love. And unfortunately, while Christian does NOT have to make any more statements than I love you for Jessamyn to disregard all of his nasty, demeaning and often duplicitous behavior to come running. But, it was entertaining and enjoyable, with a nice sense of time, place and political agendas of the age.

Narration by Laurel Schroeder made this AudioBook work for me and enhanced the enjoyment of a fairly predictable story. She manages to distinguish different characters with small changes in her delivery and pitch, and she doesn’t seem to strain over the more masculine voices. While there were some odd repeats in the story that were entirely production related: Schroeder’s delivery and performance would encourage me to seek out more of her work.

I received an AudioBook copy of the title via AudioBook Jukebox for purpose of honest review. I was not compensated for this review: all conclusions are my own responsibility

2 of 2 people found this review helpful

Annoying and Enjoyable!

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

Overall, probably in the lower third. Story was so-so.

What was your reaction to the ending? (No spoilers please!)

Ending was satisfying.

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

No.

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

No.

Any additional comments?

Kissed is one of those books that I find annoying and enjoyable at the same time. The annoying part is that the hero and heroine are really bad at communication. So there is constant misunderstanding that leads to hurt feelings and broken hearts for the characters and frustration for the reader. You've all read those kind of books. If that was all that was going on, I would have given this book 2 stars.

However, throwing in a bit more conflict aside outside of the love/hate story as well as the historical setting of the American colonies on the eve of the Revolution, well, that is what makes the story enjoyable. Now we have a real story going and I am at 3 stars.

4 stars - well it is an audiobook! That puts a smile on the whole 'reading' experience. There were a few problems in the audio editing - sentences were repeated in several places. But the narration was enjoyable. If, like I, you enjoy the historical romance/audiobook combination, I can recommend Kissed to you.

Narrator Laurel Schroeder offered a complimentary copy of this audiobook in exchange for an honest review.

2 of 2 people found this review helpful

Enjoyable book, great narration

Would you try another book from Tanya Anne Crosby and/or Laurel Schroeder?

Absolutely. I have always enjoyed Tanya Anne Crosby books, and have found a new favorite in Laurel Schroeder

What was the most interesting aspect of this story? The least interesting?

I have to say the most and least interesting aspects of this story are both the Revolutionary War connection. It could have been much more interesting, but was not as well developed as I would have liked

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

This is my first Laurel Schroeder narration, but it is not my last. I truly enjoyed her tone and character differentiation.

Do you think Kissed needs a follow-up book? Why or why not?

No. Ms Crosby finished this story.

Any additional comments?

This audiobook has some editing issues. There are several points were there are sentence/phrase repeats, but this did not detract too much from the story.

2 of 2 people found this review helpful

Kiss Me, Christian!

If you could sum up Kissed in three words, what would they be?

What a man.

What did you like best about this story?

The hero. He is dangerous, dastardly, and downright delicious.....but not beyond redemption through true love. He fights love every step of the way, unwilling to trust others and simply let himself feel emotion. I loved his tortured transformation. And of course, the love scenes were breathtaking as well.

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

This is the first of hers that I have listened to. I thought her narration was excellent. She was easy to understand and read at a comfortable pace---not too fast, not too slow. Her male voices didn't sound forced or contrived like some other female narrators. In fact, she produced a rather convincing voice for the dashing Lord Christian.

If you were to make a film of this book, what would the tag line be?

In a world of changing loyalties, in a wild new land full of danger and intrigue, hearts come together in this explosive romance that will leave you wanting more.

Any additional comments?

I had already read the book and have left an 5-star Amazon review. I loved it so much that I also purchased the Audiobook. That should tell you how much I enjoy it. Even though I had read the story twice, listening to it brought a whole new level of enjoyment. Excellent book made even better by an outstanding narrator.

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

Regency Romance Set in the American Colonies

Any additional comments?

Kissed, written by Tanya Anne Crosby, is an enjoyable historical romance primarily set in the American colonies before the American Revolution. The story centers around Jessamine Stone who has never gotten over her onetime fiance Christian Haukinge. She wants to win back Christian, but her efforts are undermined by her devious brother who only views her as property to be sold to the highest bidder. After an ugly showdown with her brother, Jesse goes to live with a cousin in the colonies to mend her broken heart. The rest of the story is about Jesse and Christian slowly coming to realize they are soulmates and can't live without the other.

The story is well written and better than most Regency romances. However, the love scenes were just too graphic for me (it seems to be a trend these days). I also found myself fast forwarding through the bedroom scenes because they were too long and involved. But the story itself was refreshing and unlike other Regency books out there. It was nice not having to suffer through one more ball of the ton!

Laurel Schroeder's narration was enjoyable. She had good inflections and tone, giving distinguishable voices for all the characters. Simply put, I'd listen to another one of her narrations any time.

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

Kissed: A Southern Gorgian Novel

This is a well written novel about a young girl who fell in love with her betrothed and would never accept another no matter how advantageous the marriage would be. It did not hurt that the man her brother chose was not a very good man to begin with add to that the fact that he was old enough to be her father only made him more an appealing.

Jessie had to fight until the end to get what she wanted. At times I thought surely there is someone more worthy but Jessie stayed true to herself even when Christian made things very difficult. I also thought Jessie was a bit whinny but I suppose it was a part of her character.

Christian was an emotionally damaged young man. He did not trust easily and revenge was his primary goal throughout most of this story. He found it difficult to trust in Jessie's feelings and was to easily swayed against what he knew deep down to be true.

I did not much care for Christian throughout this book and in the end I thought it was to late for redemption. However, this is an historical romance and nothing ever came easy for women back then so it was not so far fetched.

Laurel did a good job of Narrating this book. Her accents were done quite well. The authors voice came through her narration rather smoothly. She switched back and forth between character smoothly.

I recommend this book to Historical romance lovers who can't get enough of damaged heroes and stubborn heroines. If you like Audible books and want to listen then you might consider the Audible version.

I received this Audible book in exchange for an hones review.

1 of 2 people found this review helpful

it was okay

Would you say that listening to this book was time well-spent? Why or why not?

Not sure, I only had time to listen to it when I'm at work so i suppose it was time worth spent.

If you’ve listened to books by Tanya Anne Crosby before, how does this one compare?

this was the first but I wouldn't mind trying other from her.

What did you like about the performance? What did you dislike?

I liked the narrator. She did really great job at showing the emotions of the characters through her voice.

Was Kissed worth the listening time?

I super loved the first one third of the story before they moved to Charleston so, not sure

0 of 1 people found this review helpful

Why so angry?

I received a free copy of the Audible audio edition in exchange for an honest review.

Again, wishing for half stars. I'd like to give this one 3.5, but enjoyed it enough to round up. I enjoyed the narrator's performance which I'm convinced made this a 4 star rather than a 3. I will definitely be willing to listen to others by her. She did a great job with making the male lead sound believably masculine, which IMHO is the most important and probably the hardest thing to do for a female narrator. I am not sure if the accents were correct for the area of England the H/h were from, but that didn't bother me. It sounded right and that's enough for me. However as an American and a southerner, I did catch that the accent spoken by the h's servant in Charleston was all wrong. But, it was maybe all of 5 lines in the entire book.

I love Charleston or Charlestown as it was known at the time. I could definitely get a feel for where things were taking place. It's one of my favorite vacation spots and favorite romance settings. So, that's always good and the story itself was very intriguing. I also loved the heroine.

What lost the book the 1 1/2 star was the hero. I LOVE a good vengeful hero story and was very excited to listen to this. However, the hero has to have a good reason to feel vengeful toward the heroine (even if it's all a pack of lies). I'm still not quite sure what Christian's reason was. He had taken the bribe to break the heroine's heart and he had financially ruined her father. Sounds like Jessamine had all the reasons to be vengeful.

Christian was mad at her because.... Um, I'm not really sure. He thought she may have revealed an embarrassing family secret and she couldn't deny that her brother wanted to marry her off to a man old enough to be her father. He already knew about that! The brother told him he wanted her heart broken so she'd quit being romantic and accept the match he wanted for her. The only explanation for Christian's OTT anger was insecurity, I think. He felt like he wasn't good enough for the h, so when things fell apart, he found it easier to blame her because he fell back into his pity-party 'she thinks she's better than me' attitude. Which was ridiculous, given the heroine's personality. He reminded me of a child who - when faced with an adult who is justifiably angry about his behavior - decides he'll show them and be angry right back, just because.

I also wish Christian had had to do something more to make up for being such a jerk - some groveling or making a sacrifice or something to win back the heroine's trust. The whole being paid to break her heart plotline was kind of glossed over.

0 of 1 people found this review helpful