Surrender to the Devil

By: Lorraine Heath

Narrated by: Susan Ericksen

Length: 8 hrs and 51 mins

Publisher's summary

A Devilish Duke on a Quest for Pleasure...

Frannie Darling was once a child of London's roughest streets, surrounded by petty thieves, pickpockets, and worse. But though she survived this harsh upbringing to become a woman of incomparable beauty, Frannie wants nothing to do with the men who lust for her, the rogues who frequent the gaming hall where she works. She can take care of herself and feels perfectly safe on her own-safe, that is, until he strides into her world, and once again it becomes a very dangerous place indeed.

To bed her but not wed her. That's what Sterling Mabry, the eighth Duke of Greystone, wants. But Frannie abhors arrogant aristocrats interested only in their own pleasure. So why then does the thought of an illicit tryst with the devilish duke leave her trembling with desire? Her willing body begs for release . . . and a wicked, wonderful surrender.

©2009, 2011 Jan Nowasky (P)2012 HarperCollinsPublishers

Loved it!

Lorraine Heath's ability to marry emotion wit story is wonderful to behold! Keeps me coming back for more!

Nice love story!

What was one of the most memorable moments of Surrender to the Devil?

When Frannie was beaten and found by the Duke. It was very sad that she had to be beaten very badly again; however, she was a strong character and recovered quickly.

What does Susan Ericksen bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

A good narrator, like Susan Ericksen, always helps me form a picture in my mind of what each character looks like. Since these characters appear in several different books, a good narrator will maintain that same voice and accent through the different books and Ms. Ericksen definitely maintained the character voices.

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

Just about. I've listened to the 4 books in the series in about 5 days!

Any additional comments?

I really enjoyed this book and I loved the characters. The only issue I have with this particular book is that the Duke is determined to marry into the nobility, but in the end he asks Frannie to marry him without a lot of inner reflection. Frannie doesn't want to marry into the nobility, but she too seems to decide to marry with little inner conflict or reflection. I just thought that a little bit more of how each character came to the decision that marrying outside their social class wouldn't be the end of the world should have been discussed.

Other than that - a great book! I'll listen to this series over and over again!

My first Lorraine Heath.

If you could sum up Surrender to the Devil in three words, what would they be?

An interesting diversion.

What did you like best about this story?

Easy to follow.

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

Yes! She is remarkably talented and my favorite narrator. Ms. Erickson's british accent was spot on and smoothly delivered.

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

Not really.

Captivating series

What did you love best about Surrender to the Devil?

not the same old plot line

What did you like best about this story?

the complex nature of all the characters

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

another five star rating on all levels

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

Several

Any additional comments?

Perfect love story

Great 3rd installment

I definitely recommend reading this series in order.

In Bed with the Devil - Luke and Catherine
Between the Devil and Desire - Jack and Olivia
This one
Surrender to the Devil- Frannie and Sterling
And finally
Midnight Pleasures with a Scoundrel - Jim and Eleanore

(Catherine and Sterling are siblings. There were a couple of times in this story that it seemed that got a little mixed up. At first it seemed like Jack hadn’t even gotten married.)

Well anyhow, I enjoyed this book for the most part. I always love listening to Susan Erickson, and this was par formthe course. She is an amazing narrator. Absolutely amazing. The story follows Catherines brother Sterling and Frannie Darling (which I do think is a darling name, especially as how she got it.) They are both a bit damaged but are still inexorably drawn together despite their desire to not be. There is some of the back and forth relationship angst that I’m not a super fan of, as I prefer the angst to be outside the relationship, but it wasn’t too bad. The sex was awkward, for me anyways (and there wasn’t very much) just because of knowing Frannies history in that arena. The only thing that didn’t really sit well with me was the fact that Frannie was written as a naive kind of character, and I don’t believe that she who has the history she has, the living and working in the club, and being best friends with the men, that she would be naive like that, not as mousy as she sometimes was. But, its ok, it wasn’t a huge deal, just a little off putting for a minute.

I got this on sale for $7.88 which is usually more that I spend on a book but I loved the first two in the series so I snagged it (and the next one) while it was on sale. It was worth it just because it’s the 3rd in the series and Thats about what it would amount to costing in a 2/1 sale, but I’d have felt it was more worth it if it had been a bit less. I rarely spend full credits on one book so I don’t feel I’d have felt it was worth that if I had,

Finally, Frannie's story!

The 3rd in the Scoundrels of St. James series is the story of Frannie Darling and Sterling Mabry, Duke of Greystone, and older brother of Catherine, newly wed to Jack Dodger. Frannie is a bookkeeper at Jack's gaming hall and his childhood friend from the streets. Sterling is a real jerk -- having abandoned his sister to tour the world while their father lay ill after a stroke and making inappropriate advances towards Frannie, including offering to set her up as his mistress. As we learn more, though, it becomes clear that Sterling is deeply wounded, harboring secrets and reasons for why he feels he cannot commit his heart to anyone. Frannie, too, has secrets from her past that make her feel like she cannot ever truly give or receive love, other than to the orphans that she rescues or to the "lads" that she grew up with.
Susan Erikson does a great job narrating this story. The developing relationship between Frannie and Sterling literally brought tears to my eyes a few times. Such a great listen! Only one more left in the series... Bittersweet, indeed.

slow

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

Well spent? I can't yes but it wasn't awful just SLOW literally and figuratively. I had to increase the narration speed and found myself trying to ”encourage development” lol (Imagine someone yelling at the television set during a football game!) Frustrating but keeps you listening WITH increased speed, unless my app is defective.

What did you like best about this story?

The end

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

Speech was so slow I increased narraron x2 (w/o any distortion) just to sound normal. I just removed a book from my cart because it had the same narrator.

The whole series has the SAME problem with sluggish narration.

Was Surrender to the Devil worth the listening time?

depends on the listener. It had likeable characters, though irritating and predictable there's ”fun” along the way. I put up with the narration so that says a lot for the story.

outstanding

Susan Erickson brings it the book to life! The story is Romantic and mischievous.. great job

Don't let the title fool ya...

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

This book was exciting, sweet, touching, steamy, and interesting. So yeah, I would definitely recommend it.

What did you like best about this story?

I like that the characters were flawed. Seriously no one was perfect and they all had some issues here or there that showed the fact that they were human. You know romance novels do not always show us the flaws.

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

I cannot recall ever listening to Susan Ericksen. Now I could be wrong, but if so it doesn't matter because she knocked this one out the park!

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

Probably when Sterling finally told Franny the truth. Or maybe when Franny told him the truth.

Any additional comments?

I was initially against this book because I did not like the title. Something about having that word in the title creeps me out. Yes, childish I know but hey we all need a shrink from time to time hahaha. Anyway I definitely recommend this book and I would recommend it even at regular price! So there you have it folks...it is a definite score!!!

Part of a series - In case you were wondering

Any additional comments?

This book is from the middle of a series, but having not read the series I was easily able to keep up.

The story was a little dull. I found it to be a little predictable and slow in places. I do wonder that if I had read the other books first if I would have been more engaged with the characters. But the performance was great and it was an easy story to listen to.