The Duke's Quandary

By: Callie Hutton

Narrated by: Billie Fulford-Brown

Length: 7 hrs and 11 mins

Publisher's summary

London 1814... Drake, Duke of Manchester is searching the Marriage Mart for a perfect bride. He wants a woman who is poised, sophisticated, and worthy of the title Duchess. But most of all, he wants a woman who does not want the useless emotion of love.

Socially awkward Miss Penelope Clayton isn't meant for marriage. A serious botanist, she has no desire to wed, so being forced by her guardian to participate in the Season to find a husband is torture. She'll never fit in with the ton, especially if they discover she's been pretending to be a man within the scientific community.

As Drake's family makes over Penelope, turning her from naive bluestocking to enchanting debutante, he is put upon to introduce her to society and eligible bachelors. Despite dance lessons and new gowns, Penelope is the opposite of poised and sophisticated as she stumbles from one mishap to the next. Why then, does he find it so hard to resist her?

©2014 Callie Hutton (P)2014 Audible Inc.

meh...

The story was ok. a little thin, but the narration was awful. Too breathy and high pitched. The male voices sounded like 13 year old boys... ugh.

Why?

Why does the narrator’s American accent sound like she’s from the San Fernando Valley in California, instead of Boston in the 1800s?

It was good

This was pretty good. It was nice and light to pass the time. If you need a little escape from the world this is the book.

narrator not as good as expected

The narrator seems to have much trouble with male voices. Even though Drake's voice is most often described as "deep", it is actually very high and not very masculine. I have heard other female narrator's do a much better job with male voices. However, I enjoyed the story and will probably read more if this author but preferably not with this narrator.

Enjoyed story

Enjoyed the story but most of the time when you have a woman narrator the men sound like stuck up old hags. However, when you get a man narrator the women sound like Mrs. Doubtfire. So, if you can get past it, you will enjoy the story.

okay

the narrator gives the sisters annoying and haughty voices, unlike narrators in subsequent books. the dude is a bit of a jerk throughout, who 'can't handle female emotions' or and independent spirit. pleasant enough story overall.

Wonderful

I enjoyed the book so much, I have to read more of her books. what a delightful author.

Couldn’t finish this

The narration is so bad I quit. It would be good if there was an “Incomplete” rating, because I can’t accurately rate the plot without finishing it. I’d like to know what happens so I will buy the Kindle edition of this book.
Here’s the problem: the American character (the heroine so we hear her talk a lot) is voiced so obnoxiously that I had to quit. It reminds me why I don’t like books set in England that have any American characters. I have never heard a narrator able to do both accents. The American characters always come across as complete bumpkins, which cannot be true because these characters are well connected enough to participate in upper class English society. In fact, at this time in history, they probably had an accent very similar to what the English people did.
At any rate, I’m glad this one was included because I’d be annoyed to have wasted a credit on it.

Good Listen

Continuing the Marriage Mart Series. Same style as all of these books. Romance in a big family

Fun romantic novel

Not hilariously funny but a sweet fun novel to listen to while driving or working. Love scenes. Or over the top vulgar and very short. Narration was good too