The Lion's Lady

By: Julie Garwood

Narrated by: Susan Duerden

Length: 13 hrs and 26 mins

Publisher's Summary

Christina Bennett had taken London society by storm. The ravishing beauty guarded the secret of her mysterious past until the night Lyon, Marquis of Lyonwood, stole a searching, sensuous kiss. An arrogant nobleman with a pirate's passions, he tasted the wildfire smoldering beneath Christina's cool charm and swore to possess her....

But the feisty and defiant Christina would not be so easily conquered. Mistress of her heart and of her fortune, she resisted Lyon's sensuous caresses. She dared not surrender to his love...for then, she must also forsake her precious secret...and her promised destiny!

©2013 Julie Garwood (P)2013 Brilliance Audio, Inc.

I loved everything about this book!

This book kept me captivated from beginning to end. The story wasn't your typical historical romance and I liked that......it kept it interesting. I recommend this book not only to anyone who enjoys romances but also people who like Native American stories.

I heard this narrator before and I really enjoy her reading. Many people complain when she whispers and I don't understand the complaint. She only whispers when the book says "she/he whispered". How can you fault the narrator for whispering when the author wrote that in the book?

Anyway, I thoroughly enjoyed this book and its worth a credit (or better yet if you find it on sale like I did snatch it up quick!)

22 of 22 people found this review helpful

Yes another 5 star rating!

The first book in the Crown's Spies series. Susan Duerden does a wonderful job of narrating this one. What I liked most was the unique plot. The prologue nicely set the stage for this, as well as for Christina's character, and Jessica's journal developed this plot nicely without interfering with Lyon and Christina's romance, which was rather whirlwind and angry, but tender and joyful as well. Christina being raised by Natives and then returning to England to honour her mother's request. Christina is one amazing character, and she never leaves one feel bored. Christina made me laugh. She's proud and strong willed and Lyon loves that about her. I love it when she divorces Lyon for shaming her. I love his reaction too. But most of all I love how she has everyone so damn confused, but so convinced of her sincerity that they'll do anything she asks, no matter how ridiculous it is from their point of view. And Lyon there is no words to describe him, he is gorgeous and very very stubborn but he is definitely not the only one. The witty dialog between the couple constantly made me laugh and smile. In fact, this book caused me to laugh a lot. If you are looking for an amazing love story with lots of funny moments than I highly recommend this audiobook.

28 of 32 people found this review helpful

Get a new narrator!

As a fan on Julie Garwood's books, I'm always excited to see one available on audible.com. This story doesn't disappoint... lots of romance, twists and turns... a nice distraction. The performance by Susan Duerden, however, almost had me turning off the book and scrapping the whole thing. Her portrayal of a child's voice was cringe inducing, and the voice used for the heroine was like nails scraping on a chalkboard... on the rare occasions she spoke above a whisper. In her defense, the author seemed to write a lot of, "she whispered", so I guess the narrator was only doing what was written, but it was so frequent that is was almost comical.

I disliked the narrator so much, the even though I want to hear some more Julie Garwood books, I just can't sit through this narrator ever again.

14 of 17 people found this review helpful

Shaking my head...

Any additional comments?

As a real life Dakota woman, the use of my cultural background is disturbing. It might've been nice had JG did some research instead of casually flinging stereotypes on the page. Seriously, I wouldn't have minded if she had at least tried to show some effort toward authenticity. I bought this book long ago and couldn't remember hearing it. Now I know why I didn't finish it. I've read other Julie Garwood books and they were good. This one just made me a bit angry.

Also, Susan Duerden's narration is truly cringe inducing. Her attempt at accents and the weird intonation she uses really irritated me. With other books she's read, I've listened at 1.25x and it was ok. This one was not.

6 of 7 people found this review helpful

Narration irksome

This plot was so removed from reality that the characters' motivations rang hollow as well. I have been a fan of Garwood for many years and this was far too fabricated even for a romance. I like a historical romance to include at least some historical credibility. Jedediah Smith and about a handful of traders entered the Black Hills in 1823 and the draw of gold and contact with wagon train traffic did not take place for many years later... Although the narrator had clear diction, she shouldn't have even tried to cover all of the voices. I find that women trying to imitate men can make a hero sound way too boorish, and in this book the heroine sounded like a 10 year old child; when she was a baby she sounded like nails on chalkboard. Most irksome was the inflection the narrator employed for about four out of every five non-dialogue sentences. This resembled text to text-to-speech, with sentences rising in the same arc and ending on the same note, again...and again...

5 of 6 people found this review helpful

Love Julie Garwood AND this book!!

Any additional comments?

I enjoyed this book enormously. Julie’s books have a great storyline and she manages to mix that with sex that stems from passion. I enjoy passion in books and she certainly delivers it here. The female characters in her books are usually hesitant about getting involved emotionally and it is nice to read books where women are not always desperate (as I see played in real life).
This storyline is unique in that JG mixes the American Indian lifestyle and upbringing with the old British stuffiness. I like how she shows a strong Indian leader bending to his wife’s will to raise a child not his own during those times where white people were disliked so extensively by them. And then the strength in male character continues to show through in Lion as well. I just love the characters in this book. A nice mixture of good vs. evil.

4 of 5 people found this review helpful

If you like traditional Garwood,you'll enjoy this.

Julie Garwood is my favorite author, and this book didn't disappoint! If you've read and loved her other books then you'll love this one too. Also, I really enjoy this narrator. Susan Durden(sp) has a great voice and I thinks she does the characters spectacularly.

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

Enjoyable. Humorous.

Christina keeps secrets and lies to Lyon a lot. He knows she is lying - so that’s ok with me. Other authors annoy me when lies do not fit motivations. That does not happen here. Christina wants a temporary marriage and plans to divorce him soon after. He gets bent out of shape over that.

One reviewer complained it was not historically accurate about Indians in America. If that’s true, I don’t care. I enjoyed it for what it was – light, fun, escape, and romance.

AUDIOBOOK NARRATOR:
Susan Duerden is fabulous. She’s a chameleon with her voices. I felt like different people were talking. She does men really well - and sexy. She has an excellent narration style. I’ll listen to her anytime.

Genre: historical romance

4 of 6 people found this review helpful

Excellent Well-developed story

This is a great story, well developed with strong believable characters. From the first, the background story drew me in and held my interest all the way to the end. I especially liked Lyon and how he stayed so confused by his delightful lioness that you couldn't help being on his side.

Definitely worth the credit. As usual July Garwood has produced an entertaining novel. Susan Duerden did a very good job of narrating.

7 of 11 people found this review helpful

Garwood & Duerden done it AGAIN!

One more to re-listen to!
Loved this story! Loved the beginning where Mary fights to keep the baby girl.
Liked it a lot when Christina popped up in England at the Tons balls and how she reacted to Lyon. How he takes charge kinda.
Susan Duerden as usual did one heck of a job.

2 of 3 people found this review helpful