Scandalous Again

Switching Places, Book 1

By: Christina Dodd

Narrated by: Justine Eyre

Length: 8 hrs and 59 mins

Publisher's summary

Madeline de Lacy, the duchess of Magnus, prides herself on being one of the most sensible young women in England, which is why she can’t believe that, in a turn of the cards, her noble father has lost his entire estate – and her! – to a stranger.

On a mission to salvage her family fortune, she changes places with her cousin and companion, sending the meeker Eleanor to confront the man when had won Madeline’s hand. Now Madeline is free to enter the home of a notorious gambler, and pretends to be meek, humble, and competent with an iron. She is, of course, none of those things; she simply is resolved to win her family’s fortune back. Just when she thinks matters can’t get worse, she meets Gabriel Ansell, the earl of Campion, and they do. Horribly worse.

Four years ago, Madeline was engaged to Gabriel, and worshipped his arrogant kisses. Now, being forced to marry a man she doesn’t know pales in comparison to the ordeal of facing Gabriel again, the man who betrayed her – Gabriel, the only man she ever loved.

Who's who? Listen to more in the Switching Places series.

©2010 Christina Dodd (P)2010 Brilliance Audio, Inc.

Critic reviews

"Dodd is known for crafting spicy romances with a touch of humor, and this book is no exception." (Publishers Weekly)

Who switched places-the author?

I've read a fair sampling of Christina's books and enjoyed them. Until now. Switching Places was not the quality work that I've come to expect from Ms. Dodd! The story had progressed nicely and was a little over halfway finished, and I was broadsided! I fast forwarded thru the first chapter of explicit, leaning toward bondage sex in the normal manner: move forward a little then listen. I moved thru one chapter, then the second chapter. At this point I'm grumbling because I'm losing the story line and feeling cheated at all this space going to something that could have been handled better in much shorter time. I finished the book with its action, good guys triumph, with the feminine lead despairing over her lover and could she trust him or was he only hot, grueling sex while she still could barely drag herself around because of an all nighter romp. Ms. Dodd had a good book going and then, to me, cleavered in the raw sex scenes. Not like her other work at all. BUT I'm going to get the next book in the series and hope that our good author has changed her style and presents the sexy parts in a better manner.

Too much sexual details...

Is there anything you would change about this book?

Leave something for your imagination, don't have to spell out all the sex actions, it really didn't add anything to the story line to have such details

Has Scandalous Again turned you off from other books in this genre?

pretty much, and that is sad because I'd love to see what happens in the series, just can't decide if I'll try another one or not

Any additional comments?

The story line is good, enjoyed most of it had some really good parts, the performance was great just hate to give 5 stars to anything with such detailed sexual experiences when is't not necessary to have a good story. Another perfect example of people thinking "sex sales" in todays society....that is sad to me.

Good fun

Sometimes you just need a little good old fashioned historical romance. Great characters. Great fun.

Enjoyed!!!!

This is the first of two books. I've read this and Justine Eyre made it a wonderful experience to listen to.
I loved the two cousins and how they looked out for each other. Even switching places with one another. Christine Dodd is one of the authors I've enjoyed reading over the years and was delighted when I saw that this Series was offered for audio. It is a wonderful book and the characters are great fun and an old mystery is being investigated and interesting things start happening and is concluded in the next book.
Which is just as good as this one.

Good story. Not so good narration..

Any additional comments?

This was a good book but the description is a little misleading. It says they switch places so I thought there was going to be two stories. However, I was wrong and to find out what happens to Eleanor you have to read the next book. I can't see that happening. I feel like I've been tricked into buying another book and that irritates me to no end.

That being said, I did like Madeline and Gabriel. Her father, Magnus was sweet but a little crazy. Lady Thomasin was sweet, too.
I knew Rumbelow was going to be a creep from the git-go, along with Big Bill. It was a very entertaining read. And the sex was very well written.

As to the narration: You can tell this is an old narration of Ms. Eyre's because it's terrible. Her voices were ok but there was not an ounce of emotion in her reading. The hero and heroine were in a room and the bad guy was looking for them and if that wasn't the time to whisper I don't know what was. I couldn't wait to get away from that part of the book because it was just too terrible for words. No whispering, no laughter, no nothing. Justine Eyre is usually one of my favoeite narrators but not this time.

Not really switching story, missed opportunity.

Any additional comments?

This story is ok, but not really a switching-places story. It only tells the story of one of the cousins, Madeline, the future Duchess.

What is confusing is that she pretends to be her cousin Eleanor, but everyone still calls her Madeline, so where is the switch??? They just think Madeline is the companion and they forgot that it is the Duchess's name???

She is pretending to be a companion, so there could have been lots of opportunities for funny mishaps, when she would have messed up in her duties; but there is very little of that, if at all. Therefore, this story is very mediocre.

Book 2 is about Eleanor pretending to be Madeline the Duchess. Everyone actually calls her Madeline ( Thinking she is the Duchess), she has to work at pretending, and the story is much more of a 'switching places' story. Book 2 is a much better book.

Story: 2.5 missed opportunity, mediocre. Book 2 much better.
Relationship/heat: 3 stars. Characters are fun, re-establishing a relationship. Few sex scenes, medium heat.
Narration: 4.5 stars- very good as always, JE adds a lot to this story, and elevates the listening experience.

Overall: IMO, ok value on sale, not worth a credit.

Not that great

This book is ridiculous. The heroine dumped the hero because he gambled and won a fortune from a horrible man. Then her father gambled her away to another man. Then she switched places with her cousin, who is her companion, and goes to a gambling house party in order to convince her father not to gamble away her tiara heirloom. Then she asked the hero to gamble and win her the tiara, even though she dumped him for gambling in the first place. The blackguard hero basically tells her to be his whore and he will win her the tiara. She basically tells him no and kiss my ass and tries to steal the tiara herself. Then they both get caught trying to steal the tiara and she ends up being his whore anyway. There is a whole bunch of crap going on in this book. There are 35 chapters, I only made it to chapter 18. I did plan on reading book #2, which is about the cousin, but I think not bloody likely.