Seducing Stephen

By: Bonnie Dee, Summer Devon

Narrated by: Cornell Collins

Length: 5 hrs and 48 mins

Publisher's Summary

Visiting a wealthy friend during university holiday, Stephen wakes to find his bed invaded by a late arriving, drunken houseguest stumbling into the wrong room. From this dubious beginning, a romance slowly develops.

At first Lord Peter Northrup is only interested in the young man as a lusty diversion. He tutors him in secret pleasures shared by men like them, intending to keep their special liaison brief, light, and temporary. But after Northrup leaves, he can't forget the young man who managed to touch his jaded heart.

During their time apart, Peter and Stephen change, and when they meet again, their affair flames hotter than ever. Can a peer of the realm and a middle-class young man bearing heavy responsibilities maintain a lasting relationship? Will Peter accept the possibility of true love in his shallow life, and will Stephen risk everything and trust a man who's already hurt him once?

©2014 Bonnie Dee & Summer Devon (P)2016 Audible, Inc.

light story with HEA, some odd narration choices

Light read/listen with a satisfying HEA. Nothing particularly special or engaging about it, but good nonetheless.

I felt a bit uncomfortable with some of the early scenes because although they were thrilling, Stephen's youthfulness was exaggerated to such a degree that Peter did indeed feel like a creepy old lecher harming a younger man at times. This was made worse by the narration. The narrator voices Peter like a man nearly twice his age, as if he's a stern, snobby man in his late 50s rather than a playful, progressive man in his 30s.

I was irked that Stephen's life made a rapid turnaround in the span of only 6 months, so intense that his stutter somehow disappeared. The narrative reasons that this is because, over the course of 6 months, Stephen gained so much experience and confidence that he's cured of his never-acknowledged anxiety. Jeez. This seems a disrespectful way to rid the story of one of its most interesting elements, which was Stephen's anxiety-induced stutter. Confidence and experience only go so far in treatment for most adults like Stephen in reality. This might actually be a misunderstanding caused by narration as well, though. The text may have intended it as the simple unsure speech of a shy young man, while the narrator voiced the stutter in a manner that was most similar to a mild speech disorder (which is an impressive skill on the part of the narrator). I found it interesting when I first heard it and was disappointed to see it dropped by the story almost immediately.

The story pans out in a predictable but enjoyable manner despite these gripes. The narration is skillful but perhaps not perfectly suited to this story.

Lovely Historic MM Romance

This is a very heartfelt, funny, seductive and emotional historic romance between a young student and a jaded lord. The characters are richly developed and the writing is fluent and very descriptive of the historic time frame. The narration is superb with varying intonations. A very enjoyable read!

So Romantic!

Holy moly, this book is hot as hell. Fans of first time and age gap romances are going to go crazy over this one.

I'll admit it straight-up, my favorite Bonnie Dee, Summer Devon novels are the ones where the characters connect like this. *rawr!*

Charming

While the illegality of the relationship is never far away, it doesn’t overshadow the charming relationship of a Stephen, young man coming into his own, and Peter, an aging roue who had been bored with life, trying to navigate the tricky waters of love. It’s a favorite trope of mine, casual lovers to friends to romance. They are attracted from the start but take a while to realize they would like more, then need to figure out how. While it was mostly low angst, it did bring tears to my eyes now and again.

Steam: Medium. M/M love on page. There’s a lot of unguent involved. Really rather a lot of unguent.

Narration: I really liked Cornell Collins’s reading. This is my second attempt to listen to a book by Dee & Devon as I’d felt disconnected from the characters in the previous book somehow, and think it might have been the narration. Connection and feeling was not a problem for me with this book & narrator. Audio quality was good.

A very steamy and charming historical romance

This story takes us to early 19th century England, where the aristocracy and the middle working class don't socialize and are expected to maintain their fixed roles and position in society; an Earl and a working class Architect/Engineer meet and fall in lust .

Architect Stephen might be in love with Peter , Earl of Stanfford . He wants something more than random hook ups ; but these men are trapped in the expectations of class and gender of the era. Being together as a couple, even a discrete and secret one , might be more than what the Earl can give to Stephen.

With enough steamy to make your Kindle a Sauna 😜😍 these two authors give us an erotic, low angst, emotional and sweet romance, that I enjoyed listening .

Cornell Collins as the narrator did a good job with all the voices. My only complaint is Peter voice , it sounded very nasal.

well written story, excellent narrator

hard to find combo ;) But the narrator does the text justice, using inflection and accents throughout. The story was short and sweet. Worth the listen.

Good Story

I enjoyed both main characters, while Peter annoyed me occasionally he overcame his shortcomings tone a better person. While Stephen grew as a character throughout the book.

The narrator did a good job of giving the main characters their own voice without going overboard.

Loved!

A very good audiobook from a new to me narrator. He does differentiate the accents so it is easy to tell who is speaking.

I love Dee and Devon's historical novels and this one was very enjoyable.

enjoyable

A Very enjoyable story of two men courageous enough to pursue love in the 1800s. The main characters were sexy and had such wonderful chemistry which mAde the sexy times hot.
Charo

Just as great as the written word.

I loved this story when I read it forever ago.
And seeing that they are now available on audio is thrilling.

To have these two characters come to life not just with the brilliant story telling but fabulous narration was amazing.
The trails that Stephen had to through. To understand and endure. The every lasting love they found at the end.
Just wonderful

The Bridges of Northrup

The excellent narration added to what was actually quite a shallow trite tale, breathing an energy and passion not reached by the actual words written in this "seduction". As an avid reader of Georgette Heyer, I'm very familiar what gaming hells and cock fights are. This story did not milk it's genre to create action and drama, but was like a modern MM story transported back in time. I doubt very much there were purpose built toilet blocks at clubs with locks on the door in those times, rather just a drainage farrow in the yard, or a porcelain guzunder behind a curtain of you were lucky.

By contrast Cornell Collins narrates Any Old Diamonds by KJ Charles where the excellent characterizations of Alex and Gerry reach such an intensity in their relationship, banter and passion, I have now enjoyed it four times!

It's taken me over a week to get round to finishing this book; it's just a bridge too far. IT WAS OK