Splendid

Blydon, Book 1

By: Julia Quinn

Narrated by: Lucy Rayner

Length: 13 hrs and 25 mins

Publisher's summary

Based on the phenomenal growth of Quinn's popularity and her four-week stint on the New York Times best-seller list with Romancing Mr. Bridgerton, it's the perfect time to revisit Ms. Quinn's "splendid" storytelling.

American heiress Emma Dunster has always been fun-loving and independent, with no wish to settle into marriage. She plans to enjoy her Season in London in more unconventional ways than husband hunting. But this time Emma's high jinks lead her into dangerous temptation.

Alexander Ridgely, the Duke of Ashbourne, is a notorious rake who carefully avoids the risk of love until he plants one reckless kiss on the sensuous lips of this high-spirited innocent and condemns himself to delicious torment. Little does he know that his passion has touched the very soul of the lovely enchantress and committed them both to a lifetime of splendid ecstasy.

©1995 Julie Cotler (P)2016 HarperCollins Publishers

Disappointed

I've really enjoyed Julia Quinn's books in the past, but this one for me was really lacking. The dialogue at the beginning was trite and somewhat irritating, nothing like I've seen from Julia Quinn in the past. For me, the two main characters just didn't mesh and the heroin was annoying and a total contradiction. The consistency problem Ms. Quinn has been having with her other books appears to be continuing in this one as well. For example, Alex never acknowledges he's courting Emma and never formally asked to court her, but later in the story he says he's courting her, but doesn't want to marry her. At that time period, in England, if he said he was courting her, then he had stated his intention to her guardian and he would have had every intention of marrying her. I actually stopped the recording twice to see if this WAS actually the author because it didn't seem like her at all. Her last few books totally lack her personality and I miss the Julia Quinn who wrote Romancing Mr. Briderton. I just hope the author goes back to her original writing style because I don't think I'll be purchasing any more of her books if they're anything like this one; she just seems like she's writing them to meet a deadline. I'm sadly disappointed, because this used to be one of my favorite authors.

Narration could have been better

The book was ok, not as good as the Bridgeton series but I didn't like the narration

Splendid indeed.....

A tiny bit slow and a wee bit sedate but in the end so very good.

Narrator: Very good. A splendid performance.

Heat factor: tepid with a few steaming scenes.

Creditworthy? I say yes, a comfortable listen.

Not my favorite story , did not care for narrator.

Will not buy series. Not enough of an interesting storyline, lots of words and hard to get through.

Bad "male" voices

The "male" voices were horrible. I often thought I was listening to a grandmother speak, not a male voice. I almost discontinued listening, but the story became more interesting, so I bit the bullet and continued. Quinn's much later stories/recordings were MUCH better. Glad I didn't begin with the earliest books!

Not Rosalind

The story was good but not as good as most of the others. Not my favorite narrator so it was tough to get through after almost every other book having the same narrator.

Well written

Really enjoyed this story. But the narration was just OK. I'm spoiled by Rosalyn Landor.

this is a great Julia London book

This book and series is one of my favorites. Do yourself a favor and READ it. The narrator ruins the book, too dramatized and needs work on Male voices.

The narrator is awful

The narrator is awful. Julia Quinn is a great writer but this book has been a trial to listen to.

brilliant reading of JQ early work

I so enjoyed the accents (the Scottish cook comes to mind).
such a pleasure to hear a regency (British) story told in the correct dialect.
what a pleasure.
Such a pity that other critics have no awareness of British culture. Many forget that regency stories are based in England, and correct intonation means so much. I think the rendition was nigh on perfect.