Tall, Dark, and Wicked

By: Madeline Hunter

Narrated by: Lulu Russell

Length: 11 hrs and 4 mins

Publisher's Summary

A wickedly wonderful new romance from the New York Times best-selling author of His Wicked Reputation.

Most women will give him anything he wants. She is not most women....

As a well-known barrister and the son of a duke, Ives confines his passionate impulses to discreet affairs with worldly mistresses. A twist of fate, however, has him looking for a new lover right when a fascinating woman shows up in his chambers, asking him to help save her father from the gallows. Unfortunately, he has already been asked to serve as the prosecutor in the case, but that only ensures close encounters with the rarity named Padua Belvoir. And every encounter increases his desire to tutor her in pleasure's wicked ways.

Having always been too tall, too willful, and too smart to appeal to men, Padua Belvoir is shocked when Ives shows interest in her. Knowing his penchant for helping the wrongly accused, she had initially thought he might be her father's best hope for salvation. Instead, he is her worst adversary - not least because every time he looks at her, she is tempted to give him anything he wants.

©2015 Madeline Hunter (P)2015 Blackstone Audio, Inc.

Dreadful narrator

I had to struggle to get through this book - not because of the story, which was very good on the whole, but with this different narrator. Her voice isn't pleasant to begin with. But what is far worse is her terrible character differentiation and her actual character interpretations. Eva is the heroine but the vocalization makes her come across as a vacuous, insipid, silly, and rather stupid woman. Ms. Russell's men are terrible, not just the pitch, but the timbre of each voice. First, you can't tell them apart, which makes understanding the characters almost impossible. Second, they aren't the least appealing. She desperately needs to listen to other female narrators, who do the job brilliantly, e.g. Rosalyn Landor and Kate Reading.

However, I question the use of a female narrator in books that are centered around the men. Voices like Alex Wyndham, Nicholas Boulton, and others, who do women, especially strong, passionate women, superbly, might provide much better narration for books such as these.

Since this may be her first book, I will try the third in the series (I DO like the stories) in the hopes that it is inexperience and that she will get better.

5 of 5 people found this review helpful

Didn't care for the narrator

This would have been better, I think, if I had read it instead of listening to the audiobook. I didn't care for the narrator. Her voices were not quite right to me. For example, Eva is a strong character and showed it in the previous book but, in this one, she sounds like a giggling school girl. I didn't particularly care for Ives' voice either. I hate that this taints the book for me. It's not the author's direct fault. Her work is good and I appreciate it

The story was interesting. I like that both main characters are out of the norm. I enjoy the way the brothers interact.

I look forward to the Duke's story.

7 of 8 people found this review helpful

Wrong Narrator

I really enjoyed the first book of this series as narrated by Mary Jane Wells. She set a great "tone" for the characters. Lulu Russell may be okay for other books, but the thread from the first book is lost on her. Ive's was a favorite in the first book; in this episode he sounds like a jackass.

Very disappointed.

5 of 6 people found this review helpful

Re-read DNF due to narrator

DNF due to narrator Lulu Russell.

Saw this title/trilogy included in Audible Romance so decided to re-read via audio. Altho very familiar w/ Mary Jane Wells (narrator for book #1), I don't recall ever listening to Lulu Russell & wished I'd skimmed reviews in advance.

Sadly, her style & vocal pitch just didn't work for me, From the start, I grimaced every time she hit a particular high note in her narrative cadence. Thought I'd adjust after a bit but...no.

Another great one!

The only thing I didn’t like as well as the first in the series was the narrator. She didn’t do a bad job per Se, but I wish they would’ve had Mary Jane Wells read the whole series.

I loved both characters and the intrigue. And again, once all was discovered, the author let it go and concentrated on the completion of the Love story. Nice job!

The Excessively High Pitched Men's Voices Grated

I understand that not all narrators can do a good job at voices for the opposite sex, but the excessively high pitched voices the narrator used for the male characters (especially for the Duke) made me cringe! And as if that wasn't bad enough, I truly didn't care for this story as much as the last one, finding it fairly boring through some parts. I see the next book had the same narrator so I'm not sure if I'll listen to it or not...

enjoyable story

second story of a 3 story series. Audible was enjoyable to listen to and the story kept me interested.

Entertaining story!

I enjoyed the story, it was nice and twisty, I was never board. Unfortunately, the narrator was not able to do male voices...at all. She was so awful, I may just read the last book. She just ruined Garreth’s voice, M. J. Wells gave him such a sexy voice in the first book. Lance sounded like a batty old maiden aunt, and I’m not sure where she was going mwith Ive’s voice. Come on! These are supposed to be three sexy guys...Who auditions these narrators anyway?

Loved it!

I'm really enjoying this trilogy. Mary Jane Wells really set the stage for the characters and brought them to life. Lulu Russell has picked up the Goblet and is taking it to the finish line. This is a very good story by Madeline Hunter, I would like to read more of her books.

Smouldering passion, heart-warming love

I love this series and can't wait to read the final instalment. Padua and Ives are a delightful couple. Ives is lawyerly even in his wickedness. Padua is warm hearted and loyal even in her stubbornness. I love that she is a mathematician. As is the case with all good historical romance, I learnt something new - but no spoilers here. And, along with the love story and the adventure, Madeline Hunter created a sexy smouldering passion that will stand re-reading and re-listening Tina and time again.