The Burdens of a Bachelor

Arrangements, Book 5

By: Rebecca Connolly

Narrated by: Jessica Elisa Boyd

Length: 10 hrs and 1 min

Publisher's summary

What the eye cannot see...

Colin Gerrard has everything. He is a handsome, charming, and unattached gentleman in possession of a fortune. What nobody knows, and would never suspect, is that he is not nearly as carefree as he seems, nor is his heart free for anyone’s taking. It was already taken long ago, and when his lost love unexpectedly reappears, in London of all places, he’s very much afraid she still has it.

...the heart already knows.

Lady Susannah Hawkins-Dean had no intention of ever seeing Colin again after their terrible departure 16 years ago. She never wanted to see anyone who knew her in the past. There were too many secrets, too much shame, and he, of all people, could not know them. But when Colin refuses to leave her in the past, Susannah finds she is just as in love with him as she ever was, and it could ruin them both.

©2017 Rebecca Connolly (P)2018 Rebecca Connolly

Burden of Simple Plots

Burdens of a Bachelor - Hero Colin has everything. when his lost love shows up in London. Lady Susannah has secrets, shame, and debt. If you like to read a lot of details, you’ll like this slower-paced book. I believe Rebecca Connolly is a gifted writer and will try another series.

captivating

I loved this entire series the final book was perfect for this family of friends I wish there were more on audible

Too much cat and mouse for me

I enjoyed this book somewhat but I found that there was just too much cat and mouse.I found myself saying “Alright already get this over with. Stop being stupid and ridiculous.” That being said, I enjoyed the characters as far as the way Rebecca Connelly described them and built them. In the past, I have enjoyed Rebecca Connolly‘s books, although I haven’t read a lot of them, so I don’t know if this is typical for her,

Worst book of the series

I was so disappointed in the way the author dealt with this last book in the series. The female lead, Susanna, was cowardly, and the ordinarily insightful Collin, was lacking this quality in this book. It is awful when the reader has no connection with the protagonists and, in fact, is repelled and disgusted with their stupid actions!!!
I did like the reaction of the twin brothers, Collin & Kit, when their half sisters arrived - the way they were so nuturing and kind to them. And I could possibly even understand Collin's anger with Susanna - as she would never open herself up to him.
Susanna really made me hate her because she was SO self-indulgent, cowardly, and did not trust Collin at all. Even towards the end when SHE thinks she will never get Collin - even after he's paid all her debts (which was her big "secret" - big whoop!) and she sees him with another young woman escorting her home just to be kind & as a favor to his aunt - she is so hopeless and jealous that she does not even care about her 7 year son, to whom Collin, Kit and their aunt have been to so kind and inclusive, and had given many advantages over the last several months - such as a tutor and friends and a family to love him - but instead just rips him away from all that because SHE is upset for herself. How selfish!
As far as Collin, I could have forgiven him his anger and hurt with Susanna, but when he (who has never indulged himself with drink) begins going to a bar and indulging himself, it made me very disgusted with him!
I did continue listening to the book until the end, and it continued to make me more and more disgusted with Collin and Susanne. Collin gets a fever from getting drunk??? Susanne rushes to his side to nurse him, even though she obviously didn't care about him if she left him and didn't let him know where she went?? How ludicrous! The oldest sister, Rosie, gets the fever from Collin, and he rails against his brother NOT to bring Susanne, EVEN THOUGH SHE COULD HELP HIS DYING SISTER???! How selfish of him!!! Then when Kit does bring Susanne to help Rosie, Collin insists she get THEIR personal realstionship in order BEFORE he will let her help his dying sister?? Again, how selfish of him! Then when both he and his young sister finally get welll and Susanne and Collin get married, they are so absorbed in each other that they completely forget about anyone else in their combined families?!!! They both are the epitome of self-centeredness! The author could have done a much more compassionate job of writing - instead of make her two main characters so selfish that they become hated by readers!
The author needs to discontinue using these phrases "He/she WANTED....." and "He/she NEEDED....." Rebecca Connelly used these phrases repeatedly - For example, "He wanted her.body." He wanted her to stop. He wanted to kiss her. He wanted to...." and the same with the "needed" phrase - they are WAY overused! Connelly needs to learn other phrases to make her books more interesting.
The narrator, Jessica Elisa Boyd, is sometimes good at her narration, and sometimes bad. In this book she was okay. But in the book with Duncan and Annie, I really hated the way she spoke Duncan's voice. He sounded like he was the bad guy in the story! Like he was always about to punch someone. I think it's so funny when a narrator SHOUTS a sentence she is reading, and then continues reading "he said quietly", and Jessica Elisa Boyd often does this. Which make me feel as if she hasn't previously read the book to herself., or practiced reading it aloud. I really wanted to like the last book in this series, but because the author choice to make her two protagonist so irritating, I could not.

Good points, bad points

First of all, I loved the children. They’re delightful and charming. Rosie has a snappy wit, just at the line of being bratty without actually crossing it. My dry sense of humor enjoyed her very much. However, by this 5th book the main characters are becoming unoriginal. Or at least their “I can’t live without them but can’t actually make an effort to be with them” mentality is certainly unoriginal. All. Five. Books. (Sigh) Maybe this is the danger of reading them back-to-back: the similarities are too apparent.

Overall, the book was good but far behind the others (especially the first 2) and Collin’s increasing aggression throughout the story is borderline abusive. I have no triggers and it made even me uncomfortable.

Another good one!!

Love this series! The author does not disappoint! Love the friends, their wives, the backstory, everyone's unique backstory and coming together and this love story!

I liked it

Writing was really good…very engaging ..I like a good well written clean romance. This was one of them.

Great book

I really liked this one but hated the ending. I thought it was ludicrous. Otherwise I would have given it five stars.

Overall satisfying, but not my favorite

I love Colin so much and have been looking forward to his particular story with anticipation. Overall, this book delivered in the overall arch of the story. But what was a little disappointing was that the predominant tone of Colin felt like a totally different person sometimes. It makes sense for the story, but I really missed the funny, witty jokester that we had come to know. I would have liked more of that side of him.

Great narration

I do love all of Rebecca Connolly’s writing I and, in particular, this series. However the story of Colin and Susanna didn’t draw me in quite as much. There were great parts of the story and I loved the ending, but sometimes the atmosphere was a bit maudlin and overly emotional. However it was worth reading, if only for catching up with all of the characters from the rest of the series, and the audible narration was great.