The Dangerous Gentleman

By: Julia London

Narrated by: Anne Flosnik

Length: 12 hrs and 28 mins

Publisher's summary

With her trademark sensuality and dazzling storytelling, Julia London brings us the Rogues of Regent Street, four dashing, aristocratic gentlemen whose scandalous exploits are the talk of the ton. Adrian Spence, Earl of Albright, has earned his notoriety on the dueling field, and in the finest drawing rooms - and boudoirs - of England. This is his story....

It was strictly business as Adrian Spence claimed the woman his brother desired. A hasty wedding, and Lilliana Dashell was his - sweet revenge on the father who disinherited him and the brother who let it happen. Their wedding night is a revelation as passionate, innocent Lilliana ignites fires Adrian tries desperately to deny. By day he is a stranger. By night he is the lover of her dreams, and she a shameless wanton in his arms. But Adrian is determined that no woman will ever possess him. And Lilliana knows that her only hope of taming this very dangerous gentleman is to unlock his deepest mysteries and open his shuttered heart to love....

©2000 Dinah Dinwiddie (P)2014 Audible, Inc.

author or narrator?

not sure who's at fault...so many arguments between characters that it wasn't relaxing. could have been narrator who was high intensity all the time. wore me out.

I didn’t Hate it... didn’t love it either

It wasn’t as bad as I expected, based on the reviews. I usually read the reviews as I begin to listen... I typically find I have similar opinions as the reviews. With this book, I read the reviews first and put off listening as I have listened to other books that I would consider drug out and way too much angsts. I did not enjoy them. I’ve also listed to other books narrated by Anne Flosnik, also did not enjoy them. As a narrator, I feel she does well with the voices of the characters in this particular novel, but her over all dramatic tone of the narration is soooo over the top. It is very distracting aa d takes away from the story line.

Not my favorite

This book started off good . I didn’t like how she dragged out the back and forth with them. Like the whole book makes you cringe I didn’t get really enough love , emotion from this book to much hate and misunderstanding very frustrating to get through

Speech impediment

I really like Julia London’s writing and have listened to several of her novels. I have a very hard time listening when Ms. Flosik narrates and have to return several read by her as she seems to have problems with words that end in Vs or Fs using Bs instead like she has a cold but I’ve heard it in more than this reading. How can she be an acclaimed narrator when she has a speech impediment. I would prefer Julia London using a different narrator.

Interesting Plot twist

The leading lady was annoyingly weak. She had no back bone and her emotions made no sense. The hero was ok, but how he handled his brother was completely confusing. he's supposed to be a Rouge but acts kind of weak too. The love story was decent, what saved the book was plot Twist at the end. thst made it quite interesting. I didn't see it coming. It kept me interested even though listening to some of the emotional rambling angst was cringy.

I liked it but…

The back and forth about I love him, I hate him, I should have married your brother by the heroine, Lilliana, got tiresome pretty quickly. The other things I found lacking were:
1. Adrian’s brother Benjamin wasn’t confronted for the lies he told Lilliana.
2. Adrian’s very close friends didn’t come right away after his accident.
3. Ben finding out (SPOILER ALERT) that he is a bastard should have been included.
Overall, I liked the story. It’s well paced and well written. The intimate scenes are well done. I will read the entire series.

Entertaining

This is the 4th Rogues of Regent Street book I have listened to. I heard them out of order, but it doesn’t matter. I enjoyed this book but more for the story than for the characters. The lovers definitely make a perfect pair. They best each other all the time for stupidity, arrogance and self-pity. He’s a weak man and she is a strong woman so, for the era, that makes them equal. There is a mystery of sorts woven throughout that kept me interested when it got slow. Julia London is a fantastic writer and her talent isn’t wasted here. Anne Flosnik is in her element and turns in a purely delightful performance. She is convincingly confident and forceful one moment, broken and weak the next. She is masterful in bringing out the nuanced emotions. When she cries it’s credible. The only thing I’ve always found unsettling about her is the fact the love scenes always sound like she is barking a horse race. This was free and definitely worth it.

The Dangerous Gentleman

I love how much the drama in this story made my guts ache. Literally, every time something good happened —poof— more drama. I love when the main female character decides to grow a backbone and becomes a hellion. The narrator has such a cool range of accents, though I must admit I found the main female characters more annoying and breathy than the others. Hot and steamy scenes!

I really enjoyed this book.

Sometimes, the narrator's voice didn't seem to quite match up with the story as well, but overall, good performance, and good story. Would definitely recommend to someone wanting a book about unrequited love and overcoming trust issues.

Good story, regrettable performance

Setting: England, 1834
Genre: Romance

Why, why, why? Why do I purchase books narrated by Anne Flosnik? This performance was so irritating that I was hearing her overly dramatic performance rather than what she was reading. Seriously. I had to back up several times because the narration was so irritating it was distracting. When the character was supposed to be intense, it came across as so much cringe-worthy over-acting. Ugh! I must remember this and just cave to Kindle when I see her as the narrator.

The story itself (insofar as I could really hear it beyond the narration) was okay, but well-written. The hero marries the woman his brother is about to offer for, out of revenge. She marries him because she feels she'll have a greater chance to experience life in more interesting places with him rather than his brother. He ends up taking her to his country estate, where the relationship is pretty cold except for in bed, until tragedy strikes. The author used miscommunication and tragedy as plot devices, so some will find it a bit hackneyed. However, I believe it was well done enough to hold the listener's interest - if the irritations of the narrator can be overcome.

The characters were pretty standard. Tortured hero, naive heroine. You know what I don't like (and it's true in many historicals)? The H/h seem to have nothing in common except for physical attraction. Yes, in this particular book, the heroine rises to the challenge when tragedy strikes but still, except for that the two seem to have no meeting ground. There are also accusations of betrayal as part of the miscommunication on which the plot depends. I hate those snits.

Was this a credit-worthy listen? Well, not for me, but you may be okay with the narration. It just leeched all the enjoyment out of the experience.