The Duke and I

By: Julia Quinn

Narrated by: Rosalyn Landor

Simon Basset, the irresistible Duke of Hastings, has hatched a plan to keep himself free from the town's marriage-minded society mothers. He pretends to be engaged to the lovely Daphne Bridgerton. After all, it isn't as if the brooding rogue has any real plans to marry - though there is something about the alluring Miss Bridgerton that sets Simon's heart beating a bit faster.

And as for Daphne, surely the clever debutante will attract some very worthy suitors now that it seems a duke has declared her desirable. But as Daphne waltzes across ballroom after ballroom with Simon, she soon forgets that their courtship is a complete sham. And now she has to do the impossible and keep herself from losing her heart and soul completely to the handsome hell-raiser who has sworn off marriage forever!

©2015 Julie Cotler Pottinger (P)2016 Recorded Books

mostly good with slight consent issues

This book is mostly good and fun, but ends up with some really uncomfortable consent issues halfway through, unfortunately.

An entertaining Regency

Daphne Bridgerton has a problem.

'sShe beautiful, bright, charming, and everyone's friend. She grew up with four brothers, three of them older than herself, and the gentlemen love to talk with her. They just don't think of her as a romantic prospects, and in her second season, she has received proposals only from the elderly and, in one case, the crashingly stupid. Her mother and her eldest brother, the new Viscount Bridgerton, are not going to compel her to make an unhappy match, and she's in danger of being on the shelf.

The Duke of Hastings has a problem. He's just returned from six years abroad, having recently inherited the title after the death of his hated father. He has no intention of marrying, especially not to produce an heir. He finds himself unable to avoid the social swirl entirely, however, and the concomitant pursuit by mothers and their eligible daughters.

But Viscount Bridgerton is his best friend, and Daphne proves to be apparently the only intelligent young woman attending social events.

Courting her will make Hastings seem less available. Daphne, by apparently being courted by the Duke of Hastings, will immediately look more desirable to other men--hopefully attracting more suitable suitors. It will all be a harmless charade, benefiting them both. What could possibly go wrong?

I really liked Daphne, the Duke, and Daphne's mother and her siblings who are old enough to figure in the story. There are also other interesting characters floating around, including Lady Danbury, and the fictional Lady Whistledown and her entertaining scandal sheet.

It's really a lot of fun. Even in the areas where I thought the story was surely going to go off the rails and become nonsense, it turned out Quinn was doing something a great deal more interesting than I thought. The right kind of surprise!

Recommended.

I bought this audiobook.

Brilliant

One of the best parts about the book is the narrator definitively! Rosalyn Landor is by far one of the best readers I have ever listened to and she does an amazing job!
Sometimes you forget is only one person reading because her male voices are amazing, as well as women, old ladys, etc. And what I love best is that when she reads she shows the character emotions perfectly through her voice, like for example if the character appears to laugh while talking or be angry or surprise, she makes the voice sound like so... I don't know if I'm explaining myself well, but it's like in other books, I've heard the narrator saying the dialogue and then maybe reads that the character was surprised or annoyed or something while saying it but it doesn't come through the reading.... I hope someone understands...

On the other hand Julia Quinn is amazing writer for romance, and 1800's books. I had never heard from her by I haven't stopped listening to her books since I started.
I am a big fan of Pride and Prejudice, and have listened to other romance novels of similar time, but didn't found them as appealing, but Julia Quinn does a great job with her stories, and her books and descriptions and the way she tells the story...

Entertaining

Kept me engaged. Enjoyable summer read. Light and funny at times. A good book to relax with.

Slow beginning but good overall

I must say I thought about requesting a refund during the first 45 mins of listening. It was so boring and I couldn't follow along with it. But then it got pretty good and I really enjoyed this book.